Corporate Manger, Retail Division. As a reminder, all participants - - PDF document

Operator’s opening script: Good morning and welcome to the Cencosud 1st Quarter 2014 Earnings Call. With us today are Juan Manuel Parada, CFO, Marisol Fernandez, IRO, and Jaime Soler, Corporate Manger, Retail Division. As a reminder, all participants will be in a listen-

• nly mode. There will be an opportunity for you to ask questions at the end of

today’s presentation. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press “*” and then “1” using a touchtone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the queue, you may press “*” and then “2”. Should anyone need assistance during today’s conference, you may signal an operator by pressing “*” and then “0” using your touchtone telephone. For your information, today’s conference is being recorded. Before we begin, I would like to inform you that this teleconference will relate to Cencosud’s 1st Quarter 2014. Statements made by management involve risks, uncertainties and may relate to future events. Any changes in macroeconomic policies or legislation and other operational results could affect Cencosud’s

• performance. Cencosud undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any

forward-looking statement for any reason unless required by law. Please note that no part of this conference call may be reproduced in whole or in 1

part without prior authorization from Cencosud. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Juan Manuel Parada…Sir you may begin... 1

2

• Please turn to slide 3.
• Cencosud’s results for the quarter were encouraging. We had positive YoY

comparisons in several metrics, including EBITDA and net income, while benefiting from 1Q13 being a low base of comparison due to the CLP 20 billion charge related to

• ur financial services business.
• If you look at our operations, you’ll see trends were positive. SSS in the black in most

businesses, despite headwinds I will get into later on.

• We said 2014 would be a year for integration and deleveraging. Our commitment to

that has been seen in a greater focus on efficiency and in 1Q14 we were able to tighten our SG&A margin, especially in Argentina and Chile. These continue to be our most important markets representing over 60% of our revenue on a LTM basis.

• This helped our adjusted EBITDA margin for the quarter, which was 7.1%, compared

with 6.1% a year earlier. 3

SLIDE 4

• Please turn to slide 4.
• We saw modest growth in revenue in the first quarter compared with a year earlier,

with growth in supermarkets, home improvement and department stores

• The 2.8% revenue growth posted was lower than in the past several quarters, and

was the result of several market and company factors. Firstly, retail markets like Brazil and Chile have begun to show some weakness while Colombia´s format market has faced renewed competition from informal players. Secondly, there were some quarter specific headwinds. The timing of Easter made for a high base of comparisons in our supermarket business, which accounts for more than 70% of our revenue.

• The above was combined with the Argentine peso weakening, , and a reduced
• rganic expansion.
• Taking all this into account, and the ongoing integration of Colombia, we believe

Cencosud’s top line performance was solid. 4

• Slide 5 gives some more detail on the results of our efficiency measures, and their

impact on results.

• This is a priority area for Cencosud in 2014, and we’re pleased with the progress we

have achieved so far. We’re working to maximize efficiency right across our

• businesses. In 1Q14, our headcount was 3.5% lower than in 1Q13 and we’ve also

taken measures, specifically in Brazil and Colombia, that Jaime Soler is going to elaborate on.

• If you take out the financial services charge from 1Q13, our SG&A margin tightened

to 22.7%, compared with 23.4% in 1Q13.

• Looking at adjusted EBITDA, you can see that we had 9.2% growth in adjusted

EBITDA, excluding non-operating items such as revaluation of assets, fair value of derivatives and the provision related to the financial services provision, margin was 7.1%, compared with 6.7% a year earlier.

• So we’re delivering EBITDA improvements in excess of our top line growth, which is
• ne of the benefits of our scale and competitive positioning.

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Slide 6 shows this in more detail.

• On the right, you can see our breakdown of EBITDA by country.
• Chile and Argentina remain our most important markets, accounting for 56% and

28% of LTM EBITDA respectively. Colombia, Brazil and Peru are much smaller proportions, but we think there’s still real growth potential for Cencosud in each market.

• I’ll now turn the call over to Marisol, who will go through the results in more detail.

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• Thank you Juan Manuel

SLIDE 8

• Please turn to slide 8.
• The performance of the supermarket business, our largest unit, was mixed in the

first quarter.

• We grew top line by 2.4%, with improvement in Chile, Brazil and Peru, despite the

calendar impact of Easter and the other headwinds that Juan Manuel discussed. In Argentina, we increased sales by almost 30%, measured in local currency, an effect that was offset by the currency depreciation that took place in the period.

