Good morning, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Cury Construtora's conference call to discuss the results of the 4th quarter of 2022. With us today are Mr. Fábio Cury, CEO, Mr. João Mazzuco, CFO, and Mr. Ronaldo Cury, IRO. We would like to inform you that during the company's presentation, all participants will be connected in listen-only mode. We will later begin the Q&A session when further instructions will be given. If you should require any assistance during the conference call, please reach the operator by pressing star zero. We would also like to inform that this conference call is being held in Portuguese by the company's management and is being simultaneously translated into English. This event is also being broadcast simultaneously via webcast.
Before proceeding, we would like to mention that any forward-looking statements that may be made during this conference call relating to the company's business outlook, projections, operational and financial targets, are based on beliefs and assumptions of the company's management and on information currently available to the company. Forward-looking statements are no guarantee of performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which have to do with future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors and analysts should understand that conditions relating to macroeconomic conditions, industry, and other factors could affect the future results of the company, thus conducing to results which differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. I now turn the floor over to Mr. Fábio Cury. You may proceed, sir.
Good morning to all. Thank you for being here with us today to discuss the results of Cury for Q4 2022, and the whole year of 2022. In addition to myself, we have with us Mr. Ronaldo Cury, IRO, and João Mazzuco, our CFO. In this conference call, we will present the main highlights of the company's financial performance. We will then open for the Q&A session. 2022 was a key year for Cury. Every quarter, we had record performance, and we had a record in terms of cash generation, revenue, and number of launches, and net income. Our experience of over 60 years in the market with a focus on Rio and São Paulo have allowed us to deal with the difficulties in the industry and achieve this kind of performance.
We were faced with challenges such as problems in the supply chain and inflation, and this affected all companies in the industry. We had to review our budget, we were able to put prices up in new developments and offset some losses while maintaining our margins. Our products are now located in different places in the metropolitan regions of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. I would like to highlight our developments in Porto Maravilha, Q.Energy, and Patio Nazaré. In Rio de Janeiro, in Mooca, Vila Palermo with BRL 150 million, and Vila Sardinha. Urban Tatuapé in São Paulo. Thanks to its location and the correct product for each region, we had excellent SOS despite the increase in the price of our properties. Cury has launched six developments. Epicentro and others are surprising in terms of sales. Nearly all the units have been sold.
With this, our expectation is very positive for a strong demand in the first quarter. We will continue to launch in the first half of the year. This has proven to be the right strategy last year. We are waiting for new information on Minha Casa, Minha Vida so that we can think about including the lower brackets offered in the program. We will continue to operate a mix of products in 2022 with a focus on bracket three of Minha Casa, Minha Vida. All will be done through associative credit provided by Caixa Econômica Federal. This allows the client to fund the development since the beginning of construction. We specialize in this kind of operation, and we are able to sell very quickly and transfer very quickly. This allows us to have positive cash generation and improve our construction process.
I'll now turn the floor over to Ronaldo Cury, who's going to disclose the financial results.
Moving on to slide 6, I'm going to talk about the highlights of our operating and financial performance. In Q4 2022, we had a total of launches of BRL 556 million, net sales of BRL 753 million, net SOS 41%, operating cash generation of BRL 135 million. In 2022, over the whole year, we launched property valued at BRL 3.3 billion. Net presales of BRL 3.2 billion. Net SOS 75.3%, operating cash generation of BRL 298 million. In Q4 2022, net revenues were BRL 580.5 million. Gross margin was 38.2%, I'm sorry.
Net income of BRL 97.3 million, and net margin of 16.8%. In 2022, net revenues were BRL 2.3 billion. Gross margin was 37.1%. The net income was BRL 348 million, and the net margin was 15.4%. In this quarter, we launched five developments, three in São Paulo and two in Rio. I would like to highlight Tudo Jardim, located in Santo André, which was launched in October with a PSV of BRL 54 million, over 90% of the units have been sold. My Jacarepaguá Style is located in Rio and was launched in October 2022 with a PSV of BRL 107 million, and over 60% of the units have been sold.
