Hello. Good morning. I'm Priscila Grecco, CFO of Itaúsa. Welcome to the Focus On Results. This is the first session organized in this live format, and we're going to share with you the financial results of the first quarter of 2022. First half, sorry. It's a great pleasure to be in this event with Alfredo Setubal, our President and Investor Relations Director at Itaúsa. Good morning. Welcome, Alfredo.
Good morning, Priscila. It's a pleasure to be here with you and all the other shareholders, investors, analysts.
Thank you for watching this live transmission. We are here on Avenida Paulista. This is what you saw on the short video that you saw in the beginning of this introduction. This is the headquarters of Itaúsa. It is a very important building here in the history of São Paulo. We are here in the studio of Itaú Cultural, which is also located on Avenida Paulista. I hope that you enjoy this event. Let's go. We have a couple of announcements for housekeeping. In order to have more transparency and be closer to you, investors and shareholders, so in this event, we decided to open the doors to welcome all of you in this new format that seeks to share our performance and also our portfolio.
We also plan to have more dialogue with you and have an open access to all of you. We'd like to invite you all to send your questions to our Q&A box. It is on the platform of this broadcast. It's on the right of the screen. For those who are watching us through the cell phone, you just have to click on the icon that has question mark icon. You can also interact with us by sending your comments and suggestions and criticism through Twitter. We are also monitoring everything that is going on on Twitter. Use this hashtag, ResultadosItaúsa, and they will also be shown here during this live transmission. In this broadcast, we also have simultaneous interpretation into English. You can have access to it if you just click on EN on the lower bar that you have on your screen.
Okay? This is it. Let's start. On the first session, we're going to cover several topics. We're gonna speak about the business environment, also results of the first semester, structure of capital and liquidity management, income, which is something that also generates a lot of questions from our shareholders, capital allocation and management of portfolio, ESG agenda, and then the Q&A session. To start up or to start off, Alfredo, before we just come to the results and show the Itaúsa's performance and also from our initiatives, I would like to speak about the environment of business. What is everything that was behind the first semester?
Thank you, Priscila. Well, I think that the business environment was very challenging the first semester of this year. We could see that high inflation was affecting here in Brazil and also other countries, and this affected the performance of our companies because of the high inflation rate and high inflation, high interest rate. Products or the most basic products also suffered a lot because of this. An increase in the interest rate also affected it greatly, and it also affected the consumption. You know, there is also a default that also increased. I think the environment is very challenging, but I think that by and large, we have done very well. The bank has grown.
The companies in general, even though they have suffered from the inflation rate, especially the industry, there was also reduction in the margin, and also there was a reduction in products that are very much connected with consumption. Income has also lowered. In the portfolio, we have companies that are leading their segments and their industries, and this has helped us in terms of resilience. These are companies that have very good capital. They have very good resources. In general, the performance of our portfolio was very favorable by taking into account all the circumstances that we have lived in Brazil and also abroad. We have shown resilience and also financial consistency, not only Itaúsa, but also from our other companies.
Okay, let's have a look at this macroeconomic context. Let's see how they translate into numbers. The first semester we had a growth of nearly 30%, BRL 6.8 billion in terms of recurrent and net profit, and this leads to a growth of 20.5%, which is a very solid growth compared to the previous semester. Net equity, this has shown a growth of 10%. It has reached BRL 67.5 billion in the semester, and the market value of assets have reached BRL 96.3 billion in this semester. Alfredo Setubal, I would like you. Well, given this landscape, how has this translated in terms of Itaúsa's performance in the capital market? Can you speak a little bit about that?
Well, traditionally, Itaúsa has shown very consistent results, and they're also very good. Historically, the performance of our shares have been going through different ups and downs in the different cycles, but the performance has been very favorable in the short and the long run. Historically, we give return higher than the Bovespa. This is what you can see on the screen. It shows that has been good. It has been better than the index. Year to date, we have in 2022 has also been good, and this year has been much above the index. Itaú Unibanco is the leader, where we have a greater interest. The other companies where we have also an investment in the last five years. The portfolio has shown very, very solid, and the market has recognized this with the good performance of our shares in the market.
Another topic that is very much connected with this is the discount.
We received, I can see here, that we received a question from the audience, Gustavo Andrade. He would like to know more about the level of discount of Itaúsa and what is our view in terms of what is a fair discount.
Well, at Itaúsa, we consider that the discounts are very high. There is no technical justification for that. The companies are very consistent, and they are growing. They have shown good results in the last few years. They have been very well. There is no objective reason from the perspective of a technical explanation or the results. I believe that one of the reasons that this discount has increased because it was around 20% and now it has come to 24 or 25 depending on the day. I think this is an adjustment of the market because of the dividends. We're going to talk more about this later on. Based on the conjecture and also the investments in our companies, the flow of dividends in the holding company has also decreased and of course, it is also mirrors what we paid in terms of dividends to our shareholders.
The discount has been around 24%. I agree that it is a little bit accelerated, exaggerated, but we want to have it drop into 20% and later on, we want it to come to 15%.
Now, I would like to move on to the next part, where we speak about. Well, now that we have just given you an overview of everything that happened in the first semester, we also spoke about the devaluation of Itaúsa. I would like to call the attention of people about the breakdown of the net earnings of Itaúsa. We have here their own result, which is, you know, based on all the strategy that we have implemented, and this has also been relevant to our earnings.
We have closed with BRL 6.8 billion reals in recurrent net profit, which is something that we can mirror to what we have reported the previous year. You can see that below it, which is the 30%. This is the breakdown of these earnings. Great part of that comes from our initiatives, nearly BRL 6.2 billion . This is for equivalence of equity. But here we have other components, which is the own result, which is administrative costs of Itaúsa and also taxes and expenses. But it also mirrors a capital gain based on transactions of sales of assets that I will detail further on. This also impacts the selling of XP shares. This is financial result.
