Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for waiting. Welcome to Helbor's fourth quarter 2021 earnings conference call. This webcast is being recorded and simultaneously translated. If you need translation, we have a tool available with a global icon called Interpretation, located at the bottom of the screen. Then, there you can choose the language you prefer, Portuguese or English. For those listening to the conference in English, there is an option to mute the original audio. Participants will only watch and listen to this webcast during the company's presentation. Later, we will open for the Q&A session. If you need to ask a question or if you need help, please use the Q&A icon on the bottom of your screen.
Before proceeding, we would like to inform that any statements made during this webcast related to the company's business perspectives, projections, and operational and financial goals are based on beliefs and assumptions of Helbor's management and on information currently available to the company. Forward-looking statements are not guarantee of performances. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they relate to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that can, may, or may not occur. General economic conditions, the industry conditions, and other operational factors can lead to future results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Now, I will turn the floor to Mr. Henry Borenstein, President. Henry, please, you have the floor.
Good afternoon for those who follow this webcast. With our Sales Director, Marcelo Bonanata, our Financial and Investor Relations Director, Franco Gerodetti, we are here to share with you the results of the company in the first quarter of 2022. I would like to highlight that 2022 started with good operational and financial indicators, reinforcing the continuous retake of the positive results generated by the company that has strengthened and is evolving every quarter. Sales of ready units continue at the scheduled pace. We launched four developments representing a net GDV of BRL 750 million. Two of them are of very high standard, reinforcing our portfolio in this segment. This year, our efforts continue to sell ready unit sales, continue to contribute the reduction of the leverage level of the company. We will continue to be attentive to the macroeconomic and market indicators before taking decisions in relation to projects that we plan to launch during this year.
Our focus will be to keep the company with high margins and consequently, consistent returns. I would like also to thank on behalf of Helbor, for confidence from our investors over the years and reaffirming our commitment to the business model and value generation to the shareholders and the companies being one of the highest levels in this sector with a responsible and transparent management. Before closing, I would like to highlight one more event. Só Helbor Tem. Only Helbor has on May 21 and 22 to reduce the inventory of ready units and units in construction. This event will provide special conditions and exclusive offers. This event will reinforce, once again, the company's commitment to reduce its leverage and the generation of positive results. Now, Franco Gerodetti and Marcelo Bonanata will share with you the main operational and financial results.
Thank you. Going quickly, we will dip in this during the presentation. We reached BRL 325 million in total gross sales. In this value, 63.7% are for the inventory trade. Of them, 46.9% are ready units. This means we are continuing with a strong focus on ready unit sales. Total VSO was 9.2% and launch 15.7%. We had BRL 150 million of repasses in relation to the last quarter. In this quarter, we did not have any delivery. The net operational revenue was at BRL 211 million in the quarter. Our gross margin reached 28% in the first quarter, 4.3 BPs above the first quarter of 2021. Showing the trend we've been talking with you to increase the gross margin of the company. Our net profit was BRL 11 million . Keeping the tendance of a positive result.
I'll give the floor to Marcelo, who will talk about our operational development.
Thank you, everybody. Good afternoon. Our total land bank is BRL 9 billion. We have BRL 5.9 billion of the Helbor share with 39 projects concentrated in the Southeast Region in the city of São Paulo, where we have a high concentration. You can see our diversification, especially in relation to the regions on this map. We are present in the best neighborhoods of the city. Jardins, Moema, Chácara Santo Antônio. 30 years ago, a survey was released with the best and prime addresses in São Paulo. Of the five best ones, we have three developments in three of these addresses. Showing the quality of our land bank.
Most importantly, this is scattered in places with a great mobility, which is a great value in the city of São Paulo, BRL 6.6 million and Helbor share BRL 3.6 billion. In the next slide, we see the launch in this year. As Henry mentioned, we had four launches and two in very high standard. We have some high and very high standards like Casa Vila Nova. These are iconic that we launched in the first quarter. One is the Helbor Jardins por Artefacto and the other Figueira Leopoldo. The last land in Rua Leopoldo Magalhães. Very high standard. This accounts for 30. These two developments are above the curve of our units. We also launched another phase of Reserva Caminhos da Lapa with this coordination of a higher meter area, and this 33% correspond to March 30. Today, we have sold more.
