Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Armac Locação's conference call to discuss results regarding the Q3 of 2023. For those who need simultaneous translation, we have this tool available on the platform. To access, just click on the Interpretation button through the globe icon at the bottom of the screen and choose your preferred language, Portuguese or English. For those listening to the video conference in English, there's an option to mute the original audio in Portuguese by clicking on Mute Original Audio. We would like to inform you that this video conference is being recorded and will be made available on the company's RI website, ir.armac.com.br, where the complete material of our earnings release is available.
We would like to inform you that the participants attending the conference call will be in listen-only mode during the company's presentation, and we will then open the Q&A session, when further instructions will be provided. Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that any statements that may be made during this conference call regarding the company's business prospects, projections, and operational and financial goals constitute beliefs and assumptions of Armac's management, as well as information currently available to the company. Forward-looking statements are no guarantee of performance, as they involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors could affect the company's future outcomes and could lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Here with us, we have Mr.
Fernando Aragão, CEO, and Cássio Castardelli, CFO of Armac. I would now like to give the floor to Mr. Fernando Aragão, Armac's CEO. Please, sir, you may proceed.
Good morning, everyone, everyone who's attending our conference call to discuss the results of our company. The Q3 of 2023 was marked by several challenges that were surpassed by the energy of our team. We implemented agreements that were enough to level up our inventory levels. That led to a strong growth of revenues, 50% for the quarter, and we did it without sacrificing our non-negotiable commitment with safety and high reliability, which are characteristics of our service. We take very seriously the trust our clients place on us, and we have worked intensively to provide the best ever possible services.
As to the financial results, we continue to be very consistent with the strategy that we defined in the beginning of 2023, that involved using our inventory of assets, simplify our management, and deleverage our capital structure of the company. We made headway in all those fronts this quarter. I would like to highlight the cash generation and accounting results due to the excellent results of our administrative and financial teams. This high cash conversion allowed us to get closer to the 2x net debt over EBITDA, which is the objective of the company. Another highlight was the business opportunities that demanded a CapEx of BRL 192 million for the quarter, and the most part of it had already been implemented at the end of the quarter, and with satisfactory performance that makes us very comfortable in our journey in the future.
I would like to thank our team for the efforts that were made to the service of our clients. I would also like to thank our clients for the trust they placed on us, as well as our financial partners. I turn the call to Mr. Cássio Castardelli, our CFO, to continue the presentation.
Good morning, everyone. Now, starting the conference to discuss the results of the Q3 , I would like you to move on to page two. We ended the quarter with another record, 10,125 machines, and we reached the mark of BRL 1 billion in gross revenues in the first nine months of the year.
Even with this increase in the number of machines and CapEx, our productivity, measured by revenues divided by total machines assets, continues to grow from 53% in the Q2 to 58% in the third, result of the accelerated pace of implementation of new project. Armac successfully completed the allocation of all CapEx realized in 2022, and the implementations in the Q3 referred to the CapEx realized already in 2023, which totaled BRL 454 million in the first nine months of 2023, with BRL 191.9 million in this Q3 . Mobilizing machines and labor with safety and agility has guaranteed the realization of revenue related to recent CapEx. Gross revenue reached BRL 394.7 million in the quarter, a growth of 43.2% compared to the Q3 of 2022.
15.1% compared to the Q2 of 2023. EBITDA for the Q3 was BRL 174.7 million, and the adjusted EBITDA was BRL 168.8 million, with a margin of 50%. Adjusted net profit was BRL 47.9 million, with a margin of 13.3% on net revenue. Now, moving on to page three, we can see on the left that we added, in terms of net sales, 273 machines, the vast majority of which are Yellow L ine. We continue to earmark our CapEx, as in previous quarters, to long-term contracts already signed. We have complex operations with labor and strict deadlines.
