Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the B3 earnings results presentation for the first quarter of 2025, where André Milanez, B3 CFO, will discuss the results along with Fernando Campos, Investor Relations Associate Director. We would like to inform you that all participants will be in a listen-only mode during the company's presentation. After the company's remarks are completed, there will be a question-and-answer section when further instructions will be given. As a reminder, this conference is being broadcast live via webcast. The replay will be available after the event is concluded.
Hello, I'm Fernando Campos from B3's Investor Relations team, and welcome to another earnings event where André Milanez, B3 CFO, and I will analyze the results of the first quarter of 2025. André, we'll start by providing an overview of the quarter.
Thanks, Fernando. We had another positive quarter with an 8% increase in gross revenues when comparing to the first quarter of last year. This is a result of our business model that allows the company to grow in different scenarios. In this context, it is worth highlighting the performances of the derivatives and fixed income segments, which benefit from higher interest rates and the high volatility that we had during the first quarter of the year, which more than offset the still challenging environment for equities. Our net income reached BRL 1.1 billion in the quarter, and our earnings per share were BRL 0.21 per share, which represented an increase of 25% when compared to the first quarter of 2024, which reflects also the more intense activity that the company has been having on its buyback programs.
Fernando, we'll now talk a little bit more about the operational performance that explains this dynamic that I just commented on revenues, just remembering that this was the first quarter with a new revenue segmentation, which in our view better represents the current stage of the company and its growth strategy. Fernando?
Thanks, for that . Speaking of markets segment, in derivatives, the ADV, the average daily volume, totaled 8.9 million contracts, a decline of 9% compared to the first quarter of 2024, with lower activity in interest rates and indexes market. On the other hand, RPC, or revenue per contract, grew by 29%, mainly driven by the devaluation of the real against the USD, which impacts effects and interest rates in USD contracts, great concentration of long-term contracts in interest rates in BRL, and the inclusion of Bitcoin futures on our portfolio. Speaking of Bitcoin futures, it contributed with BRL 47 million in revenues. It is also worth highlighting the good performance of OTC derivatives, with significant growth both in issuances and outstanding balance. Revenue from derivatives totaled BRL 181 million, a growth of 10% compared to the first quarter of 2024.
In fixed income, we had another very solid performance and double-digit growth in our operational metrics compared to the first quarter of 2024, reflecting the booming private credit market in Brazil and the surge for interest-linked assets in the current scenario. As an example, the number of investors in the Tesouro Direto grew by 18% compared to the first quarter of 2024. Thus, revenue in the fixed income line grew by 22% and totaled BRL 315 million. In equities, we had a similar performance to the previous quarters, with the ADTV totaling BRL 23.8 billion, with a turnover of 141%. The positive highlight for another quarter are the performances of BDRs, ETFs, and listed funds, which together represented 14% of the ADTV.
Regarding the trading fees, we had a performance like the one in Q4 2024, with a trading mix that reflected in lower fees, following a higher volume of exercise of index options and market makers and liquidator providers. Revenue from equities represented 19% of the total revenue for the quarter. Regarding other segments in capital market solutions, the devaluation of the real also had a positive impact on market data. On data analytics solutions, in vehicles and real estate, we had a positive scenario, but the comparison was impacted by the revenue from Desenrola in the first quarter 2024. In platforms and analytics, we had a good performance, mainly in credit and the insurance verticals.
In the segment of technology and platforms, we had the growth of the fund industry reflected positively in the utilization, which impacts the technology line and market support services, mainly with the registration of fund quotas. Now, André, we'll talk a little about the financial performance and strategic advances of B3 in the quarter. André?
Thanks, Fernando. In expenses, we had a quarter in line with our planning, with the growth above inflation when compared to the first Q of 2024. The main reason for that was the impact that we had on data processing expenses, which reflects the optimization of the company's project management for 2025, in which we are seeking to better schedule and thus reduce potential volatilities between quarters. As a result of that performance, in terms of revenues and expenses, our recurring EBITDA totaled BRL 1.7 billion in the quarter, a growth of 6%, with a recurring EBITDA margin of 69.5%.
In terms of our financial result, we had a quarter where we saw financial expenses impacted by a higher leverage level as a result of the venture that was issued at the end of last year, but also two non-recurring items, which were the fair value adjustment of some investments that we made through our offshore vehicles and the renewal of the portfolio of government bonds used for contribution of some companies within the group as well. The two effects combined were close to BRL 25 million in the quarter, an impact that we do not expect to see in other quarters, as I already mentioned before. In relation to the return to our shareholders, we had a total return of approximately BRL 790 million in the quarter, with BRL 460 million deployed in buybacks and BRL 330 million in interest on capital distributions.
