This is our reverse house webinar of the first quarter of 2024 of Ânima Educação. We have Marcelo Bueno, myself, CEO and IR officer speaking to you directly from New York and the Learning Village, our headquarters of São Paulo. We have Átila, our CFO, and Guilherme Soares, our Inspirali CFO. Marcelo, it's up to you. Good morning, Marina. Good morning, Átila. Guilherme, good morning, everyone. It is a great honor to be with you at such a special moment, a very important moment for our company. I believe that the results speak for themselves, but we should acknowledge the hard and disciplined work that we've carried out, that are demonstrated in our results. We have reduced our net debt by BRL 100 million. We attained the covenants one quarter beforehand, cash generation BRL 1.6, cash generation of the first quarter 2023.
So they are very strong numbers that show courage, discipline of our team, revenue with quality. We made a difficult choice, which we decided to opt for, increasingly looking into revenue, quality revenue, and do what was within our reach and what we could do for the company. We're here in the long term, so we want to increasingly generate value and make our company increasingly more sustainable in its value proposal. You see the results on the screen. Our focus is to grow, to increasingly looking into quality of our revenue, to generate value to our students so that we can move forward in a consistent way, always focusing on our results, and now increasingly more focusing on growth. The company is ready for that. We had to make decisions with discipline, and we're ready for our growth.
I turn over to Átila so that we can move on with our Earnings Results webinar. Thank you very much, Marcelo. As you said, I make a point about, just like you, to thank all the ecosystem educators, all our brands, Inspirali represented here by Guilherme, and all the schools that follow our organization, thousands of people that today we have the opportunity to represent here, that are behind those figures. The people are those who deliver the value proposal we propose to our students. I'd like to start before speaking of numbers. I'd like to talk about people and thank the work of all our educators. Now let's move on to our numbers. This Earnings Results webinar shows significant ticket growth, that consequently significant margin growth. On the right-hand side, we have our famous Botafogo chart. So Botafogo, our promise is the constant debt.
So we have a chart that is always rising. So it is great to show the numbers, the results of the quarter. We can deliver a significant ticket growth and results of quality of revenues strategy that has turned into margin growth in a significant way. And the chart upwards in this quarter. I believe this is a great point, right, Marcelo, of our results, cash generation that is quite significantly arriving from our choices. This has to be made clear. We have a chart on the right. First, to try to imagine what has been the work that we've been talking about since the beginning of the intake cycle, which several times we said that we are not here to look only into price and volume.
We're here to look at price, volume, and revenue, quality, the speed it generates, the cost it brings, less intensive use of our balance sheets through more assertive policies, and stronger ones to bring better quality revenue. And this has had its results. We delivered more margin, higher EBITDA, and more cash generation. But Marcelo, I think it's important to say that this is not necessarily a choice to let go volumes. Much on the contrary. We understand that this strategy will also bring volume over time because it brings less dropout and higher ability to generate tickets. A student that arrives better prepared, ready to move on in their academic trajectory from the financial standpoint, they have a higher lifetime value. So we are actually creating a student of higher PV, and it generates a positive spiral.
We have the feedback, and we generate more price and more volume and consequently more margin, more EBITDA, more cash generation, and having as the backdrop brands that are increasingly stronger and our students acknowledge their value resulting at the end of the day in this chart to the left, margin, EBITDA, and cash generation growth. This is the strategy that this actually earnings release opens up broadly and out loud to you. Consequently, we have brought a significant debt reduction. We reduced the net debt by BRL 100 million in the quarter. We dropped leverage. As you always say, you have to fulfill contracts. We have done so. We delivered leverage. We had one quarter beforehand. We improved the cash generation in the quarter result of all our choices and everything that we have shown over the past two years.
So this is a statement that is quite clean. So behind it, we have 400,000 revised non-recurring that shows the quality of our results. Shown in the previous slides, we see EBITDA being transformed into cash generation. We've seen back there 83% conversion result of a clean financial statement or income statement. We have gain in almost all the items. So here we have a number that is quite significant in terms of growth. And it arises from results in all segments. In Ânima Core , we have our main segment with significant margin gains despite volume drops. We've offset smaller volume with greater ticket, and we had a revenue practically stable. This by itself brings operating leverage that is very important in the results that along with all the measures of efficient control of costs have brought this margin gain.
