Everybody, welcome to the earnings release of Direcional Engenharia. With regards to the 4 Q25, we welcome our investors, the analysts that are with us and everybody that is in this video conference. I am with Ricardo Gontijo, the CEO; Paulo Sousa, CFO, and Director of Investors Relations. In this event for investors and analysts, we will give you firstly, the results of the quarter and the whole year, and then we will open to questions and answer. We also have with us, in the Direcional YouTube, we are live, and we have the link, which is available in our IR site, and also we have the link of the transmission and also downloads of the material we will show you. We are recording the event so that afterwards we can put in our results center. We will begin with the presentation.
I will give the floor to Ricardo, who will give us the main highlights and initial comments.
Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for your participation here in our call. It is always a huge pleasure to be sharing our results and being able to comment what we have done, what we delivered, to show you how we see our segment here. Well, firstly, I would like to begin with page three, where we see the main highlights of 2025. I think it is interesting to show you this journey, a slightly longer vision in time. Not only 2025, I would like to share what we did in these last years, comparing data all the way from 2019, where we noticed we multiplied the volume of launches in the company. We multiplied it by 3.5 x. On the other time, sales were multiplied 4.7 x.
In this scenario, where we have a very relevant growth, most importantly here is to show you this growth process where we have operated with more scale. This has occurred in a way we see the right growth way, where we grow, gaining competitiveness, where we benefit from this greater scale we have obtained. Also we have been able to have relevant gains in synergy, where we have seen a growth in revenue at a rate that is over the expenses, superior to the experience. My first analysis here, this greater scale we have been operating in is our gross margin. You can see in this period between 2019 and 2025, we went from an adjusted gross rate, adjusted by interest. When we do this analysis and also interest we played from financing to production, here we have the capture of gain inefficiencies that the company had.
You see that our gross margin went from 34.5% in 2019 and reached 42.1% in 2025. In the fourth Q, specifically, the growth margin reached 42.8%. When we analyze the whole year, comparing 2025 to 2019, we had a granting of 7.6 percentage points. We have used this scale to have a better supply with negotiations with supplier. We have used this, and this has been translated in a very clear way with greater competitiveness by the company in terms of cost and production. Another analysis that I find very interesting but is not here in this slide, when we analyze our SG&A commercial expenses and administrative expenses, in 2025, the SG&A represented 18%. 2025, it dropped to 15.3%. As well as having delivered an important increment in gross margin, we have also had a relevant dilution of expenses.
This is why in this interval, in the six-year interval, we had net margins going from 6.9% to 17.4%. Basically a little more than 7 percentage points in gross margin gain and 6 percentage points through the reduction of expenses, dilution of expenses totaling a little more than 10% of gain in net margins. As we grow, we become more competitive. This growth that we had clearly demonstrates the way we believe that growth should occur. Now going to page four and still in highlights here, we have one of the main metrics we analyze in the company, which is the ROE, return on equity, where we reach when annualizing our results and when we are analyzing it, we have an ROE of 44%.
It is a record for Direcional, and certainly one of the most expressive in our sector and also compared to all companies that work in capital-intensive sectors like us. Also, it is important to highlight that this growth I highlighted in the previous page occurred with a very relevant capital volume returning to our shareholders. We have opted in the payment of dividends here for a return on capital to our investors. When you look at 2025, it was more than BRL 1.15 billion paid in dividends, and BRL 26 million paid or that returned to the shareholders through the buyback of shares. This is a very expressive return, not only over the equity, but also a return of capital to our shareholder, allowing us to have growth by returning capital. This is an important highlight to make here.
Now going to page six and now looking at the main operating highlights last year. In terms of launches, when comparing 2025 to 2024, we had a 25% growth. We reached a little more than BRL 6.8 b illion last year. In my opinion, the highlight was the growth we had in the Riva segment. When we isolate the launches of Riva launches, comparing both things, Riva grew 43%. Here I want to use this opportunity to highlight our capacity to use the opportunities that emerge, often in very short deadlines. This huge Riva growth came as a consequence of the level 4 of Minha Casa, Minha Vida that occurred in June last year. We used this opportunity created in June last year. In the second semester last year, we had a strong growth of Riva.
The growth in launches happened with a maintenance of the sales speeds that was very solid, too. To the right here, sales. Last year, we sold a little more than BRL 6.1 b illion , a 3% growth compared to 2024. Here it is important to highlight that Direcional share in these sales went from 79% in 2024 to 83% in 2025. This has been a priority here at the company. We have been building, executing, selling, and working to generate results to our shareholders. We use our execution capacity so that these results can translate in an increasingly greater share for the shareholders of the company. Also, it is important to share with you, and it is something that I really consider very relevant, is that in the fourth Q 2025, we sold a little more than BRL 1.5 b illion— BRL 1.518 billion.
In Paulo Sousa's presentation, you will see when we analyze the volume of revenue in our fourth Q, considering the SPVs that are not consolidated in our statement of accounts. When we analyze the sales, we consider 100% of what was sold. Comparing revenue with sale, it is critical for us to consider the revenue that went through the accounting statement and the ones that went through the SPVs not consolidated, but as a result, it goes to the minority interest line. We delivered a revenue that was equivalent to what we sold. What do I want to say here?
