Tag Archives: brazil

Investors’ Biggest Mistake: Home Bias

By Tim Maverick Everybody loves to cheer for their home team when it comes to sports. But, it turns out that investors around the world do the same with their money. Let me give you an example. Brazil is suffering through its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Its currency, the real, is near record lows. And its stock market is down by 40% over the past five years. Add in other factors such as the Zika virus – and it’s bad times, to say the least. But what are Brazilian investors doing? They’re liquidating their overseas holdings and buying Brazilian stocks. Are they nuts? Nope, it’s just human nature. In investing, it’s called “home bias.” And U.S. investors are among the most guilty. It’s Not 1950 In my years giving advice to clients, I found a very strong aversion among investors to investing overseas. People confuse familiarity with safety. I once had a client who stormed out of the office saying he would never invest a penny of his money outside the United States. Now, that was an extreme circumstance. But people do invest as if it’s still 1950, and the U.S. is the dominant economic power. Back then, the U.S. made up a huge part of the world’s market capitalization. Today, that’s down to about 50%. Yet, people invest as if nothing’s changed. A study by the mutual fund company Henderson Global Investors found that Americans were the second-most guilty of home bias globally, trailing only Canadians. This is backed up by an analysis done last summer by robo-advisor SigFig. It found that the median individual investor had a mere 6.6% of their portfolio in international equities. The study also found that bigger, and presumably more sophisticated, portfolios had less home bias. This makes sense. I can guarantee people like George Soros don’t have most of their portfolios in the U.S. The World Is Waiting The U.S. economy produced only 22.5% of the world’s GDP in 2014. That’s quite a change from just after World War II when the U.S. accounted for half of global GDP. Overall, developed economies now make up less than half of global GDP. Developing economies now account for just over half. Let’s just think about Asia for a moment – specifically China, India, and Indonesia. In terms of population, they rank first, second, and fourth respectively. The U.S. is third. There are over 2.8 billion people in these three countries. Are you, as an investor, going to ignore them as if they don’t exist? Wall Street wants you to. They want you to buy U.S. stocks. That’s why most Wall Street firms badmouth China every chance they get. Use Your Common Sense Investing overseas is really just common sense. Most people wouldn’t put 100% of their money into one stock. Nor would they limit themselves to stocks from Pennsylvania just because they live in that state. Why then would you limit yourself to just one country? My favorite analogy is that it would be like grocery shopping in only one aisle of the store. But investors continue shopping in one aisle. Home bias remains a big problem for even financial professionals. The toughest sell remains getting clients to diversify. Many stubbornly cling to putting all or most of their eggs into one basket. At a conference for registered investment advisors in November, Charles Schwab’s Jeff Kleintop said, “That’s exactly the opposite of what they should be doing now.” Now Is the Time to Diversify I would put the emphasis on the word now. The U.S. market has outperformed international markets since 2009. I can assure you it won’t continue. Markets will revert to the mean. In simple terms, underperforming markets will begin outperforming – and vice versa. As someone who has been in the investment business since the 1980s, I can tell you it’s a basic fact of financial markets. It’s like the sun rising and setting every day. Many markets – particularly the emerging ones – are at valuations not seen in decades. That’s thanks largely to U.S. fund managers selling. In other words, home bias. I think it’ll be a lot easier and more profitable to find companies that are serving those 2.8 billion-plus consumers in Asia, than finding an undiscovered gem in the U.S. The mass of Wall Street research makes that near possible, except for an occasional penny stock. I’d like to end with a piece of advice from famed investor, Jim Rogers. He said you should wait until you see money lying in the corner and all you have to do is go over and pick it up. That describes overseas markets right now more than the U.S. Link to the original article on Wall Street Daily .

