BRF - Earnings Call - Q1 2025

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our BRF Earnings Conference Call regarding the results of the first quarter of 2025. This conference is being recorded, and the replay can be checked on the website of the company. The presentation is also available for download. Right now, all the participants are connected as listeners, and we will start our Q&A session when more instruction will be provided. Before continuing, I would like to say that the prospective information has the basis, the beliefs, and the administration of BRF, and the current information for the company. These declarations can involve risks and uncertainties. Bear in mind that we talk about future events; therefore, depend on circumstances that can or not occur.

Investors, analysts, and journalists should take into account that events connected to the macroeconomic environment, to the segment, and other factors can make the results be materially different compared to the ones that are expressed in the prospective declarations. Here in this conference, we have Mr. Miguel Gularte, the CEO, and Fabio Mariano, the CFO. I would like now to pass the floor over to Mr. Miguel, who will start the presentation. Please, Mr. Miguel, you can proceed.

Miguel Gularte (CEO)

Good morning. I'd like to thank everyone for joining our first quarter 2025 earnings conference call. We started the year delivering another consistent quarter with solid results and continued progress on our journey toward greater efficiency and growth.

We reported a profit of BRL 1.2 billion, twice as much as the same period last year, and our net revenue reached BRL 15.5 billion, a 16% increase compared to the first quarter of 2024. The performance we'll be discussing today marks the best first quarter in BRF's trajectory. Our BRF+ program delivered BRL 305 million in efficiency gains during the period and remains a key driver of continuous improvement across all work streams. Efficient management enabled growth through performance improvements, higher utilization of our current assets, allowing us to lay the groundwork for sustainable growth, always with financial discipline and focus on generating value for our shareholders. I now invite our CFO, Fabio Mariano, to present the quarterly results in detail, and I'll return afterwards for closing remarks on today's presentation.

Fabio Mariano (CFO)

Good morning to everyone connected.

On the first page, I'll highlight the main financial indicators for the first quarter of 2025, starting with the net revenue, which reached BRL 15.5 billion, 16% higher than in the same period in 2024. EBITDA was BRL 2.8 billion. The best results in our history for a first quarter, 30% higher than the previous year's performance, contributing to a net profit of BRL 1.2 billion in the period, double the first quarter of 2024. Free cash flow performance was approximately BRL 1.3 billion, or BRL 1.8 billion if we eliminate the effect of the acquisition of Addoha Poultry in Saudi Arabia in partnership with PIF. Ending the slide with leverage, we reached 0.54x EBITDA in the last 12 months, with the lowest leverage in history. The next slide on page four on the left shows the historical evolution of gross profit with profitability of 26.3% in the period.

We reported a gross profit of more than BRL 4 billion. On the right, we can see the evolution of EBITDA and margins showing stability in operating results. We will now present the performance by market business segment. Starting with Brazil, we continue to evolve progressively. We achieved an EBITDA margin of 17.1%, volume growth, especially in processed categories, and the contribution of fresh cuts to domestic market margins. On the next page, number six, we emphasize our journey of continuous evolution in commercial execution, reflected in greater numerical distribution and new points of sale served. We also see greater adherence to suggested price and a lower historical level of FIFO discounts associated with the useful life of products. Service levels are still at optimum levels despite the significant improvements in volumes.

We remain attentive to our consumers' needs, and in the frozen food category, especially in ready meals, we launched new items in the meal menu line from Perdigão and hot bowls from Sadia. We also promoted new campaigns and sponsorships, reinforcing the brand's visibility and supporting our consumers' reference. Now, on the next page, we present the international market. We saw healthy margins in the segment with contribution of geographical diversification and new export permits. EBITDA margin exceeded 19% in the quarter. On the next slide, we highlight the announcement of the construction of the new processed products plant in Saudi Arabia and the growth in volume driven by Ramadan, with an emphasis of gaining market share in processed products.

