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LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (LTM)

Q4 2025 Earnings Call· Wed, Feb 4, 2026

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello, and welcome, everyone, to the 4Q 2025 LATAM Airlines Group Earnings Conference Call. My name is Becky, and I will be your operator today. Before I turn the call over to management, I'd like to remind you that certain statements in this presentation and during the Q&A may relate to future events and expectations and as such, constitute forward-looking statements. Any matters discussed today that are not historical facts, particularly comments regarding the company's future plans, objectives and expected performance or guidance are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on a range of assumptions that LATAM believes are reasonable, but are subject to uncertainties and risks that are discussed in detail in the published 20-F, 2026 guidance, earnings release, financial statements and related CMF and SEC filings. The company's actual results may differ significantly from those projected or suggested and any forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, which are discussed in detail in our SEC filings. If there are any members of the press on the call, please note that this call for the media is listen only. I will now hand over to your host, Ricardo Bottas, to begin. Please go ahead.

Ricardo Dourado

Management

Hello, everyone, and good morning. Welcome to our fourth quarter 2025 conference call, and thank you all for joining us today. My name is Ricardo Bottas, and I am the CFO of LATAM Airlines Group. Here with me is Roberto Alvo, our CEO; Andres Valle, Corporate Finance Director; and Tori Creighton, Head of Investor Relations, and we will present the highlights and results for the fourth quarter and full year 2025. I will hand it over to Roberto to share his opening remarks about the quarter and year's highlights.

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

Good morning, and thank you, Ricardo. 2025 marked a year of continuous consolidation and delivery. The strong results we're presenting today are the product of a model that LATAM Group has been building over the last 6 years, anchored first in the people and the customers, focused on impeccable execution and in the design of a superior experience. All of this in the context of an ever stronger passenger cargo networks, frequent flyer program, a very strong balance sheet and cash generation, a disciplined cost delivery and a highly diversified business model, all of which make our results resilient and less much subject to external factors and industry cycles. At the heart of this performance and more than 41,000 employees working at the different affilities of the group, their daily commitment, whether at customer touch points or behind the scenes, continues to be LATAM's Group most powerful asset. The culture of passionate, engaged people translated directly into the customer experience. In 2025, the group achieved a record Net Promoter Score of 54 points, which is a 3-point increase versus 2024, the highest full year results in our history. When our people thrive, customers feel the difference. Internally, the Organizational Health Index reached 83 points, placing LATAM Group in the top decile of the global benchmark for the first time. In terms of the operations, the group transported more than 87 million passengers during the year, including 23 million passengers in the fourth quarter alone. This was boosted by a capacity increase of 8.2% for the full year and 7.7% in the quarter, demonstrating the group's ability to grow efficiently while maintaining a healthy load factor of 84.4%. This ability to connect passengers to, from and within South America was enabled by the modern and efficient fleet that the group operates.…

Ricardo Dourado

Management

Thank you, Roberto. Let's move to Slide 4. LATAM delivered a solid financial performance during the fourth quarter with improvements across all key metrics. Total revenues reached almost $4 billion, increasing 16.3% year-over-year. This growth was driven by the passenger segment, which rose 20.3%, supported by the strong demand and capacity growth. Cargo revenues declined 9.6% in the period, explained by a particular high comparison base as the fourth quarter of 2024 had delivered an exceptionally strong performance. Despite the full year cargo revenues increased year-over-year. As a result, the group delivered an adjusted EBITDAR of $1.1 billion, representing a 30.4% increase versus 4Q 2024. Adjusted operating income came in $661 million, up 42.7% year-over-year, and net income totaled $484 million, increasing 78.1% compared to the fourth quarter of last year. Margins also improved with adjusted operating margin standing out at 16.7%. This quarter, we saw an increase in unit cost ex fuel with passenger CASK ex-fuel reaching $0.047. About $0.02 of this can be explained by the appreciation of the local currencies during this period, along with another $0.02 related to the other nonrecurring costs in wages and benefits, which include a special onetime bonus approved on this last quarter. While quarterly unit costs were elevated, it's worth highlighting that full year passenger CASK ex-fuel came in at $0.044, fully within the updated guidance range for 2025 provided on last November. Importantly, this 7.9% increase in unit cost was more than offset by an even stronger improvement in unit revenue. Passenger RASK increased by 11.7%, reflecting LATAM's ability to sustain its value proposition and capture customer preference in an environment of healthy demand. Please join me on this next Slide 5 to take a deeper dive on the drivers for revenue performance across the different affiliates and business units.…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Julia Orsi from JPMorgan.

Julia Orsi

Analyst · JPMorgan

So we have 2 questions on our side. The first one is on yields. So we saw a strong pricing performance this quarter. Congratulations on that. Can you provide additional details on how yields are tracking across the regions? And the second one, based on recent trends, how is the booking curve and demand environment evolving? Is there any particular region that has been outperforming or underperforming?