Enjoy High Yield With These Low-Beta EM Local Currency Bond ETFs

Amid low yield all over the world, income-starved investors are presently in search of solid current income. After all, the Eurozone and Japan are now following a negative interest rate policy while rates at other developed economies are at rock-bottom levels. In the U.S., which tried to go against the flow by raising key rates after a decade last December, the confidence level weakened this year after a global market rout. Investors flocked to safe-haven assets like government bonds and dumped risky assets like equities. As a result, yields on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell 50 bps to 1.74% on February 23, 20 16, from the start of the ye(ar. Yields on Japan’s benchmark 10-year government bond slid to below zero for the first time in early February and yields on the 10-year German bunds also slid to multi-month levels. In such a situation, investors’ craving for a steady current income is warranted. One space that offers solace is emerging market (EM) local currency bonds, which provide a solid yield. Fading hope of frequent Fed hikes this year should also bring some relief to emerging market securities. Local currency products are likely to gain this year because the U.S. dollar has been subdued, having lost about 1.5% in the year-to-date frame (as of February 22, 20 16). So investors can enjoy some gains from the emerging market currency appreciation. Also, emerging market currency bonds and the related ETFs provide investors greater protection to capital gains than EM equities. Plus, what can be a better bet if those bond ETFs have low beta that works as a solid bulwark against market volatility. Keeping this in mind, we highlight five local-currency denominated EM bond ETFs that have a negative beta and offer smart yields. Even if these bond ETFs fail to please investors by capital gains, hefty yields will be there to make up for the underperformance. Investors could make a fixed income play with local currency denominated bond ETFs in the near term. Market Vectors J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF (NYSEARCA: EMLC ) – Beta Negative 0.50 This fund provides direct exposure to local currency bonds issued by emerging market governments by tracking the J.P. Morgan GBI-EMG Core Index. It holds 203 securities in its basket with an average modified duration of 4.83 years and average years to maturity of 7.03. In terms of country exposure, Malaysia (8.63%), Poland (8.45%), Supranational (8. 19%) and Mexico (8.06%) occupy the top four spots. About 74% of the portfolio is focused on investment-grade bonds with BBB or higher ratings. EMLC is the largest and popular ETF in the local currency emerging bond space with an AUM of over $ 1 billion and average daily volume of 760,000 shares. It charges 47 bps in annual fees and has gained 1.7% so far this year (as of February 22, 20 16). Additionally, the product has an excellent dividend yield of 6. 18% per annum. PowerShares Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt Portfolio ETF (NYSEARCA: PCY ) – Beta Negative 0.28 This 8 1-security ETF includes bonds issued by Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bulgaria, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Korea, Philippines, Qatar, Argentina, El Salvador and Vietnam. The fund has an asset base of $2.57 billion and charges 50 bps in fees. The fund’s effective duration is 7.83 years while its years to maturity are 13. 14. Around half of the bonds are rated BBB or higher. The product yields 5.58% annually (as of February 22, 20 16) and has added 0. 1 1% so far this year (as of February 22, 20 16). SPDR Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF (NYSEARCA: EBND ) – Beta Negative 0.52 This product tracks the Barclays Capital EM Local Currency Government Diversified Index, which is designed to measure the performance of fixed-rate local currency sovereign debt of the emerging market countries. In total, the fund holds 236 securities with an average maturity of 7.59 years and adjusted duration of 5.33 years. In terms of credit quality, it focuses on bonds having Baa or higher ratings with almost 60% weight. South Korea ( 12.2%) and Mexico ( 10.3%) take the top two spots. EBND has an AUM of $52.4 million and average daily volume of 30,000 shares. Expense ratio comes in at 0.50%. The fund is up over 2% in the year-to-date frame (as of February 22, 20 16) and has a 5.03% 30-day SEC yield. WisdomTree Emerging Market Local Debt ETF (NYSEARCA: ELD ) – Beta 0.54 This actively managed ETF does not track a specific benchmark, but seeks a high level of total return consisting of both income and capital appreciation. It currently holds 1 17 securities with average years to maturity of 7.75 and an effective duration of 4.92 years. Poland, Brazil and Mexico are the top three countries. About 82% of the bonds are rated BBB or higher. The fund has amassed $368.5 million in its asset base and charges 55 bps in fees per year. It trades in a good volume of more than 150,000 shares a day on average and has a good yield of 5.49% in annual dividend. The ETF has lost about 0.2% so far this year (as of February 22, 20 16). Market Vectors Emerging Markets Aggregate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA: EMAG ) – Beta Negative 0.60 The comprises sovereign bonds/corporate bonds denominated in U.S. dollars, euros or local emerging markets currencies and includes both investment-grade and below-investment-grade-rated securities. While the U.S. dollar takes about 57.7% of the fund, other currencies account for the rest. Effective duration is 4.80 years and years to maturity are 6.68. The fund has amassed about $ 14.2 million in assets and charges 49 bps in fees. Government bonds make up 55.2% of the fund’s portfolio while energy ( 12.2%) and financials ( 1 1.6%) round out the top three positions. Around 64% of the portfolio is investment grade in nature. EMAG yields 4.83% annually and is up 2% in the year-to-date frame (as of February 22, 20 16). Original post