We are also going to detail this later on because this is the result of all the leverage initiative that we have implemented. This semester, we had BRL 250 of expenses because of all the debentures. There was an increase of Selic rate, which also led to these great expenses, especially related to the debentures that we have issued in the last few years. Now speaking about our own result. As I said, the result before was equivalent to BRL 169, and now we have a positive number of nearly BRL 900. There is a component that is very important, which is the selling of the XP companies. There were two transfers of sales, but this is the result of the first semester.
This is just one of them, which was in March 2022, the shares that we sold. This represents a capital gain of BRL 1.2 billion. These are the tax expenses. This is our expenses related to PIS and Cofins and especially of Itaú Unibanco. In terms of administrative expenses, we have a lot of material related to the core business. These are the expenses that are always here, especially when we hire new consultants. I would like to speak about our financial expenses.
As Alfredo said, we have had an evolution of that, especially when it has to do with an increase of this leak rate that contributed to an increase by BRL 100 million and also with the fourth issuance of the ventures that we should in mid the last year to have more resources to buy shares in Aagea. This has contributed to the increase of our expenses. In this semester, we have a total of BRL 250 billion . Later on, I will speak about the strategy of our capital structure. Now, this is the evolution of our results of the initiatives. I'd just like to remind you that the variation compared to what we reported in 2021 is shown here.
We have BRL 5 billion and now we have closed this semester with nearly BRL 6 billion or BRL 6.2 billion. This means 14% increase, and this is pretty much related to what Alfredo said before. This shows how strong the companies are, especially considering the challenging context we are living in this semester. Part of this growth, when we see Itaú Unibanco that has had a very good performance the first semester, robust growth of a credit portfolio, and it is also has impacted all the profit margin with the clients. I think that the other lines of results are also very consistent. This is also offset by the cost of credit and default.
XP, we had a recognition of six months of results compared to the previous year in which we had only one month. Here we can normalize results. NTS, as you know, we do not do any equity equivalence. This is a financial asset. Every quarter we make a new evaluation of the assets, and this is very much impacted by the inflation rate indicators, especially for long-term agreements that a company has. In this semester, it was heavily impacted by the devaluation of this asset, and it was a fair value. Copa Energia, this semester was very important in terms of results, and it reflects the recovery of margins after a sequence of increases of the cost of their major products, which is the LPG.
LPG has also come to a normal position, especially as a result of the last initiative. Alpargatas has shown a decrease compared to last year. 2021 was a company where they showed record results. This has shown how the market has shrank, and it has also been affected by the heavily or the high inflation rate, especially on raw material. Now we have BRL 6.2 billion in results. Alfredo, I would like you to make comments on all these platforms and what people can expect in the second semester. What would you like to highlight here?
Well, in a nutshell, I can say that all the results of these companies have been disclosed and have also been in the media and commented by analysts. In the case of Itaú Unibanco, I would like to say that the result has been very consistent, much above in terms of quality compared to last year. I think that the numbers have been very solid in increase of revenue and margins with clients and business margins. The services have also grown a lot. Something important is that for the first time in its history, the bank has reached an efficiency index of 39%. We have dropped, or we have come below 40. The lower it is, the better it is. This is cost over revenue. The better the efficiency, the better the earnings.
The year was very good in terms of income, quality, credit and costs. We are still focused on two major components of the strategy of the bank, which is client focus and use more of technology. We have 13,000 people that are totally dedicated to technology, and we have been transferring all our systems and applications to the cloud. We want to have 60% of everything in the cloud by the end of this year, which will also allow to reduce the gaps that we have compared to fintechs and other companies that are much more focused on some products. I think that the semester was very good, for Itaú Unibanco.
Now, moving on to the other two more traditional companies in our portfolio. Let us start with Dexco. As you said, Dexco had the best results last year. That was the best result in its history. It was really an exceptional, extraordinary period, especially in the growth of civil construction. This year, because of the interest rate and everything, of course, you know, everything is being more impacted. From the point of view of sales, there was also a deceleration of the economy. The company is doing well in terms of results and especially in terms of the EBITDA. You know, even though with a loss or a drop in revenue, they have had a very good cash flow, especially with regard to what we expected it to have, especially because of the mix of products. I think that we have a good mix in the most basic products.
The other ones, the more sophisticated ones, they have shown great resilience. This is where they have better products. Something that has not been giving enough light is our operations of cellulose. These operations, it started in April this year and is still being developed in terms of production. Lenzing is an Austrian company. We have 49% of the company. They have the control of it. We're going to have a result by an equity equivalence. Until December we want this cellulose company to be at full operation. You know, it is still growing production. Next year we're gonna have a full production of LD, and this will of course be mirrored in our results. We want to have positive results this year, because the production of this company is sold to LD. Which is Lenzing. They will buy all the production of LD.
Next year we have to say that, you know, we're gonna have very good results in this area of cellulose. Now, with our expansion plans, we have announced it last year. We have BRL 2.5 billion for the next two and a half years, and we are accomplishing it by increasing our capacity. Then in the medium long run, we want to see the recovery of the civil construction segment. Alpargatas has also faced a very challenging landscape like just like Dexco. Alpargatas today is a company that is basically focused on Havaianas, the sandals, and also the other accessories. It was also impacted by the crisis here in Brazil and also abroad. I think that, you know, it has a fantastic brand, and it has shown good results, you know, despite the conjuncture.
Rothy's is an American company of sustainable shoes that we bought. This is something to be highlighted. They also produce accessories that are also sustainable. This is our startup. It is still growing, and we believe that it will also contribute not only to internationalize the brand, but also to improve revenue of Alpargatas. Next year we expect this company to show very good results or positive results. I think that we're doing well. In terms of Copa Energia, I think that last year we were still looking for synergy and integration between Copagaz and Liquigás. This year they have been better. They have recovered their margins, and they also have a better cash flow now.
