Enel Chile S.A.
Q2 2021 Earnings Call Transcript

Published: 31 Jul 2021

[Operator:]

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Enel Chile Q2 and First Half 2021 Results Conference Call. My name is Felita, and I will be your conference operator today. During this conference call, we may make statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements reflect only our current expectations, are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. These factors are described in Enel Chile's release reporting in Q2 and first half 2021 results, the presentation accompanying this conference call and Enel Chile annual report on Form 20-F including under Risk Factors. You may access our Q2 and first half 2021 results press release and presentation on our website, www.enel.cl, and our 20-F on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Thank you, Felita. Good morning, and welcome to Enel Chile's Second Half 2021 Results Presentation. Thanks to you all for joining us today. I am Isabela Klemes, the Head of Investor Relations. Let me remind you that our presentation and related financial information are available on our website, www.enel.cl, in the Investors section and in our app Investors. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions via phone or chat through the link Ask a Question. Joining me this morning are our CEO, Paolo Pallotti; and our CFO, Giuseppe Turchiarelli. In the following slides, Paolo will open the presentation with the main highlights on its strategy and operation performance, then Giuseppe will walk you through our financial results. A replay of the call will also be available. And always, our IR team will continue to be available to provide you with any detailed information you may need concerning the figures included in this presentation. Let me also remind you that media participants are connected only in listening mode. Thank you all for your attention. And now let me hand over to Paolo. Paolo?

[Paolo Pallotti:]

Thank you, Isabela. Good morning, and thanks for joining us. Enel Chile is consolidating its leading position in renewables and is driving the energy transition. We are conscious about the importance of those advances in the energy transition in a country like Chile, where resources and technology may support the implementation of a true path towards the fight to climate change and the expansion of the use of electricity in the industry, in the cities, at home, transforming the client, the citizens' quality of life. This is an effort with multiple benefits that also requires a quick reaction by the several authorities involved to truly understand and support those changes. During this quarter, we are advancing the construction of more than 1.2 gigawatts of renewable capacity in 7 projects that are part of the 2.4 gigawatt additional renewables that we will add during the 2021-2023 period. As you will see in the results slides presented by Giuseppe, our 2021 half results have been impacted by no structural elements like liquid gas availability and commodities' hiking prices.

[Giuseppe Turchiarelli:]

Thanks, Paolo. Let me start with the summary of our financial highlights on Slide 9, which we'll go through details in the following slide. But before starting with the presentation, let me explain the extraordinary effects of the period. For the first half of 2021, we have adjusted EBITDA and the net income considering the effects arising from the cost of impairment associated to Bocamina 2 and the voluntary retirement program that the company has offered to the employees, which were nearly to the retirement age. The coal stock impairment and the voluntary retirement program had an aggregate effect of $46 million in the first half 2021 EBITDA and $31 million at the bottom line. In the second quarter, these effects amounted to $31 million in EBITDA and $21 million in the group net income. For previous year, we have adjusted the figures by the coal stock impairment of $17 million in EBITDA and the net effect of the impairment of Bocamina 2 of $672 million at the bottom line. All the details are described in the bottom of the slide. Now let's start with our CapEx allocation, out of which 96% is linked to the SDG on Slide 10. First half 2021 CapEx reached $510 million, mainly devoted to the construction of the new renewable capacity. Customer CapEx was mainly allocated to build new connection, reaching a total of $33 million with an increase of 13% versus last year. Asset management CapEx reached $62 million, $45 million higher than first mainly due to the higher maintenance activity in distribution, higher maintenance work in our noncoal thermal facility and digitalization projects. Development CapEx reached almost $45 million, $123 million higher than first half 2020, largely driven by our renewable expansion and development of our distribution business to continue the digitalization of our network.

[Paolo Pallotti:]

Thank you, Joseph. Implementation of our investment plan and execution of our renewable growth project will continue to be one of our priority and necessary to support the country on the acceleration of the decarbonization. In this sense, some important discussions need to evolve with authorities as a regulation for battery, for instance. Our strategy will continue to be deployed under the high gas ESG standards towards the decarbonization and energy transition for the full benefit of our clients and communities. Digital operations and customer care will be key to develop a long-term relation with our clients. Our strategy is supported by our long-term vision and balance sheet strength, targeting new SDG-linked instrument. Thank you for your attention, and let's now open the Q&A session. I will hand over to Isabela.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Thank you, Paolo. So operator, do we have questions?