AES Tiete’s (AESYY) CEO Britaldo Soares on Q4 2015 Results – Earnings Call Transcript

AES Tiete S.A. ADR ( OTCPK:AESYY ) Q4 2015 Earnings Conference Call February 24, 2016 9:00 AM ET Operator Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to AES Tiete Energia S.A. conference call that is operated by Chorus Call Brasil. In this conference call we will talk about the earnings results of 2015 of the Company. The IR area of AES Tiete Energia also informs you that the release of these earnings result is already available on our site, ri.aestiete.com.br. All participants are connected on a listen-only mode and subsequently, we will have a Q&A session where we will give you further instructions to participate. [Operator Instructions] and we would like to remind you that this conference call is being recorded and is also being transmitted through webcast through the site ri.aestiete.com.br. On behalf of AES Tiete Energia, we would like to clarify that forward-looking statements made during this conference call regarding business prospects, projections and operating targets and financial targets of the Company are forecasts based on current expectations. These expectations may change due to variables like market conditions, economic performance of the country and economic performance of international markets. The presentation will be followed by the slides that you may visualize through the webcast and they will be carried out by our CEO, Mr. Britaldo Soares and the Vice CEO of Investor Relations, Mr. Francisco Morandi. At the end, our officers will be at your disposal to answer any further questions. Now, I would like to give the floor to Mr. Britaldo Soares. Please Mr. Britaldo Soares, you have the floor. Britaldo Soares Good morning to all, we are now going to begin the presentation of the results of AES Tiete for 2015. I’m going to give you a summary of some highlights of 2015 and then I’ll turn the floor over to Francisco Morandi who’s going to give you more details. Today with us are Julian Nebreda, which according to the material fact, last week, will be appointed the new CEO of the AES Brazil Group and also our VP for Operations in Generation, Mr. Italo Carvalho Freitas, and as you all know, Italo Freitas will be the new CEO of AES Tiete Energia as of April 1, 2016. Also with us is VP of Institutional Relations, Mr. Paulo Camillo, the VP for Legal and Compliance, Mr. Pedro Bueno and the VP of Generation Business, Mr. Ricardo Cyrino and with the Investor Relations team. Moving on to Slide 2, we will begin with hydrology, and I would like to highlight the improvement in the affluence in the period. The average affluence in the southeast, mid-west regions in the end of 2015 was 85% of the long term average. That is 15 percentage points above the 70% of 2014. Average affluence in the quarter was above the historical average and at the end of Q4 2015 was 105% of the long term average relative to 74% in Q4 2014. It was therefore possible to see higher levels in the reservoirs in the system as compared with the previous periods, and at the end of 2015, the level was 29% relative to 22% at the end of 2014. The reservoir levels of our power plants also had an increase by 30 percentage points and at the end of 2015 were at 65% relative to 35% in December 2014. This recovery in the levels of the reservoirs have also to do with the lower consumption by 2% when we compare 2014 to 2015. The lowering at the end of the quarter was a 7.1% as compared with 12.2% in Q4 2014. As regard to the year of 2015, the lowering was 15.8% as compared with 9.3% in 2014. This lowering of the MRE in 2015 is in line with the Company’s guidance and had an impact of R$593 million on the Company’s bottom line. This will be talked about by Francisco. As regard to the commercialization strategy, in this quarter, we sold 140 megawatt average for three years at an average price of R$152 per megawatt hour for delivery as of 2016. We currently have contracted 95% of our available energy for 2016 and 88% for 2017. I would also like to highlight the completion of the Company restructuring of AES Tiete in December 2015. AES Tiete has been incorporated by its previous controller, Companhia Brasiliana de Energia and was then called AES Energia S.A. Brasiliana de Energia had an investment, had a stake in AES Eletropaulo, Uruguaiana, Elpa and Servicos, and all of these stakes were transferred to a new holding of the Group, which is called Brasiliana Participacoes. The main objectives of thee corporate restructuring were to strengthen AES Tiete as the platform for growth of AES in Generation in