We are working on the business plan with them in terms of reducing the indebtedness of this company, which was 6x the EBITDA when we made the transaction. Now we want to come to less than 4. We are deleveraging the process in this company. As to Aegea, this is a company in which we bought a 10% interest in. It is a great private player, and it is a major platform in terms of sanitation. It has been growing. We bought during the bidding process of CEDAE, we bought two blocks. The company is also in the deleveraging process. They are doing well.
We believe a lot that they will bring very good results, not only financially, but also benefit to the society in terms of, public health improvements and the depollution of the rivers and also the Guanabara Bay. By and large has been well. The companies are very resilient, and the earnings are very good, you know, considering the conjuncture today. I think that this will continue in the second semester.
Excellent, Alfredo. Good prospects for our portfolio. It has shown how resilient and strong they are.
Yes, and probably next year we also have CCR. We are also going to mention that later. This is the platform of mobility that we are now, buying 10% interest. NTS, everyone knows that that also produce a lot of cash flow. We have received dividends at high CPs in everything that we invest in 2017. They have been giving good return and also good cash flow. Yes, considering the numbers that we have shown, a valuation of BRL 18 million compared to the fair value that we paid for this company.
I'd just like to remind you to send your questions through our Q&A session. We have received more than 100 questions.
Yeah, this is a good sign, isn't it?
Yes, we have a lot of people just watching us right now. Now let's move on to the next session. This is a topic that is very important to us. Alfredo, I think that something that has been monitored by the market is our capital structure and also the evolution in terms of leverage. Now we're gonna speak about this and how we manage liquidity of our liabilities. We have always had more cash flow. You may remember this. We have always had more of third parties interest in our structure. This has increased to 7.1%. This means that this is still a percentage that is very solid and healthy. And it's also very significant in terms of our own capital. Now, the thing is, where do resources come from? How is this or how can this impact dividends? I just would like to show you this.
The data we have of BRL 8.1 billion. We have the portfolio in the market that has a value of BRL 96.3 billion, which is highly liquid, and this is our interest in XP. This is a non-strategic asset, as we have said before, but our interest in terms when we consider the prices by the analysts of market, we have come to BRL 9.1 billion in estimated market value. Now, what is the amortization that we have seen for this? Starting this year, we have started the amortization of the debentures issued in 2017, and we have an annual schedule for this. When we consider the cash that we have today of BRL 2.4 billion and more money that we can have from the sale of XP, this amounts to BRL 11.6 million to pay the debt.
This is more than enough to pay the BRL 8.1 billion of debt that we have, and we also gonna have a surplus. I think that this is a very comfortable situation to us, right, Alfredo? When we consider the profile of our debt, we have a period of 4.5 years, so this is something very attractive and CDI 1.43 per annum, and this shows how Itaúsa's liquidity is very established in the markets, is very comfortable.
Yes, I think that management of investments has been very good. We have tried to make very solid investments in order to have a bigger cash flow. Over the next few years, we as companies deleverage and also grow in terms of investments from non-financial companies. I think this is good news. I think then we have the opportunity over the next few years, we of course, considering the amortization flow that we have, I think that we can still just perform the initiatives, considering XP.
When the bank announced the spin-off of XP, of course, it is a non-strategic investment. It's not that we don't like it. It is a company that has shown good results. It has grown over the years. We see that investment as something good. It has also contributed greatly with our results. The issue that we see is because it is a non-strategic investment of Itaúsa, and Itaúsa has sought to diversify its portfolio in order to have non-financial companies in its portfolio, and XP is a non-strategic asset. This is why, over the years, we want to sell it in order to comply with our rules of amortization, also to reduce our level of indebtedness. We can see that this is like a liquid coin.
Every time we have to sell something, we see what has higher demand. This is why I think that we are very good in terms of liquidity and cash flow. We also expect dividends of CB to increase from these non-financial companies. They are all going to increase in next few years.
We have a lot to speak, but now we have Alfredo. I think that this is the session that is the most important one and we have had lots of questions and comments on this on the social media. Major part of the comments that we have received is related to income. On the platform, we have received more than 100 comments related to this. I just would like to mention Bruno 373, Marceliano, Marcelo Lima, Diego Bandeira, Costin. Several companies have sent their questions to us. I think this is a good moment for us to explain what policy that we use, what has been our practice, why some numbers have been dropping, what can we share with them?
This is a very important topic because Itaúsa has always been regarded as a company that had very good dividend payment, and there has been a decrease in this flow for our shareholders. Let's explain to them what has been our practice and how we see dividends and JCP. It is important to say that according to the bylaws, Itaúsa distributes 25% of its earnings minimum. Of course, in some periods it has been different, it has been higher than that. Right now, basically we are just complying with the bylaws.
Now, we have quarter payments, and the bank pays monthly, and we just pay on a quarterly basis to our shareholders. This is what we receive from Itaú Unibanco. This is our general practice. Itaúsa practices in the last decades, a transfer to our shareholders. Everything that we received in terms of dividends and JCPs from Itaú Unibanco. The rest of dividends that we distribute from non-financial companies is used to pay taxes and expenses of the holding company and so on. This is the breakdown and the policy that we have adopted in the last years. We have annual payments apart from the quarterly ones. We pay dividends in August and also in February. Usually we just complement the quarter payments this way.
Yesterday we have announced during the board meeting, dividends that has been approved to be paid in August. These are the three components. Now, let's see the behavior of this in the history of Itaúsa. Here we can see that the payout of Itaúsa over the years was of 37%. This is profit distribution in the period of 2009 to 2016. From 2017 to 2019, it was 83%, nearly 84%. You can see that here there was a period in which the bank paid a lot of dividends. We have an excess of capital as a result of the previous years, and the bank was not expanding so much in terms of our credit portfolio, and so the bank had a payout of 90%.