On page four, we can see the evolution of gross revenue, starting from BRL 275.6 million in the Q3 of the last year, and reaching BRL 394.7 million in the Q3 of 2023. Now, moving on to page five, we present the adjusted gross profit of BRL 162.9 million, 44.8% higher than the Q3 of 2022, and 9.2% higher than that of the Q2 of 2023. On the right, we have the EBIT that total BRL 120.9 million in the period, 47.7% higher than the same period of the previous year, and 13.2% higher than the Q2 .
Margins remain at high levels, with 48.3% in gross margin and 35.8% in EBIT margin. On page six, we can see EBITDA of BRL 168.8 million, a growth of 43.1% compared to the Q3 of the previous year, and 20% compared to the Q2 of 2023. The EBITDA margin remained at around 50%, a healthy level. We continue with our commitment to efficiency, increasingly diluting the burden of administrative structures, which in 2022 exceeded 16% and is currently at 11.7% of our net income, with a prospect of reduction in the coming quarters.
On the right side, we have the managerial operating cash flow, which total BRL 150 million in the period, 31.8% below the Q3 of 2022, where large credit purchase operations favored working capital, but 76.3% higher than the previous quarter. This operating cash generation accounts for an EBITDA conversion of 89%. On page seven, we present the net profit of BRL 47.9 million, with 13.3% margin. Net cash profit reached BRL 94.3 million, with a 26.2% margin. Moving on to page eight, Armac concluded the quarter with BRL 1.33 billion of net debt, and, as expected, once again reduced its leverage to 2.21x, even with a CapEx of BRL 192 million in the quarter.
This reduction was only possible due to the rapid implementation of this CapEx. On the right side of the page, we have the amortization schedule, which demonstrates the quality and long-term characteristics of our debt, as well as the average cost of the debt, whose average spread for the period calculated was 1.7% over the CDI. This quarter was marked in terms of debt, the elevation of Fitch to AA+. This shows the perception of the reduction of risk, as well as the improvement in the financial indicators and leverage of our company. Finally, on page nine, we have the ROIC and ROE. The ROIC has been growing since the beginning of the year, as the implementation of CapEx for 2022 was completed, as well as the allocation of CapEx carried out in 2023.
Long-term contracts bring additional revenues from services for the same capital employed and have a positive impact on ROIC. This continues to be present. We continue to be very optimistic with the growth of Armac and the demand scenario for this year and also for next year. With this, I end the presentation. I would like—I would like to thank everyone for their attention and to Armac's colleagues across the country. I now turn the floor to the administration for questions.
We are now going to start the Q&A session, and with the participation of Cássio Castardelli. Please write your question on the Q&A part when announced. A request to activate your microphone will be seen on the screen. We would like you to ask all the questions at once. Our first question comes from Lucas Marquiori, Sell-Side Analyst, BTG. You may proceed, sir.
Hello, everyone.
Thank you very much for the call. I have two questions on my side. The first, when we look at the productivity of the fleet, quarter-on-quarter, reaching 58 in the Q3 , I would like to understand, how do you see this in the future? What do you expect for the Q4 ? What can we understand as a normalized fleet level for 2024, so that we can understand the vectors of the improvement you mentioned? And then I have a comment, would like you to comment. We have seen the Yellow L ine industry may be propelled by the Agribusiness, which is not so strong this year. I would like you to tell us how you see the demand expectations, the allocation as a whole, so that we can understand the thermometer, so as to say.
Thank you. Good morning, Lucas.
Thank you for the questions. The first point you asked is in relation to the vectors related to the improvement of productivity. We continue implementing the project at a very accelerated pace. In the beginning of the year, we said that we started with a level of inventory of machines as a result of the CapEx of 2022. We knew that we had a trend with which was close to 60 along the year, even though it was low at that time. We have been moving on this direction in the second and Q3 , and we can expect improvements in productivity for the next quarters. The second question, you want us to make some comments on the industry and the sales of assets. I can say that it's not a good year in terms of price of commodities.
