Good morning, everyone, and thank you for waiting. Welcome to the conference call regarding the results of the third quarter of 2020 for Cury Construtora. With us here today, we have Mr. João Carlos Mazzuco, CFO, Ronaldo Cury, IRO, and Fábio Cury, CEO. We would like to inform that during the company's presentation, all participants will only be able to listen to the call. We will then begin the Q&A session when further instructions will be given. In case you need any assistance during the conference, please request the operator's help by pressing star zero. We would also like to inform that the conference call will be presented in Portuguese by the company's management, and there will be simultaneous translation into English. This event is also being broadcast simultaneously on the internet via webcast.
Before proceeding, we would like to mention that forward statements that may be made during the conference call regarding company business, projections, or operating and financial targets are based on beliefs and assumptions of the company management, as well as on information currently available to the company. Future forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and premises. They relate to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors and analysts should understand that conditions related to macroeconomic conditions, industry, and other factors could also affect future results of the company and lead to materially different results than those expressed in such forward-looking statements. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Fábio Cury, who will start his presentation. Mr. Cury, you may proceed.
Good morning, everyone. Representing Cury today, we have Ronaldo Cury, our DRI, and João Mazzuco, our CFO.
During this call, we're briefly going to explore the main operating highlights and financial highlights of Cury in the third quarter and in the accumulated period of nine months of this year. We will then open for questions. This is our first conference call as a listed company in the new market of B3. We are very pleased to start this journey of constant growth in the capital market, and we appreciate once again those who were involved in the IPO process of Cury, especially our clients, who are the reason for our existence. We'd also like to thank our team and show their high ability to deliver. Our stock started to be negotiated on B3 on September 21. We launched at BRL 9.35. That led to a total initial uptake on the IPO of BRL 977.5 million.
Since its launch, CURY3 stocks have shown a growing trend, as you can see in the slide three chart. In the end of the third quarter, on September 30, they closed at BRL 10.40, with a 15.5% increase. Until the beginning of this week, November 9, the accumulated growth since the IPO was 21.2%. We started our IPO in the middle of the pandemic, and this, of course, is a major concern and actions from the company. At first, our main priority was to preserve the health of our employees, and the civil construction sector was pioneer in establishing strict health controls and prophylaxis controls keeping the working site well. We concentrated our efforts to acquire our clients through digital media and also encouraging our brokers to activate their own relationship networks. With that, we have got extremely satisfactory sales levels despite these disturbing times with restrictions.
Despite this impact and initial uncertainties, the results in the first nine months were very positive, showing that we were on the right path with all our preparations that were made to deliver a great year of 2020. We made it very clear the strength and the resilience for housing for low-income families. On slide five, in the operating perspective, I would like to highlight the growth of 57.6% in net sales comparing the third quarter of 2019 with 2020. That reached BRL 410 million in the quarter. We had great levels of SOS in the third quarter of 46.5% and year to date, 66.6%. We stand firm in our efforts for quick sales aligned with our low capital model and quick turnover of units. In the year-over-year comparison in the third quarter, we increased our net revenue by 24.6%, reaching BRL 325 million.
In the same period, the adjusted net gross income reached 51% and reached BRL 123 million with adjusted gross margin of 38%. Our results show how robust our operations is and that it benefits from an extremely favorable market. We reinforced our land bank that grew by 87% regarding the end of September 2019, and it is still in the top of our priorities. Now I turn over to Ronaldo Cury, who will talk about the market highlights. Ronaldo, you may proceed.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Fábio. I would like to start by commenting some important facts that took place for the sector in the third quarter of 2020. The launch of the Casa Verde e Amarela program that brings security to the sector through the continuity of housing policy and the housing program for low-income consumers.
Confirming the good news of continuity to the sector, it is important to highlight how, operationally speaking, the whole cycle of the associative credit program has performed very strongly without any stops or delays in transfers. The movement to reduce the fee used in real estate credit of major banks, including Bradesco, Santander, Itaú, Banco do Brasil, and Caixa Econômica Federal banks, just to mention a few examples, is an extremely positive news to players like Cury that work in the top-ranking stages of the program. Right now, we see the market funding get closer, even becoming more attractive to customers when comparing to FGTS funding models. Moving to slide eight, I would like to briefly talk about the highlights of our operating performance in the quarter. Along the third quarter of 2020, we launched five projects, three in São Paulo and two in Rio de Janeiro.
