Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Bioceres Crop Solutions Fiscal Third Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Maximo Goya, Head of Investor Relations at Bioceres. Please go ahead. Máximo Goya: Thank you. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. Presenting during today's call will be Federico Trucco, Bioceres Chief Executive Officer; and Enrique López Lecube, our Chief Financial Officer. Both will be available for the Q&A session. Before we proceed, I would like to make the following safe harbor statement. Today's call will contain forward-looking statements, and I refer you to the forward-looking statements section of today's earnings release and presentation as well as our recent filings with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new or changed events or circumstances. Also, please note that for comparison purposes and a better understanding of our company's underlying performance in addition to discussing as reported results, during our presentation today, we will discuss comparable results that exclude the impact of hyperinflation accounting in Argentina. Additional information in connection with the application of rule IAS 29 can be found in our earnings report. I would now like to turn the call over to our CEO, Federico Trucco.

Thank you, Maximo. Hello, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. We trust you are managing to stay safe during these difficult times, times that help us reflect perhaps like never before on how privileged we are as an industry. COVID-19-related disruption to agriculture in general and to the ag-inputs sector, in particular, has been minimal, if anything, and today's earnings report is a testament to the resiliency of our business. But before we dive into the specifics of this quarter's performance, it is the sentiment of our main shareholders, our Board and executive team that with privilege comes great responsibility. The priorities that we choose during these challenging times will define our organization for years to come. In this context, safety always comes first. And to that end, we are now entering the second month of travel restrictions and stay-at-home measures company-wide, which have helped us protect our personnel, our families and our communities alike. For more information about these and other risk mitigation procedures we have implemented, please refer to today's earnings press release. Secondly, we have been able to maintain optimal business operations and serve our customers in a timely and flexible manner, allowing us to deliver the quarterly growth that we are currently reporting. Beginning our presentation, I will provide a brief overview of the main highlights of the quarter. Enrique will follow me with a detailed review of our third quarter financial results. Focusing first on Bioceres' top line, solid growth across our key product lines drove comparable revenues 9% higher during the quarter despite temporary concerns among growers about the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed sales late in the quarter. The growth we delivered was particularly gratifying as the third quarter is a seasonally slow one. Deeper penetration in international markets, such as Brazil and…

Thanks, Enrique. Turning to the next slide and looking ahead. We will continue to focus on the execution of our HB4 program initiatives, which include the planting of up to 12,000 hectares of EcoWheat in the coming months and defining the final acreage for the next cycle of EcoSoy seed point application. At the same time, we will accelerate breeding, production and licensing initiatives directed at the U.S. and the Brazilian markets. We will also continue to execute our baseline business strongly, protecting our leading position in Argentina and further penetrating international markets with our next-generation solutions. Finally, with a stronger balance sheet, we'll maintain an opportunistic but judicious approach towards capital allocation opportunities that can help us further accelerate our business objectives. I will now pass the call to the operator to open up for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Ben Klieve with National Securities.

All right. First, Enrique, a question about the capital structure. So with the convertible note now completed, is your transition away from these -- from the various inefficient debt sources now complete? Or do those remain on your balance sheet either as of the end of the fiscal quarter or as of today? Enrique López Lecube: Ben, thanks for joining us, and good to have you today on the call. So yes, about the capital structure. One thing to bear in mind is that the capital raise through the convertible note came into the balance sheet late in the quarter. So everything that is related to improving financial costs from discontinuing inefficient sources of capital has been done with funds generated by the operation. Now as we go forward, there will be a process through which we will start getting rid of these inefficient sources of capital, and that should continue to improve our financial expenses line.

Got it. Okay. Turning over to HB4. Federico, you described the low end and high end of the inventory build range for next year of of 20,000 to 60,000 hectares, which is a big range. And you described a number of considerations that go into that range, but I'm curious if you can kind of break down how much of that range is due to agronomic performance versus the -- kind of the ability to market the seed and secure growers. What kind of -- how does that range break down between those 2 kind of broad considerations?

Ben, it's great to have you in the call, as Enrique said, and thanks a lot for the questions. So let me first say that regarding the range, we had shown interest from farmers that exceeds the maximum number of hectares by almost tenfold. So if we needed to do like 0.5 million hectares, we have enough farmers sign up to do that. So from a technology's appetite perspective, this is not an issue. Now we're harvesting today 3,000 hectares that will provide the materials with which we will plant these 20,000 to 60,000 hectares. And we're doing this with a small number of varieties that come from our early efforts in the breeding program. So having said that, the #1 consideration in terms of how fast we go or how many hectares we put into the next cycle will depend on the performance that we see in the field and making sure we're moving forward with the right materials. And some of these materials are not properly adapted. So we might not be able to cease every region with this limited number of variety. So that's creating an initial bottleneck, if you will, that we will take into consideration once all the data is collected, and that will happen in the next 2 to 3 weeks. The second aspect is that we need to have good quality seed. And in some areas, the production might have been affected by weather events, and that can affect the quality of the seed. We anticipate that to be a lesser problem, if you will. But if these 2 things check, we could do 60,000 hectares. If these things don't check fully, we'll be somewhere in between. We wanted to provide an indication. Remember that any of the 2 scenarios in the upcoming season, which will be planted in August to November -- December, should allow us to do a very significant launch in the following season in sort of the 20 -- fiscal year 2022, which is next year for us in the next summer season of plantings.