The same happening in the digital segment considering its dynamic has a different growth topline. It grows in volume despite a drop in intake. We grow in volume because we are able to improve our retention rates, and we're able to improve ticket. We had double-digit ticket growth that is very important in this segment. Consequently, any margin and results improvement. Here, Guilherme, our great Inspirali head. Greetings to you, Marina Marcelo, in New York. I just like to stress some points regarding the quarter, starting with the communication that we made the previous week of rolling out the Inspirali debt, which has been yet another steady step to turn Inspirali in an increasingly more independent and clean company regarding its controls and governance.
In addition, this new debenture brings a significant reduction in its cost, 100 basis points below the previous one, and we have almost doubled the payment term. In addition to firm step and the trajectory of Inspirali, it brings important fundamentals to allow our growth. That is our thesis. I highlight the intake cycle of attraction. Despite longer FIES terms, we keep full occupation with results still to come in the next quarter with the extension of FIES. As Inspirali mature, our controls and our governance and our numbers complementing with greater maturity of our courses, it is only to be expected to have a reduction in the fluctuation of results with greater balance between quarters. And we bring very sound results for the first quarter of 2024, which is an indicator as to how we're going to give maintenance results in the forthcoming quarters.
Well, I'd like to highlight lifelong medical education, another quarter of growth, and take the opportunity to greet the team of IBCMED of lifelong medical education with headquarters in Porto Alegre, and actually show our sympathy to everyone, Raquel Balestrin , Guilherme Dias, that are heading this operation in Porto Alegre. We share our solidarity. Guilherme, the results of all the work that we see consolidated cash flow with strong cash generation in which cash reduction has been used to pay debt. And we've also been able to reduce to actually work more in debt reduction, as Guilherme mentioned quite well, written work led by Tiago next to me, CFO with Inspirali, along with the whole Ânima team, Marcelo Bueno as well. They have brought important results you see here on the chart on the right.
This renegotiation has been translated into a very different amortization volume for the forthcoming three years, making the company to be very reassured to manage its cash in a totally healthy way. As a consequence, the renegotiation helped us reduce the debt spread. And with constant drops in the interest rates, the Selic rates, we have lower financial expense. We had an important reduction in this area that's being translated into the growth of the net income of the company in a very robust and healthy way. To finalize, I'd like to turn over to Marcelo. Marcelo, thank you all very much that have trusted, that trusts, that work for this project to grow and to be growing increasingly more. So thank you, Átila. I'm going to ask Guilherme to be with me in this closing.
Átila, Marina, and everyone, how proud we are in terms of having the highest net income of our student, BRL 104.7 million. This makes us very proud, a company that has been able to show that it is possible to deliver quality education with scale and to turn the country through education generating value to all our stakeholders. With this, I'd like to close and congratulate everyone. But I have to mention our solidarity to Rio Grande do Sul, all the gauchos, reinforce the commitment our ecosystem has with the state and our country. Our ecosystem is totally mobilized to provide immediate service to our schools, to UniRitter, FADERGS, IBCMED, and all the ecosystem mobilized to provide all solidarity and support to the gauchos that need so much at the moment. So I have to acknowledge the teams and this increasingly created commitment of our ecosystem.
As Daniel Castanho said, our dear partner, founder. And there are many things that we can teach. For all the others, we go to school and university teaching solidarity, compassion, and love for the other. For those close to us, love for our land. This is what we have seen. We have felt it on our skins in the past few days. And I'd like to share our solidarity. And I'd like to turn over to Guilherme to talk about the support to the medical schools. Guilherme, tell us a bit so that we can close with this. Tell us about the support to the teams to Rio Grande do Sul and Brazil.
Thank you, Marcelo. As Ânima ecosystem and Inspirali ecosystems having Professor Rodrigo Nunes mobilized the team of 40 doctors and medical students in a bit over 24 hours after heavy rainfalls, we started helping the community that have suffered so much with this calamity, this tragedy. I'd like to extend the commitment of Inspirali Ânima, the ecosystem we are mobilizing so that this humanitarian support mission, only one week of action, this team has cared for about 5,000 people in need. Unfortunately, there's a trend of increasing diseases because the waters lowers. We intend to keep a team on site for the next three months providing humanitarian support, which is part of our obligation, the responsibility towards the gaucho, the people from Rio Grande do Sul. The Ânima Inspirali ecosystems will not leave the people from Rio Grande do Sul alone.