Green L ine and Yellow L ines are not as expected, but we understand that renewals of fleets will move on regardless of the scenario. However, the demand for the use of the machines, the high volumes of the Agribusiness are still there. You see, Mining, Fertilizers, and other sectors that are served by our machines have the volumes at the same level, and this is the reason why we are very optimistic in terms of the demand. Even though the sales of machines are not reaching their peak, the demand and the volumes of the services required by our company continues with a robust trend. And we use those machines, and we continue at the same trend. So this is why we're so optimistic with demand for the next quarter, and also for the next year, to answer your question about sales.
Thank you, Cássio.
Thank you so much.
Thank you. Now, continuing, the next question comes from Victor Mizusaki, Sell-Side Analyst with Bradesco. You may proceed, sir. You can ask your question.
Hello, good morning. Congratulations on the results, and I have two questions on my side. The first question, when we look at the results of the Q3 , we see that there was an increase in the cost of personnel. Maybe there was a change in the mix. Could you make some comments on this in relation to what kind of contracts and what industry, where you are having more demand in order to allocate the assets, and this is the reason why you had this impact? And the second question is a follow-up on Lucas' question. John Deere has just had a reduction in the headcount in the Horizontina plant.
How do you see the prices of machine for 2024? Do you think that this scenario will help you improve the scenario for this year, or how would the CapEx be related to that? Will there be any price reduction?
Okay, Victor, thank you for the questions. From the viewpoint of results, your interpretation is absolutely right. There is a big weight in the COGS of the company in relation to the previous quarter. This is right. This is a natural consequence of the type of markets that the company has been reaching. So it's a contract that has the component of labor in the, even in the supporting structure: safety technicians, engineers, mechanics, you know, all people who are involved in the operation, in addition to the machines and equipment. So we have contracts in different sectors.
They may be connected directly or not to the Agribusiness, and they also involve core support in the Mining, for example. So these are kinds of agreements that we've always had executed, but we have accelerated the pace recently. The counterpart of this cost, it's important to mention, by the way, that we are going to have a higher cost, and this is going to pre-pressurize the margin. It impacts the margin, but the trade-off is very positive because the ROIC is also going to be increased, because the value to the client is going to be higher in relation to the capital employed. So from the viewpoint of labor, this is what I had to say. In terms of sales of machines and equipment and pricing, we started 2023 at prices which were higher than that, those of the previous year.
Even for Armac that can purchase at large quantities that would allow us to have important discounts, the starting price was high. We still cannot see a reduction in price at the structural level in the industry for everyone. But we are one of the few companies that have been realizing organic CapEx for the year, so we can see some one-off opportunities to buy some lots that will serve for infrastructure projects as well as contract agreements. I mean, complex agreements that are going to last for the long term. Armac's strategy has been to have a CapEx which is more aligned and with same cadence of the new agreements, infrastructure or those that involve labor. So we are going to have this one-off effect. We continue by purchasing the assets, and they're very good conditions.
But these are situations that are going to be very specific, depending on the type of machines. We are going to see how the pipeline will evolve. We are going to watch out this performance, and we are going to check all the availability, but we are very optimistic in terms of how we are going to negotiate for the purchase of new machines for 2024.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from Lucas Esteves, Sell-Side Analyst with Santander. Lucas, you may proceed.
Good morning, Gabriel, Cássio, Fernando. Congratulations on the excellent quarter. I would like to ask a more holistic question in order to understand the new cycle of growth for the company. As you mentioned, Cássio, there was an increase in the... related to the cost with personnel because you needed more services to be provided, connected with the machines.
I see Armac as a company that provides services and not as a rental of machines. It's important to say that for me. Can you increase the scope of services provided to the clients, to the under the agreements? Because in this way, you're going to increase the ROIC, because you can allocate more people. Today, you have machine operators. Today, you also have engineerings, maintenance personnel, et cetera. Would it be possible to outsource labor to other services, such as, for example, product management that are extracted from a mining activity? And this can be included in the logistics. I would like to understand how you see this possibility.
Okay, Lucas, thank you. Thank you for the questions.