Brazil, to improve corporate governance by migrating AES Tiete to level 2 of BM&FBovespa to consolidate liquidity by means of negotiating a single instrument, the unit and the negotiation started as of January 4th and units are composed by 1 common share and 4 preferential shares, and then also it simplifies the shareholders’ agreement between AES and BM&FBovespa thus making the decision-making process of AES Tiete faster. Moving on to Slide 3, we consider this restructuring and to allow for comparisons, we will present to you the financial results of AES Tiete before the merger and the results of the continued operations of AES Tiete Energia S.A., excluding the results of those companies, which were transferred to Brasiliana Participacoes. Let’s begin with AES Tiete S.A. before the merger. We saw that the net revenue for the year was R$2.3 billion in 2015, 18% lower than the revenue of 2014 and this has to do with the lower volume and price of energy sold in the spot market. The costs and OpEx excluding depreciation amounted to R$1.2 billion in the year, a 46% drop relative to 2014. They were impacted by the reduction of the Company’s exposure to the spot market, which also reflects a lower volume and price of the spot in the period. Therefore, it went from R$688 per megawatt hour to R$287.20 per megawatt hour in 2015. Manageable PMSO in 2015 was R$197 million, an 8% reduction in actual terms as compared with 2014. This was a better performance relative to the zero projection that we had in the beginning of 2015. The cost reduction in actual terms has to do with our initiatives to improve efficiency, manage assets and realize costs in the last few years. EBITDA amounted to R$1.4 billion this year relative to R$918 million in 2014. In view of the reduction of costs and OpEx and consequently the net income increased to R$726 million, relative to R$449 million in 2014. Analysing the EBITDA of the continued operations of AES Tiete Energia we can see that EBITDA was R$1.3 billion in 2015, relative to R$914 million in 2014. This has to do with the positive effect of the reduction of costs with energy bought from AES Tiete. The net income for the year was R$739 million in 2015 relative to R$413 million in 2014, a 79% increase in view of the lower cost of energy bought and the tax credit for R$43.7 million arising from the corporate restructuring. As regard to the payout of dividend AES Tiete Energia’s management has proposed a payout of complementary dividends of R$463.8 million relative to Q4 2015, totalling R$721 million for the year 2015, with a payout of 99.3% in the year. As regard to relevant recognitions, the Company continued in the Corporate Sustainability Index of Bovespa for the 9th consecutive year. In 2014, we were awarded the Eloy Chaves Golden Award which recognizes safety standards. I’m now going to turn the floor over to Francisco Morandi to continue the presentation. Francisco Morandi Thank you, Britaldo. Good morning to all. Moving on to Slide 4, you see the levels of the reservoirs and the thermal dispatch. As you can see on the graph on the left-hand side, there was an improvement in the level of reservoirs which started and these levels were 22% in December 2014 and are now 29% of the useful volume in December 2015. As said before, the recovery of the reservoir levels of the national integrated system has to do with the better affluence and this, in Q4, it was 116% above the historical average in the long term, relative to 80% in Q4 2014. There was also a lower load in the year, and the reduction was by 2%. On the right-hand side of slide, you see the evolution of the reservoirs as compared with the volume of thermal dispatch in the last few years. You see that thermal dispatch is still high but begins to be reduced. In the quarter, thermal dispatch was 14.7 gigawatt average, relative to 17.4 gigawatt average in Q4 2014. On Slide 5, we present a comparison between the thermal dispatch in the merit and outside the merit order since January 2012 and the trends of the spot price. As you can see on the graph, as of May 2015, you can see a relevant increase in the dispatch out of merit order, which can be seen in grey in the graph and this explains the low amounts of the spot price, especially in the southeast and mid-west. The thermal dispatch in January 2016 is at 12 gigawatt month, gigawatt average, only 4 gigawatt hour in the merit and the rest out of the merit order. The spot pricing generally was R$31 per megawatt hour. We believe that the reason for this high dispatch in this period has to do with the conservative attitude of CMSE to ensure better levels in the reservoirs to face the dry periods in April. However, the position adopted by CMSE to maintain thermal generation in high levels, using dispatch out of the merit order allows for a gap between the formation of prices of energy and the actual operation of the system. This additional cost of dispatch out of the merit order is borne by consumers through the ESS, a charge on the system and makes — skews the formation of prices in the market. This is a point that should be reviewed. Moving on to Slide 6, we show the main information relating to the level of the reservoirs and the energy generated. The affluence seen in the regions, southeast and mid-west where our dams are, closed the fourth quarter