Good morning. Thank you for waiting. Welcome to Blau Farmacêutica's Q3 2022 Earnings Conference Call. Today, we have with us Marcelo Hahn, CEO, Douglas Rodrigues, CFO, and Bruna Gamboa, Head of IR. I would like to remind you that we will have a Q&A session at the end of the call, and everyone is welcome to ask questions through the chat at the webcast. Our call will be held in Portuguese with simultaneous interpreting into English. The webcast is also being recorded and will be available on our IR website. Now, I turn the floor to Marcelo Hahn to start the presentation.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Bruna. Welcome to our conference call to discuss Q3 2022 earnings.
85 years ago, when I started the company, I could never have imagined that we would get this far, and with each step we take, I am sure that Blau is just getting started. I would like to start this presentation by thanking the dedication of our employees, our board members, and all of those who have believed in Blau since our founding. I have never been happier and more excited about the strides we're making and the great opportunities we have captured, which I will detail in the next few slides. I would like to mention that I am very pleased with our board of directors and that with their help, we held an event where we reviewed our strategic planning, defined our new purpose, the new vision, and the new guidelines of Blau.
We held workshop sessions to align the short, mid, and long-term goals of the executives and members of the management in a structured plan with the incentives aligned to the interest of our shareholders. Today, we are sure that we have our goals well-defined that will help us guarantee the execution in line with the company's strategy. In this quarter, even in the midst of a very challenging scenario with price deflation of drugs at the hospital area, interest rates at high levels, making hospitals and clinics adjust their inventory levels, in addition to strong competition in the main markets where the company operates, we managed to deliver good result with 13% revenue growth year-over-year and a distribution of about BRL 30 million in interest on equity to our shareholders.
In the quarter, although our revenue grew 64% in Immunoglobulin sales compared to 2021, we achieved only 55% of our sales goal. You may remember that until July 31st, imports of Immunoglobulin without registration were allowed by Anvisa, which enabled many players, including distributors, other manufacturers, importers in general, and even hospitals and clinics to import a large volume of this drug, creating a strong competitive scenario with an excessive supply of the product without registration in the market. Blau always prioritizes value creation for our shareholders, and therefore, we decided not to enter into price wars until there were attractive commercial conditions in the market. We know that Immunoglobulin is a highly consumed drug in hospitals, and we know that this market will normalize.
Here, it is worth mentioning that Blau's executives are not focusing on short-term results, but rather on the continuity of the company and long-term profitability. We also reinforce that we are supplied and will meet the strong market demand in the fourth quarter, and that we'll have a great availability of the product with registration as early as 2023. In this quarter, we recorded one of the highest revenues in the history of the company of BRL 362 million, up more than 100% in the international operation and expansion of all our subsidiaries in Latin America. We also posted an excellent performance of the new products that will support the future growth of Blau and have been gaining more and more share in our results.
In Q3, we were the direct and indirect winner via distributor of the electronic auction for the supply of alfaepoetina to the Ministry of Health with an estimated value of BRL 318 million, bringing good perspectives for growth in the coming quarters. I am very proud to say that this is a product developed in our own plant and currently part of the volume of the product that is exported already uses our own API. Quarter by quarter, we have been expanding the volume produced by our specialties unit, and we still have some production bottlenecks. This quarter, we recorded back orders that represented 28% of the decline in net revenues of this unit. These issues are already being addressed via the expansion of our current plants.
In P210, we concluded the qualification and validation process, and we are now just waiting for the visit from Anvisa to kick off activities at the plant. We also conducted a review of our processes at Blau São Paulo, which led to cost reductions and increased capacity at this plant. In this quarter, we also officially started our third carbapenem line in Blau Goiás and have already started production of the Meropenem drug registered by Anvisa in this Q3. We won the bidding for the purchase of the land for the Pernambuco industrial complex, and we have already started to draft the master plan project. We have also submitted the licensing request and the applications for tax benefits with the municipal and state authorities. Lastly, investments in RD&I are part of Blau's strategic pillars and help drive our future results.
