Adecoagro S.A. (NYSE:AGRO) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 12, 2023 12:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Mariano Bosch - CEO

Emilio Gnecco - CFO

Renato Junqueira Pereira - Sugar, Ethanol and Energy VP

Vitoria Cabello - IR Officer

Conference Call Participants

Isabella Simonato - Bank of America

Rodrigo Almeida - Santander

Lucas Ferreira - JPMorgan

Operator

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for waiting. At this time, we would like to welcome everyone to Adecoagro's First Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. Today with us, we have Mr. Mariano Bosch, CEO; Mr. Emilio Gnecco, CFO; Mr. Renato Junqueira Pereira, Sugar, Ethanol and Energy VP; and Ms. Vitoria Cabello, Investor Relations Officer.

We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in listen-only mode through the company's presentation. After the company's remarks are completed, there will be a question-and-answer section. At that time, further instructions will be given.

Before proceeding, let me mention that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Adecoagro management and on information currently available to the company. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions because they relate to future events and therefore, depends on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions and other operating factors could affect the future results of Adecoagro and could cause to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements.

Now I'll turn the conference over to Mr. Mariano Bosch, CEO. Mr. Bosch, you may begin your conference.

Mariano Bosch

Good morning, and thank you for joining Adecoagro's 2023 first quarter results conference.

Before going into the results of our operations, every factor on distributions. Last month, our Annual Shareholder Meeting approved a total cash dividend of $35 million to be paid during 2023. This part of our distribution policy represents approx $0.32 per share, equivalent to 4% dividend yield. Those dividends will be distributed in two equal installments of $7.5 million each in May -- this May and November.

In addition to this, we continue buying shares under our buyback program. And this year, we have already repurchased 1.1 million shares, equal to 1% of the company's equity. To comply with our distribution policy, during the rest of the year, we must repurchase at least an additional $30 million in shares.

Now let's go into the highlights of our operations. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA during the quarter reached $89 million, slightly higher than the previous year, although we experienced the worst growth of the last 100 years in Argentina and Uruguay.