Caminhos da Lapa, I always reinforce to say this is a development that is a new neighborhood in the Lapa's neighborhood. We are transforming this area, contributing to the development of the city. Helbor My Way Guanabara in the city of Campinas. Development of one and two bedrooms in March, 70% has been sold. Today, much more. It is really surprising the speed of sales. It was really above our expectations. Now talking about higher sales. We closed it with BRL 305 million in relation to the first quarter of 2021. We have an increase of 1%. In the fourth quarter of 2021, we have an increase of 26%. Next slide, please. In Helbor share for contracted sales, we had an increase of 13% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 and a drop of 8% compared to the first quarter of 2021.
Which is important to say here is the topology sales. It is well-balanced, selling well our ready unit stock, but gaining more in developments in construction and also with a good performance concerning launchings. This is the division by type. Our VSO was of 8.8, almost in line with what happened in the fourth quarter. Now we have our inventory. Our total stock of BRL 3.2 million and only 24% did a great drop in relation to last year. Of this, we had BRL 507 million of BW. We are getting to lower levels and then the distribution of our inventory with the launches of 2019, 2020, and 2021, and the inventory being healthier, so to say. Much more balanced inventory. In relation to its distribution, it's important to say the concentration we have in the Southeast, much more diversified, specifically in the city of São Paulo.
It's worth mentioning that we are working on the high and very high level. Because we see the momentum in the country for this standard, different from the other income ranges. We have a concentration of 79% of our stock in the city of São Paulo. Now, we'll have Franco that will share the financial data.
Our net operational revenue, we had a 12% drop in relation to 2021 and 34.7% in increase. We always have a longer perspective of 12 months. Quarter after quarter, we have a very good value in line with what we were expecting. This slide, we've been showing this recurrently, and once again, we prove in numbers the increase in gross margin that we announced as we sell our legacy. It changes the mix of revenue, and we see our margin increasing. This is a positive point.
This is what we call a new cycle for projects launched as of 2019, bringing a margin of 30% and a legacy of 16.3%. Another point to highlight in this slide, we had margins that we reached at 28%. We kept these margins. This is also a reoccurring question that people ask us. What explains Helbor being able to keep this, we see this sector showing slightly lower margins. This is because of the outsourcing of our construction. It is a closed price, and this difference is on behalf of the construction company. Our margin, we see the same level in that last quarters, and this will be contributing to our gross margin increase. This other slide showing VGV. As I always say, the company is very well controlled.
Specifically in a year with high inflation, it is important to control the expenses, and we are being successful in this. An increase below 5% in relation to the first quarter of 2021, and in this last quarter, is slightly bigger, but with expenses that did not happen in the fourth quarter, but in line with what we are expecting for 2022. This is the slide we've been showing frequently our net results. The trend is the same. We have two years of positive results. The exception was the quarter during the pandemic, but we are improving our net results. Indebtedness. It is up to the same level. Since this is a year with very few deliveries and we have advances in some important developments, we expect the indebtedness to be in the same level over this year.
In 2023, maybe we will see a drop in this indebtedness. Our cash burn, we see the results based in inputs of SPEs in development of projects. A more relevant part referring to CapEx. We consider, and when I say this CapEx to continue with our launches, we see this cash burn, but within what was scheduled. Basically that is it. Thank you.
We are now going to open the Q&A session. If you have a question, please use the Q&A. Okay. Thank you. Our first question is from Carlos Ferreira. Thank you, Carlos, for your participation and for your questions. Well, with the advance of the launches, how do you see the leverage level? The second question, is there any increase in the default because of the financial situation of the country? Third, how can we see the reduction in our legacy?
Well, first, thank you for the question. Concerning the leverage. This year is a year of very few deliveries, only two. But next year we will have a strong cash generation because we will deliver more developments. With the advance of these new launches, what we are expecting for this year is to take it from the Plano Empresário to new developments, but we will have a reduction in the other debt lines. By the end of the year, our leverage will be at the same level or slightly below. Next year, it will decrease. Also about default because of the economic situation of the country. Well Carlos, we haven't seen this in a significant way. Our default levels are very in line with 2021 and very similar to mutual agreements. We have a very low number for mutual rescission.
We haven't seen any negative signs, but we are always looking at it, the financial and commercial management. But up to now, we are keeping the same level of last year. The receivables portfolio is very healthy. This has to do with the products that were launched very well located in São Paulo. Hold back during the launching, they are also making money because most of them, they were a sales success. This also contributes for this healthy portfolio we have. Again, we are focusing on high and very high standards, and we understand that this portfolio is okay for that.
