Alicorp S.A.A. (ALICORC1) Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and I would like to welcome you to Alicorp's Third Quarter 2026 Results Call on the 30th of October 2026. [Operator Instructions] The format today will be a presentation by the management and IR team, followed by a question-and-answer session. So without further ado, I would like to pass the floor to Mr. Felipe Martins, Investor Relations Officer at Alicorp. Please go ahead, sir.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Alicorp's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Speaking to you is Felipe Martins, Managing Director of Financial Planning and Investor Relations Officer. We're pleased to have you with us today. Presenting today will be Mr. Gonzalo Arbelaez, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Luis Picasso, Vice President of Finance and Strategy. Other members of our management team will join us during the Q&A session. Today, we will review the company's results for the third quarter of 2026, following the release of our financial statements and earnings report published yesterday. If you haven't had the chance to access these documents, we invite you to visit our corporate website at www.alicorp.com.pe, where you can also find the presentation accompanying today's call. Please note that this conference is intended exclusively for investors and analysts. Therefore, we will not be taking questions from the media. If any members of the press are on the line and wish to follow up, we kindly ask that you contact our team after the call. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that some of the statements made today may be forward-looking. These statements are based on assumptions and factors that may change, and actual results could differ materially from current expectations. We encourage you to review the disclaimer included in the earnings report before making any investment decisions. Now I am pleased to turn the call over to Mr. Gonzalo Arbelaez, CEO of Alicorp, to begin the presentation. Gonzalo, please go ahead.

Thank you, Felipe. Good morning, and welcome to everyone to this call. We have very important updates of our business to be shared during the call. Please, let's move to Slide #5 to review some of the key highlights I would like to share with you before kicking off all the financial reviews. First, we successfully closed the acquisition of 100% of Unilever's home care business in Colombia for an enterprise value of USD 158 million with operational control effective August 1. We have been working on it diligently. As mentioned earlier this year, this acquisition represents a tremendous opportunity to add new brands to our portfolio, such as Fab, 3D, Aromatel and [indiscernible] Varela and Coco portfolio into our portfolio with meaningful market traction in categories such as detergents, laundry soaps and softeners, where we already have a strong market position in other key markets, including Peru. This acquisition further strengthens our portfolio and regional footprint while creating new opportunities for sustainable growth across our businesses and new markets. Now turning to our quarterly performance. Consolidated sales grew a strong 14.2% year-over-year. reflecting both organic growth of 7% and inorganic contribution of 7.3%, driven by recent acquisitions. Organic growth clearly highlights continued positive momentum across our entire portfolio. This top line expansion translated into higher profitability as adjusted EBITDA increased 1.1%, primarily driven by our International segment, offsetting a softer performance that we are experiencing in Alicorp Soluciones in Peru, where the impact of phenomenon El Nino weighed on demand for our flower-based products. In Consumer Goods Peru, revenue grew by almost 13%, driven by market share gains across our portfolio. maintaining or gaining share across 6 of our 7 prioritized brands. These gains were supported by targeted brand building and portfolio initiatives well executed, including a new campaign for our AlaCena sauces brand aimed to drive consumption under the tagline Hagamos todo mas rico and the seasonal relaunch of Casino Turron, a great new cookie in the market. As mentioned before, the B2B business faced a more challenging quarter driven by the Fenomeno de El Nino, with sales and EBITDA declining year-over-year, reflecting weaker demand in some of the key categories we have, driven by higher temperatures associated with the climate weather issue. Despite this context, the important thing to mention is our strategic priorities continue to advance in a fast pace. Volumes growing 13.2% year-to-date and generating approximately twice the gross profit per ton of the overall business, highlighting the contribution to improving our business mix and sustainable future remains with no changes in the projections. We remain focused on developing differentiated solutions that clearly support our customer