SÃO PAULO (Reuters) – Americanas shares sank on Thursday after the revelation on the eve that the company’s balance sheet could have a shortfall of 20 billion reais related to transactions with banks and suppliers.
Former president of Americanas Sergio Rial, who took office on January 2 and stayed in office for 9 days before resigning the day before, participated in a closed conference this Thursday morning and mentioned that the problems stem from differences in cost accounting financial ratio of bank debt in relation to debt with suppliers.
Americanas has not commented on the matter since it disclosed the material fact about the discovery of “accounting inconsistencies”. The company’s share has been up for auction since the market opened, even indicating a drop of around 90%.
According to Rial, the lack of clarity around the classification of “withdrawal risk” operations, an anticipation of receivables from retailers with banks, such as bank debt, is something that permeates the national retail sector “since the 1990s”.
Faced with the scandal, the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) opened on Thursday two processes to investigate the company. One of the processes is aimed at the company’s own accounting, while the other will deal with the tumultuous way in which the company disclosed the problems to the market.
In his speech, broadcast only in part on the BTG Pactual channel on YouTube, the executive stated that he identified “signs that perhaps the level of transparency and perhaps the willingness of the management itself to want to talk about problems and challenges were not so fluid in the organization as it should”.
CAPITALIZATION
In a lively tone and making some jokes during his presentation at BTG Pactual, one of Americanas’ creditors, Rial tried to show that the retailer is still viable. But he noted that the company will need a significant capital increase, without making projections about the size of the contribution that shareholders will have to make in the company after the scandal.
“No one has set a number. Nobody has the slightest doubt that it won’t be millions… As long as we have (clarity about the situation) we will define what is needed. What is important now is to keep the company running”, said the executive. He continues to advise Americanas’ key shareholders, which include billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Alberto Sicupira.
Americanas said the day before, despite not being able to determine all the impacts on the balance sheet at this time, it believes that “the cash effect of these inconsistencies is immaterial”. Rial said that in the short term he does not see an impact on the company’s cash, but he mentioned that this is if the company’s creditor banks “do not decide to accelerate the debt, then it will be a case in court”.
According to him, Americanas has about 9 billion reais in cash and that it could generate an operating profit measured by Ebitda of 1.5 billion to 1.7 billion reais “this year”, against 3.3 billion reais in 2021 The gross debt of around 30 billion reais is mostly long-term, said the executive.
“It will have a lower capex (investment), it will be able to generate more working capital than in 2022, it will not be able to pay financial expenses in its entirety and therefore the necessary infusion of capital comes here”, said Rial, including among the options is a “strategic move” that could open “opportunities to redesign some things in the sector”.
Asked if the 20 billion reais are off the balance sheet, Rial denied it, stating that as far as “as far as he can see” during the days he was chief executive “all debts were paid, suppliers were paid”.
As a reference, the company’s equity at the end of September was 14.7 billion reais.
Americanas announced the appointment of Otávio Yazbek, Vanessa Claro Lopes and Pedro Melo to compose an independent committee in charge of investigating the accounting gap.
BROKERS REVIEW
A number of brokerages have placed Americanas’ share recommendations on review since Wednesday night.
The Bradesco BBI team, for example, classified the episode as “considerable and unprecedented accounting inconsistency” and considered the news “very negative”.
XP Investimentos mentioned that the departure of Rial, which it saw as an important pillar to sustain Americanas’ transformation process, represents a risk to the investment thesis in the company, while the accounting scandal may imply greater leverage and risks of lawsuits in the States United.
Citi considered that “clearly, this is still the beginning of a long and complex story”. Morgan Stanley withdrew its “overweight” recommendation for Americanas shares.
For BB Investimentos, so-called drawee risk operations are common in the retail sector and the transparency of disclosed information may vary from company to company.
(Reporting by Paula Arend Laier and Tatiana Bautzer; additional reporting by Aluísio Alves)
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