Santos Brasil reports a R$ 29.1 million EBITDA and a 13.9% margin in Q317

The operational reorganization process initiated in Santos Brasil at the end of last year positively impacted the third quarter of 2017, driving a significant recovery in the Company´s financial results. One recovery indicator in Q317 was the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of R$ 29.1 million with a 13.9% margin. Recurrent EBITDA was R$ 17.3 million, with an 8.3% margin. In the first nine months of the year, recurring EBITDA totaled R$ 54.5 million, with an 8.8% margin.

The Company went back to recording net income, which was R$ 1.0 million in the period, reversing net losses of R$ 1.1 million in Q316 and R$ 20.7 million in Q217.

With low leverage, Santos Brasil closed the period with a cash balance of R$ 232.3 million, and its net debt was reduced from R$ 5.8 million in Q217 to R$ 2.1 million in Q317, which is equivalent to 0.03 times the EBITDA of the last 12 months, and also amortized R$ 48.7 million (principal + interest) in the quarter. Consolidated net revenue totaled R$ 209.3 million in Q317, down 6.0% over Q316.

According to Santos Brasil Financial and Investor Relations Director Daniel Pedreira Dorea, the focus on process innovation and non-strategic cost elimination seeks not only to reduce fixed costs and operating expenses, but also to increase productivity and the quality of services provided.

That strategy reflects in maintaining the rising operating performance recorded in recent months at Tecon Imbituba (Santa Catarina State), Logistics, Tecon Vila do Conde (Pará State) and the Vehicle Terminal (TEV). On the other hand, Tecon Santos remained stable if the volume of the navigation service ESA, which operates on the route to Asia, whose contract was terminated at the end of April this year, is not taken into account.

The container terminal in Santa Catarina State increased its handled volume in Q317 by 87.0%, totaling 12,579 containers, with an 764.8% increase in long-haul and 50.4% in coastal shipping. The positive result was driven by the start of a new long-haul service to Asia (ASAS) in September. Five of this service¿s ships were operated in Q317, totaling a dockside handling volume of about 1,670 containers.

At Vila do Conde, growth indicators were equally impressive. In comparison with the same period in 2016, the volume of containers handled increased by 25.5% to 21,281 units, up 21.4% and 37.8% respectively in long-haul and coastal shipping operations. Coastal shipping represented 27.7% of the total volume handled in the Pará State terminal (25.2% in Q316).

The TEV still reflects the good performance of vehicle exports in the domestic scenario in Q317. TEV, the country¿s largest vehicle terminal, handled a total of 74,080 units in the quarter, in a 110% increase over Q316. Growth in exports reached 121.1%, while imports increased by 3.8% over Q316. Vehicle export operations accounted for 95.3% of the units handled at the TEV (90.5% in Q316), and light vehicles accounted for 91.3% of the volume in the period.

The Company also recorded a 36.7% increase over Q316 in the volume of containers stored at Santos Brasil Logística, totaling 12,673 units. This performance was due to the greater retention of import containers and new contracts signed with cargo agents and NVOCC (Non Vessel Owning Common Carrier).

Due to the termination of the service to Asia, Tecon Santos handled a total of 204,699 containers in Q317, down 18.8% over the same quarter last year. The Company´s market share in the Port of Santos, due to this scenario, decreased from 39.5% in Q316 to 30.3% in Q317. The termination of the ESA service contract also had an impact on the total consolidated volume of containers handled at the three terminals, which closed Q317 with 238,559 units, or 13.5% less than in Q316. If the ESA service were not taken into account, the total consolidated volume would have increased