Translation into English will be available timely on the company's IR website. Just showing you the agenda today. We will start off with Marcelo presenting the highlights. Then I will come back and we will talk about the pipeline and revenue. Then Douglas will talk about the operational and financial aspects, and Marcelo gets back for the final comments. At the end of our presentation, we will have our Q and A section with a priority, of course, for sell-side analysts. Analysts who want to ask questions should click the raise hand on Zoom, and that is located at the bottom part of the screen. Other investors can send their questions through the chat. Now, I would like to pass the floor on to Marcelo so he can begin the presentation on slide five.
Hi, good morning, Matheus, and everyone else.
I want to start off by highlighting that the semester, despite challenges in the micro scenario, was very positive in our assessment. Blau had revenue growth, increasing margins, and cash generation after working capital and CapEx. Our net revenue grew 10% in the first half, in line with the average growth of the last three years. The difference in performance between the first and second quarter is due to the public channel only through the phasing of deliveries and for a comparison basis, right? Importantly, growth has the potential to accelerate in the second half, with the beginning of our operation in the new production lines and a more favorable comparison basis than the last quarter.
This growth was accompanied by higher profitability and an improvement in both our gross margin and our EBITDA recurring margin, including a sequential improvement from the first to the second quarter. Our recurring net income was impacted by the exchange rate variation. Now in the second quarter, it grew 12%. Excluding the exchange rate variation, we had a growth of 18% in the semester and about 26% in the second quarter. As we move on to slide six, and we continue on the next page, you can see the balance sheet highlights. Working capital had a sequential improvement of 300 bps, going to 50.8% of our revenue, an important highlight to the third consecutive reduction in our inventories. We know that we need to improve even more, and we will continue to focus on reducing working capital needs in the second half and onwards.
We continue to invest heavily in our sustainable growth, but the main difference compared to last year is that CapEx is now lower than our recurring EBITDA. Operating cash generation, including working capital, was 2.4 times higher in the semester and represented about 92% of our recurring EBITDA. The company's free cash generation after CapEx was BRL 70 million, with a generation of BRL 81 million in the second quarter of 2026, reversing the consumption of about BRL 11 million in the first quarter of 2026. Finally, we continue to have more cash than debt, improving this number by BRL 49 million in this quarter with cash generation that supports our investments to the service of our debt and compensation for investors. Now, I am going to pass the word on to Matheus.
Thank you, Marcelo.
Starting off with slide eight, on the left graph, you can see that the revenue from our launches and investments in R&D really accelerated in the last 12 months. In our new launches, we grew over 30% in the last 12 months at an accelerating pace compared to the last semester. In investments, we had a planned growth for the pipeline projects. To compensate or offset this increase in R&D, we reduced our fixed asset investments. Douglas is going to talk about this more during the CapEx section. On the right side, you can see Blau has about BRL 7 billion of addressable markets in the pharmaceutical hospital market. Looking ahead, we have transformational growth, which also justifies higher investments in R&D and innovation. This pipeline is concentrated in Biologicals that are more differentiated and should boost our growth and our margins.
Moving on, you will notice a standard in the P&L slides where we highlight the semester because we think this is an important starting point to have projections for the future, but also include the view of each quarter so we can explain variation. Blau grew 10% in the first half of 2026, in line with the growth of the last three years. Our highlights were the public channel and growth in 34% of our launches. In the public channel, many end up focusing only on alfaepoetina, but Blau has a wide range of medication for SUS and state municipal secretaries, and we see general positive performance in the channel. As we analyze the quarters, the first grew more than the second, mainly because of the difference in delivery volumes and a comparison basis in the public channel itself.
When we analyze the private market, despite difficulties with high interest rates, there was also an acceleration from the first quarter compared to the second quarter. To mitigate these macro effects, the company is working to diversify its customer base and selling directly to hospitals. What is most important in the performance of the first semester is that the company should go through a growth cycle in the next many years, and Marcelo will talk more about this at the end of the presentation. As we talk about the short term a bit more, it is probable that the growth will accelerate in the second half with new production lines and a more accessible basis for comparison. Now I am going to pass on the word to Douglas, our CFO, as he continues the presentation.
Thank you, Matheus.