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

Julia, this is Roberto. Thanks for the questions. We saw, in general, strong and stable demand over all of the business areas where we operate. In the last couple of months of the year, domestic Chile was a little bit slower as compared to particularly 2024, but at an industrial level, and you can see that on the public figures. But we have seen already a recovery in the first months of the year. So I would say that all the business performed on a relatively good basis in 2025 last quarter in the passenger segment. Cargo, it was also good. Again, as Ricardo said, a very strong basis of comparison the last quarter in 2024. It still was robust and the current appreciation of the currencies will probably increase import demand into the region in the upcoming months. Booking curve for early 2026 looks healthy. We see no issues that concern us today. And in general, all the segments are performing well. As it has happened in the past 2 or 3 years, the segment that has been growing the most is international, and this is also reflected in our capacity during 2025 and also the guidance that we provided for [indiscernible]. But in general, we see no concerns on the demand side going forward, at least for the first quarter.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Michael Linenberg from Deutsche Bank.

Michael Linenberg

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

A couple of questions here. Great way to end 2025. These are fantastic results. The when you talked about the CASK impact of 0.2% from the impact of the weak dollar. As we think about LATAM and how you have evolved your structure and the seasonality and the geography of your network, where do you come out with respect to the dollar? Is a weaker dollar overall better, even though I realize there's a cost headwind, is it just better overall for the performance of the company? And I'm just sort of in the context of the last 12 months, we've seen about a 10% depreciation of the dollar. How should we think about that on your business?

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

Michael, thanks for the question. A great question. So let me give you -- at the end of the day, for us, a stronger local currency is more positive than a weaker local currency. And this derives from, a, on the domestic markets, basically, most of our revenue is expressed in local currency or happens in local currency and a significant portion of the cost is in dollar. So domestic markets work like import industries, if you want. And in the case of international, for us, it's also beneficial because even though the countries become more expensive for traveling into the region, if you want, purchasing power for traveling abroad is higher and our point-of-sale balance is higher on our South American side than our long-haul side. So the balance that we see is that a stronger currency vis-a-vis the dollar, net of higher cost because of the same effect are net positive.

Michael Linenberg

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

Great. That's super helpful. And then I just -- I want to talk about CapEx for 2026. Last year, you took 26 airplanes. I believe this year is going to be a heavy delivery year. I know that the Embraers coming in are a big component of that. I think you're taking delivery of over 40 airplanes, 40, 41 airplanes. Can you just refresh us and how we should think about CapEx in 2026?

Ricardo Dourado

Management

Michael, it's Ricardo. And you are right. We are expecting to receive 41 aircraft and the CapEx is $1.7 billion net of financing. Remember that a relevant part of the CapEx delivers is going to be financed through [indiscernible] and also finance lease. And we are holding the increase in the investments that we have. And remember, we have a lot of investments in the retrofit of the cabins, still the renovation and the starting of the process to implement the new premium content and so on and so far. So that's the overall picture that we have. And remember, from these 41 deliveries that we are expecting, we expect to receive 3 additional 787s and also the first 12 Embraers on the last quarter, the last quarter.

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

So the balance is [indiscernible], Michael.

Neil Glynn

Analyst · Deutsche Bank

Okay. Great. And the balance is...

Ricardo Dourado

Management

26 from the A320 family.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Jens Spiess from Morgan Stanley.

Jens Spiess

Analyst · Morgan Stanley

Congrats on the results. I have a question on the net debt coming in at $5.9 billion, which was around 8% above your guidance. So if you could just elaborate on what turned out to be different versus your initial expectations. I would appreciate that.

Ricardo Dourado

Management

Sure. Actually, when we provide that guidance was before the announcement and the decision to distribute the $400 million dividend. So that was the main difference from the guidance that we disclosed before, Jens.

Jens Spiess

Analyst · Morgan Stanley

Makes sense. Makes sense. So going forward, you will be updating your net debt guidance, right, for the potential dividends you will be paying. Is that correct? And just a follow-up question, if I may. On the E2s, when do you expect to deploy them? And what is your thought process on allocating that capacity? Will it be mostly targeting new routes and destinations? Or what's the plan there?

Ricardo Dourado

Management

Okay. So only for that reason in terms of the debt update, we don't need to update the guidance for that because we disclose all information related with that. And if and when we need to update other specific situation from the guidance, we will update everything.

