Welcome to the video conference on the results of LOG Commercial Properties related to the results of the third quarter of 2022. With us today are Sérgio Fischer, CEO, and André Vitória, CFO and Head of Investor Relations. We would like to inform you that this presentation is being recorded and translated simultaneously. The translation feature is available by clicking on the interpretation icon. For those of you listening to the presentation in English, you can choose to silence the original audio in Portuguese by clicking on the option Mute Original Audio. During the company's presentation, all participants will have their microphones disabled. At the end of the presentation, we will initiate the Q&A session. To ask a question, just click on the Q&A button and state your name and company.
Once your name is called, a request to activate your microphone will pop up on the screen, and you can then unmute your microphone and ask your question. We would like to clarify that any forward-looking statements that might be made during the conference call related to LOG's business outlook, projections, and financial and operating goals are based on beliefs and assumptions of the company's management and therefore may or may not occur. Investors should understand that political, macroeconomic, and other operating factors may affect the future of the company and therefore lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. To open this video conference on the results of the third quarter 2022, I would like to give the floor to Sérgio Fischer.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for LOG's earnings release call of the third quarter 2022.
We reported a very strong commercial activity in the quarter, totaling 171,000 sq m of gross absorption in several projects, the highest in the last four quarters. This reflects the growing demand in several sectors of the economy. It's also important to highlight the 50% with the Flight to Quality movement. In addition, we note pharmaceutical and health and hygiene, which account for approximately 60% of this absorption in the quarter. During the year, absorption totaled approximately 320,000 sq m of leases in ten Brazilian states, reinforcing the company's business model assertiveness of being present in strategic locations close to major consumer centers. A hundred percent of the leases that expired in the quarter were renewed, reflecting the efforts of the property management team and the commercial team to offer the best experience to our customers.
Once again, we had record deliveries. There were three new assets totaling approximately 175,000 sq m of GLA, 86% already leased in Betim metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, Itapeva in Extrema region, and Viana in the metropolitan area of Vitória. Year- to- date, we reached a total delivery of 415,000 sq m, an increase of 80% over the same period of the previous year. We have seen a positive pricing trend, which has already been reflected in this quarter with lease agreement increases which were 1.4% above inflation. The stabilized vacancy continues at historical levels and reached 1.73% at the end of the quarter. The pace of production is moving as expected. We are currently developing seven projects in seven cities, which together total 430,000 sq m of GLA.
Construction costs remain stable and development yields are on an upward trend. This quarter, we concluded the historic sales of two assets in the amount of BRL 429 million, resulting in an average gross margin of 32.6%, being 3% above NAV. In the last few years, we have sold BRL 1 billion, totaling approximately 300,000 sq m of GLA. There is a lot of liquidity in the market for high-quality assets such as LOG's, both from institutional investors and also large investment funds. This strategy of recycling assets will continue to be the main source of funding for our growth. I will now give the floor to André, who will elaborate on the financial highlights.
In the third quarter of 2022, we posted an adjusted net income of BRL 112 million and an EBITDA margin of 78%. We also maintained during the third quarter our ability to generate value through the development of greenfield assets. There were BRL 78 million of value generated through new projects. As mentioned before by Sérgio, we continue pursuing our strategy of recycling assets, which is our main source of funding to promote the company's growth. The liquidity and attractiveness of our assets remain high, as evidenced by the sales made over the last few years. Net debt will remain flat during this growth cycle of the company, and the net debt over EBITDA ratio remains at 2x. The company's operating performance is also reflected positively in the financial results we presented in the third quarter of 2022. Our indicators remain solid.
The recent deliveries of assets with differentiated levels of average rental ticket continue to reflect the significant increase in revenues. This quarter, net revenue stood at BRL 59 million, representing a significant growth of 60% over the same period of last year. It is worth mentioning that with this current portfolio, we carried out contractual adjustments to the existing portfolio 1.4% above inflation. Accumulated net debt for the last twelve months remains low and stood at only 0.6% in the third quarter. The balance of admin expenses continues to grow at a slower pace when compared to the previous year and reflects our constant operating efficiency. The financial result was impacted by the increase in the average balance of debt in the CDI in the period.