Well, moving on here, I think the main highlights was the gross profit we were able to reach in this quarter and first half, of course. What is most important in our assessment, and this is very robust result and very positive, but what is most important is how we got there, right? How we can keep this stable. Considering all of the challenges and scenarios in the macro environment, it is a margin level that reinforces that strong adherence to our business plan is significant and to state our commitment to our strategic plan. Yes, we have an organization that is focused and very disciplined, focusing on profitability, prioritizing generation. First we have to generate so that we can then invest.
When we look at the quality and the elements that made us reach a level of margin that was basically our target from 200 bps throughout the year, we can see and we have conviction and possibility for evolution in the second half. We know that there are the new lines. We are going to continue to use our productive capacity in the best way possible. We also have the launches and even the factors that were favorable, like the mix and the currency variations or FX have a trend to have a continuity in the next quarters. Even the plasma that could maybe contribute downwards, at some moment, it could even unleash value, and we can really leverage the margins.
I think it is a matter of conviction on the recurrence and a sustainable margin level that could be. When we look at the next slide, we talk about the recurring EBITDA. Here, I think it is really important because we are already looking at a margin of 25%. When we look at the comparison last year in the same period, it is also in line. But the comparison basis, if you look at the first semester, it was even more about lower expenses versus revenue than the gross margin right now in the first semester of 2026.
Of course, when you look ahead, and we will see this in the next slide, as Matheus mentioned, for example, with the possibility to accelerate the growth of our revenue in the second semester onwards and keeping the expense levels, for sure, the EBITDA margin has a potential to growth and deliver what the consensus expects and maybe even have the opportunity to be a little greater considering the dilution and maintenance of the gross margin. I think the next slide shows you this expense scenario, and when you look at the movement with the growth of revenue now in the first semester, how are we going to dilute this?
If you look at a potential greater growth in the second half and the maintenance, which is another important factor, when you look at the first semester of 2026 and you compare that, you can understand that there is this expense maintenance. Of course, the company has many different initiatives. We are working on a lot of different things, but we are kind of in the middle of the confusion. We are reorganizing, looking at processes. We have support from consulting firms and a series of initiatives. We are already capturing the results of these initiatives, but we have a potential to dilute and achieve these results, which is a lot greater in 2027 and a little less in 2026 when we start implementing this.
With the growth of our revenue, once again, we will be able to look at this and project what would be an EBITDA margin generation opportunity in the next cycle, of course. Then the next slide, net income. Just as with the first quarter, we highlighted the effects of the currency variation. A little less this quarter than last quarter. Of course, the variation of the currency between quarters was smaller. But the trend is with the currency cap, this will definitely impact a lot less of the operational cash generation in the second semester. Then you have a positive factor as well, once again, with the reduction of the actual rates. We have tax planning initiatives as well that are very efficient, so that when you generate more operational results, we can transform this into net income, and that is the trend.
That is what we should follow for the second semester and the next cycle as well. Then here, I think it is our recurring net income. It is important to highlight. People have already questioned this, actually, about the net income from an accounting perspective. We had a provision when it comes to acquisition prices for the M&A, and this is still at an initial level, first level in the court discussions. But even in the PPA the company had in 2020, Blau was not even attributing value to the registration of this drug. So that is why it is a non-recurring treatment, and we understand that there are possibilities to reverse this with an accounting provision. Moving on to the next slide. Working capital. This is a priority and a goal. We have the intention of searching for an improvement in our cash cycle.
We are moving in this direction, and the biggest challenge here is our inventory, reducing our inventory and leveraging the company's growth, but with a level of inventory that is a lot healthier to generate cash. So when you consider our payments cycle and receipts, the average supplier term gets back to a normal level. I think in the first quarter it was not favorable, but now it gets back to what we consider normal. Customer cycles, I think it is not necessary to reinforce this. Everyone knows how the sector is still really hindered, and the second quarter maybe brings in a higher level of revenue, but the company more than ever has been extremely diligent in this process. We are not going to do anything crazy.