The third question was about the legacy inventory. How we intend to reduce. Carlos, we had a great reduction in our legacy. We are decreasing them. We had three projects that were combo hotels, and we had a great difficulty because hotels were not generating any revenue. It was very difficult to sell them, but by the end of last year, we changed for commercial, and in February, we revert another one that is also residential. The last in the city of Santos that we are still in negotiations to change it, revert it. These three developments that were on hold, which is part of this legacy, we are now having a focus work and we think that by the end of this year, we will be very close to eliminate this legacy inventory.
Our next question is from Bruno Mendonça from Bradesco. Thank you, Bruno. How is the appetite for launches of premium projects in the Faria Lima region? With the high increase in construction costs, was there any relevant change?
Well, Bruno, the best example that we have is the next launch of Leopoldo. We are happy to be on one of the most desired addresses of that neighborhood. This is a real increase, of course, but the valuation of this region was really big. We have one example that is important. We launched W Residences at the end of 2019. That opened with a price in that region, and W today is in a reality that the region increased its price. Figueira, for instance, is about BRL 45,000 the square meter. This is the value of that works in that region. In terms of feasibility, as Franco mentioned, we contracted with closed price. The increases is hard with us. If we can pass on this new price is in this high-level region. We see prices in region of Faria Lima above BRL 45,000 .
Our next question is from Bruno Tomazetto from BTG Pactual. Can you comment about the sales of the second quarter? Can you also comment about the expectations for the launch of Fazenda Rodeio Thank you.
Well, the second quarter started very aligned with the first quarter, that we think it was a good sales quarter. We had the events of Só Helbor Tem in the city of São Paulo and Só Helbor Tem in the city of Mogi das Cruzes. We are doing a strong work with the commercial developments with the pace of sales that we were unable to get last year. We are working hard, but we are getting the results. In 2020, right after the pandemic, we were at a very strong speed, but we did not drop or reduce this velocity. The answers are coming.
People see that this volatility is dangerous, and people like to invest in real estate because it is a safe investment. Well, this is an electoral year, and in these years, people prefer to invest in real estate. We have a great expectation for Fazenda Rodeio, not only for the buyers, but the city of Mogi. This is the hype subject. Everybody is asking when it will be, and it is a great expectations. Everybody waiting for this. We are working on this very strong to have the final approval and entering with the registration. We think that very, very soon we will have the convention to start the prospection of this launch that will be the greatest launch of the city in São Paulo. Fazenda Rodeio, we are analyzing another phase.
We have a project to get this permitted for more lots, and if the market answers properly, we shall launch this next year.
One more question from Bruno Mendonça. Thank you again, Bruno. Where are the greatest challenges to sell the oldest inventories?
Well, the challenge, as I mentioned in the beginning, we had a concentration of hotels, which was a large base of our legacy. We had to sell this because this was not performing. Over these three, they have become residential. So we will be free of the great challenge to make these combo hotels to residential units. Commercial, that were also a great challenge. If you see the speed of sales, we were able to sell this much faster in the city of Rio de Janeiro, São Vicente. We decreased the inventory. So I think, Bruno, that the challenge, the greatest difficulty was in the past.
Now is the final spring. If you cannot finish this legacy next year, very few will remain for next year. The legacy inventory accounts for very small part in our total GDV. We are recognizing in the balance sheet the new sales than the legacy.
The next question is from Fábio. He is an investor. He is asking, how is the situation of partnerships with Helbor?
Example, Cinemark with the W, and how these partnerships were affected with the pandemics. This should be directed to HBR . W development that you mentioned. In this development, Helbor's share is a residential development, but the commercial and entertainment part is under HBR's responsibility. Thank you for your question.
The next question is from João Bosco from Master. Thank you, João. Can you give a color about the next launches and the development in Mogi das Cruzes?
Well, about the development, we mentioned how high is the expectations in the region and for us. As Henry said, we are developing the second park with 700 more lots. We have our sales stand ready there, and we will file the registration until the end of this month. We expect to start June and measure the temperature June or July or August. This is well-based and the expectations are very good. We have two projects there that are close to start the advancement. One in São Bernardo, a project that we started last year. We are just waiting for the approval, and we expect to launch another one in the city of São Paulo at Rua Caconde. A wonderful project, almost 5,000 sq m, 800 m far from Parque Ibirapuera.