Guilherme, Átila, Marina, I on Sunday pay tribute to all the mothers. I should do that to close. I do that to you, Marina, an exemplary friend, and Professor Raquel Balestrin leading the southern team. Greetings to all of you. Well, I wish you all great support and power and force to Rio Grande do Sul. Well, let's move on to questions. Now, I forgot to mention in the beginning that if you wish to ask questions, you raise your hands. But since everybody's used, this has already happened. We are here. We are following the order on the list. The first person that has enrolled for a question is Mirela Oliveira from Bank of America. Mirela, you may please ask your question. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for giving me some space for questions. I have two. The first is regarding dropout.
You see a bit of on-campus dropout. And Christine, could you talk a bit about this effect leading to dropout? So if you could make a few comments regarding that. And the second question is regarding ticket. If you could talk a bit more about composition, sustainability of the ticket now ahead. If it has an effect of product mix or freshmen, if you could give some more details on that. I'm going to start with the second question, Átila, and then you move on. Thank you, Mirela. I've been insisting that education has no price. It has value. We have to increasingly care for our value proposal, recognition of our value proposal that is materialized on the ticket. We don't have a silver bullet. It is a change of culture, decisions that are difficult to be made many times.
The easier path is the path that has been called scope. But we've been working firmly in the mid-long-term project. The results showed the difficult choices that we have made that bring results. After all, our brands have great strengths, and our value proposal is highly differentiated. So this is our belief, and that is where we're going to work day after day, all the time, all the teams to generate increasingly more value. Thank you, Marcelo. I think this is it. We have to try to spread throughout products and student segments on dropout rates. We've naturally been doing some work of making the value for students to actually comply with their commitments. We have been doing some work and taking out certain well, having scholarships and having certain concessions. This has an impact on dropout. We've been quite strict on re-enrollments.
Negotiations have to be done for real. Everybody has to pay interest and fines. There is no agreement of an agreement. So people have to make an agreement and pay cash. So this is the set of things that is translated into a greater revenue quality. It has an impact to dropout rates, certainly. But it's been an impact that we've seen of lower relevance. We had an increase of 1% in dropout rates. In light of everything that we have done, it's a much smaller impact compared to the benefit it brings. So we are totally confident about the assertiveness of this strategy. Perfect. Thank you, Átila. The next person enrolled is Samuel Alves from BTG. Samuel, please, you may ask your question. Good morning, Marina, Marcelo, Átila, Guilherme. Good morning, everyone. I have two questions on our side.
The first is a bit more on the dynamics of the base and the Ânima Core segment. It was very clear with the presentation, the positioning of ticket, the strategy the company has adopted. How do you imagine from now onward? Do you imagine things according to plan resulting in a smaller base and higher ticket? This for the remainder of the year. Is that more or less what we should think about? I'd like to relate this point to a second question as to what would be the average occupancy in the campuses of the company if you envisage space for leasing of areas? So if the company intends to follow this strategy. Samuel, thank you for the question. So we are focusing on growth, resuming company growth. This goes through revisiting the whole portfolio. Education is cyclical. People only talk about medicine, but law is not over.
Engineering is not over. IT is not over. So core is firm. We actually made a heavy overhaul there, and we have to grow a base with sustainability. So I think this is the main message here. Okay? Átila, tell us a bit more about leasing. I've been saying whenever I can today, for our company, we cover 75% of the national territory. We have approximately 82 units in our campuses apart from the centers. Brazil has 5,500 municipalities. Any rule you take, Samuel, any Pareto that you take, municipalities with higher GDP, HDI. So we have space for growth. And now we have to. We can look at it once we have done all the grounding and rooting and foundation work. Within that chart, there's an important element, which is the strengthening of our brands.