Our focus is profitability, and if we grew less, it was looking at the quality of our sales and profitability and taking on less risks at this moment. As we know, it is still a very delicate moment in the market, but let us see how it will behave in the second semester. But of course, our priority is looking in-house and our inventory and what we can control more. Well, next slide. Just as in the first quarter, the company's expectation, of course, with the beginning of 2026 was a lot more positive to accelerate different investments and initiatives. But I think we continue to have this commitment and discipline internally. The focus is first you generate, then invest.
So of course, the investments that are priorities, that are in our strategic plan with a high potential for growth and returns, the companies are definitely focusing on. Blau is keeping up with all these projects, are on track. But what we can still wait a little bit with and carefully look at first, considering cash generation, we were able to do in the first semester. The potential for investments here in the second semester tends to be greater because of the new biologicals plant and even the Pernambuco construction work there. But the target is still the same. The year's CapEx needs to be in line with our cash generation in the year to be able to handle this constant cash generation discipline and keeping the low leverages.
On the next slide, another important highlight for the quarter, which is while we've been generating cash this quarter, and I think this is super important. When you look at the semester with all of the challenges and all of the addressable projects we've been working on, we're still net cash. So that's important to highlight. Treasury team has already done some excellent work on this. They continue to be focused, and we're able to capture all of those good opportunities that we had in the market. The window here kind of closed a bit. We understand that at some moment, there will be new opportunities. Treasury's focused on this, and of course, that graph on the right side should be more extended. Of course, the trend of the cost of debt and this trend is really important, especially in moments where you have more volatility and uncertainty.
You can really have the necessary resources to address all of the investments and strategic planning. I'll pass the word on to Marcelo for his final remarks, and then we'll be back here for Q and A. Thank you so much.
Thanks, Douglas. On slide 20, we show you the performance and achievements in the last three years to give you the consistency and longer windows. Our revenue grew on average of 10% a year, and the gross margin grew 230 basis points per year, and the recurring EBITDA margin about 200 basis points per year. Even more importantly, throughout the last three years, we've worked on a consistent strategic agenda that strengthened our foundations to have sustainable long-term growth.
We successfully completed our Bergamo turnaround, capturing operational synergies and also expanding our production capacity, along with the ramp-up of other Blau production lines, reaching an all-time high of volume produced and increasing the efficiency of our operations. We expanded our geographic presence. We operated in nine countries and exporting to more than 20 markets. In addition to significantly expanding our addressable market in Brazil by approximately BRL 1.5 billion. We continued to invest in platforms with higher added value. We've advanced in the expansion of biotechnological API plants and the development of monoclonal antibodies, including the certification of our factory Bio-Manguinhos for pembrolizumab and other molecules.
And we more recently also started optimizing capital allocation with more discipline, prioritizing products that have greater risk return potential and better strategic alignment, especially investments in the differentiation of our launch pipeline and in the expansion of our production capacity in our current factories. This movement included the divestment of Prothya and greater phasing out of investments in the future plant in Pernambuco. On the next slide, we can see here that the best is yet to come still. We show our commitments of our strategic plan in a very summarized way. The investments are really focused on differentiation and increased production capacity and biotechnology, along with scale gains and low operational costs. In the short term, we've already pretty much hired an expansion of over BRL 2 billion in our addressable market with the new production lines of synthetic medication in our current plants.
We're also implementing a new package line in Pernambuco focused on imported products, so we can meet the needs of that location when it comes to the fiscal benefits. So these are all initiatives that should generate efficiency gains and more operating leverage. In addition, we've also, with the attention of enhancing Blau's current and future pipeline, we invested in a new research and development and innovation headquarter together with the ICT Inventta with cutting-edge equipment. So in the medium term, we should start reaping the fruits of a new phase of transformation at Blau. An important highlight should be the launch of our first monoclonal antibody produced 100% in Brazil, pembrolizumab. We're also anticipating the further expansion of the biotech API plant and investments in a new line of finished biological drugs following the EMA and FDA concepts to consider this addressable markets concentrated in these drugs categories.
And all this should increase higher added-value products in our portfolio as we advance as well through partnerships and international expansion. In the long term, the conclusion is that we'll have a more differentiated portfolio and even greater capacity technologically consolidating our leadership position in the local pharmaceutical hospital market, and also enabling us to have strong global expansion. Before closing, I would like to really congratulate the over 2,500 Blauers in Brazil and around the world for these results, and thank our shareholders for their trust, as well as their stakeholders. The market in Brazil has not been easy, but we've been able to show considerable evolution in the last three years and really have solid foundations to unleash Blau's extraordinary potential for the next years. Thank you all so much. Thank you, Matheus. Let's head to the Q and A.
