Investors, analysts, and journalists should take into account that events related to the macroeconomy, to the industry, and other factors may lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. We have with us in this conference call the board of directors and the investor relations team. I would now like to give the floor to Francisco Semeraro, the company's CFO, who will begin the presentation. Please, Francisco, go ahead.
Hello everyone, welcome, and thank you for joining us for another quarterly earnings release from Dexco. We will start on slide three. This quarter, we confirmed the strength of the wood division, which enjoyed a strong wood panel market. With high levels of demand, it was possible to efficiently capture the price transfers made in the quarter, which contributed to the good results for this period.
This quarter, the division's results remained in line with the second quarter of 2024, which reinforces the stabilization of the metals and sanitary ware division's results. In addition, we had an important announcement this quarter regarding this division, with the announcement of the company's exit from the electric showers and taps operation. The tiles industry is beginning to show signs of recovery after a period of consecutive drops, but at a slower rate for the wet segment, which is where Dexco operates, so we still have pressured results in this division for Dexco. Given the stronger results in the period driven by the wood division and the stabilization of the metals and sanitary ware division, we saw a 60% increase in adjusted and recurring EBITDA compared to the third quarter of 2023. In the last nine months, the company's adjusted and recurring EBITDA was BRL 1.2 billion, 29% higher than 2023.
At LD Celulose, we had a quarter with record results linked to the combination of high levels of productivity and diligent cost management, which meant that in the quarter, the dissolving pulp operation closed with a total EBITDA of BRL 443 million, of which BRL 217 million was attributable to Dexco. If these results are taken into account, Dexco posted an EBITDA of BRL 677 million in the quarter and BRL 1.8 billion in the year to date. We continue on slide four. With stronger operating results this quarter, we were able to deliver a year-to-date sustaining cash generation of BRL 146 million when compared to last year, with a ratio of working capital to net revenue at similar levels to last quarter, which we believe is the adequate level for this operation.
In this quarter, we maintained normal CapEx levels for the operation, but in the year to date, as we have been reporting, we have accelerated our investments in reforestation, ending the last nine months with a total of BRL 601 million in sustaining CapEx. We are on the final stretch of our 2021-2025 investment cycle, and in 2024, we had disbursements of BRL 206 million in our new tiles unit in Botucatu, BRL 68 million in projects for the metals and sanitary ware division, and BRL 30 million in the expansion of the forestry base in the Northeast. Slide five refers to our indebtedness. With the end of the 2021-2025 investment cycle approaching, we are also planning lower cash disbursements in the coming quarters, considering the company's focus on capturing the results of the investments already made and reducing leverage levels.
This movement has already been seen this quarter with the contribution of the better adjusted and recurring EBITDA accumulated in the last months. In addition, the company continues to focus on its liability management initiatives, and in this regard, we also made the announcement this quarter of LD Celulose's new financing structure. We'll give a little more detail on the next slides, and they bring positive prospects for the payment schedule to its shareholders, in this case, Dexco and Lenzing. We continue on slide seven on the wood panels market. Ibá, the Brazilian Tree Industry, has once again reported a strong performance from the wood panel sector, with growth in volumes in both the foreign and domestic markets.
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Please hold. We will resume soon.
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Please hold. We will continue soon.
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We're back here. We apologize for being disconnected, and we'll continue from slide seven discussing the wood panels market. Ibá, the Brazilian Tree Industry, has once again reported a strong performance from the wood panel sector, with growth in volumes in both the foreign and domestic markets. The high levels of demand in both the MDF and MDP markets helped to keep factory occupancy levels high, driven mainly by demand from the furniture industry. Now, we'll continue on slide eight. We reached sales volume levels for wood panels last seen in 2020, with high levels of demand from the sector. This warmer demand led to successful price transfers and a nobler mix of products sold, with high levels of factory occupancy. At the end of the quarter, in order to monetize our forestry base, we carried out a one-off negotiation that boosted the quarter's results.
As a result, the division ended the third quarter with an EBITDA of BRL 407 million and a margin of 28%, up 42% versus Q3 2023. In the year, the wood division accumulated an adjusted and recurring EBITDA of around BRL 1.2 billion and margins of 29%, continuing with the dissolving pulp. LD Celulose delivered an accelerated production pace with an operational performance that delivered yet another record result, considering the period since the operation was ramped up. In addition, with very solid efficiency programs, LD Celulose maintained efficient levels of input use, especially chemicals in wood, which contributed positively to cost management. At the end of the quarter, its adjusted and recurring EBITDA was BRL 443 million, with margins of 61%, confirming the potential that the dissolving pulp operation has in the Brazilian market, especially considering its competitive advantages.