Today, we have teams that are working on intake mid-year and teams working on intake early in the year. So we have totally different processes that have as the backdrop of strengthening of our brands. Everything we do is not isolated. It's actually an ensemble or is part of a strategy to make our brands to be increasingly more acknowledged for their value. So when we look ahead, we look at this work yielding results, not only with lower dropout rates that will be consequently translated into greater volume. So we should not lose track that dropout is focused mostly on freshmen. If we have freshmen that arrive in a healthier and more prepared way, we will have lower dropout and consequently a student base evolution that will be quite healthy.
In addition, all the work that we've done to strengthen our brands places us ready to grow volumes but with quality and high ticket disciplined use of our balance sheet. Now onwards, you say, well, are we going to return our properties? The properties we have are those that we need to deliver our quality offer. If you look to our campuses that we have here in São Paulo and outside São Paulo, so we have many, 80-some, they are very well positioned to capture increasingly more the growth that will derive from our brands. The more or the stronger they are, the healthier will be our growth, and the healthier will have our bottom line. This is our philosophy. This is our thinking. Very clear. Thank you, Marcelo and Átila. Thank you, Samuel. Our next person enrolled is Lucas Nagano from Morgan Stanley.
Lucas, please, you may ask your question. Good morning. Thank you for the space. We also have two questions. The first is regarding leverage. Being below 3x and one month before the quarter closes, a month and a half, do you see any risky environment or pessimistic scenario that you view? So what level of leverage do you think about pursuing? Second question is going back to the core on that equation that you come. Price, volume, and delinquency or default that has not prioritized revenue so much. Thinking about the seasons, do you see some space of improving bad debt, cash cycle, thinking about the next two, three years? Thank you. Very good. Let me start here. Well, thank you, Lucas, for your question. We're focusing on an organic leverage to deleverage faster, being always very cohesive.
We have to focus on taking harsh measures that are not nice to be taken, but they are necessary. We've done that. We've implemented them. We focused our energy in renegotiation and reprofiling of our debt to make it more comfortable and more accessible at lower cost. We are about to conclude this initiative. And now we're focusing our energy on growth, as I said, top line for the previous question, and also how to deleverage inorganically faster to put the debt at lower levels, put the company at healthier leverage levels. Okay? Precisely. I think just to add, it is not an adjustment, I mean, delinquency. It's the servicing cost of our balance sheet, of our having the financing in a conscious and balanced way. With this, we show it in a given place in our earnings release.
If you see the intake with use of financing, it hasn't dropped 19%, but actually a number close to 4, well below our ticket growth. So there, Lucas, the I is for that. It's not the use of the funds, the better quality of the revenue, and how it comes into the company cash. This is what we've been trying to maximize for some time. The results show a bit of this work. If it is going to reflect into a lower delinquency or bad debt, so we have these things that mature over time. We believe that this is translated over time with lower dropout rates, less delinquency. At the end of the day, the students take spending longer periods of time with us. Very good, Átila. And of course, sorry, is there any kind of level of leverage that you consider optimum at the moment?
That's the answer Marina likes to have.
Lucas, assim, não é que a gente.
Sure, Lucas. It's not that we have a target, but well, traditionally, our leverage history has been 2x, 2.5x. That's where we were able to expand and continue growing, which is the strengths of our DNA, as everybody knows here. So that's where we can think about those levels. And I think it's important to say that our metrics are always the old-fashioned way so that everything is clear. Yes. IFRS. The debt is no leasing any better with rent or leasing and expenses. Very clear. Thank you. Thank you, Lucas. The next person enrolled is Marcelo Santos from J.P. Morgan. Good morning, Marcelo. You may ask your question. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for the presentation and for the opportunity of asking questions. I'd like to ask two questions as well on our side. First, regarding distance learning.
You've had, over the various past quarters, a change of focus, it seems, focusing where brands are strong with higher ticket, generating good impact. How much room do you see is this correct? And how much room do you see to growth in this area of influence where your brands are stronger? How much can you gain there? Second question is on Inspirali. The maturation of the students in the student base of Inspirali has been reduced a bit. Should we imagine a sustainable level for the margin? 24 is a level that we could think for the next years, or will we wait for some maturing for the future? I'd just like to have some more perspective on that. Thank you, Marcelo. And then you let me talk about Inspirali.