• In terms of SSS, we saw expansion in all countries but Colombia, where we’re still

positioning our brands and dealing with a slowdown in the formal sector. There is still work to be done in Colombia, but we feel we are on track as our SSS decline narrowed sequentially. At an EBITDA level, we can group results into two buckets. In Argentina, Peru and Chile with a positive trend, with growing revenue and a controlled expense base, as Juan Manuel mentioned. In Brazil and Colombia, our results were affected by promotional campaigns and branding, but in the case of Brazil shrinkage was of great

• importance. All of these factors led to lower adjusted EBITDA.

8

• Please turn to slide 9
• Home improvement was a highlight for the quarter, on both on a revenue and

EBITDA level.

• 4.7% revenue growth fueled by positive SSS and new store openings.

In Colombia, we saw increased competition for one store, what impacted SSS, though we’d highlight that Colombian revenue was up almost 50%.

• Adjusted EBITDA for the division was very strong, rising 44.2% to approximately CLP

37 billion. Argentina and Chile performed very well, and the EBITDA loss in Colombia narrowed.

• Again, our efficiency measures had a direct impact on results. SG&A margin in Home

Improvement was 24.5%, compared with 24.8% in 1Q13, despite the fact that we had the net opening of 7 stores YoY.

• Please turn to slide 10

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• Shopping centers remain another growth area for Cencosud, with higher revenues

and improved margins.

• The first quarter saw higher occupancy in both Chile and Peru, while discounted

rents at two malls in Chile came to an end.

• Costanera center continues to perform beyond expectations, and in Peru we opened

Arequipa Center.

• We also saw efficiency gains in Chile and Argentina, with SG&A margins of 12.5% and

4.3% respectively.

• Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was up 15.4%, at CLP 38.1 billion.

10

• Please turn to slide 11.
• Our financial services business had a good quarter at an operational level, with

portfolio growth in Chile, Argentina and Peru.

• In terms of risk management, our provisions / loans ratio fell to 6% in the first

quarter, from 7.9% a year earlier.

• Adjusted EBITDA was up, also as a result of the low base consequence of the 1Q13

charge.

• Trends in the segment remain positive, with growth and risk management both

pointing towards improved performance going forward. 11

• Please turn to slide 12.
• In our department stores, we saw higher revenue, with the ongoing expansion in

Peru and the continued strong performance of Johnson, which posted double digit SSS growth.

• EBITDA for the quarter was down year-on-year; a direct result of new stores in Peru

that are yet to mature.

• I’ll now turn the call back to Juan Manuel, for a look at our financial position at the

end of the first quarter. 12

• Thank you Marisol.
• As we have said before, Cencosud is committed to its investment grade rating, and

we’re aiming to get net debt/ EBITDA below 3x by the end of 2014.

• On slide 13, you can see that our net debt/ ebitda was approximately 3.6x at the end
• f the quarter, slightly up from 3.4x at the end of 2013. This was a consequence of an

8% increase in debt fueled by seasonal working capital needs, namely payments to suppliers after the holidays. Nonetheless this continues to be an improvement from the 3.7 we had at 1Q13.

• We continue to follow our policies of having most of our debt issued at a HoldCo

level, in our functional currency or UF, at a fixed rate. 13

• Slide 14 shows our amortization schedule as of the end of March.
• As of the end of 1Q14, our highest amortization in any given year between now and

2020 is approximately $500 million. We have since carried out some additional refinancing, and our goal is to lower the amortization for any given year in this period to no more than $300 million.

• We will be able to finance these amortizations using free cash flow, and we don’t

anticipate any need to tap markets between now and 2017.

• Leading to a comfortable position in terms of liquidity
• We remain focused on reducing our overall leverage ratios, and we’re committed to
• ur investment grade rating.
• To sum up, 2014 continues to be a year for efficiencies, integration and deleveraging.

We’re making progress on all these fronts, and look forward to keeping you up to date throughout the year. 14

I now turn the floor to Jaime Soler to provide some color regarding initiatives to be taken in our retail businesses. Thank you Marisol and good afternoon to all of you. Taking a look at the supermarket business we can divide it into 2 different stories. A positive performance in markets where we are very consolidated players such as Chile, Argentina and Peru, which show marked improvement and that is seen in our

• EBITDA. On the other hand, in Brazil and Colombia, as you all are aware the news is

not good, and I have prepared a couple slides on the progress we have made and moves going forward. 15

Let’s start with the positives. In Chile, the supermarket business had a positive quarter in profitability, EBITDA increasing 9.4%; we achieved this with top line growth of 2%, and also through controlling costs mainly in our Santa Isabel flag. We are comfortable with the current performance in Chile and our goal is to increase SSS against our historical trend. In addition to all this we seek to place our efforts for