Additionally, it's worth highlighting that we canceled around BRL 160 million shares in March 2025, which represents about 3% of the company's share capital, demonstrating that we have been much more active in the execution of our buyback program recently. Regarding our agenda of new products, I would like to highlight some very interesting developments. We had several products launched during the quarter: the launch of the weekly Ibovespa options, the reduction in the size of monthly Ibovespa options as well, and the launch of the venture indices Ultra Quality DI and IPCA. In addition to those products that were launched, we recently received approval from the regulator for the following products that we have mentioned before. We received approval for the futures on Ethereum, on Solana, on the Ibovespa B3 BR+ index, and options on the Ibovespa B3 BR+ index as well.
Besides all of those approvals, we also got an approval to reduce the size of the Bitcoin futures products, all of those with very interesting potential of increased volume or new revenues, especially for when you're looking at the individual investor. Finally, it is worth reminding you that in March, we had an extraordinary general meeting that approved the merger of Newway and NeuroTech into B3. This was a move that, besides optimizing and simplifying the company's structure, also allows the utilization of the tax benefit close to BRL 800 million that was generated by, that will be generated by, the goodwill and intangible assets that were recognized on these acquisitions. These mergers will take effect as from the 1st of April this year. Those were the main highlights for the quarter. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The floor is now open for questions. If you have a question, please press the raise hand button. If you are connected by phone, dial star nine to raise your hand. If your question is answered, you can leave the queue by clicking on put your hand down or dialing star nine. Please hold while we poll for questions. Our first question comes from Arnon Shirazi with Citi.
Hi guys, good morning. Thank you for the opportunity of making questions. My question is related to equity margins. We had another quarter of lower margin compared to one year ago. I believe this movement started last quarter when we saw some lower margin in general. I know that you started to publish the collocation percentile that increases. What really changed in practice to see this lower equity margin? Should we expect a downward trend here or something more punctual that happened this quarter and the last quarter? Just to get it better. Thank you all for us.
Good morning, Arnon. Fernando speaking. I think it was a dynamic that was really similar to the one that we had on the fourth quarter last year. We did have, especially in January, a really large volume of Ibovespa options exercise. We do, and we did also have more market makers participating in the trading activity during the quarter. It is hard to predict what is going to happen on the next quarters, given that this is a mix that was driven by market movements on market volatility more than any actions that the company actually took to reduce or to change prices. I do not know if André wants to complement.
No, I think that's it. I think it is difficult to say whether this is a trend now. It is a function of the mix that we have seen during the quarter. We have tried to give more visibility in terms of the data that we have been disclosing for you to try to anticipate some of those impacts. I think we've started to disclose the level of exercise options in our databases as well. Nothing that was driven by, as Fernando mentioned, changes introduced by the company, but more a reflection of how the mix has been evolving in the last few quarters.
Okay, got it. Thank you, guys.
Our next question comes from Maria Guedes with Safra.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. I wanted to talk also about ADTV and also about the mix, but I'm looking from a different perspective. I know that the trend for the equities ADTV is tougher to predict and that it relies on market activity. You also have some lines that are growing at a faster pace, like ETFs, BDRs, and listed funds. I think that you are giving more highlight to that. These are gaining relevance within the overall mix. If I'm not mistaken, it's already representing close to 15% of overall ADTV. I wanted to understand the potential that the company is seeing for these lines as they ramp up. I know this is a reflection of improved liquidity for these products.
I know this is not a simple question, but maybe if you are targeting some other benchmarks in terms of markets that you see a similar potential. Thank you.
Thank you for your question, Maria. I think you're absolutely right. I think these products have been gaining more relevance and have been growing. If you recall a few years ago, these three classes combined, they were less than 4% of the total volume. As you said, they are now getting closer to 15%. In some months, they have been already above that mark. I think the potential is very important here. I think if you look at our ETF industry and compare that to the ETF industry in other markets, you can say that we are in the very beginning of that industry here. We see still a lot of potential for further growth in those asset classes. Perhaps ETF, the more relevant one, but for BDRs and real estate investment funds, there is also still a lot of potential for further growth.
Perfect. Thank you. Congrats about the new disclosure. It's very helpful.
Thank you, Maria.
Our next question comes from Linsei Shima with Goldman Sachs.
Hi, good morning, and thank you for taking my question. I have two quick questions. The first one is, you've received a lot of approvals for new products that you've been kind of previewing so far. Could you go and provide some color on how we should see new initiatives impacting revenues throughout the year? Maybe two or three new products that you expect to be most impactful or anything along that line. Do you have anything else in the pipeline? The other one is just confirming if any competitors have taken any steps to link to your systems yet or if you still haven't heard anything. Thank you.