The gap that existed 18, 24 months ago between sales and recognition of revenue, and at the time demanded us to place all our attention on our engineering, execution of our work, the gap between sale and revenue would close through a growth in revenue reaching close to sales. This could occur so that we maintain our efficiency, right? This is the trade of the company, is our competitiveness here. This gap was closed. We have revenue in the same level as sales. This occurred, as I showed in the previous slide, with a gain in competitiveness, which translated into gains in margins. From the point of view of execution and engineering, we have the huge comfort. We know that if there are opportunities we believe can materialize with important gain in affordability, and this should occur in the program.
In the proposal set to the meeting on the 24th of March of the Curating Board, we should use this gain of this new opportunity to capture a great volume of families that will enter our market, and they will be addressable with this gain in purchasing capacity, which will exist if our proposal is approved. From the point of view of execution, today, we are in a moment that gives us a lot of comfort to use these opportunities. Also knowing that all of this efficiency and this competitiveness that we have certainly will remain in case the opportunity materializes itself. Now, I want to give the floor to Paulo so that he goes to the financial highlights of 2025, and in the end of his presentation, I will be at your disposal for questions and answers. Paulo.
Thank you, Ricardo. Good afternoon, everybody. It is always a pleasure to be able to share with you our results. I will begin with slide number eight. Continuing with what Ricardo described and the results, our revenue in the quarter grew when compared to last year, 33%, reaching BRL 1.226 billion here. Quarter after quarter, it grew 6%. Annually, we reached BRL 4.3 billion revenue and a growth of 30% compared to 2024. Our execution, our works, following our business, we buy the land, we launch, we sell, we execute the works, we do. We have been able to do this even in the 4Q, where seasonally, we begin with the rainy period, and it is not always possible to begin or accelerate works. We still accelerated a growth in revenue. It is important to stress and a smaller growth in sales. Here we have total net revenue.
Here, it's in this red bar in the chart. You have the revenue of the SPVs. We do not consolidate in the results. Here we have our effort linked to sales. Here in the previous slides, we have total sales. Here we have sales talking to the revenue. The bar, BRL 1. 533 billion revenue and the same in sales. We closed the gap that existed between works and sales. It's pari-passu . Once again, reinforcing our capacity of being able to build, deliver projects, and follow the schedule of our business. This revenue reached BRL 5.5 billion this year. A 24% growth compared to BRL 4.4 billion last year. Here we see a dilution too.
Since the revenue we consolidated grew 30% and the total revenue grew 24%, there is a dilution of the SPVs that we have a joint control with partners and an increase of our results here. Now going to the next slide nine, we have gross margin here. Here we have the quarter. Our gross margin in the quarter was 42.8%. It's the best in history. It grew another 0.7% this quarter compared to the previous quarter. When comparing to the fourth Q last year, we went from 39.4% to 42.8%. This year we broke the barrier. We broke records. We continue growing our margin every quarter. We closed the year with a consolidated margin of 42.2%, more than the 42%, growing almost BRL 400 million when compared to last year.
Here to the right, this makes us very comfortable in our rev margin, which is very high, a deferred revenue. Very high. An inventory of BRL 4 billion revenue to be received. We have a lot of results here with a very high deferred revenue. The deferred revenue here, this inventory, are sold units, but they haven't been built yet. Once we build this inventory will go through our accounting statements, our financial statements, and gives us results. We've been able to do everything according to our history. We have a high maintenance of gross margin in here, and it will continue. To continue here, going to the next slide and talking about net profit, here we talk about the operating net income, net profit. This is excluding eventual non-recurring events in our results.
The highlight here, compared to the right, which is an accounting profit, the annual vision, we have BRL 32 million profit. We had a non-recurring impact that happened during this year. This is a slide with a margin of 17.4% in the year, in keeping with the previous year, a slight increase, plus a growth of results of 31% year-after-year. Also, the quarter was the best one in our history in net profit, a margin of 17.2%. To the right, you had the accounting profit. What was for our shareholders, BRL 789 million, with non-recurring results of 32% gross margin, net margin of 18.2%. Amazing results delivered here. Annualized growth of 50% a year from 2020 to 2026, going from a net margin of 7% to 18%. We're growing correctly, gaining margin, delivering more results.
Lastly, now that there are next slide here, just a quick update on capital structure. This is where we have all our decisions come from, right? Our net debt closed the quarter with BRL 533 million. We wanted to optimize return to our shareholders. We closed the year with a record in cash, more than BRL 2 billion in cash, almost BRL 2.2 billion, growing 35% compared to the previous year. A very long debt, a 64-month average period. The chart on the right, the gray bars, it's a very dilated schedule, right? So here we have this gives us comfort so that we can operate and work without the leverage consuming our energy, right? So this is something we deal with every day, but with comfort. Also we have time to focus on operations, and I think that this is our strong brand here.
So briefly, this is it. Now I will give the floor back to André so that he can moderate the Q&A sessions.
Thank you, Paulo. Thank you, Ricardo, for your presentation too. Well, in order to begin here, before anything else, I would like to suggest to our investors and analysts, those of you that want to ask your questions, use your raise your hand tool here. Our first question comes from Fanny Oreng, Santander. You have the floor, Fanny.
