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Cresud Sociedad Anónima, Comercial, Inmobiliaria, Financiera y Agropecuaria (CRESY)

Q3 2023 Earnings Call· Tue, May 16, 2023

$11.25

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Transcript

Santiago Donato

Management

Good morning, everyone. I'm Santiago Donato, Investor Relations Officer of Cresud and I welcome you to the third quarter of fiscal year 2023 Results Conference Call. First of all, I would like to remind you that both audio and slide show may be accessed through company's Investor Relations website at www.cresud.com.ar by clicking on the banner webcast link. The following presentation and the earnings release are also available for download on the company website. After management remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session for analyst and investors. If you want to make a question, please click the button labeled to raise hand or use the chat. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this call is being recorded. All the information discussed today may include forward-looking statements regarding the company's financial and operating performance. All projections are subject to risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially. Please refer to the detailed note in the company's earnings release regarding forward-looking statements. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Alejandro Elsztain, CEO. Please go ahead sir.

Alejandro Elsztain

CEO

Thank you very much, Santi. We are beginning now the third quarter results and we can see in the page number two that the company's record planted area in the region combining the four countries, combining between the ones that we own, the ones that we lease and the ones that we lease to third-party tools, we have like 28,000 by 10% of the funds that we rent generally with the mission of bringing clients, giving some stability at the beginning of development of farms and bringing clients to the selling to the real estate part of the company. Related to the campaign progress, we have this year more mixed conditions than last year. Last year was a big increase on the prices and some good deals. But this year, there is prices we could say that they are sustained and all of them soybean, corn and some of the sugar cane. But the high cost pressure that we suffer from the very beginning, mainly explained by the fertilizers and some other input costs, make margins to decrease. And finally, the adverse climate conditions is affecting the yields on the region, mainly Argentina, the one more affected is Argentina for sure and we're going to show you a little later. This separate growth in Argentina, biggest of the -- I think from my history more than 30 years of Cresud, but it's really to see something like this is long term in Argentina is in part in the crop yields, but not only winter crops, regarding with the wheat and barley later came to soybeans and corn, affecting a lot the yields of the country and some of Cresud. In the case of Argentina, there is a recovery that is going to come in the future, because there's a new…

Alejandro Elsztain

CEO

This is probably when we show that those are real dollars, when we show the price of Argentina land of around $14000 or $15000. The hectares is always on a real dollar but its farmland in Argentina. That is the corn belts. Cresud owns farms across Argentina and most of marginal areas in the north. So in general marginal areas follows the corn belt in terms of prices – real dollars. Matías Gaivironsky: Yes, like all real estate and farming real estate in Argentina, everything is quote in real dollars than pesos but we always fix prices thinking in real dollars.

Santiago Donato

Management

And he asked as well, also your farmland sales were in Brazil, if you can indicate an outlook for Argentina farmland prices and possible sales in the near future.

Alejandro Elsztain

CEO

Yes there are some possibilities of transactions in Argentina. Prices are not decreasing so much, as we would be thinking because of the exchange rate difference between the board and the official. Really from the top prices of the corn belts in the few years ago that was at $18,000, today you're talking about $14000, $15000. So there was a drop to the peak. What happened in the last of Argentina was didn't follow the trends that US and Brazil and other areas of the world increased dramatically this year. So – but still there are not a big drop to the highest cost prices a few years ago. And the – what we expect is probably next government. I'm not sure what will be the election or who will be the candidate, but how will be the measures related to dollars and taxes on exports but we are expecting some decrease on the gap of the $2 and maybe the decrease on time in the taxes on exports too. We expect as farmers, this is different to the farmers of US and Brazil are really damaging a lot farmers of Argentina. And so we are expecting that to be an decrease on time. And if that is the case, price of the land of Argentina will grow a lot because today they have been prices of Argentina corn belt to the other areas we provide the highest of the history.

Santiago Donato

Management

Thank you. We have next question come from Shores Wurman . When can ADR investors expect to receive the cash and stock dividend? Matías Gaivironsky: Well, we already are working with Bank of New York as a trustee of our ADR program. We hope, at least that will take 10 days. So since Bank of New York fixed the record day, the payment will be 10 days later. So we expect that the Bank of New York will fix the date probably next week. So we are working with them and the idea is to distribute as fast as possible.

Santiago Donato

Management

There is a new question on forecast for rainings in the next coming 12 months and the next campaign, what we can expect?

Alejandro Elsztain

CEO

Up to now every specialist on climate was speaking about the changing from Niña to Niño and that was represented in February, the rain would come and some came but really not the one we expected. So there is this I would say delay of the change from the Niña to Niño. If Niño comes that will make the normalization of rates in Argentina that have three years of very bad climate, this year is worse but the three were bad. So -- and if Niño comes, it's going to have more than 1,000 in the corn grains of Argentina. That's what we are expecting. So -- but today, it's not. And today, what I said at the beginning, the wheat, if it doesn't rain the next 30 days is going to be strongly affected. So we are waiting for those rains.

Santiago Donato

Management

There is one more from George Foreman , if there is plans on listing few brokerage company anytime on an exchange?

Alejandro Elsztain

CEO

We don't know. Really this company today has plenty of cash and is making really big benefits and giving good dividends. Maybe with this company will need some cash or some more if the strategy we are beginning to think and developing in Brazil will need. So maybe yes. For Argentina, I would say no, but mainly for expansion of the strategy for Brazil this company could be thinking on raising capital, because the size and the working capital the country in Brazil needs on that business probably will need that.

Santiago Donato

Management

Here new one, are you seeing any reduction in fertilizer costs?

Alejandro Elsztain

CEO

Yes, it was a big drop comparing last year to this year, like 30% of drop in prices comparing year-to-year in dollar terms. So that is helping some on the margins for next campaign, because drop of prices, but drop of input is going to have, I would say like same margin as the last year forecast -- last year budget. So really there is the impact of these inputs is going to be for the next campaign. The one that is probably more affected because of use of fertilizers is Brazil more than Argentina. Really cost of input is going down because of margins farms. This is the case.

Santiago Donato

Management

Well, we can conclude the conversation and the presentation. We thank you all. And I will turn back to Alejandro Elsztain, our CEO for his closing remarks.

Alejandro Elsztain

CEO

We are finishing the campaign. This is -- next quarter will be the last one. We spoke about the operational. I think the results finally between the combinations of our three steps, in the agriculture that they are Real Estate, Operational, Services is going to be close to budget. Really we are lucky compared to the situation of other farmers of the region. So we are expecting next campaign with this condition of a little, lower prices for the next campaign, but a lot of liquidity in the Real Estate not in Argentina, because of the situation of Argentina, but the rest of the region is really much more liquid. So we could be making more result in that portion of the company. So we are very optimistic in agriculture in the region. Brazil intends to be growing from the 280,000 hectares to keep growing, its service in the region. So thank you very much. And we see you next quarter in the final results.