Marcelo, we believe we have seen, and today is an important day for making this tangible, that education in Brazil is regional. Education in Brazil is local. The strength of the brand makes a difference. We have the greatest portfolio, the greatest brands of higher education covering 75% of the national territory, the brands that have been for 70-90 years delivering quality education. This is a great differential, be it on digital and on campus. This is our belief, and this is what we have been doing. We provide digital that comes from Laureate that is being delivered to the north. This is not something that happens overnight, as you put it well. We do it constantly, and it is possible to deliver digital with quality.
It's something that we can actually sleep quietly at night and say, knowing that we're providing appropriate quality services to our students. I believe that digital is the gateway for millions of Brazilian people that have no access to higher education that can, through digital, go into the Ânima ecosystem and improve and better their lives and fly. They will never stop studying. They can do more and more. It is the gateway to our ecosystem. Marcelo, thank you for your question. In the past quarter, we disclosed an increase in seats in Irecê that came at a time that was not possible to be filled in this quarter. We have some strategies for the second quarter and expectation, the approval of UNA approval. We have the expectation of being able to open the course in the second semester.
So there are some facts that may proportionally, obviously, be smaller regarding the current student base, but they may bring organic growth that is quite significant. But as I said in my comments, as the seats mature, we attain this maturity. It's only to be expected less fluctuation between quarters, less stress seasonality between quarters, and healthy levels as we have presented in the first quarter for 2024. So we have much sounder governance, much more confidence, and clearer. This has brought better tools to manage the day-to-day of our results. Perfect. Thank you for your answers. We thank you. The next person enrolled is Luca Marquezini from Itaú BBA. That was Renan. Sorry. So I've skipped her name. So sorry. Renan Prata from Citi. Ask your question. Well, thank you. Thank you for taking my question. Actually, it's a brief follow-up on some comments that have already been made.
Átila's speech, intake of core ex-funding that should have dropped much more. I'd like to know whether the strategy continues for you to use less that funding from Pravaler, facilitate the next waves of intake. Brief question to Marina. Do you have any update on the regulatory environment? Actually, we had the judgment of the medical school, the ordinances. I'd like to know if you have any updates on this topic. Thank you. Would you like to start, Marina? Yes. So, Renan, we had one piece of news. I don't know if everybody has followed, which was the AGU asking for the suspension of all processes. Just to remind you, according to Gilmar Mendes' decision, the processes should continue those that are post-phase of documental analysis, initial document analysis. So the Ministry of Education cannot keep those proceedings, though they've asked that.
So the Attorney General's Office of the Union, so they've asked the processes to be on hold. They understand that if they have one or another out, it may cause some kind of losses and not be the most fair decision. So we don't have that, and it's there. So what you're talking about, the 24th, that's a 90-day term of the request to review by Alexandre de Moraes. And we should have some news as of the last week of May when the time or the term is completed. So apart from that, we're following very closely all of that, and we are waiting to see what will happen a bit. As to distance learning, since you've asked about regulatory issues, we don't yet have any news.
The ordinance getting the report of CNE has not come yet, and they have the 30-day term to manifest themselves regarding medical schools. But so far, we have no novelties. But thanks for asking. Thank you, Marina. To add to your question or answer, funding for higher education is key. We understand that thousands of youngsters were able to access higher education and managed to get the teaching positions that were important for them, not only for them, but for the country. So funding is fundamental. So what we understand is that financing has to be something that is used in an assertive way by those that need, those that understand and know the value of that service that will be financed or funded.
They believe that choosing a better school, more expensive one, will bring benefits to themselves and, consequently, are willing to carry their debt and pay for it because it will deliver more value in the long term. Financing cannot be used as an intake tool by those that do not acknowledge the value at any price, bringing home and counting volume. This kind of financing is what we do not like. The other financing we like, we understand as valuable for society, Brazil, and our business, and will continue seeking increasingly more mechanisms that may bring the talents from Brazil in-house and give conditions for those people to grow in life. Super clear. Thank you. Good day. We thank you, Renan. Now, the next person in line is Luca Marquezini from Itaú BBA. Luca, you may ask your question. Good morning. How are you doing?