This quarter, we accelerated our investments in RD&I, which reached BRL 22 million and correspond to 6% of our net revenues for the period. In the next slide, we present more details about the partnership we signed with Similis Bio, a company of the JSR Life Sciences Group, to accelerate technology transfer and develop four biosimilar monoclonal antibodies that are among the 10 molecules with the largest addressable market in the world. I'm very happy to announce this long-term partnership, which starts with the development of four monoclonal antibodies or mAbs, and can be extended to the development of other products. We're talking about locally producing APIs and drugs that have a worldwide addressable market of $42 billion and BRL 4 billion in Brazil, and that will ensure an important pipeline for Blau in the next decade.
This is a global exclusivity contract with no territorial sales restrictions, so the idea is to sell the drugs through our subsidiaries in America and in other regions by partnering with local organizations. I was very well impressed with the great experience that JSR has in research, development, and innovation in biotechnology, their highly qualified technical team, their industrial parks, and very modern laboratories, besides having already established important partnerships with the main multinational pharmaceutical companies in the world. Finally, I'm very proud to say that the launch of these drugs reinforces the position of Blau in becoming a benchmark in the production of biosimilar medications in Latin America, and will be a milestone in the history of the company and of Brazil, providing more access to advanced medications to the world population. Moving on to the next slide.
We present more details of the deal we announced of the acquisition of the Bergamo Chemical Pharmaceutical Laboratory. We are very pleased to communicate this acquisition that will allow us to take an important step towards consolidating ourselves as the largest institutional player in the country. With the completion of the acquisition, we will further increase our share in the oncology market with increased production capacity and expansion of Blau's portfolio, both in oncologicals and biologicals. Bergamo was founded in 1946 and has a modern plant in Taboão da Serra near São Paulo, where 19 oncological products are produced. In 2011, Bergamo was acquired by Amgen, one of the largest biotech companies in the world, and over the years, investments have been made to expand the plant's production capacity in addition to investment in quality systems and new equipment.
In 2021, Bergamo posted net revenues of about BRL 200 million and produced approximately 2.2 million units. I point out that these figures are in the process of being audited. We were also excited about Bergamo's commercial and marketing team, which will be another important asset for Blau with a different go-to-market model. We will provide further details about this deal after completion of the acquisition, which is subject to approvals by the relevant agencies and the fulfillment of conditions precedent. We will keep our shareholders and the market informed. In the next slide of the presentation, we'll bring you more information about our plasma collection operation in the United States, Hemarus. We currently have one center in operation in Lauderhill, Florida, and by the end of the year, we will be opening our second center in Northside, Miami.
In Q3, the first center recorded a collection volume of 5,100 liters with a 35% increase in the volume of plasma collected quarter-over-quarter, and a 10% increase in the base of new donors. It is worth mentioning that we are very close to the break-even point, which will be reached when the center collects 6,000 liters of plasma per quarter. At the end of September, the Florida region was hit by Hurricane Ian, and even during this period, our center did not stop working for a single day. The day after the hurricane, we had a record number of collections. The third and fourth centers are in the design phase, and we expect to open them in the second half of 2023.
Now, I give the floor to Bruna Gamboa, our Head of IR, who will continue the presentation. Bruna, you may continue, and thank you.
Thank you, Marcelo. Moving to the next slide, we present details about our pipeline of new products that will be launched by the company and will support the company's long-term growth. In this quarter, we invested around BRL 22 million in research and development, or about 6% of our revenues, and obtained the registration of six new products in Latin America and two new drugs in Brazil. The first is the generic of ampicillin plus sulbactam, which is an antibiotic with an addressable market of about BRL 49 million, and that has already been launched in the market this quarter.