In Turkey, we continue to focus on increasing the contribution of sales and processed products, which represent around 25% share, helping to mitigate the effects of the greater local supply of fresh chicken. We maintain our market share leadership with Sadia and Banvit brands in their respective markets. On the right, I present the highlights of the direct export segment. We expanded our business alternatives with 12 new permits in 2025, helping to maximize prices. There have already been 187 new export permits since 2022. Recently, we completed the acquisition of the processed food plant in China, reinforcing our strategy of added value and local presence. We also highlight the progress made in processed products in Chile and the extension of portfolio with the launch of the Sadia hamburger, which marks the first in the beef category.

I'll end the presentation of the business segments on the next slide with the performance of Ingredients and Pet. The segment reported BRL 76 million in EBITDA, and Pet would improve the process by implementing SAP, strengthening the controls and management teams, which allowed us to improve the mapping of the BRF+ Pet levers. In Ingredients, we continue to diversify our products and markets. Next, I'll share the progress of our efficiency program and also growth, presenting in a base 100. On the left, you can see the annual evolution of the feed conversion and yield indicators for poultry and pigs for relevant catches. On the right, we have introduced gains in factory occupancy and volume sold. We have significantly increased volume since 2022.

On page 12, we consolidate the following sustainability highlights: ESG, consecutive participation in the ISE and carbon efficiency index portfolios, excellent position in the FAIRR ranking among chicken and pork producers, and also in global animal welfare rankings. We published the 2024 report incorporating our progress in economic, social, and environmental terms. Lastly, we celebrated 13 years of the BRF Institute with the mobilization of more than 40,000 volunteers and social actions carried out in 70 cities. We now present on page 14 the information related to companies' capital structure. On the chart on the left, we show the decline in net debt and leverage. On the right, we can see the debt profile, which remains diversified and long, with no concentration of repayments in the short term and a fairly comfortable liquidity position. The next slide, it shows the free cash flow.

The graph shows the operating cash flow for the quarter of BRL 3.6 billion and an investment flow of BRL 1.5 billion, including the acquisition of Addoha, and a financial flow of BRL 500 million, resulting in a free cash flow of BRL 1.3 billion. On slide 16, we can analyze the involution of net debt in the last period. We report the net debt of BRL 6 billion after return on equity versus BRL 8.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024. The reduction in loans will continue to contribute to lower interest charges in 2025. I would like to thank the audience and then give the floor to our CEO, Miguel Gularte, for his closing remarks.

Miguel Gularte (CEO)

Thank you, Fabio. To wrap up our earnings presentation, I'd like to highlight that we delivered a record first quarter EBITDA of BRL 2.8 billion.

Our investments, sustainable growth, and financial discipline allowed us to reach the lowest leverage in BRF's history at 0.64x. Our BRF+ program is still evolving, keeping the company's key indicators at healthy levels. This quarter, standout metrics included yield, feed conversion, and service level in Brazil. I would like to highlight the progress of our commercial execution, which has been key to strengthening the presence of our products at more points of sale across Brazil. Additionally, we posted the highest historical growth in volume sold for a first quarter, with highlights in processed products and strong margin contributions for our fresh category. Our performance in international markets was supported by our ongoing market diversification and global expansion strategy, which drove both healthy profitability and volume growth. This quarter, we secured 12 new export approvals, bringing the total to 187 since 2022.

Our brands remain market leaders in the Middle East, with Sadia across GCC countries and Banvit in Turkey. Besides that, our operation in Southern Cone continues to grow steadily, with a notable milestone in Chile, where Sadia entered the burger category. Our global growth and presence strategy is already gaining traction in the first few months of 2025. We concluded the acquisition of processed food plant in Henan, China, and acquired a 26% stake in Addoha Poultry Company in Saudi Arabia. We also announced the beginning of the construction of a new processed food plant in Jeddah, also in Saudi Arabia, which will boost our regional presence with a focus on higher value-added products. It's important to emphasize that none of these figures would be possible without our people. I would like to acknowledge the progress in employee engagement reflected in the global survey we conducted in the first quarter.

