Adecoagro's Adjusted EBITDA in 2020 reached $341.9 million, 12.1% higher year-over-year, while net income tripled

LUXEMBOURG, March 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Adecoagro S.A. AGRO Bloomberg: AGRO US,AGRO, a leading agroindustrial company in South America, announced today its results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2020. The financial information contained in this press release is based on audited condensed consolidated financial statements presented in US dollars and prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) except for Non - IFRS measures. Please refer to page 36 for a definition and reconciliation to IFRS of the Non - IFRS measures used in this report

Main highlights for the period:

• Adjusted EBITDA reached $341.9 million during 2020 and $97.5 million during 4Q20, a 12.1% and 47.0% year-over-year increase, respectively
• Adjusted Net Income registered a gain of $131.7 million in 2020 and $30.2 million in 4Q20, marking a year-over-year increase of $88.1 million and $35.3 million, respectively
• Delivered positive cash in 2020. Adjusted Free Cash Flow from Operations(5) amounted to $108.5 million while Adjusted Free Cash Flow(5) amounted to $51.8 million

Financial & Operational Highlights

• Adjusted EBITDA in our Sugar, Ethanol & Energy business reached $80.3 million in 4Q20, 45.6%, or $25.2 million higher compared to the same period last year. Financial results were positively impacted by (i) an increase in crushing volume of 0.7 million tons driven by greater cane availability and a 57.6% increase in milling per day; (ii) our flexibility to continuously maximize production of the product with the highest marginal contribution (50% of total TRS production was diverted to sugar compared to only 6% during 4Q19), enabling us to extract the highest value from our sugarcane and capture high sugar prices during the quarter, (iii) lower cost of production (7.9 cts/lb on an annual basis), driven by the combined effect of enhanced agricultural and industrial efficiencies along with the depreciation of the Brazilian Real, that further contributed to reduce costs measured in U.S dollar; coupled with (iv) the $19.9 million gain in the mark-to-market of our biological assets.

The positive results obtained contributed to offset the impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, mainly in our ethanol business, and reached an Adjusted EBITDA of $253.1 million in 2020, in line with 2019. The improvement in our operations, coupled with good cane availability and the positive outlook in terms of productivity due to better average rainfalls during 4Q20 and the first months of 2021, will allow us to take advantage of the recovery in sugar and ethanol prices going forward.

• During 4Q20, Adjusted EBITDA in the Farming and Land Transformation businesses reached $22.2 million, 39.1% or $6.2 million higher compared to 4Q19. On an annual basis Adjusted EBITDA reached $107.7 million, $35.9 million, or 50.1% higher year-over-year. The annual increase in financial performance is primarily explained by the $28.3 million higher results generated by the Farming business, mostly thanks to (i) gains in the mark-to-market of our biological assets following the increase in commodity prices as well as the increase in yields and planted area, partially offset by a loss in the mark-to-market of our commodity hedge position; coupled with (ii) enhanced efficiencies at the farm and industry level as a result of the investments we made during the past years to increase productivity and reduce costs; and (iii) cost dilution in U.S. dollars following the depreciation of the Argentine Peso.

In this line, the Rice business contributed with a 67.8% or $13.7 million year-over-year increase in Adjusted EBITDA, the Crops business with 39.1% or $10.0 million and the Dairy business with 21.3% or $3.8 million. The Land Transformation business, in turn, contributed with a $7.6 million year-over-year increase in Adjusted EBITDA following the completion of two land sales during 2020.

• Net Income during 4Q20 resulted in a gain of $47.3 million compared to a gain of $9.6 million in 4Q19. The increase is mostly explained by the year-over-year increase in EBITDA generation. On an annual basis, Net Income resulted in a gain of $1.1 million, in line with last year. This is explained by the fact that the $36.7 million year-over-year increase in Adjusted EBITDA and $66.8 million increase in Adjusted EBIT was offset by the impact on Financial Results, mainly the higher FX loss due to the 28.9% nominal depreciation of the Brazilian Real, compared to 4.0% in 2019.
• Adjusted Net Income reached $30.3 million during 4Q20 and $131.8 million during 2020, $35.3 million and $88.1 million higher year-over-year, respectively. Adjusted Net Income excludes: (i) any non-cash result derived from bilateral exchange variations, (ii) any revaluation result from the hectares held as investment property, (iii) any inflation accounting result; and includes (iv) any gains or losses from disposals of non-controlling interests in subsidiaries whose main underlying asset is farmland (the latter is already included in Adj. EBITDA).  We believe Adjusted Net Income is a more appropriate metric to reflect the Company´s performance.

Remarks

Adjusted Free Cash Flow

• 2020 marked the first year in which we became Free Cash Flow positive since we started our 5-Year-Plan.  Back in 2017 when our investment cycle commenced, we identified expansion projects across all our businesses which, once consolidated, would significantly drive our EBITDA and cash generation. Today, the main capital deployments of our 5-Year-Plan are already behind us and we are in the final stages of our plan, as evidenced by a 56.1% year-over-year decrease in expansion capex during 2020. Now we are focused on continuing to ramp up and consolidate our operations, achieving efficiencies throughout the whole value chain. This has translated into a 12.1% year-over-year increase in Adjusted EBITDA in 2020, in spite of the impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. 2020 was a turning point for us and marks a path where we start to generate cash in a structural way. We are confident Adjusted EBITDA and cash flow will continue to increase as we benefit from bigger, more efficient and vertically integrated operations.
• During 2020, our operations delivered $108.6 million of Adjusted Free Cash Flow from Operations (Adjusted Free Cash Flow before expansion capex), 60.7% higher year-over-year and $51.9 million of Adjusted Free Cash Flow, $113.3 million higher compared to the same period of last year.