Norte São Miguel, again located in São Paulo, was launched in November with a PSV of BRL 96 million and 89% of the units have been sold. Moving on to slide 8, we will see the sales performance measured as SOS. Our SOS for Q4 was 41%. 0.7 percentage point increase relative to Q3 2022, and 3 percentage points above the same period last year. In 2022, it was 75.3%. A 3 percentage point increase relative to 2021. We see strong demand for our products, and it's worth highlighting that in Q4 2022, in terms of launches and sales, we decided to reduce that and concentrate launches up to Q3. At the end of Q4, we had BRL 1.1 billion in PSV, of which 97% is represented by units launched and units under construction.
Only 2.4% are of units that have been completed. On slide 9, you can see on the left-hand side that every quarter we focus more on the highest brackets of the Minha Casa Minha Vida program. On the right-hand side, you see the increase on the average price of the units sold. In Q4 2022, the average price was BRL 245.4 thousand. A reduction by 3.7% relative to Q3 2022, and an increase by 7.4% relative to Q4 2021. The average price for the year 2022 was BRL 242.2 thousand, a 12.7% increase relative to 2021. We continue to focus on readjusting prices. On slide 10, you see our land bank.
In Q4 2022, we had a total of BRL 10.1 billion in potential PSV, which accounts for more 40,000 units. On slide 10, you see the operating cash flow, which was BRL 135.8 million in the quarter. 46.5% increase relative to Q4 2021. In 2022, cash generation was BRL 298.4 million. 25.7% above the same period in 2021. I now turn the floor over to João Mazzuco, our CFO, for more details about the financial indicators.
Good morning to all. Moving on to slide 12, we see our net revenue, which in the quarter was BRL 580.5 million, an 18.2% increase relative to Q4 2021. In 2022, net revenue was BRL 2.3 billion, a 29.9% increase relative to 2021.
The quarter saw a smaller volume of launches as we had anticipated, this affects sales and revenues. Despite that, relative to Q3 2021, revenue grew very expressively. On slide 13, you see our gross profit, which in the quarter was 18.9% above the year of 2021 and 29% year-on-year. I would like to highlight here that we have been recovering gross margin in Q4, an increase by 0.9 percentage points relative to Q3. This has allowed us to maintain a stable gross margin year-on-year, despite the fact that we saw high inflation in the industry, especially in the first semester. The recovery in the margins had been under the radar with the REF margin, the unearned revenue margin relative to the previous quarter. On slide 14, you see the net income.
In terms of our share, it was BRL 91 million in Q4 2022. This represents a drop by 11.6% relative to the BRL 103.8 million in income achieved Q4 2021, but an increase by 2.1% relative to Q3 2022. In 2012, net income was BRL 329 million, a 10% increase relative to 2021. This accounts for 95% of our income, which includes also the share of minority shareholders in our developments. In slide 15, you see the net income, BRL 97.3 million in the whole operation, a drop by 12.8% relative to Q4 2021. An increase by 2.5% relative to Q3 2022.
In the year 2022, net income was BRL 348.4 billion, a 10.5% increase relative to 2021. On slide 16, you see our net debt. At the end of 2022, net debt was 23% above the debt in 31st of December 2021. At the end of Q4, we have BRL 308 million in net cash, which is higher than what we had in Q3. This as a result of the strong generation in the quarter. In terms of cash debt over net income, it was 35%. If you look at our amortization schedule, our debt runs until 2028. On slide 17, you see the ROE, which in 2022 was 49%. The pillars of our operation are very sound despite our substantial growth.
We have an asset-light operation, and we are able to pay out dividends to our shareholders. This is what I had to say, and I turn over the floor to Fábio.
Thank you so much, Ronaldo, João. At Cury, our commitment is towards having an inclusive work environment. We have approved a diversity policy, and we have targets until 2025. In our sites, we have social programs, education, and wellbeing programs, and we are advancing the program LS in DAT. That is, we want more women to provide services post-delivery. We are celebrating our 60th anniversary. We have changed our logo and our brand. Cury has evolved, has invested in quality, innovation, and has become one of the largest construction companies in the country.
I would like to thank you all who are part of the success of Cury and who have allowed us to overcome obstacles and achieve results which are truly impressive. We are very excited with the prospects for 2023, and we are certain that we will be able to achieve even more. Cury has a brilliant future ahead of it, and we want to grow together. Thank you so much for listening and for taking an interest in Cury Construtora. Our IR team is totally available to take any questions you might have. With this, we end our presentation. I now turn the floor over to the operator to start the Q&A session.