Thank you, Linsei. I'll start with the last one and quickly go through the first one as well. I think Fernando can jump in here as well. In relation to competition, I think, as I said during my last call, we've started discussions. We already had some discussions with the initiative for a new equities exchange in terms of accessing our repository, etc., but that's in the early stages, so no significant developments here. In relation to the pipeline of new products, as we have been anticipating last year during our investor day and during our calls, we will be much more active and aggressive in the pipeline of new products. It is really difficult to predict how good these products will perform. If you recall, I mean, Bitcoin futures was one example.
Of course, we were very excited with the potential of the product, but we were somehow surprised by the results in the short term of that product. It is difficult. Sometimes some products, they take a while to get traction. In other instances, that traction comes faster. We do believe that we have now tools to try to accelerate or increase the chances of those products gaining more traction more quickly. Incentives are one of them, not the only one, but having market makers and a lot of other stuff that we launch together with these products can increase the chances of them becoming successful. As we said, we will be much more active in this environment of new products with also a focus here on products aimed at the retail investor in Brazil.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Pedro Le Duc with Itaú BBA.
Thank you, guys, for the call and taking my question. First, on the revenue-linked expenses, now with these products getting traction, the ones you launched over the recent past, if we should maybe see less of an expense linked to them as they gain natural life, or maybe you're going to use that cushion maybe to reinvest in those that you have in the pipeline for the up-and-coming. Just trying to get a little bit of help on how to model this line a little bit better. The second part of the question, a little more longer term, you're hovering around these 70% EBITDA margin levels. We've seen that in higher volume days in the past, margins get much higher than this, but a lot has changed within the company since then.
Trying to pick your brains where you think is a potential for the long-term EBITDA margin, assuming turnover goes up a little bit, volumes pick up at the end of the day, if we could see this closer to the mid-70s, 80s at one point. Thank you.
Thank you, Pedro. Look, in relation to your question about margins, I mean, margins are a result of the business model that we have that has a lot of operational leverage. It is natural that you see that when volumes are increasing, accelerating, margins tend to expand. We do not manage the business looking at EBITDA margins. I think you could see margins increasing in an environment where we start to see volumes coming back more strongly again. I think in our view, this will become a discussion when we start to see that either some of our pricing is preventing customers from doing more business, so that becomes somehow a bottleneck for customers to increase business, and this is something that we cannot allow. In these cases, we will address, as we have already done in the past.
I think if we reach another level that is structurally higher than the current one, I think it is also reasonable for you to expect that we might need to, and we will probably do that, share more of our operational leverage with customers in a smart way, of course. I think it is natural to expect that happening. That has to be somehow structural, right? I mean, if by any chance our margins are higher than average in a single quarter, that does not necessarily mean that we have something to do about that. If they increase and stay that for a while, this is potentially a time where some measures will be taken by the company. I do not know if Fernando wants to talk about the first one, please.
Sure.
It's clear.
Sure. Thank you.
Hi, Pedro. Regarding revenue-linked expenses for the year, I think we provide a guidance for the line, and we should be within the guidance given that the agreement that we have with brokers regarding the incentives on the Bitcoin futures, which is the main factor on this line, is valid until April next year. For the year, I think it's hard to remove the incentives given that we have this agreement. That's why we should be within the guidance on this line. I think we won't have any kind of surprises there.
Thank you, guys. Thanks so much.
Our next question comes from Antonio Huetche with Bank of America.
Hi, guys. Thank you here for the room to make questions. I have two on my side. First, a quick one on the fixed income electronic trading platform. If you have any updates on these volumes or pipeline. The second one, a broader one. What have you guys worked on to make your product more attractive in the sense of potential new listings? You guys have mentioned in the past that the real threat right now, the real competition that you have are foreign listings that could take volumes abroad. If everything goes well, we could be talking about an easing cycle in 2026 and potential new IPOs. My question is, what have you guys done over the past two or three years to prevent that these potential new listings are done abroad instead of B3? Thank you.
Hi, Antonio. Good morning. Fernando here. I will start with the fixed income platform. The fixed income platform has already been launched. We are in the phase of trying to get market participants to actually join the platform. It is an initiative with a lot of different moving factors here, a lot of things. It is a huge project. It is one of the major strategic projects for the company for this year and next year. We should not expect any significant revenue from this, obviously, from the secondary market, even government bonds or corporate bonds. We should not expect any kind of significant revenue this year. It is something more towards next year. The project is on the tech part and on the infrastructure part, and everything is going as planned.