During this period of 2017 to 2019 was something out of the curve. Our shareholders did not realize that historically we were at the right level. We had an apex. We had a higher payment. We have paid dividends and JCPs at a rate of 25%, which is the minimum that we have. We have good explanations for this. First, because there was a restriction on Central Bank of Brazil in 2020 that the banks could not distribute more dividends than what was in the bylaws. In 2020, the bank had to pay 25%, but the bank still distributes 25% for a good reason. The bank is growing and the bank is producing more capital, but there is no surplus as it happened in the previous years.
The bank has been growing in terms of credit portfolio and the growth has been significant. Its credit portfolio has also grown and also businesses in general. The bank has paid less dividend for a good reason. It's not because the bank is doing badly, but it's because it is reinvesting in the growth of operations. We have seen that the bank has grown in the last few years. Capital generation is not enough for the bank to have a payout of 44% that it has been paying to or was paying till 2016. You know, anyway, the explanation is good. For the same reason, we can see the same situation too in regard to the non-financial companies. We see that dividends has decreased, but the companies we are invested in are growing.
They are reinvesting in their result. This is why you expect that within a couple of years, these dividends from financial companies and non-financial companies will also increase. Then we are going to have a payout that will be, you know, at the same level of 2016.
Yeah, I think that this was very good to clarify. Now, I just would like to add another piece of information. Here we have a history of all the dividends and revenue that we have from 2009 until 2021. Here we have a breakdown year by year, and then in blue, we have seen the results from the non-financial companies. The growth has come nearly to 1,000%.
As Alfredo said, as these companies deleverage and as they complete their cycle of investment, of course we are going to see good results. The growth will be even better. The prospects are good. Yes, the curve will also grow the next few years. This is what we expect. You know, if we just eliminate these years when we had the highest payouts of Itaúsa's, which was from 2017 to 2019, we can still have an average growth of 9.5% a year, which is, you know, higher than the major inflation rate indicators and interest rates.
Priscila, I think that it is important to say that the dividends or the yield is good. If we can see there, you know, the future, the yield of Itaúsa's in the next 12 years will be above the inflation rate. Maybe a little bit below the Selic rate. Let's see how it behaves over the year. You know, the dividend will be still 6%-7%, which is still good payment considering the conjuncture now.
Yes, that's it. Now the good news, this is what we disclosed to the market, which was the announcement of the payment of BRL 927 million in JCP net price, which will be paid on August 30th. Payment has to do with BRL 150 million that we have stated in March. The payment will be on August 30. This is statement of the BRL 75 million that will reflect on the payment of BRL 927 million. That is equivalent to BRL 0.10 per share. The bank has also said that BRL 370 million will be paid in the future date, maybe next year. Or the board of directors still have to make a decision on this, and the information will be disclosed later.
Yeah, probably January, March of next year.
Yeah, this following the practice that we have had so far. With this, we close this session with this very important subject, and the next session is also very relevant. In the first semester, we have also seen good evolution with regard to our strategy of capital allocation and portfolio management. I would like you to make comments on our main highlights here. I think that mostly it's the investment that we are about to finish this year. We are going to sign the definitive agreement related to Andrade Gutierrez.
They are selling their interest in CCR. We are buying this interest together with Votorantim Group. Both Itaú and Votorantim will have a 10.3% of the capital in CCR. This is something very important in terms of governance for CCR. We expect to contribute to the growth of the company. I don't know if you know, but CCR is the biggest Brazilian platform of concessions connected to mobility. They manage airports, roads, ports, and they have an active participation in this industry, especially in the Southeast region, but they also operate in the south of Brazil and other states across the country. In Bahia State, they also have the subway system under their management. It is very important for us to finish up this transaction together with Andrade Gutierrez, and we're also very happy with this.
I think that we're gonna have a lot of opportunities for growth, and CCR also has a very good cash flow, and this will also improve dividends. In the medium realm, we expect to have good dividends to be paid, and this is coming from a non-financial company. This is BRL 3 billion that we have invested here. Part of that is used with our own money, and another part is made by the issuance of debentures that we made last year. Oh, sorry, last week. This financial aspect is very well solved. Now we have to participate in the committees and also the board of directors, and we expect to be able to contribute to the growth of the companies.
Yes, you also spoke about Alpargatas.
Yes, I mentioned that Alpargatas bought 50% interest or 49.9% of Rothy's. It is an American company founded a few years ago. They produce sustainable products in shoe accessories, and they have shown great expansion. They basically all work only on online sales. They do not really have many physical stores. In the board of directors of Alpargatas, we chose, in rather than just having another debt on behalf of the company, we decided to make. We could also invest in different way, but we decided to invest in shares. Itaúsa is investing BRL 800 million by increasing its interest because of some other shareholders that did not subscribe. We are very optimistic. It is a strong and a developing company. Next year, they will also contribute to the equivalence of equity of Alpargatas.
How about XP?
Yeah, we made some comments in the beginning about this. It is a very good company. It is growing, you know, not at the previous rates. It's just like China, you know, they grew 10% before and now it's not really that high. Same thing happened to XP. The assets is good. It is still expanding their businesses, especially investments, funds and dispersion of resources, equity. We have de-invested over the years. It is a company that, you know, we like, but we are going to sell it because of the reason I explained before. Because of our portfolio. We want non-financial companies to be in it. Now, we're speaking about capital allocation. There is another topic that is very important, which is our repurchase program. We approved the program last year, but we did not really execute everything that was in this program.
Yes, that's true. There are a couple of reasons for this. I think that the first reason is the increase of interest rate. We were forced, because of this, to have bigger financial expenses than we had in the past when interest rate was only at 3%-4%. It was just, you know, we wanted to be more prudent in order not to increase indebtedness of the company, even though the levels were very low in terms of the share price. It came to BRL 9. We also have another constraint, which is cash flow. Sorry. We cannot operate in moments when we have relevant events taking place, either where Itaúsa has shares or anything that can affect Itaúsa shares.
There are moments when we can really buy shares in the market. I think this explains why eventually we did not really execute this plan or this program. We just actually made a couple of things that was in that program. Somehow we missed opportunities to repurchase shares in very favorable moments.