We reached an employee satisfaction score of 89%, a 4 percentage point increase compared to 2024, keeping us above performance benchmark and reflecting BRF commitment to best-in-class management practice, a source of pride for all of us. All these factors strengthen confidence in BRF and its growth journey, led by our Chairman and controlling shareholder, Marcos Molina, who has been guiding the company's transformation for over three years with a strategy focused on operational efficiency, innovation, and global presence. I also want to thank our shareholders and the board of directors for their support along this journey. Our sincere thanks to our customers, integrators, producers, suppliers, and communities where we operate for their strong partnership. Finally, a heartfelt thank you to BRF's more than 1,000 employees for the outstanding quarter we delivered together.

We remain focused on building a company that stands out in the market and we are proud to be part of. Thank you all very much.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. We will start now our Q&A session for investors and analysts. In case you want to make a question, please click on the button and raise a hand. If your question was answered, you can leave the line clicking on the same button again. Wait while we collect the questions.

Our first question is from Henrique Brustolin from Bradesco BBI. Your microphone is open.

Henrique Brustolin (Analyst)

Good morning, Miguel. Fabio, thank you for taking my questions. Two points that I would like to explore together with you. The first, we talked a little bit about in the call with Marfrig from the incorporation, the Avian flu. We saw the news coming out, the communication news from China closing the market for 60 days.

What I would like to hear from you is that we saw over the last few years, Brazil implementing several protocols of regionalization, bilateral agreements, very specific in some cases of Avian flu in not in commercial poultry farms, but things that were negotiated. What I would like to hear a little bit, the points that you see with more attention when we think maybe about the large markets, what possibly do you have in terms of agreement, regionalization to bring more comfort that should happen? What is a little bit more in doubt depending on the importing market so we can map out the scenario a little bit? This is the first point. The second, I would like to hear from you a little bit about growth also in the context of the incorporation. We mentioned clearly BRF seems to be a growth vehicle.

Your movements over the past few months make it really clear. I would like to hear what else you have seen in terms of opportunities and where you're heading and aiming at, and you want to continue advancing and moving forward in terms of growth, not only organically and also inorganically, that's been happening. These two points, thank you.

Miguel Gularte (CEO)

Henrique, the Ministry of Agriculture, with Ordinance 785, created the communication with regionalization of sanitary for the municipality of Montenegro with this focus of Avian flu. In the first moment, the ministry regionalizes through communication and makes a communication for the World Animal Health Organization. In this first measure, preventive closing of some markets, the case of China, as you mentioned. As the documents move between the countries and the information flows, you see the regionalization.

I would like to remind you that in the case of Newcastle disease, China did the same thing. It closed Brazil, and then it closed around the Rio Grande do Sul, the municipality. The period that we just had, we had in Newcastle last year is that the regionalization from the disease was forecast in several countries: Saudi Arabia, Chile, Armenia, Bosnia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Egypt, Philippines, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Jordan, Macedonia, Mauritius Islands, several other countries, Thailand, Ukraine. All these countries have regionalization forecast in the first moment. We are going to see as time passes and information flows, we are going to have two situations. Some countries where regionalization is already forecast as applying the rule is limited to 10 km radius in other countries working with aspects of states. This is going to be clearer in the next coming days.

There are some countries that are going to close Brazil in the first moment. In the second moment, study the status as a focus of the county municipality. All this is going to move forward. We have, in terms of experiences, that last year, the process was really fast of limiting the radius and determining the focus, the outbreak in one region. We at BRF, we've been working very much in the past few years in the sense of having contingency plans. We have a contingency plan that forecasts alternative markets. We have 187 new permits in the past three years that we're going to transit with product. We also have, we've been taking care of that very closely in keeping strategic inventories in regions where we have distribution. This allows two types of situations.

First, you keep the clients supplied, and in the second moment, you precified your product better and mitigate a little bit of the cost because of some temporary closings. We are working on that. It is too early to say anything, but we are aware that the country has a biosafety that is really strong, a credibility and concept and reputation that is really strong, and we can transit this situation. We hope to be very fast and agile to move, and it is going to be difficult, but I am confident that we are going to make it right and very fast if the markets that are closed are going to be resumed. I will give to Fabio to answer the second part.

Fabio Mariano (CFO)

Good morning, Henrique. You asked about growth. Before looking ahead, I would just like to recover a little bit of the history.