of 2015 at the 105% under the historical average. That is above the 74% of Q4 2014. As a consequence, more energy was generated quarter on quarter at the expense of 138%. As you can see on the slide, the volume of the energy generated increased in terms of — in yearly terms and in quarterly terms. In Q4 2015, it was 1,169 megawatt average, the equivalent to 104% of our assured energy relative to 848 megawatt average in Q4 2014. On the right-hand side, we present the trend of the levels of reservoirs which at the end of 2015, had 65% of equivalent energy relative to 35% in the fourth quarter of 2014. Yesterday, just so you know, our reservoirs were at 94.5%. On Slide 7, you see the lowering in the MRE for 2014 and ’15. The lowering in Q4 2015 was 7.1%, that is, 5.1 percentage points lower than what we saw in Q4 2014, which was 12.2%. This is due to the recovery of affluences in the period and this affluence was 116% above the historical average in Q4 2015, relative to 80% in Q4 2014. When we look at the lowering at an annual basis, you can see an increase by 6.5 percentage points. In the year 2015, lowering was 15.8% relative to 9.3% in 2014. This can be explained by the negative hydrology in the first half of 2015, by the maintenance of thermal dispatch and by the lower load. As said before, the GSF and its impact in the Company are in line with the projections. Therefore, there was a negative impact on the Company’s EBITDA for R$593 million in 2015, which is lower than the impact seen in 2014, which was R$816 million, however, a very challenging impact for our business. When we talk about the cash position of the Company, I am going to talk more about it, but since the July 1, 2015, APINE obtained an injunction for all hydro generators like our Company, which prevents the impact of the GSF to be allocated to those generators who have this injunction. Considering that we did not adhere to the proposal of accepting the GSF, we are still covered by this injunction. As regard to our forecast for the GSF impact in 2016, it will not be significant for our result, given our contracted position for 2016 and the low prices of the spot market expected for the year, bearing in mind the current hydrological scenario. On Slide 8, we present the result for the billed energy and the net revenue. The billed energy as reduced by 6% in Q4 2015, relative to Q4 2014 because of the lack of energy sold in the short term and the reduction of volume of energy sold under the contract with Eletropaulo. In a yearly comparison, there was a reduction by 4% in the billed energy, and this was because of the drop in billed energy in the spot market. The net revenue therefore in Q4 of 2015 was reduced by 28% as a result of the lower volume of energy billed in the spot market and a lower price in the comparison between the periods. On a yearly basis, the drop was by 18%, because of the reduction of the energy sold in the spot market, which was partially offset by the greater net revenue coming from the higher price of energy sold to AES Eletropaulo. Net revenue in Q4 2015 went to R$637 million and in 2015, was R$2.6 million. In the upcoming Slide 9, we talk about the cost of 2015 compared to the ones in 2014, the light blue part shows the impact of the price reduction in the spot market and a consequent lower cost purchasing energy due to the reduction of the spot price of the period. It is possible to absorb a reduction of 46% in the cost on a yearly comparison. Now, regarding manageable cost, there was an increase of 2% in the quarter, mainly due to the increase of the line of personnel readjusted to salary of 8% registered in July on a higher headcount in the quarterly comparison. Now, if we assess the real growth, there was a drop of 7.6% in the yearly comparison performance above the guidance that previously was announced by the Company that forecast zero growth in real terms. When we see slide 10, we can see that the EBITDA registered in the fourth quarter totalled R$404 million, vis-a-vis a negative EBITDA, up R$37 million on the fourth quarter of 2014. Throughout the year, the EBITDA was R$1.402 billion presenting an increase of 53% when compared to the year 2014. Our net income was R$233 million this quarter, compared to a loss of R$76 million during the fourth quarter of the past year. At the year, net profits were R$726 million, 62% above what was registered in 2014. The main factors that explain the performance of the quarter are lowering of the period seasonality of physical guarantee and a drop of the volume of energy delivered to Eletropaulo in the period regarding dividend payout. As mentioned, the Company’s management approved a payout of R$463.