Okay, let's move on. We have investments in very solid and robust companies. They are still growing. We have other payments to make related to debts. You know, based on all of this, we are not renewing this program, which will expire this month. The board of directors have chosen not to renew this program of repurchase. We are still considering the landscape. Let's see the interest rate and, you know, if we consider it to be timely, then we will just go back to this program. Alexander Ribeiro, thank you for the question. This is the question about the repurchase. We finished this part, and the next one has a very relevant topic. Alfredo, we spoke a lot about transparency during our previous sessions. I would like you to highlight our advancements in governance. We had several new things.
Yes, we had an improvement of our governance process. Itaúsa always favors good governance. Even though we are not in the B3 market, we are a level one, but as much as possible, we want to be as close as possible to the best practices and the requirements of the market. Last year, we made a big update of our bylaws. We also opened the board of directors in a more formal way. In the bylaws, we used to have one-third of the members that were independent.
We are now having more committees, and they have a very good dynamic to the discussions. Now, yesterday, during our meeting, we created the audit committee of the holding company. We only had a permanent tax audit company, or committee, sorry. Now we also have an audit committee that was appointed yesterday by the board of directors. We have improved our governance a great deal. We want to provide more transparency and, like this event today, we want to show clearly our results. We also want to speak about our strategy in a more clear way. Here we can see adherence to the Brazilian Corporate Governance Code. In 2019, we had 54.2%, and now we have 75% or 77%. This has resulted from everything that the board of directors have approved.
Next year, probably we're gonna reach more than 80% of this. The average of the market is less than 60%. In terms of governance and transparency, I think that we have done a lot.
Also, let's speak about our integrated report. I recommend everyone to read it. It has a lot to do about our business model and how we prepare our initiatives. Something important here was the consultation that we made to 13,000 stakeholders that were heard, and they have given us their view about the material aspects that we should take into account in our strategies for the next few years. All these material topics was very much discussed here with the high management, and this topic was very much addressed in this survey.
For those who are interested in understanding how Itaúsa decides on its investments, what is the rationale behind it, you know, this report is something that is very good to show it. It has, like, 70%, but it has lots of charts and good things for you to, you know, go deeper into this topic. You can read. It is available on our website and, you know, it's very easy to have access to it. Now about people management, Alfredo.
Well, we work a lot on the management of people. For the second year, Itaú is considered one of the great companies to work. I think that this is important for the internal environment. We also have worked together with our controlled companies and invested companies. We want them to also address these issues of diversity, focus on education, training.
It's not that they do not do things related to this, especially Itaú Unibanco, but we want these companies to also address other issues of social initiatives and environmental initiatives. We want also to help influence the agendas of the company so that they can also focus on these relevant topics. This is why we also have taken this into account, and not only in their board of directors and in the companies, but also in the new investments that we make. We have also considered this as something very important. The ESG agenda of the company is something very important to us.
Now, speaking of all the developments that we have seen in terms of communication, everyone knows that we have a base of shareholders that are more than 900,000. The base is also very young. They are very young age. The audience is basically in their 20-25 years, and they are in their twenties. We understood that it was very important to focus on this audience in our communication.
Yes, we have many individuals in our base of shareholders. We also increase our presence in the social media. We share all the good news of Itaú's and our portfolios. Everything is now available in social media with a very straight and transparent message. This year, we started focusing on Twitter. We are there in nearly all the social media. We have several followers in Instagram and also YouTube. YouTube, we have a number of views that come to 3 million views. In Instagram, 25 million of impressions on our posts. We have also used different ways to communicate with people.
Alfredo, for example, has shown or has recorded videos to speak about the results of the company. We also have the Q&A through Itaúsa. Ask Itaúsa is the name of the program. We have used these videos or short videos in order to bring content to the people in an easier way. This is an example of our commitment with transparency. Speaking of it, I would like to invite you all to our next event, which is Panorama Itaúsa, which will be held on December 1st . Please save the date. We want to see you there, and we're going to disclose more information on this event very shortly. Alfredo, before we move on to the next session, which is the Q&A, I would like to know if you have any final message or any final comment to make.
I just would like to reinforce that we have very good portfolio. It is also very solid, and it is in a growth process, deleveraging in some companies. We have very strong brands and market share in our companies that have very good market share in the industries in which they operate. All of this will result in dividends in the medium term to our shareholders. I think this is it. Let's move on to the Q&A. Thank you.
Alfredo, we receive questions from the platform. We have received several questions here from the audience, and also we're gonna have analysts, market analysts asking questions to us. Please, do send your questions by using the Q&A icon on the platform. It's very easy for you to find it. Send your comments through to the social media. We're also monitoring everything that you post. Also I would like to say that we have a survey. It is a satisfaction survey that is available on the platform too. It is very important to have your feedback on this so that we can understand what are your expectations, what we can still add in order to improve. We want to continue evolving or developing.
Yes, you know, curiosities that you may have or anything that you want to see discussed here and something that you want to see in our future sessions.
I'd like to start by passing the floor to Thiago Batista, our first guest. He's from UBS and he is live. Thiago, good morning. Welcome to our event.
Good morning. Thank you for the opportunity. The first question is regarding financial companies are close to Itaú's expenses. You know, taxes is very similar to financial results. In terms of the company's cash flow, in the medium term, do you think that Itaú's will be able to pay an amount that is higher than Itaú? Do you believe that this will be something that will be more constant? Second question, you mentioned a lot about Itaú's leverage. It has come to 7% in CCR. I think this is the highest level and I would like to know whether this has caused any discomfort and possible the investment next be if this will be used to amortize the debt of Itaúsa.