15 days ago, we started the sales stand, and we also filed the registration at the notary office, and very soon we will have another success with a good perspective for this product. Looking quarter after quarter, we know about the challenge of these years of launch will happen if the market is responding. We are very calm here in the company. We want to have a good sales, a good margin, and do things as they should be done. This is a year that we know the plane is flying, but we have a very dark cloud ahead. This is for professionals. We cannot keep be playing on. These are developments that are worked, so to say. Before going to the next question, Henry mentioned something important. The orientation is, let's get ready, but only start it if you are ready to continue.
We talk about this referring to the development in Campinas. Every day we are working on this. This is very healthy. We had less time. We had to stay some days, and sometimes you lose it, and you do not have any velocity. With this, we shorten this holding period, and today we are selling every day. Today, we went beyond the expected curve. We only go with developments we know that we will have an answer.
Our next question is from André Gevi. Thank you, Gevi. What is your expectation in relation to the gross margin for the next quarters? How the pressure on cost is impacting these margins? Have you been able to adjust prices, and what products absorb this best?
Well, first, the expectations for gross margin is to go in line with the last quarters. If you look at the historical margins of Helbor pre-crisis, it was 30%, 32%, always at this level. Depending on the sales mix, if it was a legacy or a new cycle, our margin can increase, but it will stay like this. The pressure on costs. Again, it is important to highlight our way, our business model, which is a lump sum contract. Again, we saw the impact on the balance sheets of the companies in the sector. But because of our business model, we are in a better situation. Our partners are long-term partners, so it's a proof that this model is working both for Helbor and for them. They have also equity participation. We have this scheme. As for prices and price increase, I think, yes, we were able to adjust some prices.
We mentioned other times that our land bank is very good for very good prices. This is also contributing to margins. The construction cost increased. We felt this, but it is already in the new price. It is a lump sum. But the increase in price for the square meter and together with a very good land bank, this gave us security to see that this margin will be maintained. And who knows, maybe will slightly increase.
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For us, I can mention the name Toledo Ferrari, MTD, Epson, Construcompri. More than 20 years. The risk of construction is on the builder, but they also have a participation in the development, because in a moment like this works. Sometimes they can gain less in building, but they have the stake in the incorporation that gives a benefit. This model is of today, but in the past was different. We want to keep our margin, our gross margin of 30%-35%. There are some moments that are better for the builder and others for the incorporation. The great differential is that Helbor knows how to work with outsourced builders and who to hire. These are partners, long-term partners.
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We have another question from João Bosco about how the sales of the second quarter are. We answered. The next is Marcos Antônio de Carvalho. Reinforcing the question of Carlos Ferreira, I'd like you to comment about the quality of the receivables of the company, since you have two installments of about BRL 120 million.
Well, Marcos, this value here, to make it clear, is almost the total. Some legal suits that we have with the clients, the value is kept in the portfolio, but in most cases, the real estate returned to Helbor and was resold. But due to legal requirements, we cannot do anything until the suit, the process is closed. Okay?
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The question is from Fábio, an investor. What is the price perspective for the Pinheiros region in the next years?
Pinheiros had a great evaluation. We divide Pinheiros in two sides. Above Rua Henrique Schaumann, Arthur de Azevedo, Alves Guimarães, and the lower part. Two, three years ago, it was about BRL 14,000, BRL 15,000. We launched two developments in Pinheiros. Wide that is ready now. We launched at BRL 14,000, I'm not sure. Today it's about BRL 20,000. We had the Supreme as well, that we launched about BRL 16,000, BRL 17,000 at Joaquim Antunes Street. The value is BRL 22,000. Pinheiros in this part of Joaquim Antunes where we have Wide, it is about BRL 20,000, BRL 22,000. The other part of Pinheiros, it's in the range of BRL 17,000, BRL 18,000. This is a reality today.
Since we have no more questions, I'd like to remind you that we address all the questions we receive. Please feel free to ask the questions. I'd like to close saying that this next weekend, we will have another Só Helbor Tem event. It will be the centennial event. It's the largest event of real estate in the country. We had this in more than 25 cities in the country, always with a performance above expected. The salespeople waiting for this event, the clients understanding what we offer in this event. Very high expectations in the city of São Paulo this weekend and in the next weekend in the city of Mogi das Cruzes. Then we will have the 101 edition of this event. We invite you at Brigadeiro Faria Lima where we have Octavio Café.
We'll be there working on weekends, of course, and waiting for you if you want to visit us. Ladies and gentlemen, with this, we close our presentation. Henry, any final considerations?
Thank you for participating in this webcast. Thank you all the employees, and once again, another event. One more Só Helbor Tem. Thank you very much. Thank you.