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 and added to the value distributed in 2015, totalled R$721.1 million throughout the year with a payout of 99%. This distribution will be deliberated in the general meeting of the Company that will take place on April 30 this year. It is important to highlight that this payout of dividend was calculated that on registered income by AES Tiete Energia, excluding from this calculation, the spun-off assets of the operations of AES Eletropaulo, AES Elpa, AES Uruguaiana and AES Servicos. For comparison, if we consider the same criteria to determine the value that would be paid out via the result of AES Tiete before the incorporation, our total dividend would be in the range of R$432.1 million, the value would be R$31.7 million, would be the proposed payout and it has been submitted to be approved in the general meeting. On the upcoming slide, Slide 11, we will talk about the investments. The investments of the fourth quarter of 2015 totalled R$62 million. This is an increase of 44% vis-a-vis, the R$4 million invested during the fourth quarter of 2014. Most of these investments were destined to modernize and preventive maintenance of the plants. We would like to highlight our Vermelha, Barra Bonita, Bariri and Ibitinga plant. In addition to around R$9 million that were for projects of IT to optimize the internal operational processes. Throughout the year investments totalled R$168 million, 10% above the investments of 2014 and above the announced projection due to the increase of interest rate capitalized in the period. The investments of these were for preventive maintenance and modernization of our plants and to maintain its operating conditions and to assure the availability of power generation with productivity gains, efficiency and greater generation of revenue in the upcoming years. In our next slide, Slide 12, we observe that operating cash generation of the quarter was R$409 million affected by the drop of the average spot price between periods and an injunction obtained by APINE that is of June 1, 2015 that prevents hydroelectric displacement be allocated to the generators that hold this injunction of the settlement. Through the year, we see an operating cash generation of R$1.25 billion vis-a-vis operating cash generation of R$1.19 billion in the year of 2014. Due to the matters that have been approached previously, the free cash of fourth quarter of 2015 was positive in R$317 million vis-a-vis to positive R$179 million of the same period last year. This performance is due to an increase of R$574 million in operating cash generation. This is a result of a lower impact of GSF, lower volume of spot price in 2015 and an injunction which prevents the GSF to allocate the holders of the generators obtained, now the issuance of a promissory note in December of 2014 of R$500 million and an increase of net financial expenses in a quarterly comparison which results in an increase in interest rates in the period. So, the final balance of our cash in the fourth quarter of 2015 was R$739.6 million compared to the R$501.4 million of the fourth quarter of 2014. Now, regarding the position of 2015, the free cash was R$496 million, totalling R$441 million lower than what was registered in 2015. Now, this performance is due mainly to the settlement of the first issuance of debenture and the second issuance of promissory notes, issued in December — amortized in December 2015, partially offset by the fourth issuance of debentures and lower expense of income tax, R$262.4 million due to a lower result between the compared period. As a result, the cash balance totalled R$739.6 million in 2015, when compared to the R$501.4 million in 2014. Now, when we talk about indebted net, Slide 13, we can see our level of leveraging that close, fourth quarter of 2015, 6.5 times the net debt to EBITDA reflection of the lowering of the [indiscernible] of the APINE injunction and the reduction of gross indebtedness of the Company, our net debt closed the quarter at R$644 million versus R$1.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014 affected by the settlement of the first issuance of debentures on April 1, 2015 with amortization of R$300 million and the settlement of the second issuance of the promissory note on December 17, 2015 with amortization of R$500 million partially offset by the fourth issuance of debentures in the middle of December of 2015. Throughout the timeline of the debt amortization we can absorb a debt of R$161 million that was amortized in 2015. This value is broke out by the maturity of the first series of the fourth issuance of debentures. In 2016, we don’t expect amortization. In 2017, we will amortize R$235 million mainly regarding the amortization of the second series of the fourth issuance. Now, in terms of our evolution of customer portfolio on Slide 14, we can see the evolution focus contracting our own energy as of 2016 considering the termination of the contract with AES Eletropaulo in December of 2015. The level of contracting for 2016 is already at a safe level of approximately 95%. Thus, for 2016, we have decided to maintain a parcel of available energy in order to reduce possible exposure, risks in the short term market due to hydrological risk. For 2017, we have traded 88% of the available energy which guarantees the Company certain flexibility to carry as of 2018. Now, for 2018, we have traded 60% already for 2019, 26% and for 2020 we have traded 12% of available energy as you can see in the chart. Since October, we have traded approximately 140 average megawatts in a period of three years and average prices of R$152 per megawatt hour to be delivered as of 2016. Our expectation is that — in terms of price, will be in the range of R$120 to R$150 per megawatt order to be delivered as of 2018. After this, I would like to give the floor back to Britaldo. Britaldo Soares Thank you, very much Francisco. In a nutshell, the year of 2015 has