Now, to discuss the new financing structure for LD Celulose on slide 10. As mentioned in the beginning of our presentation, this quarter, we announced a new financing structure departing from the original structure announced in June 2020 when we contracted financing for the construction of the dissolving pulp mill. With the good progress of its operation since the beginning, partners sought a financing structure that would maximize the efficiency of LD Celulose's capital structure, replacing the project finance model initially contracted with a corporate finance model. This is aligned with the financial obligations and business model and extinguished the partners' guarantees. The operation is worth a total of $1 billion, is made up of a bond worth a total of $650 million, and a bank loan worth a total of $350 million.
It was very well received by the market, with a large number of interested companies confirming the good prognosis for the operation. Here are some of the main advantages underpinning this operation, such as the extension of the average maturity and a longer amortization schedule. Finally, an important outcome of this operation is the start of a flow of dividend payments to shareholders scheduled for 2026. Slide 12 discusses the finishing market. This quarter, it showed yet another sign of improvement with progress in results of both basic and finished products, the latter showing an average growth of 8% compared to the same period last year. With more positive results, the association confirmed its outlook for the industry, projecting an increase of 5% for 2024.
It should be noted that these indicators are quite broad and include many other categories in addition to what Dexco sells, but we believe they're an efficient thermometer for this industry. Now, we discuss our performance in metals and sanitary ware on slide 13. This quarter, this division showed great progress compared to the same period last year, but also good results compared to Q2 2024, stabilizing its results. This was sustained mainly by the metals segment, which had stronger levels of demand and factory occupancy, and consequently, a more premium mix of products sold. We closed the quarter with an a djusted and recurring EBITDA of BRL 52 million for the quarter and BRL 102 million for the year to date, an important result for this division.
Also, in the metals and sanitary ware division, it's important to remember that the company also announced this quarter that it would be exiting the electric showers and faucets segments. The decision goes hand in hand with Dexco's ongoing strategic assessments of its portfolio, prioritizing segments that present greater synergies in their sales channels and market positioning. With regard to results, it's important to note that usually the second quarter of the year was the one that had the best volume results for electric showers and taps, considering how seasonal this business is. So it was the only period with a positive effect on the division. However, it represented around 10% of the division's net revenue, confirming that even though they contributed with good volumes, the products that had a lower added value ended up making a negligible contribution to the overall results.
We continue on slide 14 on the tiles market. This market stabilized this quarter, but the wet segment was still under pressure. In addition, the stock levels for the industry, which are on the rise, put pressure on the installed capacity levels, which are at suboptimal levels, and also pressure the prospect of recovery. On slide 15, we saw significant improvements in volume levels this quarter, justified by commercial and pricing actions aimed at gaining market share in a tighter market. This improvement in volumes was reflected in factory occupancy levels and an improvement in the dilution of fixed costs in the division. The competitive market environment and the company's active approach to pricing and product mix had an impact on the division's adjusted and recurring EBITDA, which ended the quarter close to zero. For the year, the adjusted and recurring EBITDA is BRL 10.5 million.
Slide 17 discusses our future outlook. We're approaching the end of 2024, and here we present our outlook for the coming periods. In the wood division, the outlook is very promising for the wood panel market and with less availability for Dexco's forestry business. We believe that demand for wood panels is at healthy levels and that we have been able to carry out actions to ensure the profitability of our operations. In this sense, we reinforce that carrying out forestry business is an option that the company has to monetize its assets in the face of factory occupancy levels that are operating at a sufficient capacity without this impacting the company's operations and its self-sufficiency. Another important point is that Dexco usually takes collective vacations for its employees at the end of the year, and as a result, we have scheduled maintenance stoppages.
As far as the finishing division is concerned, from a macroeconomic point of view, in the third quarter, we had announcements of interest rate increases and financing rules that could impact results, and we're keeping a close eye on this. As mentioned, we're approaching the end of the investment cycle announced in 2021, and with this, we foresee the start of operations at our new ceramic tiles factory in Botucatu, São Paulo. This project corresponds to the largest portion of the planned investment package, is currently being tested, and will be ramped up throughout the first half of 2025. Finally, it's important to note that Dexco remains focused on optimizing its operations and the projects that were defined in 2021 within the investment cycle, so that the company has the horizon to make these investments profitable and reduce leverage.