The equity swap transaction under the company's share buyback program generated a positive effect of BRL 16 million in the quarter due to the share price variation. LOG continues to focus on several ESG initiatives. Currently, 100% of the energy utilized in our projects comes from clean and renewable sources. In this sense, 5,000 tons of CO2 are no longer being emitted each year. We certified our first inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, and in its first year, we were already awarded the Gold Seal, the Brazilian GHG Protocol program. Keeping up with our commitment to support the communities neighboring our developments, we inaugurated Log Social in Betim, in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte, aiming to contribute even more to the personal growth and professional qualification of the employees who work in the site, as well as the region's residents.
We now move to our Q&A session.
Thank you. We will now initiate the Q&A session. I would like to remind you that to ask questions, just click on the Q&A icon and state your name and company. Once your name is called out, we will receive a pop-up to unmute your microphone, and it's then that you have to unmute your microphone and ask your question. Our first question is from Bruno Mendonça, from BBI. Bruno, your microphone is already on.
Thank you. Thank you, and thank you for the presentation. I have two questions here. My first question is a bit more about the deliveries. We've seen a very high level of deliveries, and this is surprisingly well-leased, even above expectations. Sérgio, would you please elaborate a bit about the yield, the yielding cost?
Looking on the cost side, how do you see this cost environment in the construction business? What has been the average rental ticket? My second question is probably looking long-term. It's probably a more strategic question. Maybe 91% of the land bank of that plan of 1.5 million already acquired. What could you tell us about what will happen or what do you anticipate for the period after 2024? What do you have in mind in terms of what will grow further after your 1.5 million plan?
Hi, Bruno. This is Sérgio. Thank you for your questions. I'll start with that yield part. The deliveries that were concluded in this first quarter, we just finished, and we got 415,000 in GLA. That 415,000 was delivered with a good yield cost.
All of the projects that were initiated the second half to be delivered throughout 2023, we are seeing an improvement in that number, about a half percentage point. This is how we anticipate deliveries will be for the projects that were initiated this year to be delivered next year. We see a stabilization of the construction costs. Construction costs have been flat and stable, and that might be a bit lower, but we see a marginal decrease in construction costs coming next year. In addition to that, we've seen a very positive moment for pricing. I mean, the average rental ticket and that has been over BRL 20 per sq m. This is quite positive not only for the industry but for our business as well, because this will allow us to improve our yield cost going forward.
Now about the land bank, answering your second question, we already have new acquisitions. We see a lot of new opportunities in the market, some geographies that have reported high demand. We are going forward to deliver that 1.5 program in 2024. Now about the company, we're still internally discussing about growth going forward. The company now, in all of our departments, we are working with 500,000 sq m a year. I mean, land approvals, construction, commercial and everything else in the package. Everything is already, you know, running at 500,000 sq m a year. This is just an idea of what we could anticipate next year and for after 2024.
Very good. Thank you. BRL 20 per sq m, it's a much better level when compared to what we saw more recently.
Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Gustavo Cambauva from BTG. Gustavo, your microphone is on.
Good morning. I have two questions. My first question is whether you could tell me a little bit more because I know you just sold some assets more recently. Despite the general M&A landscape that has cooled down a little bit, but even then, you were able to sell at a very interesting multiple for the company. First of all, I would like you to tell me what you see going forward or whether somehow you still see that the market is very heated up and whether things will remain as is or you probably see things differently. My second question is related to GLA demand.
When we look at e-commerce prices, in general, e-commerce prices or the pace of growth of e-commerce is slowing down a bit. This has been, you know, one of the major drivers for GLA in your case. What do you anticipate going forward? Have you also seen some slowdown in demand or you believe that there's still great appetite for e-commerce? And also whether you're looking at other segments. So can you throw some light about, you know, e-commerce status?
