...+ Minerva resumed generating free operating cash flow (FOCF) last year of over R$700 million versus cash consumption in 2017 because it concluded the ramp-up of the South American assets it acquired from JBS and the internal expansion of its Brazilian operation, and because of a significant working capital release. + Deleveraging is aligned with our expectation, and Minerva should maintain this trend over the next few years because of the favorable export scenario for South American beef processors, supporting internal cash flow generation. + On March 26, 2019, S&P Global Ratings affirmed its '##-' global scale issuer credit and issue-level ratings on Minerva S.A., as well as our 'brAA+' national scale rating on the company. + The outlook is stable. We forecast FOCF generation of above R$400 million per year, leading to debt to EBITDA of 3.5x-4.0x in 2019 and 3.0x-3.5x in 2020 and funds from operations (FFO) to debt of 10%-15% and 15%-20% for the same years....
