Braskem SA Q1 FY2025 Earnings Call

The presentation will be held in Portuguese with simultaneous translation into English. All participants can choose which language to listen to and see the presentation using the show captions and view options buttons respectively. After Braskem's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session, at which time further instructions will be provided. The audio of this event will be available on the Investor Relations website following its conclusion. We remind you that participants can submit questions for Braskem, which will be answered after the conference by the IR department. Before we continue, we want to clarify that any statements made during this conference call regarding Braskem's business prospects, projections, operational and financial goals reflect the beliefs and assumptions of the company's management, as well as information currently available to Braskem. Future considerations are not guaranteed and involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions since they pertain to future events, depending on circumstances that may or may not happen. Investors and analysts should recognize that general and industry conditions, along with other operational factors, may impact Braskem's future results and could lead to outcomes that differ significantly from those expressed in these future considerations. Now, I'd like to turn the conference over to Ms. Rosana Avolio, Investor Relations, Strategic Planning, and Corporate Market Intelligence Director. Ms. Avolio, you may begin your presentation.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We would like to thank you all for participating in Braskem's Earnings Conference Call for the First Quarter of 2025. According to the agenda on Slide number 3, we will begin with the company's main highlights for the period, which can be found on Slide number 4. In the first quarter of 2025, the operations of Braskem's petrochemical plants presented a better performance than in the last quarter of 2024. All segments showed a higher utilization rate in the period, while the high level of operational safety was maintained, resulting in an average global accident frequency rate of 0.92 events per million hours worked, in line with the best market references. In parallel, the company presented a consolidated recurring EBITDA of $224 million, a 121% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. In addition, the net profit attributable to shareholders was $113 million, contributing to this result were the greater spreads of PE and chemicals in the international market and the greater sales of chemicals in the foreign market and of PP in the United States and Europe segment. Regarding that, the company's profile remained quite elongated with an average term of around nine years, with more than 68% of the corporate debt maturing from 2030. In addition, Braskem's cash position ended the first quarter of 2025 at $2 billion, sufficient to cover debt maturities over the next thirty-three months without considering the available international revolving credit line of $1 billion maturing in December 2026. Moving on to the next slide. In the next slides, I will present the performance of each of the company segments, starting with Brazil. The petrochemical plants in the Brazil segment showed an increased average utilization rate compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, by 4 percentage points, with emphasis on the inventory management carried out at the gas-based plant in Rio De Janeiro. In anticipation of the scheduled shutdown of this plant, due to take place in the third quarter of 2025. In terms of sales, the volume sold on the domestic market remained in line with the previous quarter, impacted by the increased PE and PP sales, offset by the decreased PVC sales. Regarding the quarter's results, the segment recurring EBITDA was $199 million, an increase of 101% from the previous quarter. The result was positively impacted by the segment's increased contribution margin, mainly due to the higher spreads of PE and main chemicals on the international market, and by reducing fixed costs and other expenses in the period. Moving on to the next slide. In the first quarter of 2025, green ethylene operations increased when compared to the last quarter of 2024, resulting in an increase of 10 percentage points in the plant's utilization rate. The normalization of operations after the unscheduled shutdown of the Rio Grande do Sul plant in the previous quarter contributed to this result. On the other hand, green polyethylene sales were impacted by the decreased demand due to the Chinese New Year. In addition to the operational performance, two important milestones were celebrated in the company's Renewables segment. First, the green ethylene capacity in Triunfo was revised to 270,000 tons per year since industrial tests proved the production of 15,000 tons more than the forecast in the expansion project completed in 2023. In addition, we celebrated 15 products in the Agriem Bio Base portfolio, which includes a variety of solutions produced from a new pool source sugarcane, which has the property of capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. These solutions play a significant role in facilitating our customers' sustainability journey without the need to invest in new technologies. These achievements reinforce our leadership position in biopolymers in line with our sustainability strategy and goals. Moving on to the next slide. The performance of the United States and Europe segment was better than in the first quarter of 2024. With regard to the utilization rate, an increase of 13 percentage points was a result of the normalization of the plants in Europe after maintenance shutdowns in the previous quarter and the adjustment of production in the United States to meet higher demand. In this sense, the volume of PP sold was 11% higher than in the previous quarter. In this scenario, the segment's recurring EBITDA was $20 million, mainly as a result of increased sales volume and the revenue obtained from the sales of logistics wagons in the United States. Let's move on to the next slide to discuss the Mexico segment. Regarding its operation, the increased supply of ethane, mainly through the fast-track solution, resulted in an increase in the utilization rate of two percentage points in the quarter. On the other hand, the inventory management in anticipation of the general maintenance shutdown of the petrochemical complex that will occur in the second quarter of 2025 contributed to the volume of polyethylene sold being 5% lower. Despite the decreased sales volume, the higher spreads of ethane-based polyethylene and lower fixed costs and expenses positively impacted the segment, ending the quarter with a recurring EBITDA of $37 million, 6% higher than the result of the fourth quarter of 2024. Moving on to the next slide. With great celebration, Braskem Idesa inaugurated the ethane import terminal in Mexico last week through the subsidiary Terminal Chemical Puerto Mexico, a joint venture between Braskem Idesa and Advario. The terminal has the capacity to receive and store 54,000 tons and transport 80,000 barrels of ethane per day, guaranteeing the necessary feedstock and Braskem's full operational capacity in the region. In line with this goal, Braskem, through its subsidiary Braskem Trading and Shipping, BTNS, has two ethane transportation vessels dedicated to operation in Mexico, contributing to a reduction in logistics costs, lower CO2 emissions, around 40% less than the industry average, and the full supply of feedstock. The terminal also supports Braskem Idesa in its long-term growth strategy, ensuring a diversified supply of feedstock to enable future expansions of up to 25% of the current capacity. Now, let's move on to the next slide, please. Moving on to the next chapter, I will discuss the company's consolidated results. Regarding the company's consolidated EBITDA, the quarter's result was 121% higher than that of the fourth quarter of 2024, with an improvement in the margin of 4 percentage points. As mentioned previously, the higher polyethylene and chemical spreads on the international market, as a result of the lower supply of resins in the American market and the volatility in feedstock costs, a reflection of the geopolitical uncertainties, had a positive impact on EBITDA. The increased volume of sales in Brazil and exports of the main chemicals in the United States and Europe contributed to the result. In addition, the actions implemented with a focus on the company's financial preservation had a positive impact on the quarter and will be detailed in the last chapter of the presentation. Moving on to the next slide. At the end of the first quarter of 2025, the company had an operating cash consumption of approximately BRL 936 million, explained mainly by the negative variation in working capital due to the management of feedstock and finished products inventories as a result of scheduled shutdowns in the period. Recurring cash consumption of BRL 2.4 billion was mainly impacted by the half-yearly interest payments on the company's debt securities, which are concentrated in the first and third quarters of the year. Considering Alagoa's disbursements, which were 65% lower than the previous quarter, the company had a cash consumption of around BRL 2.7 billion. Now let's move on to the next slide. Braskem