businesses, strengthen our portfolio and drives category consumption. In the International Business, we continue to expand our regional footprint through the integration of recent acquisitions. As mentioned, Unilever's Colombia Home Care business is just joining our family. Inka Crops and Jaboneria Wilson are contributing together with Unilever to PEN 176 million in revenue during the quarter, strengthening our portfolio and expanding our presence across key markets. Finally, and not least important, in Vitapro, sales volumes continue to increase at double-digit rates year-over-year, driven by the continued growth in Ecuador's shrimp feed market, contributing to a 15.1% increase in revenue during the quarter. Profitability, however, remained under pressure -- while we continue -- so profitability, however, remained under pressure from rising raw material costs, while we continue to focus on cost competitiveness, sourcing flexibility, product innovation and strong partnership with our customers in order to mitigate these cost pressures. We have done a great job in terms of adjusting our new business model. While our businesses continue to face some of temporary and planned operating and cost pressures, we are clearly taking actions to mitigate their impact through the commercial initiatives in place, sourcing flexibility and operating efficiencies across the entire P&L. Our diversified portfolio and continued focus on execution provide a very strong foundation to navigate these temporary challenges, sustain our growth momentum and advance our strategic priorities, both in our existing markets and expansion plans. Now with all this news, I will hand the call over to Mr. Luis Picasso, who will walk you through the operational results in detail of the quarter and will provide some share and share our outlook for 2026. Luis?

Thank you, Gonzalo. Let's move to Slide 7 to review the main drivers behind our revenue performance during the quarter. As mentioned earlier, we delivered solid top line growth during the quarter with revenue increasing 14.2% year-over-year to PEN 3,436 million. Volume and mix remain key drivers of this organic growth across all our business units, reflecting the strength and diversity of our portfolio. Beyond volume expansion, our sales mix continued to benefit from strategic initiatives across the portfolio as we focus on strengthening high-value categories and improving the quality of our growth. These positive contributions were partially offset by the appreciation of Peruvian sol against the U.S. dollar, which had an adverse translation effect on the U.S.-denominated businesses, particularly Vitapro. Finally, inorganic growth contributed 7.3 percentage points to consolidated revenue growth, reflecting the continued consolidation of Jaboneria Wilson and Inka Crops as well as the recent addition of Unilever's home care business in Colombia, which began contributing since August this year. These acquisitions further expanded our portfolio and supported consolidated growth. Let's now look at how each business contributed to the overall revenue growth on Slide 8, please. Revenue growth was broad-based across our portfolio with all business units except B2B delivering positive contributions supported by different growth drivers. International business was the largest contributor, reflecting the consolidation of Unilever's home care business in Colombia as well as previously mentioned, alongside the continued contribution of Jaboneria Wilson and Inka Crops. This highlights the growing contribution of our expanded regional portfolio to consolidated growth. Consumer Goods Peru was the second largest contributor, supported by continued growth across key categories, including detergents, cookies and sauces. This performance reflects the impact of commercial and brand-building initiatives in throughout the year, complemented by the contribution of recent acquisitions. A more favorable sales mix also supported revenue growth, reflecting our focus on strengthening this portfolio and driving higher value growth. Vitapro also contributed positively with double-digit volume growth supported by continued expansion in Ecuador's shrimp feed market and the ramp-up of additional production capacity. In B2B, lower volumes in the bakery platform amid weaker demand associated with higher temperatures linked to El Nino weighted on revenue performance. Overall, the quarter reflects the strength of our diversified portfolio with volume growth and a more favorable sales mix supporting performance across most of our businesses, while recent acquisitions further expanded our growth contribution. Please now let's move to Slide 9. Thank you. Adjusted EBITDA totaled PEN 479 million during the quarter, up 1.1% year-over-year. Growth was primarily driven by our international business, mainly reflecting the contribution of recent acquisitions, partially offset by weaker results in Alicorp Soluciones, where cost