shown a number of challenges for the electric sector, downturn of energy consumption in the country and the partial recovery of our hydrology, the drop of the average spot price, were strongly affected in the positive variation of the net income and the drop of operating expenses and cost. When we compare 2015 and 2014, the impact of GSF dropped from R$816 million in 2014 to R$593 million in 2015. Now, regarding energy contracting and following the strategy that we defined, well, we have created a portfolio of contracts that is very consistent, that positions us positively for the upcoming year, being able to do our contracting in a consequent and an adequate fashion. In addition to this, I would like to talk about our corporate reorganization. We are simplifying the decision process of the Company, more — that is more simplified and we are preparing the Company to grow, that is a trend and to improve our corporate governance and to improve its liquidity. That would be the unit negotiation. Before we go to our Q&A session, I would like to give the floor to Julian Nebreda, that as we communicated through a relevant fact on the past 17th, now he is chairing the AES Group in Brazil and subsequently, Italo de Freitas that is the AES — is the Chair of AES Tiete. Julian Nebreda Thank you, very much Britaldo. It is a great satisfaction that I become CEO of the Group AES Brazil, this is as of April 1st. One of my missions is to drive the growth of AES in the country through business expansion of generation of AES Tiete. It is impossible to see the future without recognizing what this Company is today. I would like to thank now, Britaldo for his excellent work in the past years that he has dedicated and how he has dedicated his time to the companies of AES. I am absolutely sure that he will continue contributing as the Chair of our Board of our Company, but I also — I now would like to give the floor back to Britaldo. Britaldo Soares Thank you, very much Julian, and now I will ask Italo to please. I give him the floor. Italo Carvalho Freitas Good morning to everyone. I would like to thank everybody for participating in this conference call. I would like to take advantage to tell you that I will be focussed on the operational excellence and looking for the growth of this Company. It is important to recognize the achievements of Britaldo throughout the time. He was a CEO when we were just started, great evolution. He is part of the — for nine consecutive years of sustainable — it was the first generator in America to be certified in asset management. A result of a consistent effort developed in order to guarantee our operational excellence. Britaldo also was in the forefront of the commercial transformation preparing the Company for challenges of the free market. Thank you very much. Britaldo Soares Thank you very much. Now, we will start our Q&A session and now we are at your disposal. Thank you, very much. Question-and-Answer Session Operator [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Ms. Carneiro from Santander. Carolina Carneiro Good morning to all. I wanted to ask you a question given that you talked about the Company’s future, the restructuring, so what is going to be the strategy for Tiete now, going forward? Are you going to take part in auctions? Are you going to focus more on existing assets? Are you looking at any M&A? What is your focus today relative to the focus that the AES Group would have relative to the type of source you would be looking for going forward? Britaldo Soares Thank you, Carolina. I’m going to ask Ricardo Cyrino to address your question and then I will add anything as I may deem necessary. Ricardo Cyrino Good morning, Carolina. As regards to our growth strategy, it is in place and we are looking for projects underway. We had two thermal projects underway for 500 megawatt in the state of Sao Paulo and we are developing a third thermal project, also in the state of Sao Paulo. We have been developing projects with solar energy. One of them is being prepared to take part in a reserve auction, a project for 150 megawatt in Sao Paulo with an additional 30 megawatt in Minas Gerais and this is close to Agua Vermelha and we are also looking for opportunities developed by third parties, wind, farms in the northeast so we can look at these projects and assess them. So, we assess opportunities in terms of acquisitions, be it for renewable sources like wind or other sources as we may deem important. Britaldo Soares Thank you Cyrino. As Ricardo said, you might have noticed that there is no substantial change in the strategy. We basically continue to focus on thermal as before and this also has to do with our obligation to expand in Sao Paulo and we’re also focusing on renewable sources. We are developing solar projects in the concession areas and also we look for M&A opportunities and we look for wind projects. So, this is the backbone of our strategy. Something else that we have been doing, and this can be for the mid-term is technology to store energy in batteries and the precedent market still has to be developed. We have to work on the regulatory front. First case is being structured now, and as you might know, AES is a leader in the space on this type of technology and we are bringing that into AES Tiete. Carolina Carneiro Thank you very much. Operator