We will now begin the Q&A session. To ask a question, please press star 1 on your phone.
At any time, if your question has been answered, press star two to remove yourself from the queue. Questions will be taken as they are received. Please pick up your headset to ask your question so that appropriate sound quality can be obtained. Please hold. Our first question comes from Mr. Rafael Rehder from Safra Bank.
Good morning, Fábio, João, and Ronaldo. I have two questions. The first one is about the prices within the program. As we see, the results are more challenging. The interest rate may rise. Can you please discuss that? As regards your gross margin in the quarter, there was a drop in the average price of selling. Have you been able to gain savings in terms of the construction process, and what do you see going forward?
Good morning, Rafael.
This is Fábio Cury speaking. Let's start with the price. First, let's see what happened in 2022. The average price went for BRL 251,000 in Q3 to BRL 259,000 in Q4. In the year, we started with BRL 220,000 and went up to BRL 263,000. In the first months of 2023, the BRL 259,000, which was the average price at the end of Q4, has gone to BRL 282,000. This is because of one more launch in Porto Maravilha, the Epicentro development, of which most units have products which are priced higher than the products of Minha Casa, Minha Vida. The average ticket for Q1 is in the region of BRL 280,000.
The indications are that this should be above the ticket we saw at the end of 2012. In terms of gross margin, we have to think of different aspects. Savings in the construction process, increase in prices. We have different factors that account for an increase in gross margin. It also has to do with the land when we purchase the land. It's the whole operation and how we do that allows us to increase the gross margin. Good morning. This is exactly what happened. The gross margin includes different factors. It doesn't mean that those developments where the average ticket is higher, the gross margin is going to be higher. What we have been trying to do is to increase prices, and this is what we did in 2022.
You also see the effect of our most recent launches on this impact positively our revenues. The margin on unearned revenue, The F margin, which was stable in Q4, is now having a positive impact on the gross margin. It's a mix of developments that are part of our portfolio that has an impact on the revenues, on the gross margin. This will have the impact of more recent financial and funding conditions.
The next question is from Mr. Dibe from Itaú BBA.
Good morning. Thank you for the presentation and for taking my question. I have two questions, actually. First, in terms of cost, have you seen any decrease or any relief in the price of materials, and what about labor costs? It seems that the scenario will be a bit more benign in terms of costs.
Can we think about an improvement in margins if the inflation goes below your budget levels? It's about revenue. We saw an impact on the progression of the works, and this had an impact on the revenues in Q4. I don't think we saw a better beginning of the year. There was a lot of rain. What can you tell us in terms of the progression of the construction, the POC?
Thank you, Andre. Let's start with the costs. It's still, there isn't a lot of visibility, but there is more stability. We have gained on some fronts and on the other side, there have been also some increase in prices. For example, this year we saw a drop on the price of steel and an increase in cement, and this had an impact, of course.
In terms of electrical and plumbing installations, these are going down, and we have been seeing this for quite some time. This continues. Of course, this is very good for us. In terms of labor and bargaining agreements. We believe the levels are going to be lower than last year's. We think that there is more availability of labor. In terms of inflation and costs, it's a neutral scenario, I would say. Remember, we have buffers for inflation when we do the feasibility studies. This buffer will only be absorbed going forward once the situation becomes more favorable. Whatever we launched in 2022, we are beginning to build now. We have lots of things to do in terms of the construction work for us to begin to have a positive upside, a positive gain from all of this.
If we keep the margin of 38% in the quarter, we believe this is an exceptionally good margin and a victory against inflation. Speaking of the revenue, I think I have answered part of your question when I spoke about costs. Please remind me if I should add anything. In terms of revenue, in January and February, we had a lot of challenges. These are months that are challenging by their very nature, and the situation is there for everybody to see. In January, in the beginning of January, there were, like, blanket holidays and people slowly begin to go back to the sites. February is a shorter month. There's Carnival as well. The first quarter is always a quarter full of challenges in terms of revenue. For the whole year, we expect growth.