ended the first quarter of the year maintaining an elongated profile of its corporate debt with an average term of around nine years, and 68% of the debt is concentrated as of 2030. The company continually analyzes the market in search of the most competitive opportunities for maintaining its debt profile. Considering the company's level of liquidity, the available cash of $2 billion is sufficient to cover its obligations for the next 33 months without taking into account the international credit line available in the amount of $1 billion. In conclusion, the corporate leverage stood at 7.92 times at the end of the first quarter of 2025. Moving on to slide 15, I will comment on the main updates from Alagoas during the period. By March 2025, all work fronts in Masayo had progressed according to the plan. On the relocation and compensation front, the percentage of execution of the residential relocation program reached 99.9%, considering that the entire risk area defined by the civil defense in 2022 was cleared. Regarding the proposals related to the financial compensation and relocation support program, more than 99.9% of the estimated proposals have already been submitted, of which around 99.5% have already been accepted and around 99.2% have already been paid. On the salt cavity closure and monitoring front, as announced in 2024, provision has been made for actions if necessary to ensure that the 35 CAFBTs reach a maintenance-free state in the long term suitable for the definite closure of the field. These actions for the definite closure should they be necessary are scheduled to begin in 2027 with execution over several years or even decades. Of the 35 cavities, 18 will be filled primarily with solid material, six of which have already been completed. In addition, 11 cavities that remain in the salt layer and are suitable for pressurization are in the group of recommended for long-term filling with solid material, following a technical note issued by a specialist consultancy. The other six cavities were filled naturally with five already confirmed and one in the process of being confirmed. In relation to the financial provision, the total provision for the Alagoas event was around BRL 17.6 billion of which about BRL 12.8 billion have already been disbursed, and approximately BRL 431 million have been recorded in other obligations payable. In addition, around BRL 637 million was recorded as a realization of the adjustment to present value. As a result, the total provision balance at the end of the first quarter of 2025 was BRL 5.1 billion, 9% lower than the balance at the end of the fourth quarter of 2024. Following our agenda, let's move on to Slide 16. This concludes an overview of the results for the first quarter of 2025. We will now present the outlook for the next quarter. The company's operating scenario will be mixed in the second quarter with the expectation of greater use of Brazil's petrochemical plants in anticipation of the planned maintenance shutdown in Rio de Janeiro, scheduled to begin in the third quarter of the year. On the other hand, the segments in the United States and Europe are expected to remain stable due to a balance between increased production in the United States and lower production in Europe, impacted by decreased feedstock supplies. Mexico, for its part, will begin a general maintenance shutdown for its complex, scheduled to last 45 days. Lower production in Mexico should affect the sales in the region, while the expectation for the other segments is for increased volumes sold in the period. As for international spreads, the second quarter of the year will continue to be challenging due to prolonged shutdown in international markets and possible impacts of the new tariff scenario. The expectation of lower naphtha prices could positively influence the resin spreads in Brazil, leading to an increase in the next quarter. On the other hand, with the current increase in ethane prices, gas-based polyethylene spread could be negatively impacted, while the polypropylene market remains challenging, maintaining the levels as seen in the first quarter. Given the growing scenario of geopolitical and tariff uncertainties, important competitive advantages will position Braskem to face possible impacts. Firstly, the company is prioritized serving the domestic market, where there is still a large portion of demand to be reached. Additionally, the geographic diversification and the scale of its production give Braskem leadership in the regions where it operates. Finally, the company is a pioneer and a leader in the production of biopolymer solutions that are not affected by the traditional petrochemical scenario, which provides greater resilience during down cycles. The combination of these competitive advantages will be fundamental for Braskem to navigate the uncertainties of the current scenario. Let's move on to the next slide. Next, we'll explore the strategic direction of the company and its main initiatives. Regarding the company's strategic direction, Braskem is focused on two main pillars of action: resilience and financial health, and transformation. On the resilience and financial health front, the focus will be on the tactical initiatives that mitigate the impact of the petrochemical downturn with a focus on maximizing cash generation. On the transformation front, we will implement actions to sustain the current business while continuing to focus on building the best skin of the future. To this end, we are reevaluating and prioritizing our assets and investments in order to optimize capital allocation and generate additional cash flow. These actions are essential for creating value for our shareholders for the perpetuity of the business and they are fundamental to the recovery of the Brazilian chemical and petrochemical industry. Now let's move on to the next slide. Faced with a prolonged downturn in the petrochemical industry, Braskem has implemented initiatives on three main fronts seeking to increase the company's value capture and resilience. In this sense, the continuous reduction of CapEx for operational and strategic investments was carried out, reaching the lowest CapEx in history with expectations for 2025. As additional levers, the prioritization of projects and devaluation of assets continue to be part of the company's goals, which will use the funds approved through REIQ Investimentos to carry out projects to expand the installed capacity. In parallel, measures to reduce fixed and variable costs are continually being implemented, such as initiatives in logistics and supplies, including the renegotiation of feedstock contracts. In conclusion, Braskem considers it essential to continue supporting institutional initiatives and defending the Brazilian chemical industry. To this end, the company will support initiatives such as maintaining the import tax, expanding the special regime for the chemical industry among others, which will support Brazil's quest for competitive equality in relation to other economies. Combining these three main fronts, the expected value capture per year will be between $5 billion and $7 billion. Now let's move on to the final slide. In this context and considering the current assets, three priorities were defined for Braskem's transformation. Firstly, the company is focused on the continuous optimization of its naphtha-based assets, maximizing the utilization rates of the most competitive production lines, while evaluating the hibernation of the least competitive production lines at the global level. At the same time, we are seeking to make the expansion of our gas-based assets viable. This includes investments to increase the capacity of the Rio de Janeiro petrochemical complex and unlocking the supply of ethane to the complex in Mexico in order to guarantee full coverage of its feedstock needs and enable an increase in the plant's capacity in the future. These achievements exemplify what the company intends to achieve in its other assets, increasing the flexibility of feedstock and ensuring the operational stability of its plants with the goal of increasing the competitiveness of its assets. Lastly, in line with our goal of expanding bio-product production to 1 million tons by 2030, we are implementing initiatives to selectively migrate to green production, considering the current initiatives. In the last quarter, we had a review of the ethylene capacity, and in the short-term, we will have important advances, such as the expectation of a final investment decision for our Braskem Siam, our future green ethylene plant in Thailand in the second half of 2025, and Sustainea, our joint venture with Sojitz during 2026. These partnerships are examples of alternative investment models that we will be actively seeking to implement in our priority projects. Combining the efforts of the three priorities, the company is seeking to generate the value of $600 million by 2030 in EBITDA growth. Finally, we conclude the presentation of Braskem's results for the first quarter of 2025. Thank you very much for your attention, and we'll soon start the Q&A session.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are now going to begin the Q&A session. To ask a question, please click on the Raise Hand button or send your question using the Q&A window. To remove your question, click on the Lower Hand button. Our first question comes from Gabriel Barra with Citi. You may proceed, sir.