Thank you, André. Good morning, rather good afternoon, Paulo, Ricardo, André. Well, two questions. First, with regards to the changes in the program. For us, it is clear that Direcional benefits because of its exposure it has to level 3 and 4, and also because of the increase in affordability, which is very expressive because of the huge increase in the band, the range of average income necessary here for this. I want to understand, what is the strategy you're thinking for speeding up the net sales considering these benefits that will happen starting from April? Second question, aligned to the potential speed up of VSO or net sales speed is considering the cash here. So could you tell us how you see the outlook for cash generation in 2026? So these are my two questions.
Thank you, Fanny. Let's go. Well, I will answer the first question and Paulo, the second one with regards to cash generation. What was sent for approval to the board in terms of adjustments in the income ranges and cap prices so units could be eligible for each one of the levels. In this case, it went to 3 and 4, where the 3 cap would be from BRL 380 to BRL 400, and 4 from BRL 540 to BRL 600. Also we have all four levels, right? 1, 2, 3 and 4, where incomes are incremented and clients that were in a superior range become eligible for the inferior ranges, right? So I think there is a strong impact in the gain of purchasing capacity of those families that have access to lower interest rates. And we have a greater volume of products, specifically Riva products eligible here in case there is an increase from level 4, from BRL 500,000 to BRL 600,000, and also level 3, which is very positive.
We always like to follow up on the impact after measures enter into effect. We are very excited with the positive impact that these adjustments might have from the point of view of demand. What I can say in terms of margins, we have operated with very healthy margins. This quarter, you saw a stabilization of the deferred revenue. There is no impact, no perspective of continuity of adjustment in the deferred revenue. It should remain in this level, which is a natural adjustment from one quarter to the other. The gross margin still had an increment 42.8% when we adjust this. The interest rate taken in the level of the SPVs, which is a record in gross margin.
This gain in affordability for us should translate into an increment in net sales speed without us going after any kind of price adjustment as a consequence in this purchasing capacity. The increase in net sales, the main leverage we have today for the increment of ROE and cash generation, the impact is more relevant, more than margins. So very quick calculations here considering the percentage of average advance of our works, a little more than 40%, close to 50%, considering we have approximately BRL 5.5 billion of products to be able to be commercialized. An increase of 1% of net sales speed represents almost BRL 100 million, right? So the gain in VSO has a huge impact. This is where we're focused, this is what we're going after.
The search for net sales speed as well as an increase in purchasing capacity gain, including a huge amount of families in the market we have, we have made strong efforts, specifically our own sales team, incrementing the sales of Direcional and Riva and online sales. We see that this is the path that we have to continue trailing and investing in time so that in fact we have a gain in net sales. Our sales force has been very relevant here. Now I will give the floor to Paulo to talk about cash generation, but if you have any other question, please ask me so that I can cover this detail relative to this first point where we talk about the expectation of gain in net sales speed because of the changes in the program.
But before Paulo answers your second question, I want to stress here when analyzing some reports that were released with regards to Direcional data, we have seen some relevant failures in the calculation of cash generation in the company. I want to say that our team here is at your disposal to clarify these analysis, so that our cash generation can be analyzed in the same way by all analysts. I think different interpretations, some of, in our point, are very strong, very wrong, so they should be clarified. Now going back to cash gen-- Now, Paulo, I give the floor to talk about cash generation.
Thank you very much, Ricardo. Now, also with regards to cash generation, we have in our material that we disclose the composition of our cash generation, operating cash, right?
In the calculation, our objective is to purge all the non-recurrent effects that impact cash generation. We remove the cash generation to get to the operation, and we are available for those of you that have questions. We can do the calculation again using our financial statement, and it's not difficult to get there. For me, now, with regards to the cash generation outlook, the results of our business, right? When we see the results, in order to grow, we have to have cash in the operations. The way we operate and the states we operate in, our business model. As we grow, we need to finance this growth and have cash for operations. We see this when growth drops, the cash comes back because this is cash that is certain of a return, right?
We transfer almost 80%, 85% of what we sell in the plant. When you sell, you transfer, all you have to do is to build. With this gross margin that we have, we're going to have cash left over, and we are comfortable here. As we grow, we saw in the slide that Ricardo showed the growth in seven years, our launches grew 3.5 x. Last year, our launches grew 25%. This year we're going, as Ricardo said, we will use all the opportunities that emerge, will emerge. The normal outlook of our business, well, we're already deaccelerating because of the growth in launches next year. But as our operations do the catch up, as I said, and with the maintenance of a healthy net sales speed, the cash comes back.
Last year, we generated cash, as we showed in our disclosure material, and this cash generation oscillates. There are quarters that it goes up and down, sometimes more, sometimes less, one quarter more, one quarter less because sometimes it doesn't make sense, right, to launch during Carnival, so we do it afterwards. In the fourth Q, we have a huge 13th salary to pay. We provision this all year, and we pay it in the end. There are several events that impact quarterly actions, right? But we have a growth in cash generation every quarter. This is our main focus here. I spend all day long here talking about net sales speed, cash generation. Our business has to generate cash, and we really do believe that our operations is in the right path for this. I don't know if I was able to answer your question, Fanny.