The generic of Meropenem, an antibiotic with an addressable market of BRL 382 million, which was launched now this past October and is already being produced in the third line of Blau Goiás. By 2025, we have a robust pipeline with about 41 products to be launched with a total addressable market of BRL 7 billion. In the fourth quarter, we expect to launch four new products, three of which were launched now in October. Moving on to the next slide, we will present the main ESG and innovation initiatives of the period. In addition to constant investments in important projects such as the digital information package insert, augmented reality, product unitization and serialization, and traceability throughout the production chain, Blau remains committed to the best environmental, social, and governance practices.
In October, we held our first ESG workshop with members of our ESG and innovation committee and the company's leadership participating as well. In October, we became part of the new Female Leadership Index portfolio of the stock exchange, which went into effect in October and reflects the improvement of gender diversity in corporate governance. In the period, we also expanded our support programs to society through A Feira dos Moinhos, which serves women in vulnerable situations, offering school support courses, technical courses, and help for these women to more easily enter the job market. To close, in order to further strengthen our internal controls and processes in our risk management area, this quarter we approved a new structure of governance, risks, compliance, and internal auditing, always in pursuit of the best corporate governance practices.
Moving on to the next slide of the presentation, I will quickly go over the main financial highlights of the quarter, and then Douglas and I will present more detailed numbers to you. We ended the quarter with a net revenue of BRL 362 million, one of the highest levels ever for the company, with over 100% growth in the international operation and excellent performance of the new products developed by Blau Inventta, which has been gaining increasing share in the company's results. We posted a net income of BRL 172 million in the period, up 16% over 2021, and a gross margin of 49%, with expansion in both comparisons. EBITDA reached BRL 119 million in the period, up 10% year-on-year, with an EBITDA margin of 33%.
Net income totaled BRL 94 million, the same level recorded in Q3 2021, with a net margin of 26%, a percentage above the pre-pandemic average. BRL 178 million were the gross profit. Looking ahead to the coming months, we have good opportunities to be captured, which will generate improvements in costs and expenses, as well as a revenue ramp-up expected for the coming quarters. Moving on to the next slide, we present the breakdown of the company's net revenue. The Biologicals unit showed a revenue increase of 45% year-on-year, reflecting higher sales volume of all products compared to 2021. The Specialties unit showed a 10% growth in units sold and a 32% retraction in net revenue compared to the previous year, reflecting mainly the deterioration in prices of mature products of the portfolio.
That was partially offset by the performance of the new products. In the Oncologicals unit, we recorded a 6% retraction in net revenue, of which 4% refers to price reductions in a scenario of strong competitive pressure with a change in the sales mix and an increase in the share of solids versus injectables. The Others unit showed revenue growth of 50% year-over-year, reflecting basically the excellent performance of our commercial team that has been more active in specific dermatology and retail forums. Lastly, looking at the graph at the bottom of the slide, we see detail of revenue with the division between public and private. Here, just like in the last two quarters, about 26% of our net revenue this quarter came from the public sector and is related to the deliveries of alfaepoetina into the Ministry of Health.
Now I give the floor to our CFO, Douglas Rodrigues. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Bruna. Good morning, everyone. To continue the presentation of our earnings in Q3 2022, I will detail a little bit our evolution of gross profit and EBITDA. As you can see on slide 10, the chart shows that our gross profit totaled BRL 178 million, 16% up compared to the third quarter of 2021. As of the margin, we increased one point with a margin of 49%. Here it is important to highlight that even in a more challenging quarter, as detailed before in our presentation, the company, in what we have more control, managed to have an excellent performance, and this is what we will continue to do.
In other words, always exploring our best sales mix, increasing the share of products, of new products in our revenue, and seeking operating efficiency, productivity gain, and cost reduction. In a solid fashion, we were able to do this once again in Q3. Talking a little about the EBITDA. EBITDA totaled BRL 119 million in Q3 2022, 10% up over the same quarter last year. EBITDA margin was down one percentage point, basically because of our operating expenses to be detailed on the next slide. In the next slide 11, we see our operating expenses. Our G&A grew, and it is basically related to higher variable sales expenses, either in our local operations or in our international operations, given the current market dynamic. Our SG&A grew, and this growth is totally related to the strategic projects of the company, which were detailed.