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. I've got two of them. Rosana actually talked about this extensively, but I'd like to get more of your opinion about what's going on regarding the tariff war and the new chapter now. Over the weekend and this morning, we have a new agreement between China and the U.S. So, looking at the whole puzzle in a macro view, since the company has so many different geographies where it operates across three continents, I'd like to hear your opinion on these new advances and developments. Now, what changes with this weekend's news, in terms of spreads, productivity, and everything else we can think about in terms of Brazil and the impact of the context of import tariffs? My other question is, on the topic of the last slide where you mentioned $600 million and capturing value through different initiatives, especially with the change to now focusing on gas, I'd like more details about that. What is the total CapEx for that plan? Could you give us a timeline as well? How much do you forecast we will be capturing, especially in terms of KPIs? That would be very interesting. Thanks. Those are my questions.

Hey, Rosana. Do you want to take this one?

Great. Thank you, Barra. Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for the question, Gabriel. In relation to the tariff war, yes, you're right. When you say that we've had some updates on the weekend, but so far, we imagine that we could see the polypropylene spreads reporting important increases, considering the main feedstock for the production. 25% of propylene production in China comes from feedstock that comes from the United States, and so, we would imagine that cash costs would increase, and therefore, the prices of propylene would also increase. There's also the ethane part that part of it the feedstock comes from the United States, and that could also have some leftover, so as to say that we refer to the U.S. that would favor the company somehow. This is one of the beauties of the diversification that we have at our company, not at the geographical level, but also in relation to the product portfolio. This was also a concern of sectors, which are connected to the GDP at the global level that would have an impact on global activities. The GDP of the United States and China combined is nearly 40% of the global GDP. So, since we have this retreat, we were talking about tariffs of 145% being reduced to 30% and 10%. So, we have these uncertainties in terms of impact and economic growth and considering all the discussions that we have been observing considering the market and the likelihood of a recession. So, this all becomes less uncertain considering that plastic demand, of course, has been very linked to the increase in the global GDP. So, combined with the earnings results and this update, we see all this favorable impact. And in relation to our main differentiator, this is not only a matter of geographic diversification but especially the leadership that we have. If you consider the world nowadays, it tends to be less globalized and more divided into economic blocks. For sure, if you are a leader where you operate, the main focus of the company in Brazil has always been meeting the domestic market, and this is a strength for the company without any doubt. So, we're not only talking about this but it's a diversification combined with the leadership that we have, especially in the United States, Mexico, and Brazil, and also in the Americas. In relation to your second question about the $600 million as a potential value creation, as I presented in my talk, there is a flexibility of gas-based activities. We cannot forget that in 2017, we had a project. We have a center of operations in Bahia in the Northeast of Brazil, and we have an option. I can introduce return or naphtha? So we have this resilience. We are going after this resilience in order to improve the flexibility in Bahia. In the South of Brazil, we also have opportunities with Argentina, propane, and even the expansion of Rio de Janeiro, which is a project that has been in our pipeline for a while with hotter trace of petro brass, which will make it become a reality. But when you ask about CapEx, when we're talking especially about Brazil, we are going to maximize the use of resources by using the Hake investment. Hake investment is a fiscal credit of 1.5% in the company's revenue, conditioned to a project of caps increase. So at the end of the day, in terms of cash flow, this wouldn't have an impact because there we have on the other hand an increase in revenue. In relation to the growth of the green portfolio, Gabriel, I'm going to mention what was the expansion that we had recently. We used to have a capacity of 200,000 tons. We increased to 260,000 tons, and considering all the expertise and operational efficiency of the teams, we'll be able to run that plant at a higher capacity, namely 270,000 tons, and if we're saying that, if I consider all the projects that we have, Thailand or maybe a project that we want to build in the future because we want to create this biochemical industry for the future, and Brazil will have a special importance in looking at the company's transformation. So, let's think about 1,000,000 tons is our goal. We have about 300,000 tons and green ethane about 500,000 tons. So, that would amount to 800,000 tons using the expansion related to the project that we had in the South of Brazil. Thank you, Gabriel.