Yes, clear. Very good. Another quick question to Ricardo. I know you don't give a guidance, right? But is there a net sales speed level where you would say, "This level I would be very happy with. This is what we want with all our initiatives." I don't know if you could say this. Maybe it exists, but I don't know if you can disclose this.
Well, here we have no problem even because the volumes of launches and sales that end up impacting the effective results. The net sales speed, there's a consequence here. We're not talking about launches nor sales, but the net sales speed levels that we had in the quarters last year had a stronger impact, specifically the Direcional segment was concentrated in December. BRL 1.7 b illion of the BRL 1.8 billion that we launched in the semester. We've been working with a net sales speed of 25%. This is quarterly. This is a level we consider healthy, solid, but here with a controlled inflation, the main cost increase we have in our production coming from labor. When we analyze materials, everything is under control. The construction process we adopt, labor has a relevance that is lower than the more common things that we have.
Our costs come from labor, and once this happens, we become more and more competitive when compared to other companies. When we have the total cost, considering what labor and materials represent, we see a very controlled cost increase in this moment and very expensive capital in our country. Although we say 25% is a good level, this level to be more than 25% has no pushback from our side, because in general, we operate with lower net sales speed when we are concerned with a potential cost increase, because the hedge we have here is the unsold inventory and price readjustment of this inventory. Once we have the sale, the price becomes fixed in nominal terms.
When we have a concern with regards to the potential inflation in the future, to operate with a lower net sales speed, so that we can mitigate this, is healthy. In this moment, we don't see problems with inflation, which would justify holding back on sales. In spite of the levels of the second and third quarters last year, semesters is healthy. We want to exceed this, and this is our expectation here. Thank you.
Thank you, Fanny, for your question. Next question, Bruno Mendonça, Bradesco BBI. Bruno, you have the floor.
Good afternoon. Thank you for the time here. Ricardo, I want to ask you a question with regards to how you have considered the next cycle, the next harvest of projects. We see you're going from a very well-executed cycle, number of sales, closing the gap with regards to revenue, closing the gap with regards to sales. We see the reported margin very close to the deferred margin, which is a margin that you historically note the deferred revenue. Perhaps this won't be forever recurrent, but it seems that we're going towards stabilization, specifically with regards to Direcional, right, which we have in our minds as a really big model. Now I'm going to consider a number here, is the number of land lots that you bought and acquisition of BRL 8.3 billion land plots in the quarter. Reaching to BRL 53 billion of land bank.
It's many years of launches here, right? My question is, how have you been thinking about this? How does all of this sum up? That's my first question. How have you noticed the margin of these new projects and the margin of these new plots, these new lands, do they come in lower margins than the ones being reported? Also the dimensioning of the company because of the size of the land bank. Is there room for an additional PSV in the first line and when will we see this in the results?
Bruno, thank you for your question. With regards to the plots acquired in the fourth Q, although it's been a very expressive number, I would say that this is a one-off volume. Three specific land lots that had a stronger relevance from these BRL 8 billion acquired. It was more than in the quarter, right? But three had a more relevant impact because they were really big projects. But this is not the trend from here on. There isn't a priority in incrementing the amount of our land bank. These were opportunities that materialized themselves, all of them simultaneously in the same quarter. Land lots negotiation contracts take longer than three months. Coincidentally, these were lands of which negotiation were concluded in the quarter. But this is not a trend from here on. The trend is to have more stabilized lands, right? Margins, Bruno. What has happened is the following.
We launch a certain level of margin. We consider in our feasibilities and in a future inflation expectation, parting from the assumption our price remains fixed. The expectation of future inflation comprises our cost for acknowledgement of revenue. Even if we are able to increment the sale price quarter after quarter, and we do this analysis, if our price is within the market prices, more or less, we adjust prices, and this gain in price becomes a margin. As a consequence, once we have this price increase, the projects have an increment in margin in time in case inflation It's closer to the inflation that we foresaw during the moment of launching, and where we considered in the cost of our project. Launches in the fourth Q, in spite of reported gross margin being 42.8%, it became 40%, right?
When we launch, the margin is lower than what is materialized in time, because we increment this price as we compare it to the market reality around us. We're going to have a gain in margin in gain. The margins and launches in the fourth Q were very healthy, and we did not change any assumption in the moment we did the acquisition of the land lot, with regards to the minimum end margin and minimum return that we have to deliver. What I think can happen from here on, in a scenario where our margin should converge to a level below 42.8% that we disclosed, since our main priority is net sales speed, there is a possible lower increase in price. But then we will have the conclusion of the units in a shorter period. From the point of view of return of a capital where we invest in these products, a shorter sale without margin increase brings about a greater return.
I think an eventual convergence of margin to a lower level should occur as long as you have a corresponding increase in net sales speed. This is what we want, but the margins of the launches in the fourth quarter were very solid, and from the land lots bought, there is no change in assumption here, because we have a land bank which is very healthy and there is no reason to acquire lands, making any kind of concession in the assumptions that we have. We should be buying land in more favorable conditions. There is no change in healthy margins here, and strong comfort when you see the size of our deferred revenue, very solid, right? We have a strong comfort in the margins we should deliver.