We are reporting a growth of revenue growth in the quarter equivalent to 16% in the annual comparison. When we look at Brazil, the growth is even bigger, 20%. This time is very much directed to volumes. This is important because it shows that it's something that we had already been disclosing. Our intent to occupy better our industrial assets. We see many of the production lines, especially those aligned to processed product, that there is a demand forecasted, and we would have to invest to be able to address that. We already have investments projected, most of them already approved and started the execution. When they reach maturity, that means the facilities are finished and gradually volumes are flowing to the results of the company. We can then at maturity reach an additional growth of 3%-5%.

This is the motive of the company, what we've been calling the new chapter. We are directed to this growth, and it has to be oriented to volume growth, not only in the precification equation of products, but from the inorganic perspective, we have been already disclosing all these transactions that make sense strategically with this potential of adding more value to our portfolio. The business combination also is more anchoring this process to happen the way we imagine it should happen.

Henrique Brustolin (Analyst)

Great. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Our next question is from Leonardo Alencar. Your mic is open.

Leonardo Alencar (Analyst)

Good morning. Thank you so much for the result. I know that there are many things that have been discussed. I would like to focus on this a little bit, thinking of the bird flu, right? Maybe we can take a look at the next steps.

I believe that it tends to be smaller than what the market was predicting at first, and I think that the fusion was discussed on the last call. Considering that we are pretty much on the half of the second quarter and the first quarter was atypical, let's put it like that, considering the seasonality of consumption in Brazil, we know that they press lots of margin. I know that you have a difference in terms of mix changing from one quarter to another, but the sequencing price is high, right? When we think of mix, we could have a drop in that. If you could comment a little bit, first of all, the domestic demand, right? How are you seeing this, right? Considering that the production is still enhancing, right?

All the other accounts that we have, I believe that we still have a very healthy read in terms of domestic demand. Maybe if you could talk a little bit about that and considering the continuity of the scenario. When it comes to exports, maybe you could go back to a topic that was discussed before the Avian flu, which has to do with the tariff. The market really reacted to the higher cost in the United States, eventually exporting less to some countries, some prices that were higher. China, we've seen some prices increasing. If you could provide us with a general view of this market, what are some of the possibilities for the second quarter? If you could share some of these details, I would like that a lot.

Miguel Gularte (CEO)

Okay.

On the fourth quarter, it's something that we saw on the first quarter of 2025. We saw a supply and an offer and demand that was extremely balanced on a market with possibilities of keep demanding and accepting the repositioning of prices. We had a price increase on the first week of January of 2025, and this went very well. With these adjusted prices adapted to our cost, we were able to experiment with the increase of volume. This is something that was part of our predictions. Another important aspect when we analyze BRF, we see BRF going about their homework, let's put it that way. They increase the productivity of the plants. They improve their commercial service, considering their logistic process. All that allows that considering a heated demand, the company can make use of this performance to grow and to meet our customers' needs.

What we've seen, right? We are in the second month of the quarter, we see this demand and price dynamic, and it's still absolutely balanced. The demand is still very active. The pricing capacity is also there. We see this price demand that goes from one quarter to now. It looks very similar to what we saw in the first quarter. We are still focusing on enhancing our penetration and capillarity and client activation. We see a quarter when it comes to the demand standpoint, when it comes to the domestic market, of course, right? It seems to be very similar to what we saw in the first quarter. When we talk about exports, we can see that rather depressed price in some markets that we've experimented on the second month of the first quarter is now being reverted.

There are some geographies that are pricing their imported goods better. Speaking about the tariffs, if you analyze the price track record and volume track record of markets, you clearly see that so far we have not seen a big impact in terms of tariffs when it comes to price demand. If you think of China volume, it is still very stable. If you get China month to month, it is very stable. We do not have a volume increase or a decrease of volume. There is no price variation as well. I believe that we are seeing a stability. I do not see this varying that much. When you take a look at the feed stock, right, protein or the cattle protein, right, it is back to stability. Nowadays, we have a very good stability. We see the scenario without alteration, at least when it comes to the short term.

Leonardo Alencar (Analyst)

Okay. It is very clear, Miguel.

Thank you so much.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Guilherme Palhares from Santander. Mr. Palhares, your microphone is open.