Sure. Now we'll begin the Q and A section.
We'll have our sell-side analysts that want to share their questions. They should use the click Raise Hand function on the Zoom platform at the bottom part of the screen. Other investors can also send their questions by chat in writing. We'll start off with Flavio Yoshida, Bank of America. Flavio, I think your mic's already released.
Hi there. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity here. We have two on our side. First one, we talk about the channel, private and public. We saw that in this quarter, specifically, private demonstrated a pretty good merger, and I wanted to understand what the competitive environment's like in hospital and private. What's the perspective to continue to grow in a robust manner? What's the dynamic also for price pressure? And my second question is about the gross margin.
We've reached this level that's pretty elevated. I wanted to understand if there were structural factors or overall environment factors as well in regards to the sales mix. I wanted to understand more from a long-term view, what should we consider when we look at the gross margins, if it's more of an environment factor or a more structural factor, et cetera. Thank you so much.
Hey, Flavio. We're going to talk about the private channel a little bit. Every day, we've been developing tools and improvements in our processes to consider these different approaches with our customers. Our portfolio also grew. With this, we've been able to have mid to long-term contracts with our customers, especially our final customers. We're going straight to them than what we had done previously.
It's a process that's not just an on off button procedure, but it's something we've been working on with these long-term partnerships that are established directly with the customers, the hospitals, and clinics. That's really helped improve the quality of our sales and profitability. Yes, we do see a competitive market, especially for generic products where you have a lot of players in the market with more capacity than demand. But we have a pretty big portfolio, and we can then really reap the best results. We've also been improving our productive efficiency and negotiations with suppliers, et cetera. It's this whole set of factors that's really been improving the results of our business as a whole. Then we can be more competitive also. It's something sustainable. It's not a one-off scenario.
Actually, we really see there's potential to grow even more, have more partnerships, and even the possibility to have more agreements with these end customers, and it's a real process. We've been working on this. These are mid to long-term contracts, and they're not renewed every month. But to conquer a new contract, sometimes it takes a little longer because this is being provided by another player, et cetera. It's a process, but we see major opportunities for growth, and day by day, we've been getting closer to these end customers. Great. Now let's talk about our margins. I think we spoke about negotiations with suppliers, operational improvements, et cetera, but maybe you can add on to this, Douglas.
Yeah, great. That's pretty much it.
When we look at this quarter specifically, there's a factor there with the mix that interferes in this, and that's a positive factor. But of course, when you look at the margin for the semester and you imagine that for the second semester, that would maybe be more reasonable to consider this margin level that we consider. Of course, the first slowdown in the currency, and then, of course, considering our stock turnover, we'll be able to capture, but then it tends to be smaller later on. But of course, with the trend of the mix, you want to keep that and search for these opportunities. We have the new lines, and that's a factor that can contribute to the margin, even if other factors are not that positive. In the second half of the year, we also have this plasma scenario that kind of pushes downwards.
At some moment, we could unleash this, and it could be an important lever. But maybe today, searching for this level of margins of about 42%, which is kind of in line with what the consensus expects, is something that we believe can be sustainable and recurring and can really take us to the closing here for 2026.
That is great. Thank you, guys.
Great. Just adding on here. I do not think it is your case, but a lot of analysts look at the gross margin projected for this year and kind of perpetuate this for the next many years. What we see actually is that there are many levers. In the short term, maybe we are looking more at stability, et cetera, but in the mid to long term, maybe we still have a lot of levers. We have MRS that still pushes our leverage downwards.
We have expansion in Latin America. We have different divisions that only have expenses and not revenue, but when we have revenue come in, that is going to start diluting this as well. Then you have the new lines Douglas has already mentioned. You are adding capacity and sharing the fixed cost, and if we accelerate growth, as we probably will do, then we should also dilute costs and fixed expenses. Besides this, we are migrating to more biologicals products, with lower competition than the generics. Theoretically, they have lower competition and then greater margins. So we believe that when we look up ahead, the consensus is maybe a little conservative when it comes to margins. Thank you so much, Flavio.