When the company moves forward in our strategic agenda, it is only normal that we make new investments and our personnel structure. As you know, the company has been adapting our headcount to deal with the new growth cycle. Also, as mentioned, in the second quarter of 2022, we had the reversal of a provision, which was a one-off event, and that now has a negative impact on Q3 2022. If this were normalized expenses, what we could expect in our G&A expenses, it would account for about 8% of our net revenue. Our PD&I in Q3, considering intangibles and expenses, was 6% of our net revenue. As you all know, this percentage should be higher with the expansion of our new research and development and innovation center, in addition to new investments that we are making in new products of our pipeline.
Now moving to slide 12, I will speak a little about the net financial result in Q3. It was a little lower compared to Q3 2021. This is basically due to the unrealized result with derivatives in Q3 2021. In terms of interest, revenue had an increase in Q3. Talking about net income, net income is basically at the same level of Q3 2021, but the margin shows a reduction, basically influenced by increased operating expenses and the net financial result. Now moving to slide 13, I will speak a little about CapEx and working capital. Looking at CapEx, Q3 considering PP&E and intangible CapEx was up 16%. We are investing about BRL 56 million in the quarter. This should be the level expected given the new investments the company has to make in its producing units and also in the projects of intangibles for PD&I.
Year- to- date, in the last twelve months, we had a 3% evolution, BRL 63 million in Q3 2022. Looking at working capital, it remains stable vis-a-vis prior quarters, 54% of net revenue. Here, I think it's worth pointing out the extension of our DPO as regards inventory. This was very much impacted by the dynamics of immunoglobulin, which was explained in the presentation. I think it's important to highlight another point here, which is the increase in the levels of inventory for research, development, and innovation products. It accounts for 3.5% of our revenue. Lastly, talking a little bit about our cash position and debt.
We ended another quarter with a net cash position, and this is extremely important given the new flow of outlays and disbursements that the company will be making for the strategic projects mentioned by Marcelo. We have BRL 300 million in our gross debt, basically to debentures. The first debentures that we have just ended, and then we will end amortizing 2023. The second one that we will start amortizing 2023 until 2027. We can see our cash position with a net cash position equivalent to 1 time net debt over EBITDA. We have a robust cash position, and the company can eventually consider cash replenishment on a timely basis and when new opportunities arise. We will end the presentation here. Thank you very much. Now we will begin the Q&A. Good morning, everyone.
I will read the first question from Gustavo Miele with Goldman Sachs. I'd like to ask two questions. The first, you talked a little about the dynamics of immunoglobulin as one of the main reasons to increase the DIO in the quarter. In addition to this, have you noticed any other factor impacting this line item of working capital? Have you seen any difficulties in the logistics of acquiring APIs?
Good morning. Thank you for the question. Well, basically, this level of working capital reported in Q3 was very much impacted by the immunoglobulin dynamic. If we had normalized sales of immunoglobulin, working capital would be close to 50. Another point that I mentioned was the increase in days of inventory outstanding for PD&I, but this is an area where the company will continue to invest.
Second question by Miele.
We noticed that the company was able to partially offset a greater competition in specialties with the launch of new drugs. How do you project the specialties unit next year? Do you see competitors with optimistic speeches of innovation and new launches? What are Blau's plans for the growth of these recently launched drugs next year?
Hello, Miele. This is Marcelo speaking. Thank you for the question. Regarding difficulties in acquiring APIs, the company is not facing any difficulties in acquiring APIs. We actually have greater supply now. Given the world restriction regarding APIs. Regarding the safety inventory, we start having less safety inventory looking forward because of the new scenario. As regards the launch of new drugs and the portfolio growth for next year, historically, the company has between 27% and 30% market share in the markets where we operate.
