Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:EDN) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call March 11, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

German Ranftl - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Christian Tate - Balanz

German Ranftl

[Started Abruptly]

…319.2% VAD Resolution 102/2024. The new tariffs are applicable from February 16, 2024, and very importantly, we will get an automatical month update mechanism applicable from March -- from May 2024.

The rating agencies Fix and Moody’s raised our outlook in Edenor following improvements in the company’s risk profile, sorry, just last week, we completed the successful missions of an exchange of $100 million based local dollars, which has helped us to improve our debt profile and capital structure. These developments have restored the economic equilibrium of Edenor.

For the first time in many years, our auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, are not including a concern about the company’s continuing to operate as a growing concern. This has been since 2012 in the accounts of Edenor. We expect these changes to lead to a more dynamic company with substantially more favorable financial results going forward versus the last several years. This will enable us to continue our strong investment program and continue to improve our service level.

Now, let’s turn to our financial performance for the fourth quarter and full year 2023. Highlights, new strategy. At Edenor, we continue to work on our plan to transform the company and transition it from its current strong position as a leading electricity distribution company in Argentina in a broad energy leader with a bright future.

To do this, we plan to build one of the strengths of its existing business, expand our services to supply clean energy as part of the energy transition, develop and expand our smart grid using technology and innovation, offer new services to allow users to buy electricity or self-generate and sell-provide [ph] solar energy, develop renewables energy generation projects and further expand our network to serve new customers such as electric vehicles, public or private.

Financial results, revenues. As you can see on slide eight, revenues reach ARS120.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, a decrease of 17% in real terms versus the fourth quarter of 2022. For the full year 2023, sales rose 9%. The weak performance in the fourth quarter was due to softer demand and no tariff increases in the second half of the year despite continuing high inflation.