Just to add, Gabriel, because what Rosana said is very on point. But just to add, we mentioned this last time we were here talking about strategic guidance and results for the end of 2024. And with our directives, specifically fly up to green, looking at what we have in Rio Grande do Sul and the expansion of other sites, as well for feedstock from sugarcane, both in Brazil and Thailand, as well as in the United States. All of these points together can create a company, let's call it GreenCo, where we will perform all this expansion of the petrochemical initiatives from Braskem that we will be called Braskem Green in the future. This is being aligned with a number of different investors that are interested in this capacity. And the funding for that, to answer your question, in addition to what Rosana just said, would also come from capital inputs, inflows from investors that go not just to the company, but also to the projects in Thailand, the U.S., and Brazil as well. Lastly, other funding sources that we would use under the same structure, as we did when we created the project in Mexico using a nonrecourse funding, so that we could use it without having too much of an impact on the company's leverage.

All right. Thank you, Felipe and Rosana.

Our next question comes from Tasso Vasconcellos with UBS. Tasso, you may proceed, sir.

Hi, good afternoon. I appreciate the opportunity to ask my questions. I have a follow-up and another question about capital expenditures. Roberto, I'd like to revisit the comments on the downturn and low cycles and the initiatives in place to minimize their impact and reduce cash burn. We understand that some units operate with lower margins, and some may even be operating at a loss. While Rosana has already addressed this, I would like to gain a clearer understanding of your perspective on the potential to close certain capacities, including the preferred order of regions and products. Additionally, can you provide an update on your discussions with the government regarding reclaiming past benefits such as Hake and the PreSeq benefit, as well as your efforts to delay or reduce the export tariffs that were successfully addressed a few months ago? Furthermore, as a follow-up on capital expenditures, you showed a graph highlighting the decline in CapEx over the past few years. I'd like to know if the CapEx level you are targeting for 2025 is sustainable for 2026 and 2027 if the downturn continues for these two years. How do you plan to catch up during this period?

Thank you. Alright. So I'll begin with that one then. The fact that we are running our centers and sites for PE, PP, and PVC at reduced capacities allows us to expand these sites. Normally, they would run for five years at 90% capacity. Today, they're running at 70% capacity. This means that we have less wear and tear on the machines, and so we can extend up to eight years, is what we've seen in Brazil. The Mexico plant is coming up to nine years now running nonstop without any maintenance downtime. So, spacing out the downtime allows us to have lower CapEx. It simply follows. So, we're being very objective as to how we titrate production. When we look at our capital budget, our projects over the year, we rank these projects by a number of different methods. Firstly, by tier, by VPL. Here at Braskem, we have an indicator that we created. No one has ever written about that. It's VPL over VPI. So a present value over the investment value. These investments take a number of years to come to fruition, maybe two or three years, but there's an aspect that's important, which is materiality. So, in a situation where we sacrifice cash, such as we are now, it's only natural for you to direct your investments to those that produce not necessarily the highest tier but rather the greatest contribution in cash generation, instant generation. So, it's a concept that I'll refer to as materiality that links projects to the company's EBITDA capacity or to the company's assets. In other words, we really are ceasing to perform to engage in some projects that may have good results but that don't necessarily increase our cash generation and consequently don't necessarily improve the company's situation overall. We need to look at whether this is structural or specific, and at the time, it is currently specific. This will occur until we recover a healthier cash situation. So, I would not perpetuate $400 million of CapEx over the next few coming years because we're certainly going to see different things. I'm not talking about new structural projects, but normal projects. We will continue to invest in the future, and it's going to be at higher levels, with higher volumes, but $400 million is a healthy amount for us to invest and direct to projects that have the greatest capacity of having the biggest impact on our results. With regard to the tariffs, our view has always been that these tariff fights may lead to, at some point, the different parties involved. We always knew that some kind of an agreement would be reached. What we saw this past weekend certainly meets that. The several days that we've seen, the month that we've seen of tariff fights can be described as a sort of give and take, and our knowledge, we know we are confident that neither the U.S. nor China wants to see both of those economies plummeting. During Trump’s administration, what we saw was that the U.S. and China did reach an agreement. What we're mostly concerned about is China imposing tariffs on ethane coming from the U.S. and vice versa. China imports 18 million tons of ethane from the U.S. per year. It is not yet self-sufficient in PE. It also imports PE from the U.S., and if, perchance, let's say it needed to retaliate and impose 125% tariffs on that imported ethane, then PE production in China would be severely harmed. The Chinese government did not impose that 125% tariff. After a small initial hiccup and a pause to see what happens, we see that now that industry is resuming exuberantly. With regards to polypropylene, the Chinese government did not announce that it would not impose the 125% tariffs. I imagine that given this weekend's discussions, things will progress such that these tariffs will not occur because we know that China imports roughly a hundred million tons of PP per year, and certainly, it has a surplus of PP and it exports that to many countries, including here in Brazil. Therefore, after this sensing fight between the countries, we believe that the effect on the competitivity of the different actors will exist in the different margins. Someone who's competitive may become less competitive, and someone who is not currently competitive may become a little bit more competitive. I think the major players who feel the impact are going to be the European installations. They will need to coexist with a structural change, specifically a marked increase in the cost of energy in Europe, and this is structural. It is not specific. I think the biggest losers in all of this, after everything has settled down, are going to be Europe and not Brazil, not China, and not the U.S. I think I've answered broadly.