We are launching these drugs, and we expect them to grow. We are in a ramp-up phase. We're gaining market share, we're putting products in the market, and we are very confident about 2023 that we will acquire a good market share. As a whole, although we have a price retraction in specialties, we have been selling more units of products. This is exactly a price issue because we are suffering pressure from the market, which is a lot more competitive.
Next question by Vinicius Figueiredo with Itaú BBA. Good morning. My first question would be regarding normalization of the current level of Immunoglobulin inventory in the chain. Considering that we are in November, do we see a more normalized volume demand? And once normalized, do you believe that the market will be able to absorb a significant price increase for Immunoglobulin?
Second question regarding the increase in G&A. As a percentage of revenue, what could we expect for this line item looking forward?
Thank you for the questions, Vinicius. Regarding immunoglobulin situation, as we mentioned in our release, the company does have an inventory of immunoglobulin. The receipts of this product from suppliers is practically normalized. We already have inventory in-house for Q4, and we are expecting the situation to improve. We have seen a slight increase, but it's taking a little longer to normalize than we expected, considering the market for immunoglobulin. We have seen that a lot of products without registration remain in the market with very low prices.
As regards to the future situation of immunoglobulin, yes, the moment that we imagine that we're going to have less competition from unregistered medication, we believe the market will normalize in terms of supply and demand, which will improve the commercial conditions for the drug. The second part of the question, Vinicius, I spoke a little about this, but the level we should expect for administrative expenses would be around 8%. We had non-recurring effects, impact of provisions in Q2. That level of 11% of SG&A, it's not a level to normalize. We should expect something around the first quarter of 2021, about 13%. Administrative expenses at around 8%.
Next question about from Vitor Pini from Safra.
What was the size of the positive impact of the reversal provision of freight in selling expenses, and what should be the expected level for this line item of sales expenses?
The one-time effect in Q3 2021 of 0.6%-0.7% of the revenue. What we should expect for this line item is close to 5% of revenue.
Next question by Ian Seskin with BTG. His first question is, do you understand that the demand for Immunoglobulin in Q4 will be sufficient to achieve the sales goal for the year? How long can you keep the drug in inventory? Second question about the specialties unit. In spite of gaining volume, competition has pressured down the price of more mature drugs. Are you maintaining market share? How is this pressure explained?
Entry of new competitors, do you expect the situation to remain in the midterm?
Thank you, Ian. Regarding immunoglobulin, consumption exists, demand exists. The difficulty we are facing is that there is a lot of supply of products without registration. When this supply of unregistered drugs, the market for Blau will normalize. What we are facing right now is the situation of having a lot of supply of products without registration at very low prices, and this is hurting the sales of our company. We understand that soon the situation will reverse. We're already feeling an improvement, not the improvement that we need to achieve our Q4 sales expectations, but we're confident. The first 30 days of Q4 are good or looking good, and we are confident that we'll get there. As regards a price cap, I think you asked about that. Oh, no, that's another question.
I'll answer about that later. Regarding the specialties unit, the company has never sold so many units. What we are suffering is a price competition. In units, the company has been gaining more volume and more market share. More volume sold. We believe that when this price pressure reduces, many distributors are now exchanging inventory for money, and we believe that the situation will improve. We believe that in the mid to long- term, things will normalize because the distributors' inventories are also reducing. We are having greater penetration, and our back orders continue to grow. Now, with the opening of P210 following the new RDC that facilitated production in a new plant, we'll be able to put these products in the market very quickly, and we will be able to deal with this bottleneck that we have at the company.
Next question by Leandro Bastos with Citi.
Can you elaborate how you see the commercial dynamics of immunoglobulin in Q4? Do you see the market still with relevant volumes still on immunoglobulin? What is the price expectation for next year, again, with the return of price cap? Three, you talked about the back orders and specialties. I'd like to understand if production improvements in São Paulo and Goiás will be enough to address these production bottlenecks, or should we expect a ramp-up of P210 in 2023? Should we wait for it?