Share repurchase program update

• As part of our commitment to generate long term value for our shareholders, we have been actively engaged in the execution of our share repurchase program. During 2020 we destined $3.9 million to purchase over 770 thousand shares at an average price of $5.1. We expect to continue our share repurchases under the program during 2021 as it forms part of our strategy to distribute results with our shareholders in light of our positive cash generation. In fact, during 1Q21 we already purchased a total of 970 thousand shares at an average price of $7.7 per share, amounting to $7.5 million spent in buyback.

Farmland sale at premium to independent appraisal

• In December 2020, we completed the sale of Huelen farm located in the Province of La Pampa, Argentina, for a selling price of $30.1 million of which $10.1 million were collected at the closing date, and the balance will be collected in two annual installments. The selling price represents a 70.0% premium to the latest Cushman and Wakefield´s independent appraisal dated September 30, 2020. We continue to see opportunities for land sales in Argentina and remain optimistic about the possibility to strategically monetize part of our matured farmland portfolio and re-deploy the capital into higher yielding activities.

Certified organic sugar exporters

• During 2020 we started exporting organic sugar produced at our UMA mill, becoming one of the few Brazilian players to have obtained the certification required by the European market. In fact, certification is only granted after having produced organic sugar for a period of three years. We exported approximately 5 thousand tons at an average price of 25 cts/lb, capturing a significant premium over VHP sugar, and we plan on doubling the exported figure in 2021. In this way, we not only have a highly efficient Cluster model in place but we also continue to add value to our UMA mill.

RenovaBio update

• During 2020 a total of 239 mills in Brazil were audited and certified by ANP to issue carbon credits (CBios). Throughout the year, a total of 18.7 million CBios were generated, of which 14.5 million were purchased by fuel distributors, representing 97.6% of the annual target set by the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE). In June 2020 Adecoagro kickstarted CBio commercialization in the Brazilian stock exchange and we concluded the year selling 492 thousand CBios at an average price of 40.9 BRL/CBio (7.5 USD/CBio). We expect to continue increasing the sustainability of our operations and thus, improving our RenovaBio score which will in turn allow us to issue a greater amount of CBios per m3 of ethanol sold.

Covid-19 pandemic

• Since the Pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization, the Company took the Covid 19 threat seriously and immediately prepared measures, developed safety protocols to mitigate the eventual risk of being affected by the disease, and to prevent an uncontrolled spread of Covid 19 through the operations.

We are committed to provide a safe environment for our employees and contractors. They play a significant role not only in the performance of the Company but also to prevent the spread of the disease. We implemented safety measures and developed protocols that allowed us to maintain our facilities 100% operational. Staff at our headquarters and administrative offices are working from home. Training programs and information about how to prevent the risks of transmission of Covid 19 and what to do if infected have been constantly offered to our employees.

We keep monitoring the situation on a daily basis, being up to date with the latest recommendation on how to manage a potential spread of the pandemic. We maintain a fluent and close relationship with local authorities, healthcare centers and public agencies, some of which we provide support with food and oil aids.  

Non-Gaap Financial Measures: For a full reconciliation of non-gaap financial measures please refer to page 36 of our 4Q20 Earnings Release found on Adecoagro's website (ir.adecoagro.com)

Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about us and our industry.  These forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "anticipate," "forecast", "believe," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "is/are likely to," "may," "plan," "should," "would," or other similar expressions. 

These forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. Although we believe that our expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, our expectations may turn out to be incorrect.  Our actual results could be materially different from our expectations.  In light of the risks and uncertainties described above, the estimates and forward-looking statements discussed in this press release might not occur, and our future results and our performance may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements due to, inclusive, but not limited to, the factors mentioned above.  Because of these uncertainties, you should not make any investment decision based on these estimates and forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this press release.  We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

To read the full 4Q20 earnings release, please access ir.adecoagro.com. A conference call to discuss 4Q20 results will be held on March 12, 2021 with a live webcast through the internet:

Conference Call
March 12, 2021
9 a.m. (US EST)
11 a.m. Buenos Aires
11 p.m. Sao Paulo
3 p.m. Luxembourg

Participants calling from the US: Tel: +1 (844) 435-0324 
Participants calling from other countries: Tel: +1 (412) 317-6366
Access Code: Adecoagro

Conference Call Replay
Participants calling from the US: Tel: +1 (877) 344-7529
Participants calling from other countries: Tel: +1 (412) 317-0088
Access Code: 10151913

Investor Relations Department
Charlie Boero Hughes
CFO

Juan Ignacio Galleano 
IRO 
Email: ir@adecoagro.com
Tel: +54 (11) 4836-8624 

About Adecoagro:

Adecoagro is a leading agricultural company in South America. Adecoagro owns over 247 thousand hectares of farmland and several industrial facilities spread across the most productive regions of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, where it produces over 1.9 million tons of agricultural products including sugar, ethanol, bio-electricity, milled rice, corn, wheat, soybean and dairy products, among others.

SOURCE Adecoagro S.A.