GOL announces Investor Update: Anticipating GOL's Return to Pre-Pandemic Liquidity Levels
São Paulo, May 14, 2021 - GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. (NYSE: GOL and B3: GOLL4), ("GOL" or "Company"), Brazil's largest airline, today provides its Investor Update for April/21. All information is presented in Brazilian Reais (R$). The information below is preliminary and unaudited.
Over the past 12 months, GOL's Management has been dedicated to providing its shareholders with regular updates on key financial and operational metrics, as the Company has navigated through the Covid-19 pandemic. GOL believes it has been exceptional in its transparency in this regard. As the rollout of the National Program for Immunization in Brazil accelerates and the cases of Covid-19 in the country decreases, with the consequent resumption in the demand for air travel, the Company will return to its practice of quarterly investor updates, with its next update scheduled for July (related to 2Q21).
"We remain committed to transparency for our investors, as always," said Paulo Kakinoff, CEO. "As the need for regular monthly updates subsides with the return of our liquidity to pre-pandemic levels, we will refocus our efforts on communications about the Company's priorities in the post-pandemic recovery, which by their nature will be more medium-term. We are excited to share more details with you in our next quarterly update."
In April/21, GOL's daily sales increased 75% in volume over March/21. The Company operated flights to 67 destinations with approximately 200 daily flights on peak days. GOL's consolidated gross revenues for the month were approximately R$250 million and the average load factor was 83%, highlighting Management's on-going focus on maintaining sustainable operations, through the continuous matching of seat supply to the level of traveler demand. PRASK was R$20.58 cents, an increase of 38% over March/21, and a year-on-year variation of +5% due to better ticket pricing, through dynamic yield management, combined with the signs of demand recovery following Covid-19's second wave in Brazil. Excluding financial debt service, GOL's net cash consumption was neutral in April.
The Company has the lowest financial leverage among its peers, and ended April with short-term debt of approximately R$2.0 billion (versus R$3.9 billion in 2Q20), of which R$1.6 billion is comprised of working capital loans, and of which approximately R$700 million is expected to be amortized in 2Q21.
On April 28, 2021, the Company initiated an equity capital increase of up to R$512 million, led by its controlling shareholders, the Constantino brothers. The controlling shareholders informed GOL's Board of Directors prior to the initiation of the equity capital increase that they intend to acquire up to R$270 million in newly issued shares of the Company to support the equity capital increase.
On May 6, 2021, GOL successfully priced an offering of US$300 million of additional senior secured notes due 2026. The additional notes were priced at par, representing an 8% yield to maturity. Moody's assigned the notes a rating of B2. The Company intends to use the proceeds from the offering of the additional notes for general corporate purposes, including liability management and aircraft acquisitions.
Pro forma for the notes offering, GOL ended the month of April with approximately R$3.6 billion in total liquidity. Including the expected proceeds from the current rights offering, which the Company expects to conclude in early June, GOL's balance sheet will return to over R$4.0 billion of liquidity. This is consistent with the level of liquidity it maintained in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Including financeable amounts of deposits and unencumbered assets, GOL's potential liquidity sources will total over R$7 billion.