Just to follow up, what about the closing of capacity in Europe? Would that be a priority for you over the closure in Brazil or the U.S.?

Well, we don't have any plans to increase capacity in Europe, but rather we will keep our business, always striving for the best feedstocks and materials. I'll answer your other question too on that note. Before we think about closing capacity, we will always first try to alter the mix of feedstock. That's structural. This holds for the replacements and substitutions we're doing in Brazil that Rosana mentioned, replacing naphtha with ethane. So, we're working at 10% levels in Bahia. We're experimenting with up to 30%. In the South, one of our plants can process propane, so we will seek out propane, whether that's from Brazil or imported from Argentina through Lagoa dos Patos from the former Coppisol organization, but it's also possible. We're not ruling out looking for feedstock from Bahia, so we may reduce the use of naphtha in Bahia and start consuming ethanol. We can build a dehydration plant in Bahia so that we can work with that feedstock. Closing a plant is always the last-case scenario. We're always going to start thinking about different alternative feedstocks. That's always what we want. We don't want to change our installed capacity. Instead, we will first try to make investments that will allow us to either replace feedstock or have two sources of feedstock. For instance, today, given the comparative advantage, it's beneficial to use ethane, but in the future, let's say that given the electrification process of the different modes of transportation, we reduce the use of gasoline. This may cause a surplus of gasoline, which is the cousin of naphtha. So that could lead to a drop in naphtha prices, and so that could mean that naphtha will be more competitive in the future than it is today. And if our sites can have a different breadth of options to choose from, this will allow us to capitalize on these possibilities. Therefore, above all, creating flexibility and switching our feedstocks are certainly our priorities in order to bring more flexibility to our assets. The last-case scenario is always going to be closing down a site that cannot become more competitive through options one and two.

Thank you. That was very clear.

Hi, Roberto. Hi, Felipe. Hi, Rosana. It's great to speak with all of you. I appreciate you taking my questions. I have two inquiries. First, while we've talked a lot about spreads and competitiveness, I'd like your perspective on Braskem's loss of competitiveness over the past few years. This seems to be due to various factors, including issues in Alagoas and the current downward cycle, which may have complicated the company's position, especially with the entrance of other gas-based players in Asia. Can you provide more context on this? Additionally, how do you view Braskem's current standing in global cost curves? My second question is about leverage. I think the company has made significant progress in extending its debt profile over the past two years. While Braskem has a leverage issue, it doesn’t face a liquidity crisis. However, we're noticing delays in the cycle's recovery, which might indicate a potential liquidity concern. There seems to be a short-term cash situation, and I am curious about the standby issue that could impact 2027. Is there any coverage for this standby? If it exceeds a certain threshold, will funding still be available? What is your assessment of the company's liquidity status?

Hi, Luis. Good afternoon. This is Felipe. I'll start with your second question about leverage, and I'll let Roberto address the competitiveness aspect. He can provide insight into the work we've done regarding the company's positioning and the transformation plan aimed at enhancing Braskem's competitiveness. In terms of leverage, you are correct that we currently have a high level, primarily due to past events and the debt incurred to fulfill our obligations. This is also why our focus on competitiveness and the transformation plan is crucial; it allows us to create value for Braskem to meet all its obligations. We have implemented shorter-term measures since the capital expenditures and transformations will take time to reflect as economic value. As Roberto detailed, we are working on competitiveness within the Brazilian industry. Any improvements we receive, such as import tariffs and antidumping measures, will significantly benefit our cash flow. Regarding the available line of credit, we did utilize it during the pandemic, though there are typically conditions associated with these incentives. At various critical moments, we've leveraged these options to resolve issues and continue operations. Concerning competitiveness and our strategy for the company, we aim to expand our EBITDA to effectively reduce leverage and meet our commitments. We've maintained our strategy for the past two years, focusing on liability management. When opportunities arise, and the market offers favorable pricing and liquidity, we engage in liability management to extend the maturity of our obligations to the medium and long term. We also explore non-material fundraising options to capitalize on opportunities, using cash to capture value rather than solely to pay down existing debts, thereby positioning the company for growth.

