Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to JSL's video conference to discuss the results regarding the Q2 , 2024. This video conference is being recorded, and the replay will be available on the company's website, ri.jsl.com.br. The presentation will also be available for download. Please, we would like to let you know that all participants will be only watching the video conference during the company's presentation. We'll then start the Q&A session, when further instructions will be provided. Before moving on, I'd like to emphasize that the forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of JSL's management and the current information available to the company. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties, since they relate to future events, and therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur.
Investors, analysts, and journalists should bear in mind that events related to the macroeconomic environment, the segment, and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Today, in our video conference, we have Mr. Ramon Alcaraz, JSL's CEO, and Guilherme Sampaio, the company's Chief Financial and Investor Relations Officer. Now, I'll turn the call to Mr. Alcaraz, that will begin the presentation. Mr. Alcaraz, you have the floor.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It's a pleasure to be here representing the entire JSL team to announce the results of our work in the Q2 of 2024. We had gross revenue of BRL 2.5 billion, with net revenue of BRL 2.1 billion, 16.5% higher than the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA of BRL 398 million.
Remember that reported EBITDA was BRL 544 million, 11% higher than the Q2 2023, with a margin of 19.2%. Reported profit of BRL 107 million. Here, it's important to make an important note. Although we had lower adjusted profit than the Q2 2023, if we exclude the one-time effects of both periods, we have a growth of 21% on a comparable basis, therefore an increase in margin. To close, return on invested capital of 15.4%. My friends, management and scale guarantee continued development. On slide three, we have several highlights to share with you. In growth and scale, we have 13% organic growth without the effect of FSJ and IC, since they were not yet consolidated into Q2 2023. Historically, the Q2 is the weakest of the year for seasonal reasons.
Even so, we grew by double digits with healthy margins. FSJ, our last, latest acquisition, continues to grow at an accelerated pace of 40% year-on-year, benefiting from the JSL ecosystem, mainly scale. In terms of margins, we maintained the company's average margins at a level appropriate to the capital invested. Marvel, Transmoreno, and FSJ, with important margin evolution due to continued gains in scale. And no process of adapting the internal structure to current size. Financial management, reduction of the average cost of debt by 2.5 percentage points compared to the Q2 2023. Guilherme will give you more details later on. Contract management, discipline and agility in operational and contractual adjustments, focus on customized pricing of each contract.
Organic growth rate above two digits in the quarter proves our potential significantly to growth and increase market share through cross-selling and new customers.
On page four, we make a representation, new for you, including cash flow during the cycle of a project. We can see that in the first months, we have a negative flow due to the deployment, then the ramp-up of the project throughout its useful life, with positive cash generation, and in the end, the retirement and sale of assets with a positive flow. It's worth noting that in the Q2 2024, we had an atypical concentration of large projects, exactly under deployment, which put some pressure on this quarter's results, but will contribute to results of the next ones. On page five, we show, as we have done on several other occasions, our management model, which ensures quality in deliveries and cross-selling.
Individualized contract management, customized projects developed with customers, accurate pricing, cost control, and operational efficiency, with several opportunities for shared savings, including with customers during the contract. A structure of people with autonomy and agility in decision-making. We believe in excellence in delivery, generating loyal customers, which generates cross-selling, and through referrals or comparisons, opens us opportunities as far as prospecting new customers and increasing share. I'd like to mention something we are very proud of. We have been recognized and awarded by several customers, but there are two highlights. Ambev, we won the award for Best Logistics Operator in Urban Distribution, an award that was very competitive and based on very complex audits carried out by the customer. General Motors, we won Best Supplier in a global awards ceremony in Miami, USA.