pressures and reduced sales volumes weighted on gross profit. Temporary factors affecting the detergents category across our businesses, particularly in consumer goods Peru also weighed on performance EBITDA-wise. Adjusted EBITDA margin stood at 14%, down only 1.8 percentage points year-over-year, reflecting a transitory challenging operating environment. Despite these pressures, our diversified portfolio provides a strong foundation to navigate these conditions as we continue advancing strategic initiatives across our core brands and categories, strengthening commercial execution and implementing measures to mitigate these pressures. Now please turn to Slide 11 to review the operational performance by business unit, starting with Consumer Goods Peru. Thank you. Our business delivered another growth -- another quarter of growth with sales volumes increasing 6.4% year-over-year and revenue growing 12.9%, supported by both organic growth and the contribution from recent acquisitions. Revenue growth also benefited from a more favorable sales mix driven by key commercial campaigns and portfolio initiatives. Revenue growth was broad-based across key categories. Sauces grew 22%, supported by our campaign for Alacena brand aimed at strengthening consumer engagement and encouraging consumption. Detergents also grew 13% with growth in our core portfolio outpacing the growth in our value segment, reflecting our continued focus on moving towards higher value offerings. In addition, the consolidation of recent acquisitions contributed incremental revenue from salty snacks with PEN 35 million and dishwashing products with PEN 7 million, further expanding our portfolio. We gained or maintained market share across 6 of our 7 prioritized brands, including Angel in cereales, Don Vittorio in pastas, and Bolivar in detergents, as well as Casino in cookies. These results reflect our continued focus on brand building and commercial execution across our portfolio. Adjusted EBITDA totaled PEN 209 million during the quarter with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18%, down 2.5 percentage points year-over-year, mainly reflecting temporary cost pressures impacting our detergents category. We remain focused on disciplined commercial execution and portfolio initiatives while sustaining long-term growth while navigating these pressures. Now please let's go to Slide #12 to review our Alicorp Soluciones business. Thank you. Our B2B business saw revenue declined 1.3 percentage points year-over-year to PEN 848 million. A higher temperatures associated with the El Nino climatic effect continue to weigh on primarily our bakery platform. The resulting market contraction remains significant. While the flower market would normally have expanded to grow 2% versus the third quarter 2025, it instead declined 2.1%, underscoring the severity of the market disruption. Despite these conditions, our strategic priorities continue to deliver strong results with sales volumes growing 13.2% year-to-date. Importantly, these initiatives now represent more than 25% of our gross profit and generate nearly twice the gross profit per ton of the overall business, strengthening our business mix and profitability while helping offset some of the pressures in the bakery platform. One of our strategic priorities within vegetable oils is a clear reflection of this progress with volumes up 17% and gross profit growing 36%, demonstrating the value of a more diversified and profitable portfolio. Adjusted EBITDA totaled PEN 98 million, mainly reflecting lower gross profit from the bakery platform, driven by both the market contraction and the margin pressure. Despite these headwinds, the growing contribution of our strategic priorities reinforce the direction of our portfolio transformation. Looking ahead, we remain focused on scaling these initiatives and maintaining cost discipline to drive profitable growth. Now please turn to Slide 13. Thank you. Our international business delivered another strong quarter with sales volumes and revenue more than doubling year-over-year, reaching 68,000 metric tons and USD 116 million, respectively. In other geographies, revenue grew 4.3 fold, supported by Inka Crops and newly consolidated home care business in Colombia, which together contributed USD 34 million during the quarter. In Ecuador, revenue grew 4.2 fold, driven by Jaboneria Wilson, which will begin contributing to organic growth from the fourth quarter this year onwards, following its first anniversary as part of the Alicorp family. Meanwhile, Bolivia's revenue grew 37%, reflecting a recovery in sales volume following the social unrest and roadblocks experienced in the previous quarter. This growth translated into stronger profitability with adjusted EBITDA increasing fourfold year-over-year alongside margin expansion. Beyond the financial results, recent acquisitions strengthened our competitive position by expanding our presence in key markets