Sorry, but the sound was very poor for simultaneous interpretation. I think that I briefly mentioned this during the presentation. We expect the financial companies because Itaúsa leverage itself, as you said, we have a debt today of about BRL 8 billion. The companies in which we invested also leverage in order to make acquisitions and investments for their growth. Our expectation is the following. Over the next few years, and this is what we have seen happening at Aegea and companies Aegea, for example, they have been de-leveraging themselves. Aegea will also have to make important investments, but their EBITDA has been very comfortable and we expect this to increase their base of payments in the next few years. Same thing to [Alpargatas]. These investments that we have made, you know, companies are de-leveraging by reducing the necessary CapEx for their investments.
Duratex also has an investment of BRL 2.5 billion. As soon as we receive these dividends from non-financial companies, we believe that we're gonna see a growth and then we can increase dividends paid to the shareholders. We don't see Itaú's retaining money because this is not efficient. You know, considering an increasing inflow and the selling of XP in order to amortize the debt that we have, you know. The level of debt is what we consider to be adequate. We have discussed this about this with the rating companies a lot. You know, because of the liquidity of our companies and cash flow that we have, you know, that enhanced level could even be a little bit higher than that.
This is not our policy in the short term, so we just want to reduce payment by selling XP. With this, we can have a very good cash flow. Then depending on domestic and international conjunctures, we want to think on other investments to Itaúsa. We want to go slow with that and with care.
Thank you.
Thiago, thank you very much for your participation. Alfredo, we have a question from the platform. This is about diversification of portfolio. On the platform we receive from Elton Magnus, [Donajura], João Pedro Brandão. They ask, "Do we want to add anything in the portfolio in the short term? And which is the segment we have an interest in? Is electricity one of them?"
Thank you very much for the question. Right now, we do not want to invest in. You know, we do not want to make any new investments. We study the opportunities, of course, and CCR, you know, the cycle that started in 2019, this is the last company in which we invested. I think that now we are just going to stop with that. We are going to consolidate all these investments. We want to see these companies, you know, giving more profit, becoming more profitable and we want to increase the level of dividends paid to shareholders. Right now, we are not thinking of having any new investments in the short and medium term. Of course, you know, it may be that a big opportunity comes up, but we are now not seeking anything like that. We are just trying to consolidate the investment that we have made.
We want to deleverage the holding company, and we want to see higher dividends coming from our controlled companies and invested companies.
Another question from [Eduardo Baranjarty] from the platform: "Is there any plan to invest out of Brazil?"
No. No plan about that. We understand that Brazil is a volatile economy. It grows. Sometimes it grows, sometimes it grows more. It's very volatile in terms of economy and also in terms of politics. This is the landscape we are used to operate. We have been here nearly 100 years. We have been investing in our companies, and we know how to handle these uncertainties and the volatility in the market. I think that Brazil is a country that still has high return rates in relation to our capital. We calculate capital by 14%. Abroad, it would be very difficult for you to have return to, well, to offset that risk. This is why we still consider investments here in Brazil.
Thank you, Alfredo. Our next guest, Gustavo Schroeder from Bradesco BBI. Gustavo, good morning. Welcome. Sorry, we have no sound in the booth. Sorry, cannot hear.
Maybe the sustainable will be 15%. I just would like to understand, what do you think that the market will be losing so that the discount will come to 50%? Or is there any leverage of Itaúsa's that can also be used over the following months or years? I just would like to understand what you still need to have a better result. Because of course, we understand that there is a cycle. You spoke about the dividends and also financial leverage, but the 15% is something that caught my attention. If you can elaborate more on this, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Thank you, Gustavo. When I said 15%, I think that any holding company has a discount, either because of diversification or because the investor wants to invest diversify it, diverse investments by himself. But we also have a tax inefficiency because we have a holding company, and we also have some other sub-holding companies that produce this tax inefficiency. I believe that 15% is a correct number. This is the number for discount. By taking into account the diversification and also tax inefficiency.
Thank you, Priscila. I think that it's difficult to come to that because in the short term, the market sees Itaú as a cheap way to buy the bank, you know, indirectly speaking. The market values our portfolio very little. It is a wonderful portfolio. It has excellent companies with great brands. They are leaders in their markets. I think that the market has not valuing this portfolio, you know, in a fair way. This is a portfolio that we have created over the years. As companies consolidate and when they produce dividends and et cetera. Of course, when we are able to distribute this dividends because Itaúsa does not want to keep it, of course, it is not good for tax reasons.
As all of this consolidates, I think that now we're gonna see the discount below 20% in the next years. Between 15%-20%. I think that the market has to believe more in that. Itaúsa is not only Itaú Unibanco. We have also interest in other companies, and these companies have had a return that is higher than Itaú Unibanco. Time will show that this discount is really too high. We don't really have any magic to make just to show you. You know, we have made a very good investment. We have diversified investments, and this has been good in terms of profitability to the company.
Thank you.
Thank you, Gustavo, for participation. Alfredo, this is a question from the platform. Paulo Martini, Luis Groppa, Rodrigo Naves, Átila Moreira, they ask whether we plan to migrate to a new market and transform our shares in PN into ON and what are the difficulties?
Well, Itaúsa is a holding company, it was created in 1975. It was under the old law of the corporate law. Because of this, it was allowed to have a leverage of one-third of shares, ordinary shares and the preferable shares. Shareholders hold 30% of the total capital of Itaúsa. We have ordinary shares and also preference shares. There is no project or there is no idea to turn these preference shares into ordinary ones. There is no study about that. What we have is what I mentioned before. We have the best practices.
We have a very good pref, the best practice, and we want to have a CVM ranking in terms of corporate governance, which is above 80%. We want to show that the governance is, it is the most important one. It means the quality, transparency. We are in the market. You know, whether they are common stocks or preferred stocks is not really what matters. What is important to consider is that we have in our bylaws a tag-along of 80% for preferred stockholders or preferred shareholders. If the price can be higher than what is negotiated in the stock market, all the shareholders will benefited by at least 80% of the tag-along, which is mandatory for those who also buy that.