In the next slide, we would also like to make use of this meeting to address a very relevant issue for the company's corporate governance, which is a recent announcement of the succession of the company's CEO. Antonio Joaquim, after 12 years at the helm of the company, will reach the age limit for a CEO, and the board of directors has gone through a very structured process over the last year to elect the person who will occupy this position after the 2025 general meeting. The announcement was made on October 23rd when Raul Guaragna, the current VP of metals and sanitary ware and floor and wall tiles, was chosen for the position. He's been in the company for three years. He's led the company's two major businesses and has solid professional experience aligned with the challenges that we're aiming for.
Antonio and Raul will, until April 2025, work together in a transition process, co-leading the main workfronts so that ongoing projects are maintained and the expected results are achieved. We would also like to take this opportunity to invite investors, analysts, and the general public to Dexco Day 2024, which will take place on December 9th. The company's event will discuss Antonio's legacy at the company after 38 years and Raul Guaragna's outlook and vision for Dexco. The event will take place in a hybrid format, and we invite everyone to follow our communication channels for more information. Thank you, and I'll close the presentation and open up for questions.
We will now begin the questions and answers session for investors and analysts. If you'd like to ask a question, please click on the raise hand button.
If your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by lowering your hand. The first question will be asked by Marcio Farid from Goldman Sachs. Go ahead, sir.
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Hi everyone. Good morning. Can you hear me?
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Yes, we can hear you.
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Thank you, and thank you for this opportunity. First, I'd like to congratulate Antonio for nearly four decades at the helm, and we'd like to wish Raul all the best in this new journey. Continuing with questions, obviously, wood has had a few good quarters, but it's still surprising. You mentioned that the demand levels are close to what we saw during the COVID pandemic in 2020, 2021, but we then learned that a part of it had been done in advance, right? That this was a one-off. So my question here is, obviously, interest rates are high, but launches seem to be at historical high levels again. So what should we think about sustainability right now, specifically on the demand side? And if you can tell us about the supply, there were some adjustments.
Arauco changed its availability composition, and I'd just like to know from you how you're understanding this supply and demand dynamic, especially focusing on demand so that we can understand the levels we are at right now and how sustainable they are. Still on wood, this quarter, you stepped out from the electric showers business, so results were smaller, but we saw some signs of improvements. Volumes were higher. You made some investments recently in projects that will probably go online later this year and that will probably help next year. So if you could give us a little bit of context for this moment in sanitary ware and ceramics, that would be great. Thank you.
Thank you for your questions, Marcio. So let's split this into two blocks.
I'm going to ask Henrique to talk about the wood division and perspectives for future results, and then we'll talk about sanitary ware and tiles.
[Foreign language].
Thank you for your questions, Marcio. First, to talk about demand, I think there's a significant difference when we compare this moment to the COVID pandemic years. Employment has been very good in Brazil right now. Remember that construction is a long cycle. Although we see variations sometimes with launches and so on, the Minha Casa, Minha Vida segment is very strong right now. And everything we hear about this from the government is that this process will be maintained. So we don't see any structural things as the end of the line here. And when it comes to demand, this is natural. We had a little bit more volume this quarter due to increased prices. There was a level of anxiety, but when we look at the industry and how well it's positioned, the furniture industry, this puts us at ease.
Finally, we have some partners from retail like Casas Bahia, Magazine Luiza, and other major players focusing on going back to their basics. What this means is that they're focusing on the essence of their business, on selling furniture, and it's not that they represent the entire market, but they do encourage the rest of the market. Our clients in the furniture industry have made great efforts in selling directly to their consumers through e-commerce, basically. So we believe this is a very positive moment. Of course, we depend on the macroeconomic scenario, but it does seem to be solid, and we feel very positive for the rest of the year, and we don't really see anything on the horizon, anything negative on the horizon. Considering supply and demand, you mentioned one of our competitors. We normally don't talk about our competition.
This is not very different from the second quarter. We follow the same principle. So these are the operations that we had in the South of Brazil that ended up consolidating in April or May, but this had been announced before. What we noticed when it comes to the supply is that the market has become more rational in adjusting its prices due to the unavoidable costs of wood. We see this happening not due to our panels business, but because of the overall scenario in Brazil, the major investments in pulp, and this should continue for a while in the demand for forests and wood. So it's not very different for the third quarter, and we believe that our competitors will be more rational and adjust as well based on the information we were able to capture from the market.
Great, thank you.