Let's look at this from this point of view. There is a lag between the launches, sales, and the revenue. This is just natural because this is the order they occur. The fact that the revenues have grown in 2022 means that part of this backlog has been absorbed in 2022. We see a growth in the backlog in Q4. This backlog will be absorbed in 2022, and we will see in our projections an expressive growth in terms of revenue. We will only see that, however, as of Q2. Q1, because of the seasonality and all these challenges, it's too early for us to see that.
Yes, that was very clear. Thank you.
The next question comes from Mr. Mendonça from Bradesco BBI.
Good morning. Thank you for the presentation and for taking my question.
Going forward and looking at your strategic positioning, you have talked about focusing more and more on the higher brackets of the program. We have been discussing in the Q&A session how difficult it is to work in those brackets that are outside the scope of the program. My question is about the land bank and the flexibility of your land bank so that you can shift the operation to bracket three or bracket four. Can you do it easily or not? Can you quantify that? What are the marginal purchases of land? Are you focusing on the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program? You see the Pode Entrar program in São Paulo with a target audience that is the same as yours, but you have not participated in that auction as far as I'm aware.
Why did you decide not to participate in the bid of this program in São Paulo? What does it mean in terms of your positioning for the bracket one in the housing program?
Good morning, Bruno. This is Fábio speaking. Thank you for your question. Our land bank today is focused on what we have been doing in the last few years, and this is what we are going to do in 2023. These are products for bracket three and products above that bracket. Today, we have a land bank that caters for that type of audience. For the lower bracket, I believe they are going to be included in the program announced by the program. Our land bank now was bought to cater for these brackets, these higher brackets.
Because we operate in São Paulo and Rio, we know the region very well. If the program is attractive in any way, bracket 1, bracket 2, if these are brackets that could be good for us, we would be able to very quickly acquire new areas. This is because we know and we have mapped all of these areas. In 6 or 8 months, we would be ready to offer bracket 1 or bracket 2 products to the market. We would be very quickly to adapt and be able to operate in these brackets. Cury some years ago was one of the main operators from 2010 to 2015. What we did was we moved from this lower bracket to higher bracket once the Dilma administration changed the program and brackets 1 and 2 were no longer attractive for us.
There is no problem for us to shift part of the business to brackets one and two in these two regions that we know so well, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. About the program Pode Entrar, I'm going to let Ronaldo explain what happened. Good morning to all. Pode Entrar, I mean, we didn't have products that would fit what they were asking for in the RFP. We would have to give up revenue in some of our projects for us to have something suitable for the program. It's a very well-designed program. The mode of payment allows for greater legal certainty. Institutionally, we took this model to the federal government because we believe it's a good program for bracket one, for example.
I don't know if this is going to happen, this is something we have been talking to the government about. We decided not to participate in the first RFP. We may have bids for future RFPs. In the first one, we decided not to participate, but we continue to analyze opportunities.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Next question is from Mr. Mazzini from Citibank.
Good morning. Thank you for the call. I have a quick question. If you were to cater again for bracket one, would you be able to do it with the frames that you use today? Would you go for like concrete walls and aluminum frames, something more industrial? How did you do this in the past? You worked on bracket one projects in the past.
What kind of frame did you use? Was it bricks? Was it aluminum frames? What was the constructive method?
Good morning, André. Thank you for the question. In the past, we used both methods: concrete walls and brick structure. It depends on the region, on the suppliers, on the situation. This is what we would do should we operate in bracket one projects. It also depends on the situation. Should we have projects in bracket one, depending on the volumes, we would work with these 2 constructive methods.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Mr. Altero from XP.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. It's actually 2 questions. The first one has to do with the launches. What is your idea for 2023? Will it be the same that it was last year? You had more launches in Q1 and Q2.
What is your take? What is your idea for 2023? Can we think in terms of growth for 2023? How much growth should we expect for 2023? Relative to bracket four, what is the level of SOS for Q4 for this bracket four because of the highest, higher interest rates and trust? Also, can you give us a little bit more detail about what you project Caixa Econômica Federal will do for that bracket?
Good morning. Thank you for the question. Our estimate of launches is that we should have a greater number of launches. Last year we launched BRL 3.3 billion. This year, BRL 3.8 billion. What I can say is that our strategy is being repeated this year. In Q1, we launched over BRL 1 billion.