Of course, you know, the control of the company is not on sale, but if there is any change in control, of course, the preferred shareholders, we have the right of 80% of that. I think that the preferred shareholder is very, you know, in a comfortable position because of the governance. We have all the best practices implemented. We also have independent members participating in the board of directors. More than that, they're also leading processes. I think that our governance, plus the tag-along, will also make the situation, you know, very comfortable. We also have a tradition of being very ethical, have good management, and we have no history of any misconduct. We have no lawsuits. Of course, these results from transparency, good governance, and good history of the company as a listed company.
This is why we have this number of shareholders, apart from our portfolio, which is very robust, and this is why investors can be very comfortable w ith this.
The next guest is from BTG Pactual, Thiago Paura. You have the floor.
Good morning. First of all, well, thank you very much for the results. Just a follow-up to XP to see if I really understood the situation. The idea to invest in the company is because it is very much connected with the program of amortization of the debt. It can also be accelerated considering 2024. Sorry, I have two different sounds coming to the simultaneous booth.
Thank you for your question. Basically, we want to combine the XP share sales with the amortization program. As we did, you know, during the month of June. We sold 7 million shares of XP, and this was a complement to pay part of our investment in CCR. We used shares of XP and we also differently from other investments in which we leveraged 100% through the issuance of debentures. In the case of CCR, we chose to have 50% paying from our own cash flow. Also we have shares from, sold from XP to pay for this, and another 50% was from the debentures. Another thing that we may have is from tax point of view, we also have to offset the [OTCPs] of the payments made in order to offset this. Somehow we want to minimize the taxes to be paid by the company.
These are three different ways that we have to handle according to the need. Priscila, would you like to add anything to that?
Yes, I think that you covered all. We have, you know, a tax laws as a holding company, so we have to see how we can optimize the way. Yeah, we don't have any kind of recipe. Because there is some inefficiency, we have to offset that with different income. The sale of XP can be something that can be used for this kind of compensation. Thank you, Thiago, for your participation. We have other questions coming from the platform, Alfredo. I think that there is one that I can answer from Mauricio Chagas. Marco Sergio is speaking about the investment in CCR. If they will be assessed by the equity method and when it's going to come into our balance sheets. Well, as you said, that was payment to close this transaction that will be made in the next weeks.
Yeah, we are going to finish this transaction in August. Starting in September, we are going to have the results. This will be made by this method that you mentioned because this we have a governance that will be very influential in this. We are also gonna have representative in each committee of this company. We have two members in the board of directors. Another question from the platform. What other sectors are considering investments? I think that you also mentioned Duke Energy, the timing of XP share sale. We also mentioned that. The decision process of new investments. Victor from Victor Rosa.
Well, during the presentation we mentioned this, but if you want to go deeper into that, you can also read the integrated report, which is available. It speaks all the process that we have inside the bank in order to decide on these kind of investments. We take into account companies that have a growth potential. We do not want to invest in companies that do not have that. We want to see companies that can effectively grow their businesses, companies that are leaders in the market or strong brands, companies that have very good brands that can also produce cash flow. Even more, we have seen the focus of the company, how governance is, how they have operated in terms of ESG and environmental, social and governance.
There are some sectors, some industries in which we do not invest because they do not meet our values or they not agree with our values, they not meet our requirements in terms of ESG and also in terms of governance. This is a mix of factors that we take into account when we make a new investment.
Alfredo, our next speaker, Jason Mollin. He is from Scotiabank. He is coming live. Jason, welcome.
Oi. Bom dia, Alfredo, Priscila.
Good morning, Alfredo.
Alfredo, you did mention that Itaúsa is trading at a larger discount to net asset value than we have seen historically, and that you see a 15% discount as more reasonable due to the holding discount and fiscal inefficiencies. This is really a follow-up on the question that was previously asked by Gustavo. I've been talking with investors about ways to reduce the discount. One suggestion that comes up is buying back Itaúsa shares. You know, you did mention that you didn't buy as much in the share buyback previously and that I believe that the share buyback plan was not renewed. Could we see a renewal of the share buyback plan in the near term?
Then maybe as a follow-on, I would cite the low multiples, the low valuation of Itaú Unibanco versus history. Maybe has Itaú considered increasing its stake in Itaú Unibanco, given this could be a good entry point or if you think it's a good entry point? Obrigado.
Well, just for people to understand, the one of the levels of discount of Itaúsa and of what you have mentioned according to what is reasonable that in discount, that would be about 50%. One of the suggestions is why we are not more active in repurchase. The second question has to do with the valuation of the bank and, the quotation of the current share. Well, I'm gonna answer in Portuguese, Jason.
Si.
I'm sorry, you can understand Portuguese too. If you want, you can also follow through the simultaneous interpretation. Well, there is no doubt that, you know, buyback will be something very relevant, especially for investors, because we understand that the shares are being negotiated with a discount or with a price that is not really the real one. Right now we have some constraints, especially because of the future cash flow, because the financial expenses, because of the high Selic rate has made things more difficult. Last year we have BRL 20 million or BRL 30 million in financial expenses, and now is BRL 250 million without considering the fifth issuance of the debentures that we made last month. In the third quarter, we're gonna have additional extra corporate expenses.
Unfortunately, we cannot have repurchased Itaúsa shares because of our cash flow, because basically we have to deleverage the company and also amortize the debts that we have. Unfortunately, we are not renewing this. Well, we discussed this in the board of directors yesterday, so we are not doing, reducing that in the short run. As interest rate decreases, as we have more cash flow, so undoubtedly we are going to have this program of repurchase. We are going to open a new one in the medium term. I have no doubt about that. Because of this, we have to have a better situation in terms of cash flow so that we can invest in our own shares, which I consider this discount really exaggerated. It will be a great opportunity to repurchase that.
