BRF S.A. (NYSE:BRFS) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 27, 2024 8:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Miguel Gularte - CEO

Fabio Mariano - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Guilherme Palhares - Santander

Gustavo Troyano - Itaú BBA

Ricardo Boiati - Safra

Lucas Ferreira - JPMorgan

Thiago Duarte - BTG Pactual

Isabella Simonato - Bank of America

Renata Cabral - Citi

Lucas Mussi - Morgan Stanley

Pedro Fonseca - XP

Operator

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to BRF's Q4 and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference. This conference is being recorded and will be available for replay at the company's website, ir.brf-global.com, where the presentation slide deck can also be downloaded. [Operator Instructions]

Before moving on, we'd like to emphasize that forward-looking statements are based on BRF's management's beliefs and assumptions as well as currently available information. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties seen as they relate to future events and, therefore, rely on circumstances that may or may not materialize.

Investors, analysts and journalists must acknowledge that events relating to the macroeconomic environment, the industry and other factors may lead to materially different results than those expressed in such forward-looking statements.

Joining our conference today are CEO, Miguel Gularte; and CFO, Fabio Mariano.

I will now turn over to Mr. Gularte, who will begin the presentation. Please, Mr. Gularte, you may proceed.

Miguel Gularte

Good morning.

I'd like to start by thanking everyone for attending our earnings conference. BRF has reported net income of BRL823 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Throughout the year, we focused on efficiency and excellence while executing our business plan. We made progress quarter-by-quarter and ended the year with positive results largely driven by the company's improved operational performance and financial discipline.

We've closed this period with significantly lower leverage, the lowest in seven years. Our ever-evolving commercial execution, improved product portfolio performance and consistent work with the Sadia, Perdigão and Qualy brands have supported our profitability boost in 2023. In the international market, we've returned to double-digit margins, advancing in value-added products and securing a record number of plant licenses and new destinations.

Now I'd like to invite our CFO, Fabio Mariano, to present our financial results in further detail. After which, I'll come back for our final remarks on the announcement.

Fabio Mariano

Good morning to everyone on the call.

On the starting page, I'd like to focus on the main financial indicators for Q4 2023, starting with net revenue, which came to BRL14.4 billion. Our EBITDA was BRL1.9 billion. This gives us a 13% margin for the period, our best quarterly result in many years. Our free cash flow performance was BRL613 million.