Hi, this is Sérgio. Thank you for your questions. I'll start with the question on demand. We had a very strong quarter. The third quarter was the best quarter when compared to the last four quarters. Great part of that demand comes from e-commerce. Almost 60% of new leases came from e-commerce.
We firmly believe that penetration will continue to grow. I mean, of course, we come from a very strong base looking back two years. I mean, it's not growing as it did in the past two years. Even though it's very positive, we've been monitoring some recent studies that anticipate e-commerce penetration to be close to 25% in 2026. If that happens, there will still be a lot of demand for warehouses, and this is what we're feeling right now. Now, in terms of our strategy on geographic pricing, we've been able to capture that e-commerce demand throughout the country. This year, we made deals on the e-commerce side in several geographies around the country. This is a bit different from our business model because we've been surfing in some geographies where there is very little competition. Now, in terms...
I mean, just one more point related to demand, 40% of all of the deals signed this year were related to Flight to Quality. We are noticing that some of our clients are now preferring more quality rather than price. Brazil invested a lot in this current land bank. I think we will advance still a lot in e-commerce. Now in terms of the sale of assets, this is a very interesting, very good transaction for the company. There are still a lot of things in progress, things that were already initiated, and a lot of liquidity for assets like ours. We see some large investment funds that have approached us, and they express interest in some assets. We saw interest on the part of institutional investors.
We are not going to do things in a hurry. We want to maintain, you know, in the long run, our position. We will continue to work on recycling because I think this is very important. We see some relevant opportunities. The scenario hasn't changed. We also have this move towards Flight to Quality. We will certainly have new transactions, but we will do that with caution. This will be our main source of funding to fund our coming growth.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Good morning to you all.
Our next question comes from Mr. André Dibe from Itaú BBA. André, your microphone is on. Our next question comes from Mr. André Dibe. Please, you may proceed, sir. Your microphone. Our question comes from Mr. Ygor Altero. Please proceed. Your microphone is already on. Mr. Ygor Altero, please proceed.
Good morning. I think now you can hear me, right? Thank you for your presentation. I have two questions. It's more like a follow-up on the previous question related to recycling. In regards to valuation, how do you see the market evolving? Even, you know, considering your side, maybe we could see other transactions at the situation level between seven and eight. This is number one. Point number one is about investor interest at this level of valuation. Second question is about having some relief. What impact should we see in your gross margins?
Hi, Ygor, this is Sérgio. Thank you for your question. Recycling, Ygor, we see the market pretty much in the same line of our third quarter, something around 7.5 and eight.
Well, we can have a relevant spread because of that, and we will continue to pursue these transactions, as I said earlier. About construction costs, certainly this will have a significant impact in the improvement, especially in view of the new project, because the percentage has been higher than what it was back in, I mean, in this year, 2022. This will have an impact in the gross margin. Together with a more positive landscape with lower interest rates in 2023, I think we will be able to increase the spread and bring those transactions closer to our historical levels, which is today is close to 40%, considering the last three-year transactions. This is what we have in mind.
Very clear. Thank you very much.
Our next question from Mr. Rafael Rehder from Safra. Sir, your microphone is on. Mr.
Rafael Rehder, please unmute your mic. Next question from André Mazini from Citigroup. Your microphone is already on.
Hi. Sérgio Fischer and André Vitória. Thank you for the presentation. My question is about your agreements with Amazon. Interesting that rent per square meter was able to go up more recently. I think it went from BRL 16 to almost BRL 19 now in the third quarter. Probably this relates to Amazon contracts, which they became your largest customer. Then you have lease contracts of longer duration, you know, of your warehouses, a lot of TI involved. Do you believe that this increase has to do with tenant improvement that you did for Amazon, and so they pay this back through the lease, or it has to do with the amortization time?