Único Nova Iguaçu, Dez Nordestina II, Dez Ipiranga, Urban Barra Funda, and Mérito Zona Norte. In total, these projects total BRL 397 million in PSV. Year to date, BRL 866 million launched in a total of 11 projects. Those are significant figures aligned with our plans for the year, although we experienced a short deacceleration in the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. But we have already picked up our speed, and we are performing according to the plan. The way that the demand has behaved constantly and growingly has allowed us to quickly resume the launches that we have withheld in the beginning of the pandemic. Please move to slide nine. There you will see our historic performance and sales. These sales are supported by the strong demand that I have just talked about, and also by the fact that we offer well-planned and well-located products. We also count on our exceptional sales force.
With that, we have reached a 57.2% growth in net sales totaling BRL 410.3 million in the quarter. This figure represents a historic record in the real house development activities, the best sales quarter in the history of Cury. In the comparison with the year-to-date results, there was a 44.2% growth, totaling BRL 941.3 million in net sales in the first nine months of 2020. Transfers were strongly accelerated in the quarter, with increases of 90.2% and 93.6% in PSV and transfer units compared to the same period of last year. On page nine, on the right-hand side of the slide, you will see SOS information, which is an indicator that shows how much Cury stands out in its sales strategy.
Our strategy is much more similar to high-income and mid-income developers because we prepare unique launches with booth sales, small models, administrative perspective, the whole package that enchants our clients at a time that is one of the most important times for these families, and should be treated as such. Because of this way of working, we have reached levels that were much higher in the sector for SOS. That grew by 10.54 percentage points in comparison to the same period of the previous year, reaching 46.5% in the third quarter of 2020. In the first months of 2020, SOS was up 66.6%, 8.1 percentage points above the first nine months of 2019, given the sales performance of the launches and also the inventories of the company. Finally, wrapping up the section of operating highlights, it is also important to talk about the growth of our land bank.
As Fábio indicated in the beginning, almost 90% higher than the closing of the third quarter of 2019, our land bank reached over 46,000 potential units, which gives us some comfort for at least three to four years of operation. Finally, I would like to talk about our cash generation, and I will later turn over to our CFO, João, who will talk about our financial performance. We have kept a sound performance in the generation of operating cash. Already excluding the effects of the primary offering, we reached BRL 56 million in cash generation in the third quarter and BRL 121 million in the first nine months of 2020. Now I turn over to our CFO. João, you may proceed.
Good morning, and thank you for participating in our call. On slide 12, we talk about the economic and financial results for the third quarter of 2020.
The net revenue of the company reached BRL 325.9 million, 24.6% above the same period in the past year and 11.4% superior in the year to date. Here we see a clear translation of the performance of our sales, as mentioned before. Gross income, adjusted by capitalized interest rates in the third quarter of 2020, was BRL 123.8 million, 51% above the third quarter of 2019. In the accumulated over the first nine months, it totaled BRL 292 million, 21% above the same period in 2019. We reached, in the third quarter, an adjusted gross margin of 38%, which is the result of the quality of the projects that are being executed by the company and reflects in the increase in the average sales price. Now on slide 13, we reached the bottom line of results reflecting the positive performance in the quarter.
A net income of BRL 59.2 million, 46.9% higher than the same period of 2019, with a net margin of 18.2%. Considering the percentage that relates to Cury, the net income was BRL 49.4 million in the quarter, an increase of 62.84% in comparison to the third quarter of 2019. The proportion of this profit that is related to Cury has shown a growing trend. In the third quarter of 2019, it accounted for 75% of the total, and in the third quarter of 2020, it was 83%. That gives us the future perspective of sales in our share of 88.5%, and launches in this quarter, this share was of 92.5%. That is, Cury's share in the result tends to increase in the coming quarters. Now moving to slide 14, I would like to briefly comment about our debt levels that translate into a position of net cash.
Our gross debt at the end of the quarter totaled BRL 306.2 million and had a long-term maturity profile. Of the total of the gross debt, 70% had debt maturity over a year. Our cash position and equivalent at the end of September totaled BRL 609.8 million, translating in a net cash balance of BRL 303.6 million. We reached this cash position because of the uptake we got in BRL 117 million in the primary offering in our IPO and also the strong cash generation of BRL 121 million in the first nine months of 2020, as mentioned before. On slide 15, I would like to talk our return over equity. It's important to say that we follow with the same premises that have always guided our financial strategy.