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

Jens, this is Roberto. Just complementing and clarify one thing on what Ricardo said. So our guidance doesn't provide any distributions on top of the minimum statutory dividends that we have to pay by law here in Chile, which is 30%, okay? So that's why you see $5 billion of liquidity going forward. But as Ricardo explained as well, over and above our finance policy, we have around $1 billion to $1.6 billion, and the Board will further decide on opportunities for capital allocation. If we end up doing something and if we will inform the market at the right time, and we will update the figures related to that with those potential things happening, okay? With respect to the A2s, so this will be deployed in Brazil domestic, the first 12 that we will receive this year. The strategy is that they will based out of our hubs. So we expect to see them flying out of Guarulhos, out of Brasilia, out of Fortaleza. And you can think about this in 2 ways. They allow us to fly new cities where the 319s, even though at the same time, their economics don't allow us to operate those cities. So you will see new destinations. You will also see probably increased frequencies on certain routes where we currently operate A320 related fleet and some combinations of these that we have never flown when you combine these 2 things. So you will see domestic Brasilia routes, both in opening new routes and increasing frequency in certain routes.

Jens Spiess

Analyst · Morgan Stanley

Okay. Very clear. And just one quick follow-up, sorry, on the dividend distribution and the net debt guidance. So looking at 2026, everything that will be forward-looking is only the regulatory or mandated dividends that you're factoring in there. Anything in excess basically would only be updated on like looking backwards basically on what you already paid or what you already announced, right? Just to make sure we'll be modeling this correctly.

Ricardo Dourado

Management

Yes, you are correct. So as Roberto mentioned, the range that we disclosed as a calculation under the financial policy to have between $1 billion and $1.6 billion available, it's the consideration regarding the 21% and 25% range of the guidance in terms of liquidity. And that amount is not considering the guidance that we provide. So we only consider the CapEx that is expected and also the minimum dividends.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Filipe Nielsen from Citigroup.

Filipe Ferreira Nielsen

Analyst · Citigroup

So I have 2 on my side. One is related to the costs that we saw this quarter. Just trying to break it between potential one-offs or costs that you think it could be something more structural during 2026. We know that there are effects from a weaker dollar, stronger local currency. So if you could like clarify which impacts were more like one-offs in the quarter and which ones were -- could remain for longer during 2026? And my second question is regarding the cargo operations. Just wanted to check your sense on how cargo yields should evolve in 2026. We have the guidance for volumes, but I just wanted to make sure how the top line on cargo should evolve.

Ricardo Dourado

Management

Okay, Filipe. Just to give you, I think, the more color in terms of the impact that we have in the fourth quarter, we disclosed that from this 4.7, we have 2 different impacts. 0.2 coming from the weaknesses of the U.S. dollar in the fourth quarter, 0.2, and the other 0.2 as what we call one-offs from this quarter. But remember, I would like just to emphasize the guidance that we provided for 2026. There is nothing structural. So we are confident that the level of investments that we have in all initiatives. Remember from the Investor Day, we disclosed that we have more than 700 initiatives internally in the company to provide more efficiency. We have this cost containment structural behavior in the company. And the guidance that we provide for this year is well aligned with the same trend between $0.043 and $0.045. So there is nothing material, nothing structural to be considered that could represent any risks from our perspective. But yes, we also have -- remember, in our guidance, the assumption to have, for instance, the BRL at 5.5. The BRL is now at 5.2, and then we have to reflect. But on the other hand, as Roberto explained in another question, we also have another positive impact in terms of RASK. So I also emphasize on the slide in terms of the results from the fourth quarter. The CASK have increased to 7.9%, but the RASK have increased even more to 11.7%.

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

And the cargo question, Filipe, we don't disclose our unit revenues on cargo, but let me give you a couple of data points that are important. Northbound traffic is export traffic. Southbound traffic is import traffic. Import traffic normally has higher yields than export traffic just because of the nature of what is exported. It's basically raw materials going north and it's, if you want, perishables -- technological perishables coming south. So there may be a potential change in the mix just because of the currency appreciation that we will see if it happens during the year. But we don't see today significant issues in the demand side to believe that our -- that the unit revenues in cargo are going to be materially different. The start of the year is always low because people send inventories to close the prior year, and now we have the Chinese New Year, which is very relevant on the cargo side because basically China shuts off for a week. But the basis of growth and the stability of the market is [indiscernible]. We have no -- nothing to concern us at this point in time.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Gabriel Rezende from Itau BBA.

Gabriel Rezende

Analyst · Itau BBA

Congratulations on the set of very strong results. Two questions here on our side. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you mentioned that around 23% out of your passenger revenue came from those more premium-related revenue. Just trying to understand where the company is targeting to land this number along 2026. So how much can this 23% increase along the year, what is the company's target at this point? And also, we talked a lot during the call about this positive FX environment, especially here in Brazil. And also, we are seeing a favorable oil price environment as well. Just trying to understand whether you see the sector at some point in time, perhaps this year, accommodating yields into a slightly lower base versus where we are at this point.