Got it. Perfect. Yes, that was helpful. And I apologize if you mentioned that ten -- the tenfold number in your prepared remarks and I missed it. I apologize for that, but that was helpful. Just a couple of quick questions on the quarter, and then I'll jump back into queue. First, on the fertilizer business, you discussed the delayed purchases given kind of broad uncertainty around COVID-19. My question here is, were these delayed purchases that were -- that may get rolled into the fourth quarter here? Or were these delayed purchases for in advance of next growing season?

So Ben, what you have to see is that the current quarter will report the preseason purchases, so farmers that come to the market in an anticipated way to take advantage of promotions and sort of get prepared for the next plantings. So that is what got delayed. So these purchases that are often done preseason, we expect them to occur in season, which is in the current quarter. So it should be a phasing issue regarding that late quarter COVID-19 uncertainty. I don't know, Enrique, if you want to add anything to this. Enrique López Lecube: No. It's absolutely like that. There's usually a preseason sales campaign that is not only us, but some competitors do it as well. And obviously, in the context of uncertain event, as Federico said, the people were not willing to sort of preinvest in the ag-inputs they need for the winter planting season. So there's a very good chance that we're going to see those sales happening in the fourth quarter.

Got it. Got it. Perfect. Last one for me. With regards to the performance of the seed segment this quarter, this segment has kind of flown under the radar, if you will. But this quarter, I mean those numbers are pretty remarkable. To what degree do you think the performance that you saw in the third quarter is kind of a one-off result? Or do you think that this segment, in advance of HB4, is kind of positioned to see this kind of growth going forward? Enrique López Lecube: No. Look, what I think, Ben, is that there were some onetime factors that affected positively and negatively. So on the micro-beaded fertilizer end, we had a lower-than-expected sort of preseason sales campaign, but that was offset by the outstanding performance in Europe, in France. Now when you look at France, the good news for us is that we've been doing commercial work over there for years now. And Europe is a market where you see that there's going to be a shift from chemical products into biological products that is increasing. And so we were positioning ourselves in that market. Now the outstanding performance this quarter has to do with the fact that there was a seed shortage for corn and sunflower and therefore, soybeans saw increased acreage. That is a onetimer. I don't think it's going to be the new normal, if you will. But the good news for us was that we were ready to capture that opportunity. And as biologicals further penetrate that market, we're going to be there. But -- so to summarize, there was a onetimer positive that was Europe, and there was a negative onetimer that was the low preseason sales of micro-beaded fertilizers. So to me the growth that we experienced is in line with what we think that we can do with our baseline business going forward.

Next question comes from Sally Yanchus with Brookline Capital.

I just want to confirm, you do expect the Crop Nutrition to recover some in this fourth quarter? Enrique López Lecube: Sally, great to have you on the call. Thanks for the question. Yes, there's a very good chance that we could recover those sales in the quarter if things go smoothly and normally, being -- has been so far a good season for wheat and barley planting in Argentina, which is probably the main market for winter crops in Southern Cone. So we have good expectations on what can be done with the selling of micro-beaded fertilizers for winter planting.

Okay. And in terms of just the overall product line, are you still selling in North America? I mean -- or did you have any North American sales this quarter? Enrique López Lecube: Yes. Yes. And actually, honestly, that business is still small, but we have as well a strong focus on the U.S. Federico can probably expand more on that. But in particular, even being a small business, we had a good performance with inoculant sales in the U.S. this quarter. It was slightly, if you will, left on a second place by what happened in Europe, but it was a good selling quarter for our U.S. subsidiary as well.

Okay. And then do you have any update -- oh go ahead. Go ahead.

Sally, this is Federico. It's great to have you in the call. I was just going to add to Enrique that, obviously, the U.S. keeps still a very important focal point for us, and we are actively trying to consolidate that market from a biologicals perspective as well as a seed opportunity perspective. One thing that we mentioned briefly during the call was our ability now to move some of our products internationally via Syngenta, particularly our biofungicide in Europe that we believe will help us keep European performance up and not just the onetimer that we saw this quarter as we see a transition towards biological products for Crop Protection solutions, and that should also be true in the U.S.

Okay. And then do you have any update on the status of China's approval or acceptance of EcoSoy?

Well, thanks for that question as well. We have indicated in the press release that we're currently reviewing our earlier guidance on China. And that is mostly driven by the COVID-19 situation and what that might have done to the bureaucracy in countries that is required to move regulatory processes forward. We have unofficially -- we have unofficial word that things are moving as planned. So that is probably good news, but we have not been able to corroborate that officially in an official manner. So that is as much as I can tell you from China right now.

[Operator Instructions] At this time, we do not have any questions. I will turn the call over to Mr. Trucco for closing remarks.

Thanks, operator, and thank you again for joining us today. As always, we appreciate your interest in Bioceres. Leaving numbers aside for my last comment, I would like to conclude by saying that we're now operating under a new reality, no, somewhat of a new normal in which we have the opportunity and privilege to act also as a helping hand, a helping hand for our employees and suppliers as we provide a source of stability in times of great anguish; a helping hand to our customers as we help them travel through logistical problems and avoid delays, particularly when they're harvesting their crops; a helping hand to our communities as we anticipate purchases to small businesses that have seen a total collapse in their incomes or help the local hospital procure protection equipment for health professionals standing in the front lines. And we do these not out of charity, we do these because we feel is the best use of our capital these days, an investment from which we'll profit many times over in the future. And I wanted to share these thoughts with the audience today here in the call. With that, I would like to close and say that we wish you stay safe, and obviously, enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you very much.

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.