If after the tenant improvement, do you believe that the lease per square meter for that, you know, client will then be amortized back into the company? Is my reading right, or am I reading something differently?
Well, thank you for your question. André Mazini, what we see is a very positive landscape, but it's across the board. New transactions are occurring, you know, above BRL 20 that I mentioned before. I mean, this contract with Amazon is different. The ticket is different, and it will be that ticket for the next few years. But we've seen all of the other transactions and the cost of spec, which is the modular warehouse. With LOG Specs, they've been traded above the average lease ticket that you saw today, so that there is an upward trend in terms of the average ticket.
We'll see that coming closer to the BRL 20 as we deliver new assets that are being rented now.
Perfect, Sérgio. What is the duration of the agreements?
10 years, because I think on average the other agreements are for a five-year term. We have several agreements with Amazon, and there is a large one in Recife. It was delivered in the second half of this year. It's a very different agreement for a 10-year term, and they are also coming with a major, you know, funding in TI, and we will be reimbursed by the TI we did for them. The rest is just speculation. I think we have about four or five transactions with Amazon in addition to this, and that's a LOG Spec with a five-year duration in the agreement.
Thank you. Thank you, Sérgio.
Our next question comes from André Dibe from Itaú BBA.
Could you please comment on the pricing dynamics related to the actual increase that you managed to post in this last year? How was absorption in pricing, looking at different geographies? Which ones had a more positive dynamic that led to that increase, and which ones were probably lagging behind?
André, thank you for your question. This is Sérgio. André, this quarter we had 100% of renewals of the agreements that ended in the quarter. It was a very strong. It really shows that our clients are not leaving the operations. They're very. It's a very demanding market. With that, we were able to renew agreements from existing customers. This has been across the board. I wouldn't highlight a particular region.
Things are happening across the board in a linear manner, and we are seeing that this industry is booming, and we will try to push prices above inflation if possible.
Our next question from Rafael Rehder from Safra.
My question is about your deliveries scheduled for 2023. How many of them are already pre-leased, and whether we could also expect the same mix of clients?
Thank you for your question. This is Sérgio. We started many projects in the second half to be delivered throughout the year 2023. We anticipate a very active year in terms of delivery. We do not have any deliveries for, you know, the fourth quarter or the first quarter of 2023. They will start occurring after the second quarter.
We have a lot of things going on in the Northeast of the country, and probably the bulk of our deliveries, 50% of deliveries, will come from that part of the country. On all of the projects that we're initiating, we already have a large amount that are up for lease. This really demonstrates the strength of our business model, which is to be close to consumer areas. We have a mix of a lot of things. We see demand coming from e-commerce, demand coming from flight to quality. We just closed a BTS in the Northeast for a large beverage player. There are two other deals being negotiated in the Northeast, you know, about to be closed in the next few weeks. Therefore, this is a very interesting moment, you know, for LOG's business model.
I mean, our geographic positioning is very interesting in different regions, and we are able to capture demand coming from our clients, which are asking us for additional areas in new geographies.
Next question now comes from Mr. Marcelo Motta from J.P. Morgan. Marcelo, your microphone is already on.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two questions. My first question, I think the operating side of the company is very strong in terms of leases, in terms of, you know, prices, price increases, but FFO is still impacted due to higher interest rates and financial expenses. On the side of liability management, do you see any possibility of doing something to improve the conversion of EBITDA into FFO?
My second question, considering the demand and that the market is very promising and very good, and probably the main idea for you to accelerate growth would be sale of assets. What would be the announcements we will hear from you in terms of that?
Hi, this is Sérgio. I will answer the second question, and then André will answer the first. Motta, we are not in a hurry. The quality of the recycling is very important to us. We want to deliver spreads so that we can sell the sq m and have 1.5, you know, to build with that feet. I mean, we just concluded a transaction. It's a record transaction of almost BRL 420 million. It was sold to a real estate fund from Credit Suisse.