If you can tell us a little bit about the decision and the forestry unit and what's the intention behind it, that would be great. Francisco, if you can talk about that.
Marcio, we have a company Duratex Forestry, which is consolidated with us, and it supplies wood to the panels operation. We see opportunities there of restructuring it, making use of the wood we have available, and in order to execute it, we're reorganizing a very small part of this operation. This is a corporate move because this company is an in-house supplier for the panels division. This is a one-off opportunity, and as we said, it doesn't change the participation in the group or anything like that. It's a formality, and that's why we had to reorganize it.
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Thank you for that question, Farid. I'm going to start answering with the Deca division, that's metals and sanitary ware, and I'll start with a brief recap of the initiatives that we had and what we expect to do in the future, starting with stepping out from the showers segment. This is very clear. We knew that this was not very strategic in our portfolio, so we're waiting to pass this operation on to buyers, and this will relieve us from paying attention to an asset that had different markets and was very seasonal, so the second quarter is the only one that is really strong when it comes to electric showers, usually in preparation for the winter, so we're focusing on what we do well, which is metals and sanitary ware in this Deca division.
So we started adjusting our pricing, bringing products to the right competitive level in the market with prices that Deca has. And with that, we really saw a significant volume recovery starting in the second quarter. And this has been ongoing. It also goes hand in hand with the significant effort we've been making to adjust our supply chain in the metals division. We're looking at all of our suppliers, satellite suppliers, debottlenecking production. So production levels are higher than what we had during the COVID pandemic, which in the end is very helpful and will improve our service level. And Deca sales go hand in hand with this, with our ability to deliver our products with the right mix and the right availability. And this has also allowed us to improve our mix this third quarter.
So you saw that our volume went up, but the mix improved more than that. And our intention is to work on luxury items that Deca has a higher, more significant share of. So with the right adjustments of working capital, especially with finished goods, this makes our portfolios smaller, and we start having a much better view of what is happening to our sell-out. So this gives us a lot more visibility of the market in real time and removes that challenge in seeing what is happening at the end when we only look at sell-in. So sales are starting to answer. This is a time which is usually weaker, but we have good inventories, good inventory levels, good products and services. So we're improving across all the metal product lines in volume and mix, and we're going to continue going that way by using these investments in finishings.
Decking is a trend in the market, and we have the biggest production capacity outside of China. So I think there are still opportunities to grow as we have new launches, as we have new products. So we're going to continue investing in recovering points of sale. This goes across the divisions. So the right exposure, a good presence in points of sale is really good. So I think we'll have a very profitable path ahead of us. With sanitary ware, we improved our plants internally. A part of the investment was still very relevant, not only automation in Jundiaí, but also reestablishing quality for the assets and their operational security. So the second part of this has been concluded, and we're starting to see our units achieve a good quality level, some of which have been unprecedented.
So I think we can expect significant improvements in margins when you have better quality products, when you have less loss and rework. And we see this very strongly in sanitary ware. They've been having strong demands this quarter. They've been boosted by construction programs. Our most popular items are super competitive. They have a long portfolio. So we're also going to gain in volume as our production capacity improves. In Jundiaí, our results have been very aligned to our plan, and they're very promising. I think we're halfway through this automation process, but quality levels have been very high, and we can see this reflected in the entire process. Sanitary ware had the latest adjustment, and the demand came as a result. So I think that we have a very good road ahead of us.
Of course, it's still far from our highest potential because of the market and because of what we can see, the opportunities we can see with our competitive intelligence efforts and data mining. So we can look at this regionally per product, per family. There are many opportunities. So we believe we're on the right track. When it comes to ceramic tiles, this is the division in which we see a longer recovery process than expected. Contrary to what we mentioned in Deca, the main movement is go-to-market here. We have to recover our space in our main points of sale. In the third and fourth quarters, or actually throughout the years, but especially in the third quarter, we had a major investment in trade marketing, and we'll continue to do that, exhibiting the products correctly, and this is essential. And that's something that we have to rebuild.
As you know, this is a market with many good competitors, and this market is much more spread out. The news we have here is that the wet segment is not keeping up with the recovery of the entire segment. So in the last few quarters, we've been showing both segments separately, and we can see that the wet segment is a bit more difficult right now. So we have to continue developing products, a competitive development, as we have robust go-to-market strategies, the products that work for both segments, the value segment, with assisted purchase, with a higher average ticket, with better margins, and specialized stores and designed products, products with a better finish, and we're very competent at doing that. But also, since we're big, we also need to occupy other segments, just like we did with wood.