Regarding competitiveness today, and going back to what happened in the past few years. First, I'm going to talk about the ethane global cost curve. We have production of ethane in Brazil and Mexico. Our position used to be very competitive, and we had this elongated low cycle, and what changed it was the oversupply that came, especially from the United States. The American petrochemical base is more competitive when compared to Brazil. Brazil has the potential of increasing its competitiveness considering the availability of ethane in the country, but so far the base of feedstock in the United States is more competitive. That wave was combined with an oversupply that came from China, which is related to the focus on meeting the internal demand or even related to creating jobs and increasing GDP. It's important to mention that because when I talk about the capacity curve in the United States, I say that, yes, these were pressured, but when I talk about China, this is likely to continue up to 2030. This has not put any pressure on the company's curve. Let's look at our asset base. We have four assets. One of them is potentially focused on naphtha in the South. The real polymers in Rio de Janeiro, especially propane, and in Sao Paulo, ABC Region, we have a combination of naphtha and ethane that brings competitiveness. In Bahia, I mentioned previously, it has a flexibilization. We have options to use either ethane or naphtha as part of our production of ethylene. What am I saying those details individually? Because at the end of the day, our decision in sales and production considers the combined aspects of the Brazilian reality. When I look at the cash cost of Brazil in a combined way, of course, we received some pressure because of the United States, but we are in the third or fourth quartile in the consolidated result. We are not very happy with all the result, as Roberto said. This is why it is so important to have an initiative, such as the flexibilization because we are going to have an option. We could use naphtha when it's more competitive, as we've had in one-off situations when a petrochemical has some more advantages. We have this positive credit and we're going to be looking at that, but we believe that naphtha will continue to be more competitive in the long run. Regardless of whether we are right or the consulting company made the right decision, we have to find a better balance with flexibility, and that translates into resilience in our results, which will bring more resilience when we generate EBITDA for the company. From the viewpoint of the necessary resources for this transformation to materialize, especially in Brazil, we will have more leverage with the programs that we have to incentivize the chemical and petrochemical industries in Brazil, whose purpose is to reduce this competitive gap compared to other economies. Considering that our sector dynamics are global, not limited to Brazil, it is crucial to preserve this competitiveness in the Brazilian industry.

It's true that our crackers are distributed among the cash cost curve. The Mexico cracker is in the first quartile. It's one of our most modern installations with 100% ethane. Now that the terminal was inaugurated last week, we will receive enough ethane to fill our plants at lower cost than we had been paying in our fast track project to compensate for the fact that Pemex had never sent us the volume of gas that we contracted from them. The Rio project is in the second quartile, but the expansion of the Rio project is going to reduce the cost per produced ton. In other words, by adding two new furnaces, we will increase to 700,000 tons a year. We're also going to gain competitive in the current 560,000 tons a year in the existing furnaces. The more you produce, the lower your production cost per ton. Now the crackers that are naphtha-based in Rio Grande do Sul and Bahia, for those, we will seek to replace the feedstock as we discussed. For example, in Rio Grande do Sul, we're negotiating with Petrobras to start running the Rio cracker with 100% ethane, because today, as you know, it's 50% ethane and 50% propane. When we do that, we not only improve our cost per ton in Rio de Janeiro, but we also make more feedstock available for Rio Grande do Sul so that we can replace the feedstock there. So we win in Rio de Janeiro, and we win in Porto Alegre because we will then be able to process propane and not naphtha there. In Bahia, we are closer to the fourth quartile, far from the curve. We will increase the ethane participation in addition to naphtha, so we can bring those crackers back to the third quartile. If need be, we'll replace our feedstocks. We'll stop cracking naphtha, and we'll start dehydrating ethanol to produce ethane and, from there, green polyethylene. In other words, all of the plates are spinning, and we're trying to attack the ones that have started slowing down. Now with regard to liability management, as Felipe mentioned, we must remember that Braskem had an extraordinary geological event that caught us right at a downward cycle, and I'm referring to the costs pertaining to stabilizing the salt cavities in Maceo. When we compare Braskem with our competitors, they didn't have a $3 billion bill to pay, which we're facing. In terms of our bottom line, this is a liability that does not yet have a corresponding asset, and we're studying that. Braskem's situation was heavily impacted because we had a rise in obligations and liabilities to pay, but that bill was only shown to us very recently.

Thank you. Thank you, all of you.

Our next question comes from Rodrigo Omeda with Santander. You may proceed, sir.

Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. I have a few questions. I'd like to explore the Brazilian situation a little bit and try to understand, with regard to the import tariffs, how you have seen the impact of those tariffs here in Brazil. We know that imports are still high, but I think that in your release, you were able to claim a little bit of market share. Could you talk about that, please? And also, touch on Mexico as well. How have the recent spread pricing changes impacted the cost of products, especially Brazilian and Mexican PE? Also, another question about the import terminal in Mexico. Could you please help us understand the pricing structure for feedstocks? Do you bring them from the U.S.?

Rodrigo? Rodrigo? Hello?

I don't know if he can hear you.

Let me send a message to him to check if he can hear what we're saying. I would like to ask you to wait. Please bear with me while I check this out. So, let's wait for Rodrigo to reconnect. Meanwhile, let's move on to the next question, please.

Our next question comes from Regis Cardoso with XP Investimentos. You may proceed, sir.

Hi, everyone. Good afternoon, Roberto, Felipe, and Rosana. Thanks for this update. I have a quick question and then another one. With regard to the petrochemical cycle and spreads, I'd like to flip the question around and ask the other way around. I imagine that you have put lots of thought into this. What would be the required level of spreads for different grades, let's say, different financial comfort levels? Are there any targets for net debt, EBITDA? What would that spread need to be, or what level of spreads would we need to have to pay all of our debt and have neutral cash after paying Alagoas? I'll leave the question open for you to answer in the most convenient way after your analysis. But above all, I mean, instead of trying to predict what the petrochemical cycle is going to be, I'd like to know what it needs to be. The other question, I'd like to understand the dynamics between Prezik and Hake. I was reading the official terms. Hake is part of Prezik, but Prezik adds some additional benefits, but there's a limitation, a yearly limitation, but I don't fully understand how that is distributed between the different players in the industry. Could you just explain a bit about the importance of Hake and also your forecast for a timeline? Do we have an expectation, a forecast for financial impact? A third question, there was significant burn of inventory. Was that due to a reversal in Q4? Can we expect some of that to come back in the next quarter?