Size of the company. What we are going after, as long as there is a demand, as long as there is very little capital allocated to deliver this growth. This little capital allocated means we are operating with high net sales speeds. From the point of view of execution, I would say today we have a greater comfort than we had last year, where we still had this gap between sale and revenue to be closed. This gap has been closed with a level of comfort in the execution of our projects, and reflected in the margin we are delivering. Because of the scale we gained and this growth happened in areas we have been working in for seven, eight years, there was no opening of any new state in the last seven years. This scale we are gaining is translating itself into greater negotiation capacity, acknowledgment of our name, brand, and credibility.
As we were able to grow, becoming more competitive, becoming more efficient in terms of gross margin and dilution of expenses, we are going to use the opportunities. But the growth is not our objective. Our objective is net sales speed. If we have demand, we will launch more. Execution today is something that gives us more comfort than 12, 18 months ago. This will happen as long as the demand materializes.
Is there a cash impact here on this huge harvest of land? We have been very disciplined buying land through swaps, because today we do not have the need to increase our land bank. I would say that cash exposure in our purchase of land has been minimum. But cash exposure occurs in the process of approval of the execution of the project and environmental permits. If you consider last year, BRL 90 million we had in terms of disbursement of projects and environmental permits. There is an impact here, because since it is small in the volume of sales, but still, we need this for approval of projects and to have the permits.
Clear. Thank you.
Thank you, Bruno, for your question. Our next question, BTG. Gustavo Cambauva, you have the floor.
Good afternoon. Two questions here. The first one, Ricardo, you touched upon the growth. When you started, you were very emphatic. Right? Saying, if the conditions of the program continue favorable, and with huge chances of improving even more in the short term, you said that Direcional is ready to capture these gains, and eventually grow here more. I would like you to explore this a little more, specifically from the point of view of engineering, because I remember one year ago you said that engineering was a point of attention. Paying attention on the ball, not running any risk here and allowing things to leave one's control. 2025 was an excellent year for the company. I would like you to tell us a little bit about that, because we hear competitors saying that it's more difficult with regards to engineering. Some suppliers, some kind of equipment, specifically labor.
I would like to understand from you if it's because of the exposure in some states where things are easier, states you're in. In areas you're in. Are you more prepared to continue with this growth? I would like to understand the reason behind this greater comfort that you have. My second question, the beginning of the year, how things are, January and February. These are months where we have different seasonalities. I would like to understand, after the fourth quarter that you had, with a very good launch volume, but a weaker net sales figure, whether you would be able to recover this in the first quarter.
Thank you. Good afternoon. It's important to make a disclaimer here. In spite of us showing to the market that we feel comfortable in our execution capacity, and we're very satisfied to have been able to close this huge gap that we had between sales and revenue. Since we did the follow-on in June 2023, when the cap went from BRL 260 ,000 to BRL 350,000 for Minha Casa, Minha Vida, we raised caps to use this opportunity.
We delivered a sales launch growth, very expressive, from 2023, 2024. In 2024 we had a huge growth of sales when compared to 2023, BRL 3 billion and something in 2023. In 2024, over BRL 6 billion in sales. It was a huge growth. It's natural when you have this very relevant sales growth, and then you have a greater number of execution of works. It only makes sense if we can capture synergies and have greater gains in competitiveness as a fruit of this scale. This cannot occur with a loss of efficiency. We have to be prepared for this. We have clearly shown the market that our growth happened in a consistent way, where you've seen quarter after quarter gain in growth and net margins. Specifically, if you exclude the number of the minority interest. Minority had a growth in the last quarter.
If you see what they represent, you will see that our net margin had a relevant growth in 2025 when compared to 2024. We had a growth with gain in gross margin and gain in SG&A, reduction here. There's no dilution here comparing 2025 to 2024. Our engineering is a huge comfort for us with eventual opportunity that can materialize themselves. Our revenue is in the same level as sales, very solid levels, and I think that the fact that we have a greater geographic diversification than other companies, this gives an even greater comfort from the point of view of execution capacity. Certain areas have a greater availability of labor than in others. This is certainly a point that makes sense. Then you have the construction process that we use, which is less intensive in labor.
It is where we use our, which is much better than more common kind of construction processes. Construction process and geographic diversification is important, and it is not in our plan to begin operations in other areas. As long as growth is happening in areas where we work in and we have already the knowledge of the area, we will continue. Your second question, how we see January and February. It is important to compare January and February, the numbers of the current quarter compared to the same quarters in the year. January is a holiday month, and February is carnival. But when we compare our sales volume here to last year, we see an important growth number . It is important to say that we have an important growth volume.
On the other hand, it is also important to say that we began this year with a greater volume available for commercialization. Net sales is this, sales volume and the number of units available. March is relevant in the first quarter. It is important to see the performance in March. But when we see the beginning of this year, we have important growth here in nominal terms that certainly does encourage us. With the adjustments expected for the program, we believe we are going to have a very positive year.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Just to add to this number , considering January and February, I am comparing January to January last year, February to February. These months were stronger, right?
January was stronger, and February was stronger. The growth in February relative to February last year was greater than the growth of January compared to January last year.
Okay. Thank you, Ricardo. Now our next question, Elvis, BBA. You have the floor, Elvis.