Well, I think that we answered a little about the dynamics of immunoglobulin. The company has inventory. There is demand. Although competition is reducing, there's still a volume of products of RDC drugs without registration in the market. Regarding pricing, there's Resolution 7 that released prices.
The company, regardless of that resolution, even before the resolution, we have an ordinance to release the price of the medication. If we have problems of the resolution not being renewed, we have that ordinance. The company has an action that is in year four, where we have done an expert inspection, and we are waiting for the decision of the judge establishing the new price for Blau's immunoglobulin. We expect that. We would think that the situation is moving towards a decision, a solution. We don't expect any problems in 2023 regarding the price of immunoglobulin. Your question about bottlenecks, like I said before, we are broadening, expanding the production capacity at all of our plants. We improved some bottlenecks at Blau São Paulo, Blau Goiás. We started the third line in Blau Goiás.
We believe that all of these bottlenecks are addressed, and with the start of operations at P210, these problems will be behind us for the first half of 2023. As for bottlenecks in oncologicals, we have addressed the problem with the acquisition of Bergamo.
Next question by Vinicius Figueiredo with Itaú. If I may ask a third question, Marcelo just mentioned about a different go- to- market of Bergamo. How does this strategy is different from Blau's? Any possibility that this strategy will benefit the organic operation of the company?
Thank you, Vinícius. Well, Amgen has a huge vocation of working as a concept creator in access, pharmacoeconomics, inclusion of technology and other areas where Blau does not invest a lot because our portfolio is more linked to the business area.
With this acquisition, well, it comes in the right timing when Blau is collecting the results of our RD&I efforts, broadening our portfolio. We are investing in new biosimilar medications. It's going to be great help for Blau to have the technical expertise that Bergamo has.
Next question by Carlos Ojeda with Condor Insider. What is the level of margins that you expect for the coming quarters?
Carlos, thank you for the question. I think that we highlighted here that for Q4, we have the dynamics of immunoglobulin so stressing on our end. We will look for the best mix possible. What we expect is that we'll end the year at a margin level very close to what we had in the end of the year, last year, consolidated with perhaps a slight evolution. That's what we are going to pursue. We are increasing the share of new products.
We'll look for the best mix and always trying to improve operating efficiency.
Next question by Stella Strano with J.P. Morgan. How do you see possible regulatory changes, particularly in the scope of plasma-related products with a new federal administration? Any risk of changing the regulations regarding alfaepoetina ?
Morning, Stella. Thank you for the question. Well, we don't have any visibility regarding regulatory changes related to plasma. What we have seen is that at the Senate House, there is a proposed amendment to the Constitution PEC for plasma to be collected by paid donors and by private entities. But we don't have any news regarding regulations. Normally, when there is a regulatory change, they normally do a public consultation, and there's nothing in that regard right now. Regarding regulatory changes for alfaepoetina , it's the same thing. A lfaepoetina is a biotechnological product just like any other.
There is no specific regulatory change for a product. What they can do is change the regulation for segment of products, so that would include other molecules in the same biotechnology segment if there is any regulatory change. Like I said, there is no public consultation. These are biologicals we're talking about, and these follows EMA guidelines, European Medicines Agency, and there are no changes in that regard.
Next question from Caio Rocha with Bradesco BBI. Could you comment on why do you see the competitive landscape in the beginning of Q4? Do you see resumption of Immunoglobulin? And what about in the other segments, oncologicals and specialties?
Thank you, Caio. As I mentioned before, we have felt a reduction, but the market remains very competitive.
