Azul S.A. (NYSE:AZUL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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John Rodgerson: Yeah. As it looks towards our 2024 bonds or 2026 bonds, I think that that’s a conversation we plan to have and we’ll have that with the bond holders, right. And I think that you can see how we treat our stakeholders and the bondholders are part of our stakeholder group. But as you look to new money and the unencumbered assets that we have, no one wants to bring in new capital to Azul to pay for COVID deferrals, right. And so the new capital that comes into Azul is to fund our growth going forward, strengthen the balance sheet, have us continue to take E2s and A320neos, and that’s the intention. And so you really can’t go to the capital markets using Azul or other unencumbered assets that you have to raise new capital just to pay back old stuff, right.

And so this is a true reset, this is a true fix, a permanent fix of the balance sheet that works for our crew members, that works for our lessors, that works for our bondholders, works for everybody. And so, yeah, that is the idea. And I think the fact that we got through 2020 and 2021 with BRL5 billion of unencumbered assets, I think the potential is limitless for what we have to do going forward.

Stefan Styk: Thank you.

Operator: Okay. Thank you. The next question now comes from Daniel McKenzie, sell-side analyst from Seaport Global. Daniel, we’re going to open your audio so that you can ask your question, please proceed.

John Rodgerson: Maybe on mute Dan. so we’ll move onto the next one and if Dan can try again.

Daniel McKenzie: Yeah. Can you hear me okay?

John Rodgerson: I hear you, Dan.

Daniel McKenzie: Yeah. I’m so sorry about that. Couple of questions here, one is just on the pace of potential pre-tax earnings recovery. So just a question for Abhi here, revenue strong, growth looks like it’s going to be double-digits into the weakest quarters of the year. So the question is, can Azul reach a quarterly pretax profit in any of the quarters this year?

Abhi Shah: Yeah. So I think the main key there Dan, as you know, the main volatility that comes on the net income line comes from FX, right. So I think assuming stable FX or even some tailwinds coming from that. Yes, that is a possibility, we don’t give guidance on a net income basis. I think all of you that have modeled us for the last few years, that’s probably the hardest line to model. But in terms of business fundamentals, strength of demand, unit costs, unit revenue, size and especially with the restructured balance sheet, right, because the operation is strong, generates a lot of profit, a lot of cash and now with a balance sheet and interest expense that fits within the company and is consistent with the profitability of the company, that’s certainly a possibility depending on what happens with the exchange rate.

Daniel McKenzie: Yeah. That’s exactly my question with the restructured debt, reduced interest expense, it would seem like it’d be a lower hurdle for you guys to get there. And then is the plan to encumber or was TudoAzul or the Cargo business encumbered, it doesn’t look like it was, and I guess if it was not, what was the thought process around not encumbering those because at least outside looking in, it seems like it might have been an opportunity to lower the cost of borrowing, but if you can just elaborate a little bit more on how you approach the restructuring?

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