That's a very way of looking at this, because Armac has a history that started a long time ago, and we always wanted to be very close to the company, handling all the complexities inherent to the operation of the client and also the site of the client. So we try to understand the difficulties and the problems that the clients are facing, and this is not limited to the machine. Yes, we rent machines. We are the leaders in the industry, but I like your reading because added services are also part of the solution that we can offer, so that we can help resolve the complexity of the operations of the client. In terms of capacity, Armac has moving towards this line of solving clients' problems, like having a good operator, a well-trained operator, workshops, having a very strong safety culture.
So there is a management model that would make the company capable to do even more. I can say specifically that I can say that we are not going to stop doing what we do today to do something different. Not yet, because we can still grow and solve many of the complexities with the capacities that we already have. But of course, if we can take new steps that could expand the scope of operation. As we get close to the client, I see that this is a need, and this is also something that is required by the clients. So it's important to have machines such as this that you can see on the picture. You know, all those supporting elements are elements that the company has been including in the portfolio.
The thing is that we still have a lot of space to grow and penetrate the market, operating the way we are. The company has new possibilities to find the solutions, and also possibilities of revenues.
Oh, that was so clear. Thank you very much, Cássio. Let's make a follow-up. We have seen that you have been able to bring efficiencies over the quarters. I understand that Armac went through a very rapid growth cycle, and it's just natural that the structure can be a bit swollen, and then you're going to make it leaner. Do you think there will be a possibility to gain in efficiency, or do you believe that you reached the steady state?
Y es, I think there is still space for that.
But you mentioned the cycles, and I thought it was interesting.
The company has already undergone some cycles, which were very successful in terms of growth. So we had the cycle of allocation, the proceeds from the IPO, and there were other cycles. We had already gone through the third cycle in 2022, and all those cycles of capital allocation and growth have already brought the company to a consistency level of growth. I would say that it's a stability of operation, and the company is still gonna grow by 40% this year. And next year, we also expect a two-digit level growth, and the company's already on the trend of diluting costs. In terms of structure, we believe that internally, the structure is already well-dimensioned. It's a very lean structure, but we still have lots of opportunities, such as the new operational system, such as SAP.
But as of next year, we are going to implement a more efficient system, and this is going to bring us time, agility, but nothing that would change the level of expenses, but we are going to get gains. We still haven't completed this cycle of going for those internal efficiencies, but we are going to make specific adjustments. We are going to include innovation, include technologies. We are going to meet the need of doing better, and this is something we are going to be observing in 2023, but we're still going to see some improvements in the next quarter. Right now, we have a very well-dimensioned structure to provide support to the operations for those who are in the front line and, of course, to the customer.
Cássio, congratulations on the deliveries. Everything was very clear, and have a good day.
Thank you. Thank you. Now, continuing, our next question comes from Felipe, Sell-Side Analyst with Citi. You may proceed, sir.
Yes, Felipe, you can ask your question.
Thank you, Cássio. Good morning, Cássio. My question is in relation to what we can expect in terms of growth and leverage. So the company has been investing more than $1 billion in its fleet a year, correct me if I'm wrong, and so you also reached a very good Fitch rate. So could you provide some colors on what we expect from the company? Are you going to keep this accelerated pace of implementations, and what's the level of leverage that the company would feel comfortable for 2024? Thank you.
Okay, Felipe, thank you for the questions. Yes. We can give you an idea about how...
What the company wants to stand in terms of leverage for this year and for next year. Going backwards, we have a limit of, a financial limit in terms of covenants. So it's standard 3.5 times of Net Debt over EBITDA. We are far from that. We have an, a policy, a commitment that has been approved with the board, which is below, of course, the 3.5 times. We are closer to the 3. But from the strategic viewpoint, we are going to make all the efforts to be below 2.5 times. So by the end of the year, we are going to get close to 2 times. We believe it's very important, of course, to grow, and it's also very important to grow, generating cash that would allow us to have a better leverage.
The country is not at an interest rate level that we consider to be favorable, so, and at that, along 2024, even growing fast, below 2x. And with that, the company will have capacity, will have a buffer in order to invest in new opportunities. Of course, we are always on the lookout for new opportunities. We are very active. We have a very stringent discipline as to realizing CapEx. We are dynamic, we are fast, but we do that with a lot of caution. Of course, there is a technical way of looking at that. You could say, "I would have more protection if my leverage stood at 3.5x." Does it cost to be more leveraged? Yes, we understand that, but this is a strategic option that we have.