At the end of Q1, we will have launched BRL 1.4 billion. That is very strong, and we should see that in Q2. That is, again, we should see very strong quarters, 1, 2, and 3, and achieve our target by the end of Q3. In Q4, that should be a bit weaker, as we did last year. This is the strategy we are going to pursue for 2023. About bracket four projects, we say that this is the cherry on the cake. The margin is a bit better, the interest rate is going up. Caixa is going to adjust the interest rate on the 20th now of March, and this accounts for 30% of the sales. In terms of funding, it's only 18% in terms of financing this through Caixa.
I don't think there will be an impact of the velocity of sales on the company as a whole. I believe that Caixa won't play a big, won't raise the interest rates too much now, later in March.
Our next question comes from Mr. Gustavo Cambauva from BTG Pactual.
Good morning. Can you give us a little bit more color about what you expect in terms of potential changes in Minha Casa, Minha Vida? There are some points in that program that are being discussed about maybe raising the threshold, the upper limits for capital cities and using the FGTS funds. What do you think may happen in that space, thinking in the short term, please?
This is Ronaldo speaking. Thanks for your question. As regards Minha Casa, Minha Vida, the government is very much interested in revitalizing bracket one projects.
There was a provisional measure that established a number of units, about 500,000 units for bracket one projects, 700,000 for the 1.5 bracket, which is a bracket one plus FGTS, for those people who earn less than BRL 2,600. Another 800,000 units for brackets 2 and 3. Our industry has delivered some suggestions to the government. We suggested improvements to make these brackets a little bit more attractive. They were well received by the government, we expect that this should be put in practice in the next few months. The rule for 35 years is only available to AAA clients, we would like Caixa Econômica Federal to extend the benefit of the 35 years to all of its clients.
Clients may use part of their FGTS fund to improve their ratings. This is not operational yet. These measures, again, with an improvement increase in subsidies and a reduction in the ceilings, this should make the program more attractive again.
Our next question comes from Mr. Grassi from Citibank.
Good afternoon, or good morning rather. Thank you so much for taking my question. It's my first time formally covering Cury. My first question has to do with your operation on bracket four. Where the savings accounts fund the project. Abrainc with Secovi and SindusCon have sent a formal proposal to the Central Bank, asking for a reduction in the compulsory deposits of savings by 5%, so that this 5% could be earmarked for new units in construction. What is your take on that?
Do you believe that this is going to be accepted by the Central Bank, and what would be the impact for you? If you could take this question, I have another one that I can ask later.
Thank you for your question. This is Ronaldo speaking. Yes. Abrainc and Secovi, we have sent these suggestions to the Central Bank because all the banks are believed to be reaching the limit of the FGTS that they can release. We believe that the measure we suggested could bring some relief also in the rates, especially by private banks like Santander, Bradesco, and Itaú. Caixa Econômica Federal has rates between 8 and 8.9. They have announced an increase for the twentieth. We believe that the rate should remain below 2 digits and should remain as the lowest in the market.
Abrainc expects the Central Bank to provide some relief to the pressure that we see in terms of the rates for savings accounts.
Excellent. My second question. On the lower part of the income brackets and thinking about this new administration, they prioritize lower income brackets. What do you think is going to be the reaction time that you have to take advantage of any opportunities in bracket one? What would be the timeline for announcing news for the Minha Casa, Minha Vida project that would allow you to purchase land and launch? If this program is feasible for you, what would be your timeline, your turnaround time for you to have a financial effect of that? And if there are federal, if there is federal funding for the extended bracket one, there aren't major technical news.
It would just be the same thing then with more subsidies and with a complement coming from the FGTS fund.
Between eight and ten months would be a reasonable timeline for us to penetrate these lower brackets if they should be economically attractive. What we have in our land bank are plots for lower brackets. Even before eight to ten months, we would be able to launch something for these lower brackets. For 2023, we did not consider using this plot because we have no rules yet. These brackets are not attractive for us.
That was very clear. Thank you, congratulations for the results.
If there are no further questions, this conference call would be ended. Thank you all very much for participating. You may disconnect and have a nice day. Thank you.