Great. Thank you.
Moving on to the next question here. We are going to talk to Vinicius Figueiredo at Itaú BBA. Vinicius, your audio is released.
Okay.
Good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking my question. We have two points here that we wanted to explore. One of them, you kind of already discussed with the CapEx in the second half, but I just wanted to try to explore this a little bit and try to get your expectation on this. What could be the magnitude of this acceleration if we look at the second semester, and even if we look at 2027. You guys have multiple different projects that should require some growing investments in the short term. Of course, you have all of the security issues. Just to try to understand this cash consumption that should be expected for the second half, 2027. Then in regards to new lines, you guys also mentioned in your release about the expectation for the acceleration of your revenue from the third quarter onwards.
Could you get us a bit of an update on the timing for these new lines, and how that is looking in regards to the approvals when it comes to ANVISA and the government authorities as well? That would be really good. Thank you so much.
Well, we are going to start off with the last question on the productive lines. Actually, we are just waiting on the same authorization from the same authority, which is the local municipal inspection authority. We do not understand why it is taking so long, actually. We are convinced about all of the project and all of the facilities and equipment are in line with the regulation. It is just actually their timing that is being postponed more than normal. We are really working on our major efforts to get their stance as soon as possible.
But we actually have products in stock that contribute negatively to the stock days that are produced there, and we are just waiting on a green light to sell. On the other hand, we also have a restrained demand that we cannot service due to the situation. If not, we could have deleveraged growth that would be a lot greater. So we also have this expectation, and we should have already had this stance already from the local health inspection authority before, but we are waiting on this, and we have been requesting this feedback almost daily, and that is a big priority for us. We have this area kind of ready. But anyways, that is part of it, and the company has really improved processes, has improved operational excellence in its operations, cutting down processes and improving batch sizes and doing different things to significantly improve our results.
But we are kind of in this scenario, right? Yeah. If you look at the CapEx levels, we were actually providing some guidance even. When you look at the second semester, you will see that of course, there is an acceleration in the clinical trial schedule, and I think that is a priority for sure. If intangibles were already a bigger investment, then there should be a slight acceleration. But when it comes to fixed asset CapEx, we have the beginning of our biologicals as well, and then we are going to have the packaging line as well. So we should expect a higher level. So, that should be a little bit lower than the EBITDA. But if the consensus is saying BRL 470 million, then maybe we are considering BRL 470 million or BRL 400 million and some. Let us see how things advance.
But basically, the priorities are going to be the clinical trials, and now in the Biologicals and our packaging factory there in Pernambuco. When you look up ahead, what will really change this is going to be our Pernambuco project. We have been working on some of these initiatives, and even the packaging line will allow us to have more cash generation in our results and accommodate the investments even more. But with these different phases of new lines we are working on here at our sites, we really have what it takes to lever this CapEx a little more. Maybe that is one of the biggest changes. Then after, maybe we can get into a physical financial timeline to keep you guys up to date on this project. Well, what is most important is we need to have this discipline and not get. Yeah, that is always our concern, right?
So we really believe that our EBITDA generation will increase, and considering these predictive lines and the launch of these new products, we have a considerable addressable market, and we will always have this focus on never leveraging the company too much, but always keeping it at a healthy level, and care for this with a special bit of attention.
Okay. Excellent. Thank you for the answers.
Our next question is from Mauricio Cepeda at Morgan Stanley. Mauricio.
Hi, Marcelo, Douglas, Matheus, thank you for this space. We have two questions here. The first one is about these comments on the private channel that you guys for us, that has been more connected to the macro scenario than a quarter scenario, right? But we know that up ahead, you guys are going to have more capacity as well to look at this, and you are also looking into resuming growth.
But this pressure in the private channel, shouldn't it be something more long-lasting and not specific to this quarter? How are you considering this up ahead when it comes to changing a bit of your growth profile? The other question is about the direct sales. Could you guys talk about the rationale towards this for the direct sales versus distribution, since they also have this role of managing credit and working capital? What led to this decision of more direct sales?