The transaction, I mean, you don't even see the full cash coming from that transaction in the third quarter, but it will come in the fourth quarter. Our policy to focus on warehouses still going on. We still have some things in our portfolio. We just sold another, you know, plaza for BRL 20 million, and this will be materialized in the fourth quarter of this year. Things are in progress. We are not in a hurry. You will see some moves in that direction. What we are pursuing, Motta, is that we want to follow our growth plan and also to maintain the stability of our net debt throughout next year. As things are happening, we then proceed with recycling.
Certainly, you may see in a quarter or another some variations of our net debt, but the trend is that by 2023 it will be a lot more stable due to recycling.
I mean, now. This is André now. In terms of the debt, whenever we talk about FFO and the margin is a bit under pressure right now. I mean, there is a big weight in terms of interest rate, and this should become better going forward because we believe that the interest rate should be a bit lower coming next year. The margins are 35%-40%, but we will certainly, I mean, throw that margin back to 45%. I mean, it's 45%-50% because of the interest rate. Now, in terms of the debt, the trend is that we will have more stability in terms of our net debt.
The main KPIs we have today, I mean, net debt over EBITDA, the leverage will be around 2 x. This is a very important KPI for us because our growth plan will be based on recycling, and we've been demonstrating great quality in recycling despite more complex moments as the ones we faced in the last quarters, in the past quarters. Another important information is that when we look at net debt vis-à-vis the PL, I mean, and our LTV will be 35%-40% at the most. Therefore, in terms of net debt and the leverage level, we will maintain stability during the conclusion of our growth cycle, meaning, you know, along the next 2.5 years.
Perfect. It's very clear. Thank you very much.
Our next question is from Mr. Steve Lam from Goldman Sachs. Your microphone is on. Hello.
My question is about different leverage scenarios of the company. Taking into account everything that could happen, I mean, how do you see your leverage by the end of next year or a more extreme scenario where you wouldn't be able to have any recycling?
Steve, let me start by saying that recycling will happen. We will therefore move on with our growth plan by recycling our assets. As a consequence, net debt will remain stable throughout that period, as I said before. Therefore, this is a landscape that we anticipate for next year. Therefore, any possible change in terms of net debt stabilization that is not contemplated in our growth plan. This is our strategy for the coming year.
I got it. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Mr. Antonio Castrucci from Santander. Your microphone is already available.
Thank you.
I have a question related to your maturity schedule that is quite high for the next 12 months for new contracts. How do you see the outlook of spreads for these negotiations? Or you still maintain IPCA, you know, -4%. How can you compare these transactions to that rental per square meter, you know, considering BRL 20 per sq m?
Antonio, thank you for your question. This is Sérgio. Antonio, this dynamic will depend on the geography, on the region. What we've been seeing that in the third quarter we were able to renew 100% of our lease agreements. In the fourth quarter we anticipate something very close to that. We don't see anything new. Therefore, we were able to to renew at an above inflation in the third quarter. Again, every geography has a different dynamic.
It's different for me to really tell you what will be the lease spread for the next contracts that are about to mature.
Okay, perfect. Thank you.
As a reminder, for questions, just click in the Q&A icon stating your name and company. Once your name is called out, you will get a pop-up to activate your microphone. You can go ahead, activate your microphone and ask your question. The Q&A session is now concluded. I will turn the floor back to Sérgio for his final remarks.
Thank you so much for your questions. Thank you for joining us today. I would like to say that our growth plan is moving at full force, and we will focus on pursuing this plan and serve our demanding clients all over the country. This will be funded through recycling. This is our plan.
We have a lot of liquidity to continue pursuing this model. We have a lot of things in progress. As I said before, we will stabilize the net debt of the company as the company grows. This will be funded through these recycling projects. This is what we have for today. Thank you so very much, and have a good day.
LOG's video conference is now concluded. If you have further questions, please submit your questions to the IR department of the company, ir@logcp.com.br. Thank you so much for participating, and have a very good day.