Because I think that the price is being negotiated now is really not the actual one. As to the bank. We see the results that are improving at every quarter. Since 2020 we have faced difficulties because of the pandemic and everything else, but I believe that the bank is growing very well. It has shown very good results and especially they are more consistent in terms of quality. This quarter results have been very good in terms of provisions and income. So I think the bank result is very robust now. The market still discusses the role of the fintech and other companies in the future, and to what extent Itaú Unibanco will be able to respond to these challenges, to this new competition. We are very confident that we have been responding very well.
We have 12,000 people directly dedicated to technology, and we're gonna close this year with 60% of our operations in the cloud, which will make our process more agile. This will allow us to use more applications. This is why we expect that the market recognizes this in the next quarters, especially the quality of our results. We are just bridging the gap of technology. As I said before, we have two strategies that are very relevant right now. Focus on the customer, on the client by reducing rates or fees, and also having more clients and improving services and having more friendly applications. Over the next quarters, I think that the market will also give more value to Itaú Unibanco. We have been growing very consistently, especially in products, in clients and technology.
Não se pode separar.
You cannot separate.
Of Itaú Unibanco.
Sorry. Can I have the sound here?
Separando liquidez.
Well, I forgot that. I forgot to answer that portion of your question. No, we are not thinking of that, Jason. I think that the bank is doing very well. It is a market leader, and it will continue to be a market leader. The bank has constraints imposed by the Central Bank of Brazil, and the growth has to be only organic. We cannot make big investments in the financial market. We can make specific investments as we have been doing. We bought a brokerage broking company and another company for investments abroad. We can only make investments that will complement our bigger investments or existing investments. Right now, we cannot make big investments that will transform Itaú Unibanco in a major way. We can grow in non-financial companies that have a potential for growth.
I think that every company that we have a very big investment project. As I said, many of these companies, if not all of them, have better returns than Itaú Unibanco. Going back to the question on discounts, I think that the price has been twisted and the market has not valued our portfolio.
Obrigado.
Thank you, Jason, for your participation. Have a good day. Now, Alfredo, I just would like to tell you that many people like Robson Rossetto, Leonardo Monteiro, Joaquim, Rodrigo Naves, Roberto, João Lorenzi, José Silva e Sousa have been complimenting us. They have been saying good things about our new broadcast. We have just time is up a long time ago. I just have another thing from another investor. He's a foreign investor, Ricardo Lacerda from Saugatuck Capital Management. He has this question: "Itaúsa has operated with no new investments in portfolio. Can investor expect a return to more aggressive investments, or are you gonna have more investments in the current portfolio?"
Thank you very much for your question, Ricardo. What you said is very important. I believe that in, you know, medium term, you know, meaning two or three years or four years, we are going to see these companies in which we have invested lowering or diminishing their CapEx. The bank has decreased its payout. It has also decreased its JCP and dividend distribution. For a good cause, because the bank is growing. It is expanding its credit portfolio. It's growing its results. You can see the results that the analysts expect for our bank and the company. All of them are expanding, so the dividend decrease is for a good reason. The shareholder is receiving less money, but on the other hand, he has had a very big equity.
You know, BRL 50 billion, now we have BRL 67 billion in assets because we have been distributing less in JCP. Why are we doing this? Because the bank is growing. Dexco is growing, just like Alpargatas and Aegea or Copa Energia. This moment now is a valley. It's a valley which the companies are expanding their businesses, which is good, but at the same time, many of them are deleveraging, so they are trying to reduce their debt. Also this, you know, in a couple of years, this will result in more dividends. I have no doubt about that. Right now we are in the valley. This is the valley where we have a very beautiful portfolio of companies. You know, Dexco, Hydra, Portinari, Havaianas, Hotels in international markets, CCR, the best platform of mobility, Aegea, best platform of sanitation. This is an extraordinary platform.
In the medium term, you know, after we leave this valley period, and once we work hard, heavily on the CapEx, then we're gonna see very good increase in dividends. Itaúsa will not retain dividends, as I said before. It's going to distribute dividends to shareholders, and we will possibly use this. We use the shares of XP to pay our liabilities. This is a very good moment for companies. They are growing, and this is what is important to consider. Of course, the flow has decreased, but it will go back to the 40% or 50%. It will not go back to the 90% of 2017 to 2019. That's something out of the curve. We are going to back to normal, which is around 40%-50% distribution payment.
Well, unfortunately, this is the end of our event. Yeah, I think that it was a very good partnership here, right? Thank you very much for everyone who participated here. We have more than 1,000 people watching us, and this content will be available on YouTube. If you want to see this later, it will be available for you there. The Investor Relations team will be very happy to answer any questions that you may have later. Every content that we have published or posted on our social media will also be available to you. Feel free to contact our team and send any other question that you may have. Again, thank you very much. Now I'll pass over to Alfredo Setubal for his final comments.
Thank you, Priscila Greco. I think this was a very good partnership. We can think on, you know, having a show, having something on TV. Also I would like to thank Leona, Fernanda, Raimundo, Vivi, Viviane from the RI team. You know, you have had a very hard work. It's not easy to put up an event like this. It's a live program, of course, and it's difficult to have everything going well or doing well. Everything was, you know, a success. Thank you very much for the technical team here, the camera people, and everyone in the backstage. They have been of great help to put up this event. I would like to thank all our investors for the trust. We have thousands of investors. We have a great responsibility with them in order to use our capital in a good way and to give them good return.
Thank you very much to all the shareholders. We want to have these companies that follow the ESG agenda, the agenda of growth and the agenda of diversity and that of expansion. I think that fortunately, we have been very good in our investments because we have covered all of this. We have created a very good portfolio of companies. They are very good and healthy and robust. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for trusting us. Thank you very much for watching us. Thank you to all these more than 1,000 people. See you next time. Possibly that will be Panorama Itaúsa in December. Then we're gonna give you more details and most probably the CEOs of the companies will also be taking part in this broadcast.
It will be something very good to share content to you, which is something that is relevant to you. We want to focus on governance and be transparent to all of you. Thank you very much. Have a nice day you. Thank you very much for watching us.