Rosana, do you want to take that one?

Sure. I'm going to change the order a little bit. First, I'm going to talk about the inventories, and then we move on to a more conceptual level and talk about the agendas for the protection of the chemical industry in Brazil. Regarding inventory levels, there was a consumption of BRL 1 million of finished products, which are the inventory in transit for this quarter. As an example, 50% of the fixed stock comes imported through Braskem Trading Ship. Let me focus on the finished product. We increased this inventory level a little bit since we are going to have an important planned stoppage in the petrochemical Rio de Janeiro. I will also link this to what Roberto answered in the previous question, mentioning the importance of this asset to Brazil because it's the most competitive asset for the company. The main effects regarding inventory consumption is also observed in cash flow in Mexico, which is also a very competitive asset because we are going to have the first planned stoppage for polymers in Mexico, and these were the main effects regarding inventory consumption that you asked about. Regarding Prezik and Hake, at the end of the day, we are participants in this agenda, which is led by ABECI, the Brazilian Association of Chemical Industry. It's important to understand the context that the chemical industry in Brazil is going through. If we look at the operational tag rates of the industry, it's probably one of the lowest levels in history due to competition coming from different regions. I may mention the situation of the industry as a whole. Hake and Preziq are there to bring this competitiveness to the Brazilian chemical industry. Our chemical sector, to answer more broadly, is globalized. There is no dynamics for the Brazilian market. There is rather a global dynamics seen from the point of view of cost, and we see what is the price being applicable. These fronts have been led by Abiquin for a while, and Brasco and the Brazilian chemical industry would account for, I don't know the exact number, but it accounts for 11% of the industrial share of Brazil, and it is very structuring. Hake and Preziq would meet the needs of this gap in competitiveness in Brazil. Hake is a special regime of the Brazilian chemical industry. It’s related to the purchase of feedstock, both in Brazil or abroad. So, when we are purchasing when products are being purchased, we have a broader way to look at that, and we have this effect on the Brazilian costs when we compare to the other elements. Hake was created in 2013. The rate at that time, when it was created, was set at 1.20, and this was related to the cost of Brazil and threats from the American producer, such as shale gas. We would have to look at regions closer to Brazil. Those arguments remain valid and a bit more depreciated today when I say that shale gas is no longer a threat but a reality, as Roberto mentioned before considering the exports from the United States. The Preziq addresses the PIS/COFINS taxes, which no longer exist after the tax reform. We have an expansion of this rate tax to BRL 8.25, when it was first created, and by 2027, we have the concept of credit, financial credit, since we no longer have PIS/COFINS taxes. It's a way to ensure the competitiveness of the chemical and petrochemical in Brazil because the past few years, for different reasons, maybe the competition from China or other factors, the Brazilian chemical industry continues to be a cornerstone for structure. When you talk about spreads and cycles, what I can say is, Braskem is part of a sector that involves cycles that have foundations of global dynamics. So, dynamics are global, not just Brazilian; it's totally global. We define our leverage ratio levels and our indebtedness levels, considering what would be the average for the cycle. For example, net debt of the company excluding Braskem Idesa was BRL 6.6 billion. If we consider the cycle, the historical cycles, the normal would be BRL 2.5 billion. Assuming that today as a reference, we have a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.5x. If we consider BRL 2.5 billion of EBITDA, which would be the low range in historial levels, this would amount to BRL 6.2 billion. Our net debt is nowadays aligned with what would be a normalized cycle. This leads us to the major question of when we believe these normal levels will be reached. Today, when we consider that no rationalization is important for the industry because this is something we cannot control. We haven't observed major companies at the global level announcing hibernation and closures of plants, but considering there is increased demand—with less intensity compared to historical levels—we see the cycle's resumption will take about three to four years. Again, considering without any important rationalization. Looking at the regular normal result considering the low levels we will take as a reference 2019, which was the first year when we had a low cycle, and in the grain businesses, the business proposal has not been very clear, so the result was much lower. The contribution is much more important today. After 2019, we started a new plant in the U.S., so this amount we are looking at will be normalized when close to $2 billion and that would reach cash breakeven level, which would be something normal for the lower cycles and a lower leverage ratio of between three and three point five times.

Perfect, Rosana. Thank you.

Our next question comes from Rodrigo Omeida with Santander. You may proceed, sir.

Good afternoon, everyone. I'll start over because I'm not sure I expressed my question clearly. My first question is about the import tariffs in Brazil over the last few months. Have you noticed any effect on market share? I would also like to know how shipping prices have influenced the situation of Mexican products both in Brazil and Mexico. Additionally, could you provide some insight into the import or export terminal in Mexico? How has this affected your feedstocks? Is there any mid- to long-term outlook for contracts and volumes? It would be helpful to understand the progress of that project.