[Operator:]

.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Okay. Perfect. So I received here from the chat questions from Murilo Riccini from Santander. So the first question from Murilo, Paolo and Giuseppe, is how do you evaluate the expansion of the transmission system? Will this be enough for the relevant incorporation of renewable capacity in our point of view -- in your point of view? Or could we expect a higher level of losses due to conjunctions? How do you plan to handle this issue? So I think we could answer this and then go for the others, Paolo and Giuseppe.

[Paolo Pallotti:]

Okay. Thank you for your question. Regarding the extension of transmission system, the connection between the north and especially the center that is the area of mine consumption, it is always interesting large debate between the different players, different actors in the sector. Now there is this project for improving the connection using high-voltage business connection. Clearly, it is a very impacting project in the sense that it will require time. So there are 2 elements to take into consideration. The full commitment of all the authorities involved in speeding up this interconnection system that is key for Chile, for sure. And second, I can mention also our reactions in the sense that we are, let's say, defining our portfolio of plants and also of clients in order to avoid to be, let's say, TackleBar this bottleneck in the sense that we have important contracts in the north. We are still developing our potential contract in the same area. And at the same time, we are also developing interesting position in the center. So that's the way in which we can cope in the short and midterm, but I agree with you that it is key. Honestly, I think that being so essential in the evolution of the country, this kind of interconnection. It will evolve possibly. Don't ask me to bet about the right year to enter into operation because it could be hard to answer. But I'm positive on the attention of the authority on this. At the same time, we, as a company, we are trying to have a countermeasure in order to avoid to beat it by a certain element of bottleneck.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Okay. Thank you, Paolo. The second question from Murilo is, how are you seeing the performance of the demand in the concession area of Enel Distribución in July? Any signs of recovery with the low restriction measures?

[Paolo Pallotti:]

Okay. We are evaluating clearly a period of 6 months. If we focus on the very recent months, the effect -- the negative effect of having the Santiago metropolitan region in lockdown, and so many of the -- of our clients, I'm referring to the commercial sites through small being strongly affected. So all in all, what we see the recovery in the last 1.5 months, even if it's early to provide you a figure. At the same time, we have a general evaluation in terms of consumptions in the concession area in the first 6 months compared to the first 6 months of last year, a slightly decrease, but you take into consideration also perimeter effect in the sense that continue to be a movement even if not so big that -- of clients that are entitled to move from regulatory system into free market that are, let's say, choosing to be free, to be out of the regulated system. And this has an impact in the regulated segment. If you look at that specific area, there is, all in all, a decrease between 2% and 3%, all in all, considering the -- all the factors that I mentioned. So the perimeter effect and the lockdown that suffers Santiago in the -- let's say, in the central area of the period between March and mid of June.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Perfect. Thank you, Paolo. And last question from Murilo from Santander is, why is the number of overdue clients decreasing versus first half 2020? Could you provide more details on this and on the discussions being held to the Board, please?

[Paolo Pallotti:]

Okay. It is a little bit large discussion because from one side, what we have measured considering -- let's focus for a second on the domestic segment that is the most affected by the recent regulations started in August of 2020. If we measure that segment, we have not seen a very improvement in terms of number of clients that are not paying. But let's say, the mechanism that we have seen is that the clients that during the regular period of the year, used to, let's say, enter into the overdue debt segment and then start to pay in a period of, let's say, aging between 40 and 60 days because this is the area where the cut will enter into -- the cutoff will enter into pressure by the distribution. In this case, that amount that the clients are not paying. So they remain in the segment of overdue, but their hedging are increasing. And this is happening also for unfortunately, and this is something that we have, let's say, announced in the press. This is something also to a large domestic clients with the consumptions higher than 1,000 kilowatt hours per month. It means approx. 4x the average of Santiago, but also for clients between, let's say, 500, 700 kilowatt hour per month that -- they are not paying. If we look at that number, for instance, the last -- the large client segment, the overdue debt or large client segment more than doubled between March '20 and June '21. So there is an effect that is driven by the impossibility for the distributor to, let's say, cut off the nonvulnerable clients because we are talking about nonvulnerable clients. Clearly, all the attention, all the care for the family that cannot afford to pay their debt. But this is a different discussion. The focus and also our analysis is focused on that category of clients that are high consumption that have resources to pay, but are not paying because nobody can cut them off. And this is an important element and discussion that we are having with authority. On a general basis, there is -- there has been this announcement in early June, if I remember correctly, regarding the famous table -- negotiation table between different parties involved, the government, the senate where to find a solution that should help the vulnerable families, the vulnerable clients to afford the period once the system will come to normality, that's the real issue. Because if we look at today vulnerable clients, the average debt just using a number that we have is in the range of CLP 100,000. If we add this on top of the regular fare that they are paying on a monthly basis, this is very difficult to be managed. Also if we use the 48 quotas without interest. So this is where we have to focus and leave the distributors work with clients that can pay but they do not.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Perfect. Thank you, Paolo. So the -- I don't know, operator, if we have any questions online. Otherwise, I have one from Rodrigo Mora from Moneda. Can we do it now?