Good afternoon, Ricardo, Paulo. Sales going beyond the effects of Minha Casa, Minha Vida. Is there anything internal that you are doing in-house, that you are already doing or can do in order to improve, migrate the current and net sales fees to higher levels? You are talking about 25%, even higher levels. Do these initiatives continue? Just how much, considering the Northeast, if you can increment the net sales in the region, and can you collect more in the northern regions? That will help migrate these to the net sales speed to higher levels. Considering the changes of Minha Casa, Minha Vida, how has this driven the net sales speed? You are talking about cash generation, not grow the leverage. How you see this between launches and cash generation? Up to what point can you launch more considering the program and initiatives that are in the pipeline? Thank you.
Elvis. Sales. It is interesting. To add to what I answered in Cambauva's questions, we have noticed a higher nominal volume of sales compared to last year's, always with the caveat that we also had more products available for sale in the beginning of this year when compared to last year. We have noticed a better performance in the Northeast, a greater growth of sales when compared 2026 to 2025. This is happening in the three capitals we work in the Northeast, Fortaleza, Recife, and Salvador. These are the greatest growth we have had and has come from these regions we are in, we operate in. Our operations more recently has happened in the Northeast. Once it becomes even more mature, we have noticed a gain in sales speed.
During this period of maturation of activities, although they are six, seven years, it takes a long time for us to reach a minimum scale in each place we operate in. I believe that in 2026, we will reach BRL 300 million in launches in each one of these areas. Recife, Salvador. Fortaleza, we have already done this. Obviously, we will be gaining in speed sales, and also when we begin working more and more with suppliers in the region, we gain here too. The Northeast has been a positive surprise in this beginning of the year. I think also as we have scale, we reinforce our house, which has been an important measure, and we have some changes being implemented in our online sales part here. It is still very new, but with results here in these pilots we began doing, and they are very encouraging.
And in case we continue with this, we will roll this out to other areas in Brazil. I think the online here, we're going to have certain measures that are positive, but everything is very gradual. It doesn't go from one month to the other. Things happen in time. It's gradual. It's not from one day to the other. With regards to the trade-off, the increment of launches versus cash generation, it's perfect what you're saying. I would say that the increase in launches will occur in case the net sales speed of these launches exceeds an important level. We have here is an internal trigger.
In the beginning of the works that happens six months after launches, then we will have an important part of the costs covered by sales and transfers so that we can have a working capital demand that is minimized in case this opportunity materialize itself. I don't want to say that our priority is the growth in launches. No, it is sales. In case products become lower than we believe is healthy, we have the capacity of replacing these products when we analyze our land bank. At the end of the day, it means an increase in launches. We closed the year with more than BRL 5.5 billion of products launches available for commercialization. Our initial priority, fruit of an increment in sales, is to reduce the level of inventory.
In case the net sales remains to allow us for the first six months of sales and all costs are covered, then we can begin incrementing launches in that specific market where product availability for commercialization goes below margins we believe healthy. We have products to sustain our labor force, our labor, to attract an even more competitive team here. But what is a priority is sales growth, not launches.
Thank you. Great.
Thank you, Elvis, for your question. Next question, Rafael Rehder, Safra Bank.
Thank you very much. I have two questions here that I would like to touch upon. The first one, could you tell us about the potential end of the scale 6x1? Have you done internal studies to calculate the impact or if this chain impacts the value that entities in the sector are passing? How talks with the government of the entities of the government. The second point is the potential revision of the master plan in Belo Horizonte, the impact for Direcional. Would there be room to grow launches even more in the capital?
In end of scale, 6x1 scale. In the case of Direcional, the impact is lower than it would be in the average of the sector. Since entities represent the sector, they always adopt the average of the impact of the change with the end of 6x1.
The number of hours being worked during the week. Because of the construction process we use, we end up being less intensive in labor more than the rest of the sector. So the impact, which is the average of this in the sector, but it's natural. There's no way we can say that the end of the scale 6x1 is inflationary. There is an increase in production cost, and this will be transferred to price. What I want to stress is that in our case, we end up having lower impact, and this makes us even more competitive when analyzing the scenario in the country as a whole. But it's natural that the cost for all companies will grow. This will mean a higher price for the population, and the growth proportion in terms of price increase will occur for the different companies. Will occur in different scales.
In our case, it will be lower than in those companies that have more intensive construction process and more labor. The discussions with the government have occurred through entities. They have done this process, have conducted this process. It's more adequate that this happens, right? More appropriate that this happens. So I think the conversation with ABRAINC and Secovi is very important, and they've done this. With regard to the revision of the master plan in Belo Horizonte, it is very positive. It's very transformational for downtown there. I think it will have a very expressive impact when we look at how the downtown area is more degraded and what can happen in terms of the revitalization of Belo Horizonte.
It is in the city council to be voted in because it's going to be voted and it's going to be based on the benefits it will create for the city. We've looked at this region very closely. We have an important volume of land there already acquired and some in negotiation processes. But I think it's an interesting opportunity. But it's always important to say that the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte is 20% of our business. There is an impact. It's positive. It will mitigate other surprises that we might have and that we don't foresee the end of scale 6x1 can mean an increase in prices. We increase the oil prices. This might mean an increase in price. Okay. So we have a series of other points that have an effect of mitigating these adjustments, even more than compensating it.