We keep believing in an asset-light model with low capital, working with a light book regarding operating, which generates cash in a robust way to maintain our high levels of dividend distribution. Of course, the primary offering affected our ROE. That reached in this quarter, in an annualized form, 42.5%. Now I turn back to Fábio.
Thank you, João, and thank you, Ronaldo. I would like to leave a final message reaffirming that our management team, board members, and all employees of Cury are extremely engaged and aligned after the completion of the IPO process. We are focused on delivering the growth of the company without failing to pay attention to the practices that have brought us here and that allow the great results the company has had so far.
We will follow as a listed company in the same path, trying to fulfill the dream of as many families as possible to own their own house while delivering value generation with high levels of margins and returns to our shareholders. As proof of that, we had very robust quarter results with records in sales, very robust landmarks, and growing our gross margin in a very sound way. Now, I would like to wrap up, and I'll turn over to the operator to start the Q&A session.
Thank you. Now we will start the Q&A session. If you have a question, please press star one. If your question is answered, you may remove yourself from this way by pressing pound two. Questions will be taken in the order they are received. We do ask you to pick up a handset to provide optimum sound quality when you pose your question.
Our first question is from Enrico Trotta from Itaú. You may proceed.
Good morning, Fábio, Ronaldo, and João, and thank you for your presentation. I have two questions. First, I would like you to comment on the head margin. It has improved a lot when compared to the second quarter, and the growth margin is also very robust. What is the reflection of the head margin? Is this related to transfer prices? Maybe the land costs over PSF were low to reflect this level of margin. I would also like you to comment on how do you see cost pressure in the sector from now on. Some people are talking about readjustments in the price of steel. Will that reflect on the margins of Cury in the future? I have a second question related to demand. What are your perspectives for the fourth quarter?
We see that this industry had very strong second and third quarters. I would like to hear from you what has been the fourth quarter so far, and what do you expect in terms of launches. Will there be a drop in the number of launches at the end of the year? Apparently in São Paulo, there has been difficulty getting approvals to some launches. Thank you.
Good morning, Trotta. Thank you for your participation. Thank you for your question. Now talking about the growth margin, Fábio will keep on answering your other questions. We have been growing our gross margin since 2018. Even in 2020, it has been growing quarter after quarter. In terms of improvement of gross margin, it is related to our improvements in engineering. Engineering is a department of excellence here. You know very well that this is how our company started.
I think that as important is the quality of our projects and our launches. Our products have become increasingly efficient because they are adapting to the demand dynamics and the location of the lands. Lands like Urban Mooca, Urban Barra Funda, Dez Ipiranga, thinking of gross margin or even Recreio. Those are land properties that will lead to projects with better margin. Gross margin today is closely related to the projects we have in our portfolio that have brought better results for our launches for 2019, like in the end of that year, and the projects launched this year. All of these projects have had very robust margins. As to the launches of this year, of course, they reflect more on the half margin. It has to do with the quality of our projects. This reflects what Cury is today.
Talking about costs, I think to give you a better perspective.
Good morning, Trotta. Thank you for your question, and thank you for participating in our first conference call. We are very excited with this new step we are taking in the journey of Cury. Yes, there is cost pressure. That is inevitable, especially on cement. We are trying to accommodate our prices by reducing the timeline for our construction projects. We expect to make up for that. The quality of our launches also allows us to increase prices at the end. We believe that this cost increase will probably become stable in the beginning of next year, and we will be able to make more appropriate planning.
Right now, in the second and third quarter, there was inflation pressure because of some input, but we were able to adapt to that through actions in construction or sale price. Your last question had to do with demand in the fourth quarter. It is as strong as it was in the third quarter. There is a launch we made in October. There was a second stage of Urban Barra Funda project. We were able to launch additional 600 units, and in the first week, we sold almost 30% of that project. Another project in Rio de Janeiro is also very successful in October. That is in Bonsucesso, the north area of Rio. We see that the strong demand in the third quarter will continue in the fourth quarter, and we will have more launches until the end of the year.
Thank you, Fábio, and thank you, João.
Our next question is from Gustavo Cambauva from BTG Pactual. You may proceed.