[Operator:]

There is a question on the phone line.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Yes, can you open the line, please?

[Operator:]

Okay. The question comes from the line of Rodrigo Mora from Modena.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Okay. Sorry, sorry. Rodrigo has sent me the questions. He has a problem on the line. So the first question -- on Rodrigo, the first one is that, given the drought situation in the country, is Enel evaluating to postpone the closure of Bocamina 2 in order to preserve the electrical security of the system. This is the first question, Paolo and Giuseppe.

[Paolo Pallotti:]

Yes. Clearly as already Giuseppe highlighted in his analysis, we are not dealing with structural changes. So this -- what happened this year is something that is a coincident of difference in elements that didn't happen in the past. So we do not see, let's say, any reason or the effect for change our strategy and our decision to, let's say, come back on the phase out of Bocamina considering that by next year at least 1.3 plus more megawatts will come online only, only by our side. If we look at general picture, the effect and the evolution of this year has been driven also by an important delay of many other projects, renewable projects, that should cover in the short, midterm the energy requirements of the system on the country. The important point here is to allow the system to work properly. For instance, as together with other -- also other companies because this was -- we heard, we are focusing on the development of the regulation of the storage that will be key for proper functioning of the system. And this, we hope, is something that will take place by -- during the second half of this year in order to be properly in place. I am referring to both the ancillary services package system and to a recognition of the capacity payment in order to allow to enter into the system with renewables plus storage and to fulfill all the requirements of the system.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Perfect, Paolo. Thank you. So the second question of Rodrigo from Moneda is, what is the hydro generation that you are estimating for the second half of the year, considering the guidance update released by the company today?

[Paolo Pallotti:]

Yes. On this, I will -- the answer to Giuseppe that can be more precise in terms of numbers. In terms of concept, you know, Rodrigo, how difficult it is to make some, let's say, prediction in terms of what hydrology. It happened in the couple of years ago that after first 6 months of drought period, we have very important storms that covered all the requirement from -- during the second half. So it's quite difficult to predict what can happen especially in the second half where you should have, let's say, potential snow, still potential snow, has happened that time and then the melting of the snow and -- yes. So it's a difficult to predict. I leave it to Giuseppe to give you some feeling on numbers.

[Giuseppe Turchiarelli:]

Yes. Well, basically, we are projecting to have around 6.6 terawatt hours, so in order to close the year around 10.4 terawatt hours. So this is the projection that we have right now.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Thank you, Giuseppe. Then the next question from Rodrigo. Rodrigo is asking more details about the extraordinary effects that we booked during this period. So he's asking more details about the impact of $46 million. And if we can give a breakdown on the voluntary retirement program that we announced for the group, for group Enel Chile in this period.

[Paolo Pallotti:]

I leave to Giuseppe the answer. Yes.

[Giuseppe Turchiarelli:]

Yes. So the $46 million we can split in two parts. The first one, that is around $21 million that is related to the decarbonization effect. And the remaining part, which is around $24 million, is related to the retirement plan where -- if you want to have an additional breakdown, this $24 million is 50% in Enel Distribución, $9 million for Enel Generación and around $3 million for Enel Chile Holding. So this is basically the breakdown that we have.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Okay. Thank you, Giuseppe. So operator, do you have any more questions?

[Operator:]

No, ma'am.

[Isabela Klemes:]

Okay, then. So as we do not have any more questions, we would like to thank then your presence in our call today, and I mentioned that our team from Investor Relations will be available for any other questions or doubts that you may have during this period. So many thanks for your attention. Thanks, Paolo, and Giuseppe. Have a nice day. Bye-bye.

[Paolo Pallotti:]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Giuseppe Turchiarelli:]

Thank you very much. Bye.

[Paolo Pallotti:]

Bye, bye.

[Operator:]

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