We are in a phase where probably the more challenged phase where it is trying to make the market adopt the platform and to use it, obviously complementing what the brokers already provide. No big news here other than their project is going as planned. Yeah. Regarding your question, Antonio, about the listing, the IPOs, I think since we started to see some companies listing abroad a few years ago, we have been working in everything that was at our reach in order to try to address that. There were things such as one of the arguments at that time that were being used to justify listing outside Brazil were the fact that in the US, you could adopt super voting rights structures.
We've worked with market participants and with regulators to introduce changes into the Brazilian corporate law to allow something very similar to what you can find in the US. We've worked with regulators to say, "Look, if a company decides to list abroad, we want to be able to at least capture some of that volume through BDRs." BDRs became available to retail investors and available in certain cases where they were not in the past. We've worked in several things. Besides that, we've also worked a lot with potential new companies trying to show them, let's say, the truths and myths about listing abroad and showing that potentially a listing abroad might be an interesting alternative for some companies, depending on the size of that company, on how international that company is. That is not going to be true for the vast majority of the companies.
I think people now understand that better so much that we have started to see the opposite. You probably saw that last year or the year before. I am not 100% sure now. We have seen companies delisting in the US and listing back here in Brazil. We have been very close to all of the companies that are potential candidates for IPOs when a new window of opportunity presents itself. I can say that the vast majority of those are considering listing in Brazil and outside Brazil.
All right. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Caio Prato with UBS.
Hi, André, Fernando. Good morning. Thanks for the opportunity to ask questions here. I have two on my side, if I may, please. First, you just announced the launch of new crypto contracts of Ethereum and Solana, and also announced the reduction on the size of the Bitcoin futures, which has been a product quite successful, right, since the launch. Just wondering if these announcements can be as material as the revenues from Bitcoin that we are seeing today because of two new products and also more attractive Bitcoin products, or if you can share a little bit what can be the magnitude of impact on revenues coming from these new ones.
Second, quickly, looking to the first quarter and the first months of the second quarter that we have some numbers here, looking to the equities and ETF, for instance, April was quite better as well and potentially slightly better than expected the first year. I know that's difficult to estimate the market going forward, right? Would you say that year-to-date volumes have been better than expected according to your projections or budgets so far? Thank you.
Thank you, Caio. You, like always, making some very easy questions to answer, right? Regarding your first one about the crypto products, I mean, I do not know whether these are going to be as successful as the Bitcoin future was. Of course, I am hoping that they will be. We definitely saw demand for that, and that is the reason why we are launching that product. We are trying to follow the same, let us say, formula that we have applied to the Bitcoin future to increase the chances of those products being successful as well. It is really difficult to give you any expectation of revenues at this stage. We are hoping this can be also an important. As I said, definitely, there is demand for that product.
Regarding the other question about ADTV, look, I mean, I think the market is so sensitive these days that any inflows are making a big difference. I think that's what we have been seeing in April, in some of the days now in May as well. Whether this is something that is structurally changing, difficult to tell at this stage. I definitely see more upside risk at this stage than downside risks in relation to volume. I think we've seen volumes stabilizing for several quarters around the BRL 24 billion-BRL 25 billion mark. I think I see more upside risk than downside risk at these levels based on what we have been seeing in recent behaviors of volumes and performance.
Okay. It's great. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Fernando Sayão with JPMorgan.
Hi, André. Hi, Fernando. Thank you for the room to ask questions. My question is on expenses. We see expenses tracking 7% below the midpoint of guidance, and I know there is seasonality here. I just wanted to get your thoughts on how you see it evolving throughout the year, if it should be more backloaded, or if you see the possibility to stay on the lower end of guidance. Thank you.
Thank you for your question, Fernando. We are working at this stage to deliver our guidance. It has not been an easy task because since we have disclosed our guidances, some of, I would say, things that impact significantly our costs have deteriorated a lot. Inflation was one of them. We are working now with an inflation expectation, which will translate into adjustments to our salary base much higher than what we were expecting at the beginning when we disclosed our guidance, when we discussed our budget last year. We have been managing to deal with that. I think it is early to say whether we will be able to arrive at the lower band of our guidance. I can tell you at this stage that we are on track to deliver the guidance.
We have been trying also to, let's say, to better manage spending, let's put it this way, throughout the quarter. We should expect less volatility between quarters when compared to prior periods. We have been trying to better manage the spending throughout the year.
Thank you. Perfect.
This concludes today's question and answer session. I would like to invite André Milanez to proceed with his closing statements.
Thank you very much for joining our earnings results call. Thank you very much for your support to all the B3 team that has been involved in this earnings release. My thanks as well for all the hard work. We hope to keep you satisfied and delivering strong results throughout the year. Have a nice Friday and good weekend ahead of us. Thank you very much.
That does conclude B3's presentation for today. Thank you very much for your participation and have a nice day.