Well, thanks for taking my question. Marketing expenses, we've seen an increase in this quarter that I understand is because of growth in the odd-numbered quarters of this expense. We've seen a strong increase in competitors. I think we'd like to know what should be the level from now onward. If you have some strategy on your side, marketing spending, I'd like to know your view in this sense, please. Thank you, Luca. I think your question is important. We made a point about making it clear in our release and explain the reason of our increase. So we have reclassified. We had third-party services. Now we changed. We have greater concentration odd-numbered quarter and the other parts investment in our distance learning investment also in Inspirali. And we make it clear that, yes, what should we expect? There are similar levels that we had second quarter last year.
We'll naturally see greater volume of marketing in the odd-numbered quarters and less volume in the even-numbered quarters, similar to what we've seen in terms of recent past in terms of the percentage of net debt. Oh, sorry, net revenue. Thank you. Very clear. We thank you, Luca. The next person enrolled is Carina Correia from Santander. Carina, welcome, please. You may ask your question. Good morning, everyone. How are you doing? Congratulations on your results. I have a question on my side, just briefly. I'd like to know what was the ticket increase that you gave for freshmen. Thank you. Carina, don't open it because we understand this is a strategy of the company. It should be kept inside, in-house. Actually, we live in a competitive environment, so we disclose the consolidated ticket because this actually satisfies investors and does not put our commercial strategies at risk. Okay.
Thank you. Clear. The next person enrolled is Pedro Oliveira from HIX . Pedro, you may ask your questions. Good morning. How are you doing? Thank you for taking my question. I'd just like to understand how do you intend to be in terms of leveraging in your subsidiaries? You're carrying out this mission at Inspirali. I'd like to understand the level of leverage you want to keep in your subsidiaries. For Inspirali, it has cash-generating operation. Today has, considering the numbers you can check, we have quite a sound statement. And as we intensify its growth, if there is a need, this is at the service of a project, not as a leverage goal. We are in the position attained with the reprofiling of the venture. We're quite comfortable with this level.
Just to add, Pedro, Inspirali today's quality medical school ecosystem is extremely differentiated with a privileged location, the only one that generates cash. We've chosen DNA Capital, a key partner that has brought the health ecosystem to be highly differentiated. Actually, this company has shown the robustness it has. Our partners invested BRL 1 billion in cash into the company for the company to grow. It has to grow, has to move forward in its mission. The money has to move forward. As Guilherme said, it's not so much a discussion of leverage, but actually of project growth, of taking quality medical education to more people. This is the view we have to make the company prosper increasingly more. Thank you. Okay, Pedro. Thank you. We have a last question here. The person has written down on the Q&A, Bernardo Fuzaro . It's your own. Thank you.
Congratulations on your results. My question is on digital learnings. How have you observed the dynamics, competitive dynamics in this segment? Has the ACF students increased regarding past years? What is the direction you should continue over the next two years? I will start here. Your question, the government has shown the direction that we believe in terms of quality, increasingly quality, the belief for quality. And this goes through all teaching areas, including digital. This is our belief will be positioned in this direction. As I said in the beginning, the digital is a gateway for the ecosystem for people that have no conditions to have access. But we have this belief for quality, and sooner or later, quality will prevail. Price struggle, we know where it ends. Everybody loses. This is a partnership. We're here for the long term.
We should not go into price struggles, and we should keep our value proposition for our brands and our experiences and products. That's it, Marcelo. As Marina said, digital education cannot be diminished or stigmatized for people that cannot have the level of on-campus and the demand. Well, we have great value for the country. We believe in that. We understand that this segment will keep on growing with increasingly more quality, and that is the bet. And we believe it's an important product for us to offer in our ecosystem, always under our principle that our children study at our schools. So it has to be of good quality. Excellent. I believe we have answered all the questions. We have given space for everybody that has enrolled.
Now, I'd like to turn over the floor back to Marcelo so that he can finalize, and then we'll close within our time. I thank you all for your presence. So we had over 160 people with us. So very good. Thank you very much. Well, Marina, I'll leave wrapping up with you. Thank you very much, everyone. Have an excellent day. Marina, thank you, Marcelo. This is it. Well, thank you. I think the messages have all been conveyed. Ángela and Marcelo have been talking a lot, reinforced by Guilherme, that we are at a moment of reaping what we have sown in the past few years with robustness, sobriety, and confidence in our project. So thank you all very much for being with us. And that's it. Let's go to work. Have a good day. Thank you very much.