The next question comes from Mr. Peretti from JPMorgan. Henrique Peretti I have a question having to do with the long term price. You have megawatt average for three years at R$152 but your expectation is between R$120 and R$150 as of 2015. If the average price is R$152, why don’t you believe that the price could be higher than R$150 in the long term and do you think it is closer to R$120 or R$150? Given that the prices in the short term are very low because of the hydrology, I could maybe assume that in the short term clients could be paying R$100, and then above R$150 in 2018. So, the weighted price would be R$150 for three years. Am I right in my assumptions? Could you give us a little bit more color please? Britaldo Soares Thank you, Henrique. I’m going to ask Ricardo Cyrino to address your question and I will jump in if necessary. Ricardo Cyrino Hello Henrique, good morning. Yes, the range of price is wider now. As of 2018, your comment is right, the short term prices, especially for 2016 are extremely low, in view of the recovery of the reservoirs and the lower demand. So, this combination of better hydrology and lower demand gives us a buffer for 2016 and the prices drop a lot in 2016. The spot price is expected to remain low in 2016 and there will be an addition on top of this price for the next few years, R$60, R$70, these are this week’s figures for 2016. For 2017, prices are expected to be low. R$100, R$110 per megawatt hour and there is a new variable there, the uncertainty relative to the hydrology. Are the reservoirs going to hold these good levels or not? When you go further away in 2018, R$120, R$150 for three year contracts, so this would cover from 2018 to 2020. So, we have this wider range of prices. We don’t know when the economy’s going to recover. If the economy should recover faster, prices will be driver upwards. If the hydrology is good and the economy takes longer to recover, we will work on the lower part of the range, but in five years, the guidance is for a marginal cost of expansion and we are talking about a range above R$150, but we’re focussed on three years. That is why the range is so big. Henrique Peretti Yes, I was thinking that if the short term price, the market price is R$60, R$70 for 2016 and then R$70 or R$100 for 2017 reaching R$150 in 2018, so the weighted average wouldn’t be R$152 for three year contracts. So, for 2018 you might be closing contracts above R$150. As I read it, the prices as of 2018 would be way above R$150 to give us a weighted average at R$152. So, are you being conservative? Ricardo Cyrino Now, I understood the other part of your comment. Yes, you’re right, when we closed these deals that we are reporting on today, it was October, November, December 2015 and the prices in the market were higher and yes, for 2018 the prices were in the range of R$160 per megawatt hour. So, we expected that prices would be higher also in 2016. That was the market condition at that time. We closed contracts at R$152 per megawatt hour. Since, we expected prices to go down shortly in 2016, in the A minus 1, we sold a lot of energy at R$142 per megawatt hour and these are December prices. So, this volume is what we are reporting on today. Then with the increase in the inflow, we saw a decline in short term prices and they influence the price of contracts in the first two years. So, R$152 are contracts that we closed in Q4, with all the uncertainties that there were at that time in terms of the hydrology, the load for the years 2016 and going forward. Henrique Peretti Oh good. I thought you had signed contracts in the first quarter. Thank you so much for the clarification. I had a last question, what is the profile of clients who are signing this type of contract? Ricardo Cyrino The profile of clients is very varied, very diversified. We have large clients, industrial clients, commercial clients. We have some contracts with generators and few contracts with trading commercializing companies. It’s a diversified portfolio. Operator [Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Luciano Costa from Reuters. Luciano Costa Good morning. Thank you all for the call. We had recent news that Duke Energy might sell their assets in Brazil and Tiete is seen by some analysts as a Company that could have synergy and be interested in those assets. Are you looking at these assets? What is your analysis — how do you analyze, how do you assess Duke? Britaldo Soares Luciano, we always look at what is happening in the market and we do that very carefully. What I can say is that this asset has been put in the market many times. So, yes, we see what happens in the market. That’s what I can say now. Operator Since there are no further questions. I would like to turn the floor over to Mr. Soares for his final remarks. Britaldo Soares I would like to thank you all very much for participating for attending our conference call and being so kind to me and I would like to make myself available together with the team to take any other questions you might have about the results of 2015. Thank you very much and have a nice day. Operator AES Tiete’s conference call has now ended. We thank you all for participating. Copyright policy: All transcripts on this site are the copyright of Seeking Alpha. 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