Well, first of all, Mauricio, thank you so much. On the private channel, we've been launching new products, synthetic products, and recently we also have been working on something else that we consider to be positive. We saw one of our competitors for alfaepoetina left the market. This was a Janssen drug as well.
We also took a bit more of this market share in the private market, directly interacting with hospitals. We've had other drugs as well that are more exclusive in our portfolio with less competition, and that's really been facilitating this work with the end customers, which are the hospitals. But we have a really robust portfolio in this segment, and we're one of the companies with the biggest portfolios in the sector. That's really helped us a lot with our customers to have more relevance and keep up with this stance. We have a pipeline that's really significant. This pipeline for synthetic products has very few competitors. We've been searching for market niche products. We also have, I don't know if you guys remember the launch of the multi-dose NOXX, and that's been successful.
We've already seen some hospitals as well placing this product in a standardized manner, and we ended up being the only national manufacturer with this product. These are all things that we're developing. They're incremental innovations, and they've been bringing improvements in our commercial conditions alongside our customers, and margin improvements, of course. These are all initiatives that we worked on, and we've been working on the development of incremental innovation. The same molecule is an innovative new presentation. That should really come in to contribute to the improvement of the use of this drug with patients. If you could also add on to this initiative of direct sales. Blau has been trying to launch more diversified products that are more focused, and even pembrolizumab has come around to reinforce this.
Of course, we're testing this now because, as you mentioned, maybe it's not only a quarter-by-quarter scenario. It's also macro, but maybe the channel's a little more pressured. However, it's more of a credit need issue than an actual demand. When you think about the structural market factor, the demand remains there. How are we going to access this? Well, that's basically what Blau every quarter has been looking at these opportunities. We need to be very careful because our portfolio increases every day, and the volume has been growing, and we see some difficulties. It's difficult at this moment to grant so much credit to the market without any kind of guarantee.
The distributor's margins are already very low, and when he's going to give us some guarantees or warranty, that already generates more costs, and that even forces us to have drugs that have more added value or drugs that are maybe a little more exclusive, et cetera. There's unfortunately no way out. I think the distributor has an important role. How can we build these alternatives, and how we can continue to launch products and different things. We use a lot of logistical operators and a lot of distributors also taking on this role as logistical distributors where we commercialize our drugs through them to be able to distribute to hospitals. Hospitals are, w e have big chains that are consolidated with many different hospitals and different markets, and they want to get almost daily deliveries, right?
This logistical work is something that we can't do, right? We need to be part of this important link, right, taking on this role. When I say we're It's not like we're issuing the invoice necessarily against the hospital, but or for the hospital, sorry, but we use a contract with the logistic operator, of course, to help us, the distribution and everything. Well, despite growing less this quarter, when you look at only private, then we accelerated growth, right? We grew more in the second quarter than in the first. The consolidated grew less because of the dynamic with public plus the comparison basis.
Just to add on, the credit risk of the hospital or clinic ends up being left to you.
No, no.
First of all, we have been standardizing and searching for big hospital networks, and we're always studying this, and we have a bit of an aversion to risks. We normally try to avoid these kinds of risk scenarios, right? We've been trying to do this and always searching for the best channels to sell our products, right? The best operational or logistic operators. We could even be selling more, to be totally honest. I think here we're just talking about the quality of our ticket. We see the market has major difficulties with very high interest rates, and so a lot of companies have difficulties with this, right? That's why it's so important to get the guarantees, and sometimes you generate extra costs. We have been very careful in the sense, right, to not keep things too concentrated.
Searching for ways also to be closer to end customers, understanding logistics, referring to our logistic operators, who they're going to sell to, at what price they're going to sell to, so we don't get into this war on prices, and we don't get into this scenario with customers that don't have the financial conditions to keep their commitments. Well, that could even guarantee an improvement in working capital, right? Because you have predictability that's a lot better, right, when it comes to these deliveries.
Okay, perfect. Thank you, Marcelo and Douglas.
Now, Cepeda, the next question is from Gustavo Tiseo at XP. Gustavo, I think your audio is open.
Well, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for the availability. We have two. I want to talk about the growth in margins in the second semester.