Sure. I'll begin, Rodrigo, and then, Rosana, you can come in talking about the import tariffs because overall, yes, we already do see an impact, but we can give more detail. With regard to Mexico and our transformation plan. We've been performing, as we've also been discussing, an internal project to purchase these vessels through a leasing contract to carry out ethane and, in the future, naphtha contracts. In Mexico, the first vessel arrived in February of '25, and the second vessel is scheduled to arrive in Q2 of '25. So that answers precisely your question. That's the backdrop to this program. It's called Seas of the Future. This has been approved by the administration board a little bit more than a year ago, forecasting that these spreads would be increasingly higher as a result of the lower availability of vessels in the world. We are well-positioned there. We have started reaping these rewards by reducing the amount we pay. Of course, we still pay a little bit because we don't have all of the shipping capacity, but we have improved that, and it's going to have a significant impact. With regard to your second question and the strategy to purchase ethane from the U.S. As you know, one of the companies in our group is Braskem Trading and Shipping (BTNS), located in the Netherlands, and they have a trade desk focused specifically on these operations. This includes spot and short-term contracts and also mid and long-term contracts. All of that is held within that cell that houses our knowledge that we call BTS. They are contracted by Braskem Idesa to manage the purchase of feedstock in the best possible way, in the most optimized way, and combining a short, medium, and long-term portfolio. Ro, could you tell us a little bit about import tariffs?

Yes, of course. A reminder in relation to Mexico, the operations have started. It was a very important investment that will ensure operational availability and imports more than we need. At the end of the transformation, we will evaluate a possible expansion at the right moment. Only a reminder, we have a planned maintenance shutdown. As I mentioned before, the first one since we started the project, so about 40 or 45 minutes will stop for a while. We have been building the inventory, but when we talk about running at 100%, this would happen after 2026 only. Your question in relation to freight price, for different reasons, we saw along the time, the past few years, we have seen logistics disruption. Most of them come from the Red Sea conflict, that was supporting the freights from Brazil to Asia at more than normal levels. What we have been observing in the past few months and we also heard some news of a possible truce in the region on the part of the United States, so we had been observing the normal situation concerning those spreads. Rodrigo that imports parity that we mentioned had this positive effect because, without a doubt, if our client is importing, the freight would be paid, and we have been observing these normal levels being materialized, which brought some positive results last year. In terms of market share, of course, we have been observing this, and my answer is considering what would be the market share of the company, considering our commercial strategy that we have adopted. When we talk about Brazilian production, this is the major focus of the company at all times. This is the natural choice for the company. But when I compare the goals that we had, we observed that the market share was a bit higher than we had set for the year. It's difficult to ascertain, if the increase was due to the added market share because of uncertainties and different demands and many variable effects, but we can say that we have been very successful, especially because we want to be the client's natural choice and our commercial team has been working very hard to best serve our Brazilian clients.

Great. Thank you, Rosana. Thanks, everyone.

Our next question comes from Leonardo Marcondes with Bank of America. You may proceed, sir.

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Many of them have been answered already. So I just have a few, mostly focusing on the U.S. and Europe. We saw a negative margin, and one explanation for that was the drop in polypropylene prices. This quarter, the price of propylene rose, and we also saw a relatively low margin compared to other quarters. I'm wondering if you could provide some context about the effect during the quarter. It would be very interesting for us to better understand how the dynamics of polypropylene impacted the results in this segment. Thank you.

Do you want to start, and I'll add on. Rosana?

Thank you, Leo, for the question. You're right when you say that we went from $10,000 million and this semester was $20,000 million. We have some non-recurring effects, but your question concerning propane will be answered looking at the United States, considering the materiality because the production capacity is higher in the United States and the propane dynamics have a positive and negative effect. This is what I'm going to explain. In the United States, we are the largest producer of polypropylene, and therefore, we are the major purchasers of propane. As a result, we have long-term agreements and many agreements, with the source of feedstock being different from the refinery or from a petrochemical complex or from a propane dehydrogenator. That flexibility, which is one of the major differentiators we have, leads to what I refer to as virtual integration. When the propane price increases, which is the main feedstock of polypropylene, I have more flexibility when I purchase feedstock, considering all these assets and all the costs for polymerization and everything else. However, we do not see this effect so much since propane increased because, along with the quarter, we had some planned shutdowns and some unplanned shutdowns from some of our suppliers. So, this flexibilization was limited if we consider those planned and unplanned shutdowns that we had along the quarter. At the end of the day, when propane increases, we expect more positive results, considering the differences we have in the U.S. associated with the flexibilization of supply and sources of feedstock as well.

I'd just like to add, the sources of propylene are essentially from refineries, from naphtha cracking, or from dehydrogenating propane. The major growth of the supply of propylene in the U.S. came from new propane dehydrogenation plants. Actually, the plant that we built in Lacoste was to consume feedstock coming from dehydrogenation units. These plants are difficult to run. There are people who can run them very well and other people who really struggle. So, you've got an offer of propylene that is very variable due to the effectiveness of the dehydrogenation plants. When it comes to using the propylene, we use it to create polypropylene, and we also use it for the acrylate chain, and you can also use it to anculate different products. If you reduce the use of gasoline in the U.S., you'll have less feedstock, less propylene because you will use that feedstock to produce the gas that is used. As a result, you'll have a drop in the price of propylene in the U.S. And thus, being more competitive in propylene production there, and we have our assets there, and we will always value and prioritize them. So, we have a very large propylene plant in the U.S., and I'm confident that there, we can increase the production of polypropylene. Recently, we took upon ourselves a challenge of increasing our production capacity, which may even surpass the installed capacity because there's always a little bit of headroom for any of these plants. Our challenge is going to be on demand to have sufficient demand for us to increase production, which is always the case in an industry like ours. The more you increase production capacity and production itself, the lower costs we will have because indirect costs are better absorbed, and so you become more competitive and more profitable.

Thank you. That's very clear. Thank you.

We end now the Q&A session. Braskem's video conference has come to an end. We would like to thank everyone, and have a good afternoon, everyone.