Good morning. I have two questions. First, I would like you to talk more about how you were feeling the other players. Do you see more competition in Rio and in São Paulo? During the pandemic, the smaller companies reduced their size. Have you seen other players now coming back to the market getting stronger, or do you see a higher concentration in larger companies? Maybe Cury is also getting an increased market share in the program. I also want to talk about the land bank. I know that you increased land bank in the second and in the third quarter. How do you see these dynamics in terms of land prices and profitability of your project? Are you able to purchase land with the same levels of profitability you had in the past?
Also, in terms of the launches, is it okay so that you can deliver strong growth next year?
Good morning, Gustavo. Thank you for your question. Talking about the other players in the market, I think you are right. Many small players retracted during the crisis. I believe that the share is increasing, the market share is increasing for larger companies. Our competitors are the same as before the pandemic. We have observed a growth in those listed companies that operate in the low-income bracket of the market. Yes, I believe we will have increased share when compared to those large companies as we expect to have in the next quarters, given what happened to smaller companies in previous quarters. About land bank, I think this is a major operational advantage of Cury. We operate in São Paulo and Rio.
Myself, personally, with my team, we take care of those acquisitions. Another important point to say about land bank is that we work in specific zones of the city, São Paulo or Rio. Also places that are more centrally located, Barra Funda, Mooca, or Recreio in Rio. We try to launch our projects in areas that will serve the low-income market, but could not be for the mid or top-income market. I think that our strategy changed in the sense that we are focused on centrally located land, with a lot of things that will be developed around it over time. We think this is why we can have higher margins in the sales price, and this has reflected in our results, such as gross margin.
This has to do with a strategy we started before in those central locations of those cities and increasing our share even outside the low-income project bracket. Last year, 6% of sales had SBPE, and this year was over 12% of SBPE, and we plan to increase our share there. This has to do with the strategies we use to purchase land and to make the launches.
Thank you very much. Can I just ask a follow-up question? When you compare the markets of Rio and São Paulo, do you see differences between those two markets in terms of demand, competitiveness, availability of land? How do you compare those two markets? Maybe in the short term, in the next three to six months, do you believe there's going to be a higher growth in either of these cities, or will you grow in similar levels in both cities?
Demand is very similar in both cities. Competition for land in São Paulo obviously is much higher than in Rio. There are fewer players in the market operating with Minha Casa, Minha Vida, the low-bracket government project. So our strategy is to keep growing at the same levels we've been growing in the past years of about 60% in São Paulo, 35% in Rio, and we would like to even reach 10% in the countryside of the state. We believe that we are facing a constant growth at these levels.
Thank you and have a good day.
Our next question is from Nicole Inoue from Bank of America. You may proceed.
Thank you and good morning. Congratulations for your results, and thank you for this conference call. I would like to talk about the pipeline of launches. Not until the end of this year, but for next year.
I understand that you're increasing when you're making launches out of the program. Considering next year, how far do you think you're going to get, and how do you see demand of the products that are outside programs and maybe at lower interest rates, also with real estate financing options provided by banks? I think there are still questions about the levels of unemployment in Brazil, which is still high. So I would like to hear your take on these units that are shown that are not related to the Casa Verde e Amarela program.
Good morning, Nicole, and thank you for participating in our call. Thank you for your questions. Well, as part of Cury's strategy, we do not have pure projects. I mean, 100% of SBPE. So what we do is that part of our projects in São Paulo, sometimes 20%-30%, and 30% in Rio.
So this share of SBPE as part of the project, and the rest is Minha Casa, Minha Vida low-income project. So now we are beginning to prospect some specific areas that are exclusive for SBPE projects, and we believe that this bracket of interest rates and funding of SBPE will provide major advantage in this type of project. We do not want to increase this ticket too much. It is a ticket that is right above the Minha Casa, Minha Vida ticket. I cannot tell you right now what is going to be the percentage of that next year, but from last year to this year, we doubled our levels from 6% - 12%, and we expect this share to increase. Thank you.
Thank you. Let me remind you, if you want to close your question, please press star one. We conclude the question-and-answer session now.
I will turn over back to Fábio Cury for his final remarks. Mr. Fábio, you may proceed.
Once again, I would like to thank everyone for your interest in Cury and for participating in our conference call. I would also like to say that I am personally committed, and the whole company is committed, as we said in the beginning, to face this journey in the capital market as a journey with constant growth. We are taking our first steps, and this was our first meeting, and we are always open to your feedback. Our investor relations team is open for contact, and I wish you a good day. This concludes Cury Construtora's conference call. Thank you very much for your participation. You may now disconnect. Have a good day.