There is demand, so Blau is sparing no efforts to put products in the market in the best way possible without losing sight of our margins. It's a big challenge, but we continue on that track. As for specialties and oncologicals, the company communicated that we had back orders. The fact that, well, we didn't meet our revenue goal. We had a reduction in prices of the products. We increased the volume, but it wasn't enough. The company has been increasing our production capacity. We'll start the operations of P210. This has been qualified and validated. We're just waiting for Anvisa's visit to start operation of following RDC 460, and we believe that the bottlenecks will be resolved between first and second quarters of 2023.
Next question by Wagner of Quantitas.
Did Bergamo work with what kind of margins, higher, lower, or the same? After the acquisition, how will this play out? Second, can we expect more M&A activities in the coming months, or the two recent ones meet the ambitions of the company?
Morning, Vagner. Thank you. Well, right now we cannot give you a lot of information given this, the stage of the deal. Imagining the combination of both business, Blau's capacity of making new investments will gain by increasing production capacity, a greater portfolio. Yes, it is expected that we will leverage Bergamo's operation because Bergamo is now a company belonging to the Amgen group. The idea is that with the business combination, we'll have more focus on the business and we'll be able to capture synergies. For the second question, I'll give the floor to Marcelo.
Well, thank you for the question, Wagner. We have a pipeline of five M&A opportunities. The company never stops. We joined the capital market exactly, precisely to be able to grow. In our strategic plan, there are many opportunities out there. We're very active regarding M&As. We have a strong M&A team. We also have ahead of us the challenge of having a follow-on. We understand that 2023 is going to be a good year for Blau with good results, a good year for the Brazilian economy, and we have to be prepared for that. We have been considering a lot of M&A opportunities. We are keeping our eyes and ears open.
Last question by Gabriel Gaspar with Levante. When do you believe there should be stabilization of competition due to greater regulation of imports of APIs and other ingredients?
Do you think that this will be enough to reduce competition? What factors, and what would be the deadline for the improvement of competition now in a post-pandemic scenario?
Thank you, Gabriel. Well, no, we don't believe that this is a post-pandemic scenario. We have deflation, we have very high interest rates, and that is not normal. We're living a very atypical scenario where the cost of product in the hospitals, in the distributors is very high. I mentioned to you in the past that we have seen a lot of distributors burning product prices just to keep paying their bills and to be earning money because the margin for distributors is very low and the cost of capital is very high. This is not a post-pandemic situation in my opinion. I believe that as soon as the interest rates start dropping, the market will become more normalized.
You asked also about competition and regulation of imports of APIs. Brazil is a very regulated country. Anvisa is one of the most regulating regulatory agencies in the world, so there is a regulation already. I cannot imagine a situation of release. Year- after- year, the regulation has been improving. CADIFA was created, which is the list of APIs by Anvisa. If there is any political change happening in this country, I don't believe that there will be a technical change at Anvisa because Anvisa technical staff and executives have a mandate or term in office of four to six years. Even with the political change at the federal administration, we won't see great changes in Anvisa, at least in the next three to four years. We believe that there will be a reduction in regulation.
Well, we are ending the Q&A session.
I now turn the floor to Marcelo for his final remarks.
We are completing a year and a half since our IPO, and in 2022 we will celebrate 35 years of history. I never tire saying that we are just getting started. I want to apologize because this was a quarter in which I spoke more than usual compared with prior calls, but it is because there are so many cool things happening at Blau. I couldn't be happier and prouder of the results the company achieved. Even with a small deviation from the original plan, given the Immunoglobulin scenario and the strong competition that we face in specialties, we were able to deliver revenue growth and higher margins compared to last year.
Blau's sustainable growth has solid and well-defined pillars, and I can assure you that in each quarter that passes, I am more certain that we are on the right track. We know that trust is something that is earned, and with time and our deliveries, the market will have confidence in the segment in which we operate, which is very resilient. The company has never been so well structured for this new growth cycle, and I have no doubt that we will continue growing and bringing earnings like those we have historically delivered. We remain focused on our strategic plan without distractions from our purpose and creating value to our shareholders. Thank you to everyone who continues to believe in Blau, and have a great day.