So we have more possibilities to meet the needs of a serve of a client more quickly, so that we can be quicker, more accelerated, without accessing the capital market in the short term. So we are always ready to access the market of debt, the market of capitals, and we are ready to access the market at the best time, and this is this we believe to be an advantage for us. It's a strategic plan. It's a three-year plan, and our budget contemplates the funding plan as something very strategic.
Perfect, Cássio. Thank you.
Thank you. Now continuing, our next question is from Luis Otávio, our Buy-Side Analyst with Itaú. We are going to unmute your microphone, and you can ask your question, Luís.
Cássio, good morning. Congratulations on the results. Thank you for the space for questions.
We—we discussed about the optimism for 2024. You made some comments on the optimism when you negotiate the purchase of machines, and we can see that there has been an improvement in productivity, and last year, you concentrated purchases in the Q3 and allocated the assets along the time. Do you plan something similar for next year, or are we likely to see something more linear, a CapEx which would be more aligned with the demand for the quarter, or do you think it's gonna be closer to what we saw in the last twelve months? This is the first question. I would also like to understand what you expect for the future. What would be a recurring CapEx?
There was an interesting improvement for this year, considering that the level of inventory is being implemented and you need to go back to purchasing new machines, and I would like to know if the Q3 shows the numbers that would be a normalized CapEx, or do you think that is gonna be different? So this is what I understood from the release. Are we going to expect a level a bit higher than what we saw in the Q3 ? All right, can we use this as yardstick to make our calculations for the future? But I would like to understand what level of productivity I would like to go back to.
You mentioned that there is going to be an improvement in productivity, so can we expect something that we saw in the H1 of last year, when we didn't have the inventory at the same levels? Once again, thank you.
Perfect, Luís. Thank you for the questions. From the viewpoint of pace, CapEx pace, 2022 was, as you said, was not a strategic change. It was, in fact, a concentration of purchases in the Q3 and Q4 , and it was an exercise of an option that we made, not of financial assets, but something related to negotiations, because the prices that were used were those of 2021.
So it was very interesting for the company to reinforce, in a decisive manner, what would be our machine assets with a discount, and even a higher discount if we compare to the prices that we had in 2022. So it was a very assertive decision in terms of reinforcing the fleet at once, and handle with the period when the implementation of those projects would allow for that. And we expected the inventories to get normalized, and this is what we saw materialized along this year. The CapEx is more connected to the funnel and the opportunities related to labor and rentals. CapEx tends to follow a planning, which is similar to the financial project. So we are not going to have a high level of CapEx invested so soon.
As I said, it was not based on a mistake, but it was rather an opportunity that we took. But all those but lots are not to be negotiated now, so we can expect something for the next quarter. We can expect a CapEx similar to that of this quarter, maybe a little bit lower, but that would depend on the maturity of some projects that are in the pipeline. From the viewpoint of productivity, it's interesting, because today we don't see a ceiling when you say, "Oh, when I reach 6%, I'll be fine." And why is that? We are getting closer to BRL 500 million in CapEx, and we did that with a growing productivity. So there was a component of consuming inventory, and this was something that was completed.
And as we have the CapEx growing every quarter, we are not likely to see a lot of fluctuations in productivity. So if we have contracts, and we understand that the company has been making new contracts with higher yields, more added services, more value delivered to the client, and therefore, we capture higher yields. So when we have higher revenues with the same capital employed, so we see that we're not only consuming the assets which are in the inventory, so we are going to go for productivity at 60 or even higher than 60 in the long ter m. Yes, recurring CapEx and an increase in the productivity going beyond the 60 figure barrier.
Very clear, Cássio. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We close the Q&A session now.
The conference call related to the Q3 of 2023 of Armac has come to an end. Investor relations department is available to take any questions you might have. Thank you very much for those who attended our call, and have a great day.