Well, of course, public customers come in a little bit lower. I wanted to understand if the second half should have the stronger public. Based on this, also understand one of the points that you added to the release. Wouldn't there be any kind of imbalance or maybe other lines and other factors could maybe improve the margins? It's more like understanding the growth dynamic in the second semester and also the margins, considering that the public could be more relevant maybe from here on. Thanks, guys.
Great. Marcelo and Douglas can add on. When we look at the second semester, it's like, well, let's look at the first semester. That was really focused on public, then private did well, but it could have been a lot better.
Public had a really strong performance, and private had a weaker performance. When we consider the second semester, what we consider is private should continue to be at this acceleration trend due to the new lines and new launches of synthetics. Public, the bids were already won, and we're going to perform the delivery. We always say that there are moments when the government, due to budget issues or distribution issues, there are some different demands from one quarter to another. From the third to the fourth, we'll have something that's more equal between the first and second quarter. We plan to repeat this delivery because we already have these contracts signed. When we consider from a nominal perspective, it's a little more seasonal that in the second quarter we'd have revenues a little higher.
It would be greater growth of considering a greater base. There would be a slight potential for the company when it comes to gross margin. The channel issue doesn't impact us as much. It's more about the type of product and the biologicals that Blau produced naturally. Then, of course, part of the margins are left to the consumers, but it's going to depend a little bit on the margin mix. The structural aspects are capped. We're producing more, we have more efficiency at the factories, and we're diluting more. Then there's a structural mix aspect, but more and more we've been searching for a more favorable mix for the company. Greater growth in the revenue in the second quarter, and then of course, we can perform the margin maintenance and look at the levels here.
Thanks, guys.
For the EBITDA, we see an opportunity in expense dilution.
Another question here from Maria Eduarda at BTG.
Hi there. Can you hear me? I also have two questions here on my side. The first, just taking advantage of the previous question from our colleague on the credit scenario impacting the private channel. I think that in the release, you guys talked about anticipation on the receivables of BRL 50 million. I wanted to know if this decision on the anticipation was just treasury decision, or if it actually reflects a structural change in the dynamic, or any view on the deterioration in the quality and terms. The second question is about the stocks. You mentioned the target of 180 days, but what would you guys consider to be a reasonable case to reach this number of days?
How much of this reduction would really depend on the approval and commercialization of the products in the new lines or from other initiatives, like procurement or production planning? Thank you so much.
I am going to start off with this one. On the anticipation of receivables, we mentioned the solidity in cash position. Now it is more like, how can we accommodate the situation and the market needs? It is almost like I am transferring my credit rating to my customer, so that is kind of what I see. Our role here in the negotiation in our core is to launch and produce and sell drugs. Maybe now we need to accommodate this. I think it is not necessarily about a covenant need or any other specific issue. It is more like how we can accommodate this moment in the quarter.
Blau can have access to credit that indirectly, for example, I could be transferring to these negotiations with my customers and providing some more oxygen, let us say. We understand it is more of a structural issue, but there is demand up ahead. How do we search for alternatives together with our customers to continue to access this demand? I think that is where the decision came from, to anticipate this. On the levels, I think we have to lower the 30 days, then the goal first is to reach the 210, then we can reach the 180 days. Yes, we understand that 180 days is a level that is really sustainable and it should be ideal. We have already reached this, but of course, today you have a bit of interference from the new lines.
As Marcelo mentioned, you need to prepare for the launch of these new lines, then you build the inventory in-house. At some moment that should be unleashed, then you get the real potential to search for this target.
Thank you so much.
Our next question is from Giovanni Vescovi Filho from JP Morgan. Giovanni, I think your audio is already open.
Thanks for this. Just to get into a quicker point here, just wanted to understand what would be the cost of this anticipation that you guys worked on, as mentioned, also taking advantage of your low leverage rates, do you see any potential for a buyback to understand a bit of the company's rationale? Thank you.
Well, I think the costs are strategic information we cannot share, but we do pass along this cost. I do not think it should be a big concern.
For customers, it is better to work with us with a better credit score than going straight to the bank. I think that is great for both and for us and the customer. When it comes to buyback, I think we cannot do that because we have a free float waiver. We are below minimum amounts, but considering market conditions, it still has not been possible to normalize this issue. From a recurring perspective here, our shares are really undervalued, we cannot even use it for an M&A or a follow-on, for example, at these levels. We believe that will bring in positive results, that the macro environment will get better in the next few months and then we can think about something. But at this moment, it is not something that we are looking at because we have no actual immediate needs.