• ur Jumbo flag in further connecting it with its consumer base and become the most

admired brand in Chile. In Santa Isabel efficiencies continue to play a key role, turning SG&A reduction into price competitiveness and greater promotional leverage. To sum up Chile is a market where we seek greater traction in terms of sales and leadership. Turning to Argentina, sales growth in local currency was at 30% and SSS stood at 27%. This was in combination with gross margin gains of 1.2% and SG&A dropping 8% in absolute terms in local currency. These pushed EBITDA up more than 50%. Our management has a great track record both in retail and in navigating the Argentine economic environment. Now, in the second quarter, we’ll see a new labor agreement come into effect. As always, this will lead to higher operating costs in the second half

• f the year.

Nevertheless, we are believers in Argentina, we have great confidence in our team, 16

and we’re optimistic about the future. Finally Peru saw sales increase of 7% as a whole in local currency and our supermarket business posted SSS of 4% our best number in 6 quarters. Despite having a marginal gross margin compression in the period this allowed us to engage in additional promotional activity and gain competitiveness. This effect was more than offset by a drop of over 1% in SG&A. as a direct consequence of these factors EBITDA grew 14%. We congratulate our team in Peru for the work they completed this quarter and we are confident this is a trend that can be improved going forward. 16

The challenges we face in the supermarket business are largely in Colombia and Brazil, where we have made significant acquisitions in recent years. Colombian operations as a whole posted a 2.3% decrease in sales in local currency, while SSS at our supermarkets dropped 6.6%. EBITDA decreases at a double digit rate in the period. In Q1 and Q2 of 2013, we had large liquidations, as we cleared out Carrefour stock with the negative effects of these clearance sales going against

• goodwill. Excluding this effect Colombia supermarkets in 1Q14 posted its best EBITDA

since the acquisition. We definitely see there an operational improvement. Our challenge ahead as we see it is in sales, 2Q13 is still carried some of the effect of stock clearances so we believe this could still post a challenging comparison basis. However, we believe we should continue to reduce the red in SSS reaching breakeven by the 3rd quarter We have seen heavy operational progress with our perishables area being one of the brightest spots posting double digit sales growth, where Jumbo´s XXXXXX. Nonfood should require some work going forward as this was historically of great importance for the chain. Due to my expertise in this side of the business I believe some mistakes were made, but the company has a great deal of potential to deliver. Our endeavor to launch the 2 brands, namely Jumbo and Metro, is by no means small, but I believe Cencosud S.A. has all the right elements to make of this a successful enterprise. 17

We launched our loyalty program in Colombia onboarding over XXXX clients and XXXX loyalty cards. In the 2Q14 we are to launch our ecommerce platform for the nonfood

• business. And finally our private label program has expanded to over 500 products in

just under a year. I want to stress the importance of this program as a traffic draw and due to its contribution to margins. Now to Brazil, this is a priority for me and everyone at Cencosud. Revenues in Brazil grew 5% in local currency for Brazil as a whole and SSS at supermarkets posted gains

• f 1.1%. Our gross margin for the operation had a 7% drop while our SG&A grew an

8% in absolute terms. As a consequence of these factors the profitability of the

• peration was below our historical performance.

Our Brazilian operations are today 100% running on SAP. This process was made without the proper training for the team at the store level. The task of training staff and stabilizing the platform is now crucial at Prezunic, where our historical performance made of it our flagship chain. The second half of the year should bring better news from Brazil. 2Q14 should have additional headwinds coming from the current uncertainties surrounding the formal supermarket industry in the country due to the world cup effect. Among the measures we have taken in Brazil, I would highlight the appointing of a new COO per flag and the removal of the former Bretas COO. This should provide greater autonomy and flexibility and accountability to each flag while increasing responsiveness to changing market conditions. We are taking back to a regional level marketing, logistical management and operations. This by means implies giving up the benefits of scale we achieved by top2top national purchasing and the centralization of back office, project development and engineering, IT, HR & Credit card operations, which should remain at our SP HQ. Taking the focus back to IT, we are working on stabilizing SAP and closing any process gaps that still affect our supply chain. To sum up we had a good performance in Chile, Argentina & Peru. Colombia is in a position where despite not having positive sales numbers the operations are in good

• shape. The challenge here continues to be Brazil, and I believe we have finally

pinpointed the issues we need to tackle. Improvements here should not be expected from one q to the next but im confident that good news should come before the year´s end.

• Operator, we can now open the floor for questions.

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