Here it seems like we found the best operational model for sanitary ware. We're in a very good position right now. As we're gaining relevance in the market, as we see stronger sell-out sales, as we have a higher regional presence in the north of Brazil, the entire back end, so launches, operational models, trade marketing is all ready for that. We're still seeing very confusing demand scenarios. There are ups and downs. We haven't seen the improvement that we expected, but this is related to the effects of our inventories. Occupation levels are low, but they're still above the market. We have some cash initiatives at the end of the year with many competitors selling. This confounds the scenario, but I would say that we are prepared to go to 2025 with very competitive conditions in ceramic tiles.
Okay, thank you.
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The next question will be asked by Mr. Rafael Barcellos from Bradesco BBI. Go ahead.
Good morning. Congratulations for your results. First of all, I'd like to congratulate the company for its succession process. Congratulations, Raul. Good luck with this new position, and I know that this will only happen, in fact, in April, so we still have Investor Day, the fourth quarter results, but I'd like to thank you for your interactions and congratulate you for this transition. I have a couple of direct questions here so that we focus on the main points that I have. First, the material fact you had last night about the forestry assets. I understand that this is something that will still be discussed at the end of the month in the General Assembly, but if you can give us some more details.
I know that the company wants to share a minority stake of these assets to gain flexibility and to accelerate deleveraging, so I'd just like to understand the rationale behind it, if that's it, and obviously, the magnitude of this, if you could tell us how many hectares, the magnitude of this business, so that we can understand the potential deceleration and deleveraging of the company. Secondly, the wood panel division. We saw some interesting price initiatives in the market. Your prices are stronger than expected, so how much of this was an increase? How much of it was the mix, and how much will be carried over to the next quarter, and if your price initiatives have changed, and if you see any opportunities in the short term. Thank you.
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We usually make use of all the opportunities we have to use our resources and to find the best structure for the company. As I mentioned, this is a corporate move. We try to make things transparent. E a gente está falando de uma ordem de grandeza bastante restrita. It's a very restricted order of magnitude here, about 6%, 7% of our biological assets. It's a small amount right now, and we don't intend to do anything bigger than that. It's an opportunity that we're seeing to make this move specifically to address this point.
There's still a discussion in an assembly, and of course, this may have consequences later on. Usually, we talk about things that put into risk the balance of the corporation and the company's self-sufficiency in wood. This just gives you a little bit more color. I hope that. Passar agora ao Victor, your question. I can complement your second question on the wood division and price competitiveness. Rafael, thank you for that question.
Conversam sobre política comercial e os movimentos de preço. Já faz algum tempo que a gente não tem optado por fazer aumentos.
There's been some time since we have had increases for all products across all segments. It's hard to say the average price is what really reflects this process, but there were lines in which we had two-digit increases in the last four months.
A lot of it has already been implemented. So some of it will be carried over for the fourth quarter, but it's not significant at all. We continue to pay attention, but we know that there's a limit. We've been seeing that there are limits for these changes in prices, which doesn't mean for the beginning of the year or for early next year that we don't have the need to adjust other things, especially when it comes to wood. And as we're seeing, this is a reality in the market right now. We can never forget that there's a consumer on the other side who is going to buy our products. So there needs to be a balance. De fato. What seems to be more consistent and solid is that it's not just Dexco that has this cost issue.
Reposicionamento parece ser pouco mais racional.
Repositioning seems to be a bit more rational, as I mentioned, when it comes to our competitors. So there is some price pressure. We see some stability. The end of the year is a good seasonal moment, right? October or November. There's Black Friday, and you have to restock the industry. Thank you.
Thank you, everyone.
Nossa próxima pergunta.
The next question will be asked by Ricardo Monegaglia from Safra. Go ahead, sir.
Bom dia a todos.
Good morning, everyone.
Faço das palavras dos meus colegas as minhas. Parabéns, Antônio e Raul.
Thank you. Congratulations, Antônio and Raul.
Tenho duas perguntas. Primeiro, em LD Celulose, queria parabenizar pela nova estrutura de financiamento.
So I'd like to congratulate you on LD Celulose, on profitability and the profitability you had. But I'd like to hear a bit more about the dividends from now on. What can we expect?
Are you going to concentrate the distribution on one payment a year? How much will come from this? So if we should expect minimal dividends or if you have any distribution levels above the regulatory level, that's my first question. My second question is about the portfolio, about your segment portfolio. Your decision to step away from electric showers seems to be correct, but I'd like to see if there are other opportunities to restructure your portfolio and optimize your ROIC. And where do you see the most opportunities in this operation? So thank you.