The revitalization process is very positive. We have relevant operations in the region, and I think we believe it's not going to be a transformation for our business. These are slight improvements that help us in time. Downtown Belo Horizonte is one more opportunity.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rafael Rehder. UBS, Tainan Costa. Tainan, you have the floor.
Good morning, everybody. I know you don't have a guidance, but considering two things for 2026, the minority line and gross margin. The minority interest, this is the first quarter we had an idea of this line with the acquisition of Riva. Considering BRL 75 million, can you analyze it for 2026 or was there an effect, the minority interest and the sale that contributed to a higher amount this quarter considering revenue increase, would that make sense, 5%-6%? The second is the gross margin for 2026. Saying what Ricardo Gontijo said is very comfortable here. The deferred margin seems to be very healthy. We want to know the dynamics of this margin for 2026. Do you see potential gains or this level 47%? Thank you.
Tainan, the first question with regards to minority interest. There are several factors here. If Riva and Direcional go with different intensities, this will change. With regards to the fourth quarter, we had a non-recurring effect, not relevant, but increased this line by BRL 6 million. A specific SPV where we have a consortium. There was an appropriation of results of the previous quarter. It was slightly higher than it should be. Not relevant, but at least in the fourth quarter, it wouldn't have been so much. You're right. This quarter, the share that will be the deferred revenue here, that will be happening in 2026.
The greatest impact is Riva. It's not very distant here. A little bit here, a little bit more, but it shouldn't change so much. With regards to gross margin, this is an even more difficult question. Ricardo Gontijo talked about this, and if he wants to add, it is price versus construction price. When we look at our deferred revenue, we feel comfortable. The stability of the deferred revenue going from 44% to 45%. It gives us the comfort. If we execute the works according to the expected, we will have a very stable margin in relation to what we're delivering now. We can also see that our inventory has a good margin. We can calculate this based on our financial statements. We have a good margin of inventory. New launches in the fourth quarter, it was a margin close to 40%, adjusted.
There are several components from here on. Two that are very relevant is inventory and deferred margin gives us a good comfort here because we know that we have good margin here. Ricardo, would you like to add to this?
No, I think this is it.
Thank you, everybody.
Next question, Andre Mazini, Citi.
Good afternoon. Much has been answered, but some follow-ups here. The first one is to confirm how much there were in savings of works, how much we saw here. Was there a lot of savings of works recurring? The second question, what will change effectively in that Zone 2, that material from the local government, can you build higher? Is there an amount that is not going to happen anymore? Will it occur the way you want? Garage, no garage. Specifically, what is changing here that will improve the densification of that Zone 2, in Belo Horizonte?
Mazini. Paulo, help me with any details with regards to savings. in this 4Q, there was not a significant recognition of savings, giving this one-off effect for margin going up. The net effect between certain inputs where there are price adjustments was not a reduction in budget that would justify an increase in margin. So this margin, there is nothing one-off here. Nothing one-off that can lead us to say that the margin from here on would have a significant reduction. Also a caveat here, this margin level is the greatest we delivered in history, and recurring margins, there was nothing recurring here in the 4Q.
With regards to the Master Plan in Belo Horizonte, when we consider downtown, the center, right? Those regions that are being impacted by the Master Plan, they are having an increase in the construction process by 70%. So if you consider the central region where the coefficient was 5, it is going to 8.5. There are other regions where the coefficient was less than 5, it has been incremented by 70%. The point is that this increment today to go from one to the maximum potential occurs via the purchase from a grant from the local government and a security that comes from properties that have been and it goes to other areas in the city. Selling this TDC originated from the fact that this building has been this property. So the increase of one to the maximum has a cost, and it will stop here.
It also gives you the possibility of building 70% more than what is done today, because the proposal has not been approved yet. So you have all of the infrastructure right downtown, you have everything there. So this increase in the population of downtown the city will not increase costs, and the attraction for the developer is big, and there is also a proposal of exemptions of certain taxes for these buildings being built in this region, and it is very positive for the buyer. Mazini, we do not know what is going to be approved. There might be one adjustment or another, but we believe the attraction here will certainly increase with these changes.
Perfect. Thank you, Ricardo.
Thank you, Mazini, for the question. Our next comes from Igor Machado, Goldman Sachs. Igor Machado, Goldman Sachs.
Good afternoon. A follow-up here with regards to the changes in Minha Casa, Minha Vida program. It was clear, Ricardo said that depending on the demand, it can launch more. But I want to understand the breakdown of the company related to the levels of the program. Can you increase exposure here or reduce exposure? Anything will help us here.
Igor, what we noticed for this year, there is a burdensome budget from the FGTS and the Pré-Sal Social Fund, which has an expressive increase when compared to the last year. When we consider the subsidy, the proposal for this year was BRL 12.5 billion, and we sent to the board to increase it to BRL 13 billion, which is very close to last year. So the space for increment in levels 3 and 4 is greater than 1 and 2, where you have a limiting factor.