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

Thank you. So second question first. We see -- I mean, Brazil was out of the 10 largest domestic markets in the world, the one that grew the most in 2025 which is quite impressive, I think. And we see momentum from that perspective. And at this point in time, I think that the capacity outlook for the industry in Brazil, together with the demand perception leads us to believe that it's going to be a stable year as compared to what it was in 2025. So we see potential for development of our strategy and our network over there as we have done it in the last 2 or 3 years. So I don't think at this point in time that we will see a significant change in dynamic of the market, at least for 2026. We don't see the elements of that. And more generally, I think that the capacity situation in the industry as a whole with the engine situation and the manufacturers still trying to catch up to replace older aircraft and to meet their commitments in deliveries is going to mean that 2026 is going to be similar to 2025 in terms of global capacity. I forgot the first question. Can you remind me, sorry, please?

Unknown Attendee

Analyst · Itau BBA

What percentage -- with regard to our premium revenues, how we see that target going forward given the fact that we reached 23% of premium revenues.

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

We don't disclose the target for premium revenue, but we believe that premium revenue will still grow faster than our total revenue and our capacity during 2026 as it has happened in the last few years.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Savanthi Syth from Raymond James.

Savanthi Syth

Analyst · Raymond James

Just a couple of questions from me. First one, just on the corporate side. I know you mentioned demand strong widely across the regions. But I was curious what you're seeing on the corporate side, if there's any acceleration there or any trends to call out? And then just secondly, I'm wondering there's one of your competitors that have kind of refocused on premium offering. And just wondering what you're seeing in the region and if there's still kind of maybe premium growth in offering is still outstripping or actually maybe demand is outstripping the supply.

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

So corporate recovered probably 1.5 years ago from before 2020 already. Growth in corporate demand looks stable. I think what's most relevant is that we have been gaining consistently market share in corporate segments. And that you can see very clearly on public information provided by travel agency in Brazil, for example, where you can see that public information figure. And the set of what we have created, the network, the execution, the frequent flyer leads us to believe that this position we have is going to be maintained or even be increased in the upcoming future. So no concerns with respect to corporate demand at this point in time. And I think that LATAM has put itself in a very strong position to serve corporate customers, whether it's because of our network, because of our FFP, because of our delivery. And the second question, it's interesting. You mentioned premium offer. I think I said it in my speech, and it all starts with people. you are not going to be able to attract customers that want to fly again with you and particularly demanding customers as customers -- as premium customers only with hardware. You need software. And in that sense, I think that LATAM stands out completely with respect to not only its direct competition in the region, but also in many regions across. And this is one, I think, of the learnings of the last few years and what has started the cycle where now you see profitable growth that we have. At the same time, we believe that we can improve on execution, and I believe that we can still improve significantly on hardware, on the physical delivery of our product. As Ricardo mentioned, we just inaugurated a launch in Lima. We're going to reinaugurate a bigger launch in Guarulhos next year. We'll have premium economy on wide-bodies, we'll install WiFi and wide-bodies, which I think is an important lag. And at the end of the day, even though maybe our competitors are trying to catch up to us, we continue improving. But the DNA of this organization and the people, I think, is unmatchable at this point in time.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Felipe Ballevona from Santander.

Felipe Ballevona

Analyst · Santander

I have a follow-up on Jens question about net debt. You stated that you ended up missing the guidance due to the $400 million dividend announcement. However, you said that the minimum dividend is considered in the guidance. And if I'm not mistaken, those $400 million wouldn't be extraordinary dividends, but minimum ones. So how can I put this 2 together? And also on a separate note, what's the currency breakdown of your debt?

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

Yes. I'll pass to Ricardo on the second one. But I mean, just maybe it's good to clarify, minimum dividends 30%, but they are paid the following year, normally after the shareholders' meeting, and that happens in Chile normally in April, okay? What we did is that we advanced a significant portion of minimum dividend in December, and we paid $400 million in December. So as what you are seeing is net debt as of 31 of December, and that was not in the previous guidance, you have to adjust for those $400 million, okay, which means that in April, the company would have already counted those $400 million for the calculation of the final dividend that it would. So that's probably the clarification on this, okay? With respect to currency...

Ricardo Dourado

Management

Is that clear, no, the question regarding -- okay. And in terms of currency, I think almost 100% of our debt are in U.S. dollar. We only have one local bond that close to $160 million in local currency. So it's almost everything in U.S. dollars.

Roberto Alvo Milosawlewitsch

Management

And that's local currency...

Operator

Operator

We currently have no further questions. So I'll hand back to Ricardo for closing remarks.

Ricardo Dourado

Management

Again, thank you all for connecting this morning. Please note that our Investor Relations team is available for any further questions. Have a great day, and thank you again.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.