Compañía Sud Americana de Vapores (VAPORES) Q1 2024 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Q1 net loss was $159.105m, versus net income of $597.977m a year earlier; profit before tax was $71.370m.

• Tax expense of $230.475m, mainly related to foreign dividend retentions, outweighed $93.808m of income from the 30% HLAG stake.

Financial highlights

• Net operating loss narrowed to $2.965m from $4.825m YoY; finance income was $4.668m, while exchange losses widened to $24.140m from $1.451m.

• Total comprehensive loss was $166.527m; basic EPS was a loss of $0.0031, versus earnings of $0.0117 in Q1 2023.

• HLAG reported Q1 revenue of $4,623m, EBITDA of $942m, EBIT of $396m and net income of $325m; net income was down from $2,031m in Q1 2023.

Outlook and guidance

• HLAG narrowed FY 2024 guidance to EBITDA of $2.2–3.3bn and EBIT of $0–1.1bn; assumptions included slightly higher transport volume, moderately lower freight rates and bunker prices at the prior-year level.

• Industry demand assumptions were 4% growth in 2024 and 8% in 2025; sustained early-year volume growth of 9%–10% could move results toward the upper guidance range.