through leading brands. This reinforces our international expansion strategy of integrating and scaling businesses in categories and geographies where we have or can replicate competitive advantages, further expanding -- now please turn to Slide #14 to review the performance of Vitapro. Thank you. Ecuador's shrimp industry continued to show strong momentum with year-to-date shrimp exports growing 18% year-over-year. Against this backdrop, our shrimp feed volumes in Ecuador also grew 18%, in line with the growth in shrimp exports. In Chile, our fish feed business also delivered a positive quarter with volumes growing 9%, supported by close commercial and technical engagement with customers that help us capture growth opportunities. Overall, Vitapro sales volume grew 13.4% year-over-year, while revenue reached USD 305 million, up 15.1%, reflecting solid commercial momentum across our key markets. Adjusted EBITDA totaled USD 37 million with adjusted EBITDA margin of 12% compared to 13.5% in the same period last year. This decline in margin primarily reflects changes in sales mix as well as higher raw materials driven primarily by El Nino-related conditions. We continue to strengthen our cost competitiveness and operational resilience through sourcing flexibility, production optimization and commercial initiatives. In Ecuador, we are also adapting our operations to evolving conditions to support business continuity. These efforts, combined with our technical expertise and technology-driven solutions reinforce our commitment to supporting our customers' growth and profitability. Let's now turn to Slide 16, where we will review our leverage, debt and liquidity indicators. Thank you. Our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio stood 2.2x in September 2026, up 0.3x from the 1.9x at the year-end of 2025, reflecting the impact of M&A activity and dividend payments. Excluding this effect, our leverage would have been 1.7x, highlighting the contribution of operating performance and cash generation. In terms of liquidity, available cash stood at PEN 1,537 million, PEN 685 million higher than the year-end 2025. This increase was primarily driven by the positive free cash flow generation and additionally trying to fund -- secure funding to support our M&A transactions coming in the future. Our liquidity position remains healthy, covering 1.5x our debt maturities over the next 12 months, increasing to 2.2x where committed credit lines are included. Looking ahead, we will continue to prioritize disciplined working capital management and cash flow generation to maintain leverage within our target range, preserve financial flexibility and support our strategic priorities. Before moving on to closing remarks, let me briefly revisit our outlook for the remaining of 2026 on Slide #18. Thank you very much. Our year-to-date results have evolved broadly in line with our expectations, although profitability continues to face pressures in challenging temporary operating environment. Despite these headwinds, the resilience of our diversified portfolio, continued commercial execution and mitigation measures across our businesses reinforce our confidence in the remaining of the quarter of the year. While some of these pressures are expected to persist into the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2027, we remain focused on mitigating their impact while advancing our strategic priorities. This supports our decision to strengthen our full year growth outlook. Accordingly, we now expect high single-digit revenue growth and mid-single-digit growth in adjusted EBITDA for the full year. Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA grew 5% is broadly in line with our full year outlook, reinforcing our confidence in achieving this guidance. We expect continued support from volume and mix performance in Consumer Goods Peru, commercial initiatives in B2B and continued volume growth in Vitapro, leveraging the favorable momentum in Ecuador's shrimp market. International Business will also benefit from a full quarter contribution from our home care business in Colombia. In addition, operating efficiencies across the company are expected to support fourth quarter performance while preserving strategic investments and business continuity. For leverage, we now expect year-end leverage to stand between 2 and 2.7x net debt to adjusted EBITDA, incorporating the impact of the home care business in Colombia acquisition and the recent announcement of the dividend payment of PEN 250 million scheduled for next month. Finally, we expect CapEx to range between USD 100 million and USD 110 million in 2026. This reflects the timing of our investment plan with certain projects scheduled to start next year rather than 2026, while maintaining our focus on investments that support our strategic priorities and long-term growth. With that, we'll open the floor for any questions you may have.

[Operator Instructions]