The availability of subsidy, which is the subsidy here might be the problem. So levels 3 and 4, with the changes that can be approved on the 24th, they certainly make sense. On the other hand, level 1 is interest. An increase of income from BRL 2,850 to BRL 3,200 increases the purchasing capacity of these changes, and there is a change in taxes from 4% to 1%. So certainly it's attractive, level 1, because of this, but we have to consider subsidy in levels 3 and 4 because of the volume of budget in very burdensome resources, which is very big. I think there's no kind of bottleneck here. These are segments we are very careful. We're looking at it very carefully, and we believe there's going to be an opportunity here.
Clear. Thank you very much.
João Rodrigues. XP. Good afternoon, André , Ricardo.
Congratulations for the deliveries and focus on the strategy. We have two questions here. First, I want to explore in more details what you imagine can come from PSV because of the partnership with Moura Dubeux that was done. And in your plans to grow sales more than launches, right? If the partnership is in line, in terms of diluting more risk without incrementing launches, right? And could you share with us the governance process in terms of land approval? Is there a collegiate shared between the two companies? How are you going to divide the sales team and approval? This is my first point. Second, the reform and exemption of 5,000, right? The tax reform. So we know there are new people here being placed in the map, right? A greater market opening itself.
I want to understand if you have a vision here with regards to how Caixa should address this client in terms of credit score, and if this changes anything here in terms of your portfolio, transfer deadlines, terms, an increase of these informal clients, right?
João, I think the partnership with Moura has some points that are very important. One, the Moura brand and its presence in the Northeast is relevant. This will have an impact in the acquisition of differentiated and special areas. And when we are together, I think access to these areas will certainly become easier, and I think this is positive for the operations in the long term. And we have a gain in scale that is significant in a short period of time because we'll be operating together.
Independent of the marginal growth coming from this partnership, I prefer not to go into details here. Let's say the volume of launches double. Each company has 50% of the share. Nothing changes for both, but since both together have double the size, this is very relevant from the point of view of access to the client, attractivity here of the sales force. I think the whole thing can be very positive, and it's in keeping. We notice a strong benefit where we have a more mature operations, and the fact that we operate with them will give us maturity in a shorter period of time, and this is what we want in this work together.
With regards to your second question, the impact of the exemption of income tax for those that make up to BRL 5,000 , certainly it will have a relevant impact in the representativeness of the informal income among those that acquire our product. Specifically, within of the context, let's imagine before, if we were to analyze the banking statements of the person or the family. If that statement, if there was a certain level of income that was above the exemption limit, where that person did not pay income tax, one should presume that his income is below the exemption limit, which last year was much inferior, less than BRL 5,000 . I believe that people, families, of which income tax exemption was lower than BRL 5,000BRL, they had lower purchasing capacity than they have now.
The impact of sales can come from this change, where people have a greater income that is greater than what they had last year. I think the increment of demand should come from this change, which is very relevant, almost doubled the income that ended up being exempt from taxes, right? This will include several families that did not have a purchasing capacity, and now they will have. But we have to wait and see. But I think this is going to occur during the second semester this year. It's not from one day to the other. This change will be gradual, but I think it should happen. Once again, let's wait to see, because I think it's too early to presume this as a truth.
Thank you, João. One more question here. Marcelo Motta, JP Morgan.
Thank you, André . Quick question. If you could mention the dilution of the G&A. The selling Ricardo said that it increased, there wasn't a dilution this year. I want to know if this focus here in net sales speed, if the level will continue above what you saw in 2023 and 2024. In terms of G&A, there has been a constant dilution. Do you think you have already been able to use this line here? Thank you very much.
Well, the growth in revenue always comes with a benefit, right? Although it's not the main focus, but it generates opportunities that ends up impacting the gain in efficiency.
To add here to the commercial expenses, I don't think they should have an increment. Even with a search for an increase in net sales speed, we shouldn't expect that the increment of a net sales speed should be accompanied in the increase of commercial expenses. The reduction of the level of commercial expenses as a proportion of revenue shouldn't happen. It should generate in the level that we delivered in 2026.
When we talk about G&A, we also had an expressive reduction in the last years. We went below 6% of the revenue. When we look from here on, the pace of revenue growth will occur in a proportion that is lower than in the last years. Our revenue grew in the last five years. Our group grew every year. Here, we show you the vision that cash generation should happen. This cash generation occurred because of events that the market considered non-recurrent. With the reduction of the pace of revenue growth has reached the sales, will also has as a consequence, an increase in cash generation. It's probable that the G&A as a proportion of revenue, will remain at levels that are close that we had in the second semester last year.
The pace will tend to reduce from here on. I don't think there is room for so much change looking from here on, for so much dilution.
Thank you. Thank you, Paulo, André.
We have no more questions here. No more hands raised. I would like to close our Q&A session and also thank you for your participation. Also, we are at your disposal for any questions you might have. To close our earnings release of the fourth Q 2025, I'll give the floor to Ricardo.
I would like to thank you for your participation. Your Q&A session was very wealthy. We were able to answer very important questions. I would like to use the occasion to thank our team. We are very satisfied with the results we've been able to deliver, and we see several opportunities to continue with this journey here with constant improvements. There are a lot of things here in the loop that we want to do, and we will translate this in improvement in performance. Thank you very much, everybody, and have a very good rest.