Empresa Distribuidora y Comercializadora Norte Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:EDN) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call May 13, 2024 11:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Solange Barthe - Investor Relations Manager
German Ranftl - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Operator

Good morning, on behalf of Edenor, we would like to thank everybody for participating in this Conference Call to discuss the Results of First Quarter ending March 31, 2024. We will also highlight important recent developments and advances in our efforts to strengthen our position as an energy leader. If you would like to receive our early release or presentation, you can download them easily from the Investor Relations section of our website located at www.edenor.com or contact our Investor Relations team to request a document. This event is being recorded. After the company's remarks are completed, there will be a question-and-answer session for which you may submit questions through the webcast chat.

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

Now, let me pass the floor to German Ranftl, our CFO, who will guide us through the presentation.

German Ranftl

Thank you, Solange. Good morning to everybody and welcome to this conference. Your presence here is very important to us and I hope to provide you with a good understanding of Edenor performance during the first quarter of 2024. The agenda is the highlights regulatory framework, highlights relevant events. Before moving to the discussion of our financial performance during the first quarter of 2024, I would like to take a few minutes to highlight some very relevant positive recent developments as shown in our slide 5.

These paths essentially improved our financial outlook and enable us to focus on further transformation of the company. The positive and relevant events took place on four fronts. One, the regulatory side. New tariffs became effective on February 16th and are reflected since then in our first quarter 2024 results. The improvement in tariff has restored the economic equilibrium of Edenor. For the first time in many years, the auditor’s comments do not include a concern about the company’s continuing to operate as a growing concern. We also continue to work together with the regulatory on our advisors on the five years full tariff review. Related to our capital structure, our debt profile and capital structure have improved notably post the exchange and issuance of $124 million in Class 3 and Class 4 notes during the first quarter. Related to the credit profile, the events just mentioned contributed to an improvement in our debt credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s, FixSCr and Moodys. Each of the rating agencies raises its outlook on Edenor’s debt.