We have a waiver, and we're really well-positioned. We're generating cash, no M&As ahead, so we have no visibility issues with thinking about getting rid of these shares at this price.
All right, thank you.
Thank you, Giovanni, for the questions. We also have some questions on chat. Flavio Bica from Clube de Valor Futuro, he's congratulating us on the results. Thank you, Flavio. He would like to understand more about the anticipation issues. I think we don't need to repeat that, but he wants to understand about the earn-out of the M&A at Blau.
Well, back then, when we had the transaction for the M&A, there was an amount that was previously agreed upon on the acquisition. Then we had another amount that was conditional to these two registrations.
But to be able to consider the PPA with the due diligence and discussions between buyers and sellers, we understood a bit about the potential risk of an approval. From these BRL 20 million, we ended up recognizing only BRL 10 million in the PPA because you have this risk attribution. So one of the registrations was approved, that was submitted, but then we performed this payment, and the other one was not deferred. That's why there was not the payment of the BRL 10 million either. So actually, the sales team, the sellers are talking about their questioning of the receipt of this with his arguments. We obviously have our arguments, and I think that's really clear within a due diligence PPA process, which is a structural process, and audited, and you can see what the risk of the approval of the submission of this registration would be.
That wasn't just an assessment from us. That was also considering discussions between the sellers and buyers of the potential approval for this registration or not. Of course, it's still a first-level decision. It's not favorable to us, but Blau will try to reverse this in every way possible. Then the BRL 10 million, well, the BRL 22 million now are the effect of the correction of the BRL 10 million from back then, 2020.
We have one last question here on the chat. Wesley Araujo. Thank you for this, Wesley. I think most of the questions were already answered. He asks about the anticipation of receivables. He also asks about this provision for Blau Goiás. Finally, he asks about if the anticipation of receivables was something like a one-off or if it tends to be recurring.
Well, it's going to depend a lot on the dynamics in the next quarters. We believe this was like a one-off factor for the second quarter, but the trend is that this should flow more, and let's see how the overall network behaves. Also considering the seasonality of the receivables, Wesley. In the second quarter, we noticed that the receivables were more pressured because of the seasonality of the revenue in the first quarter. So most of our revenue is paid on terms, so we receive in this quarter the sales of the previous quarter. The sales in the first quarter are a little lower, so we get a little less. The sales in the second quarter are higher, so you accumulate more from accounts receivable.
It is natural you will have a bad seasonality in the second quarter, and it is also natural that it gets better in the next quarters, despite all of the macro challenges. But the most important is to highlight that Blau does not need to do this. We did this because of a strategy, and it is an important advantage for the company, and actually for us to find other alternatives with our customers at this moment. This is not a matter of need, but because of a strategic value in this quarter.
We have no other questions, Marcelo. Any final remarks before we wrap up?
Well, I just want to thank you all once again for another quarter and all of you for participating from the sell-side analysts.
As soon as we launched our earnings release, everyone already issued their opinions, and we have been experiencing a macroeconomic scenario that is very challenging in Brazil, and now we are starting off with this political challenging environment. But we are really convinced about the segment we are in, and the company has always grown, has always been a cash generator, and we have been basically just working on the recurring occurrence of what always happened in our business. Nothing new. We have already gone through very big challenges with election periods and different economic scenarios, political scenarios, and the company has always been growing constantly. I want to remind you that the health sector is always very resilient, right? We sell drugs that are exceptional for hospitals especially, and this is a market that is more stable, and patients do not define when they are going to get sick or when they need the drugs.
This is something that does not rely on the macroeconomic scenario or anything else. We have this market outside, and the company has a big potential for growth. We have never invested as much as we have in the last few years. The company will just bring in more growth in the future and improvements in the margins of our business. I want to thank you all again for believing in our business, for believing in the company, and just to reinforce that I am convinced about the next quarters, semesters in the company, and I am sure we will just have a lot more good news to share. Thank you. Let us go, Blauers. Take care. Bye-bye. Thank you all. Have a great day. Great.