Thank you for the questions. I'll split my answer into two so that we make this very clear.
When it comes to LD, the relevant things that we have in policy and the strategy that we've been adopting, as you know, there's a number of restrictions due to the risk for these investors and banks and so on since the project was started being discussed, so we saw an opportunity of having a transition. LD starts to generate results, it had already been generating cash since the first moment. LD had been generating cash for a long time and was being consumed by the demands in volume growth and then the amortization of this cash flow. With the new strategy, we have more reliable dividends. We imagine that the first payment will be in 2026 with a small value, and in 2026, 2027, it will accelerate slightly.
But we're creating the best conditions so that if it continues performing above expectations, we will have positive perspectives for LD from the market and cost perspective. And if this can be accelerated, we'll see better results once it's deleveraged. So there's a smaller magnitude, and we're going to disconnect from a number of limits that we had before. We have some questions when it comes to consortium, but our strategy is still solid and consistent, and it continues growing. We're now working with dividend policies of once a year with the level we had before. And this is above the legal limits, and we don't see any changes to that currently. I think our shareholders understand this current moment.
They understand the need of deleveraging with the instruments we have and ensuring that the operations provide the returns that we need by deleveraging, by capturing the results from these events. And again, we're not expecting any significant changes for the next three or four years that justify any changes to the policy. And this coincides with LD's response because right now there's nothing too relevant that we're expecting in the foreseeable horizon. And we'll answer the question about the portfolio now. Both sides. The Deca brand has a lot of space in our company, so we're trying to push the envelope for it in the different environments we have. A lot of this is done organically with new products and new segments and the possibility of testing the limits of this brand. So we're always paying attention to this kind of thing organically or inorganically.
We're developing products and paying attention and seeing if, and you'll see this in the next launches next year, there will be new things, different products in our portfolio, which will be complementary. Now, looking at something a little bit more structural, I think we have a very good asset base. As you saw, we stepped away from our Queimados plant, which had structural issues. This had a positive result to our sanitary ware division in 2024. We know how quickly we can respond to the demand if there's an acceleration. So we continue with the equipment from Queimados that can be transferred to a different unit so that we can accelerate this model and supply for the demand. So we've been actively working on our operations plans. Many things are mapped.
From now on, if we have any other adjustments, it will be about our utilization capacity so that we can better use our assets. Nothing has been decided, but we have conversation and analysis cycles that take place every so often. And we're paying attention to the opportunities that might appear and that might be aligned with our portfolio, our current portfolio. But I can tell you with confidence that there's still a lot to extract from the assets we have available in operation or not in operation, right? We also have a tile plant in the south that is stopped that can be turned on at any point. And this operation can also be combined with other operations. So we're going to see a lot of capital allocation responsibility. Francisco mentioned that we're close to the end of this major investment cycle.
We're always paying attention to the investments that are clearly positive and that can really accelerate how much we capture synergies and efficiency from the market. Wood is a great example of that. We started right before the COVID pandemic, and then during the COVID pandemic, we continued at 10% of the cost of a new plant. We gained a new line. So this is something that we're always looking at in our strategic conversations. Thank you.
A sessão de perguntas e respostas está encerrada.
This concludes the questions and answers session. We will now give the floor to Mr. Antônio Joaquim, the CEO, for his closing remarks.
Thank you for being here, everyone. Thank you for your questions. It's a special day for the company. We're going to have more opportunities to talk about new plans and all of the processes involved with the succession later on.
We're very happy to experience this in the rest of the year. We'll not have many surprises. I'd like to mention again something that we didn't discuss very deeply, but exchanges, barters. You know, we're concerned about the spike in interest rates, but we'll keep an eye on this because it will make a scenario a bit cloudier. With interest levels so high, at some point, we will need new investments, and there can be a contraction in the consumer market, which depends so much on credit. So we'll try to curb that somehow, but high inflation has consequences. We'll need to keep an eye on that, and we're focused on this for the next months. Adapting the portfolio, costs, expenses.
And we have to remind you that our goal is to try to capture as much of the investments we've made right now and to try to deleverage the company. This is very important. So for the next years, we should expect a higher profitability in operations, deleveraging in the cost line, and also the top line, which is so important. It's still difficult, and we hope to improve later on. So thank you. Have a good day. And once again, thank you for being here. Obrigado por conferir.