Guilherme Palhares (Analyst)

Good morning, Miguel, Fabio, everybody. Two brief questions. I'd like to take the prior question about exportation and take the opportunity that we had two questions about the deals of Saudi Arabia. I'd like to hear a little bit more of your perspective with this acquisition. Now starting the operation there, it's a market that obviously in this consolidation stage and the vision of 2030. I'd like to hear from you your perspective in the sense. Another point, Miguel, you mentioned about efficiency, and we've had it for the BRF+ two years.

If you could share with us today, given this need of a little bit more investment, where we are in terms of capability usage and processing and poultry farms, and if there is a bigger need, what is in transformation, then an increase of volume. Thank you.

Miguel Gularte (CEO)

Guilherme, answering the first part of your question, we see the investments that we have made, they are perfectly aligned with the demand and opportunities, market opportunities. If you look at the SECEX bulletin to the first quarter of 2025, you've seen performing exportation above Asia, 151,000 tons average month, and against 136,900 in Asia. We have MENA working, operating well in terms of demand.

We opened yesterday our Henan plant in China, extremely modern plant with the capacity production that is very high, over 80,000 tons, allowing us to use the place and use the commercial opportunities that are going to come up very much aligned. We already have a process and agreement to supply major networks of local fast food. This is going to work anchoring production and profitability for the company in the mid and short term. On the other hand, we are going to open next year the Jeddah plant. This plant is extremely modern that is going to work as a productive hub for the region, allowing BRF to capitalize and also capitalize the Sadia brand, extremely reputed and distinct in the region. We follow and continue doing, I understand we have made excellent choice. We continue doing that, and this allows us to take these opportunities.

In the first moment, we have had a major focus on the organic growth, CapEx of enjoying these bottlenecks that we had in production. This is starting to be behind. The company has the capacity to grow organically in the pipeline. We already have strategic investments that are going to allow us the trail. The growth trail is constant and consistent. The company continues performing and taking opportunities. As I said in the prior answers, when you have 187 new permits, all this productive effort and plant effort turns into business opportunities that you capture. We still have opportunities that are anchored in a solid performance in the local market. Our leadership with the strong brands in Brazil service has a very tangible base to project good growth for the company.

Fabio Mariano (CFO)

Hi, Guilherme. I'm going to add to the second part of the question.

You mentioned efficiency, and we reported in this quarter over BRL 300 million in capturing additional captures. You are correct. We've been talking about this topic about efficiency over quite a few years. What I have to tell you is that in the company, we're not happy yet with the results. We are happy with what we have obtained so far, but we still see opportunities. We see in some of our locations, we have room so we can evolve even better with the field indicators, with industry indicators, yielding, even the commercial relationship. We see room for improvement in execution. This is also valid for logistics service levels. This is going to continue being a journey to be trailed for continuous improvement. We have also mentioned in the call about volume expansion. This has allowed us to speed up the idle parts in our factories.

We are investing in capacity. It is important to report that we have capacity to grow without major investments. We have to think in the mid and long run. For that, we have an oriented plan for three, four years. We have been in some lines, and the demand is going to go over our capacity. Talk about some investments. Some of them have been approved and are under execution. From there on, in addition to the growth plans that we have in the company, this is going to add additional capacity between 3%-5% when this project reaches maturity. The motto for growth does not mean that we are not going to be guided, focused on, and allocate resources that are unproportional in the growth journey, in the efficiency journey. Sorry. This continues as one of the pillars for the strategy of the company.

Guilherme Palhares (Analyst)

Perfect, Fabio. If you could clarify a little bit, 3%-5%, you comment we're talking about Plantel or necessarily this is only volume because you could have an improvement in mortality and other questions involved.

Fabio Mariano (CFO)

I'm talking about finished product, which is already a consequence of Plantel in the field of its capacity of slaughtering and post-industrialization.

Guilherme Palhares (Analyst)

Thank you. Perfect. Thank you, Fabio, Miguel.

Miguel Gularte (CEO)

Thank you.

Operator (participant)

Thank you. The Q&A session, the teleconference of BRF is finished. We thank all of you for your participation. Have a wonderful day.