JSL was the only Brazilian supplier out of more than 2,000 GM suppliers in the country to win the award. I'm very happy and proud of the entire team that made it possible. Congratulations to everyone. I would also like to reinforce our strategy of independence for our acquired companies. A managed model with independence for agility and growth, capture of shared synergy in the purchase of inputs, financial support, and improvement in the credit profile by the scale of JSL, governance and discipline of capital allocation, driving results. On page 6, we can see how our competitive advantages underpin the organic expansion of our business. Once again, I'm pleased to announce the signing of new contracts, BRL 1.3 billion in the Q2 of 2024, average maturity of 70 months.
In addition to excellent cross-selling, we have new contracts with new customers, such as Vibra, Boticário, Leroy Merlin, Temu, Shopee, and others. Added to the Q1 , we have already BRL 2.3 billion in the first half of the year alone. On page 7, we bring, as we did last quarter, how our business is broken down throughout the logistics chain, including warehousing, dedicated operations, urban distribution, and cargo transportation. 30% of our business does not involve trucks, but rather specialized people and technology, be it internal handling at pulp and paper plants, management of intermodal terminals, internal handling at OEM plants, management of dedicated multi-customer warehouses, and several intralogistics services, as well as chartering services. More than 60% of our business is based on specialized, dedicated operations.
In the international transportation of chilled, refrigerated foods, urban distribution of food, beverages, and consumer goods, transportation of pulp and paper, transportation of new used vehicles, supplier of parts for most OEMs in the country, in the milk run system in Brazil and Argentina, transportation of liquid and gas chemicals, fuel transportation, and others. 92% of our revenue is in services with a high degree of specialization, and that are key throughout the supply chain and inserted directly in our customer sales cycle. We still have 8% of our business in what we call general cargo, a dynamic business with great growth opportunities, 100% asset light. On page 8, we can see how we have managed to transform our acquired companies. With JSL's scale, we're able to boost their operations, taking advantage of their own expertise, and figures speak for themselves.
All have grown significantly since their acquisition. Rodomeu and Marvel, more than double. Fadel GPC were mid-sized companies, grew by 80% and 70%, respectively. FSJ, the youngest, has an average growth of 40% since its acquisition. The only exception is IC, but it's part of our strategic plan to focus on contracts for profitable operations. Now, for a better color on the financial results, I call my friend and CFO, Guilherme Sampaio. Thanks, Ramon. Good morning, everyone. Well, I think Ramon has already given a good idea of what the quarter was like and what we are building for the second half of the year, which is seasonally higher than the first half. Numbers: We closed the Q2 with BRL 2.1 billion net revenue, a 16% increase compared to the Q2 of 2023.
This already takes into account the 30% in reduction in ICMS revenues and the consolidation of FSJ. 40% of this revenue in cargo transportation, which is point-to-point road transportation, mainly in contracts dedicated to customers, as Ramon mentioned. 33% in dedicated operations within our customers' production process, 13% warehousing, where the biggest chunk of deployments we are making in the Q2 are, and 7% in urban distribution. In addition to the diversification of services, we also are present in more than 20 sectors of the economy. Specifically in the quarter, 25% of our revenue in food and beverage, 15 in pulp and paper, and 13 in automotive. We actively pursued diversification of services and sectors, which organically broadens up our avenue for growth and the ties with our customers.
The operating result, as Ramon mentioned, is impacted by the concentration of deployments in the quarter, which will start to contribute to results in the coming quarters. Already excluding the positive effect of the release of the S System provision, we delivered BRL 270 million EBIT, margin of 13%, and EBITDA of BRL 398 million, 19.2% margin. Net profit, also excluding the S System effects and the cost of prepayment of debentures that we made as part of our debt management, closed the quarter at BRL 33 million. It's interesting to note that if we compare the profit of this quarter on a comparable basis, we grew 21% versus the Q2 2023, higher than net revenue, that was 16%. Return remains healthy, with a ROIC return rate of 15.4% in the last twelve months.
And here, we have the effect of upfront expenses and costs from deployment and also invested capital, the impact of the two acquired companies that not have yet generated twelve months of results. On the next page, breaking down numbers by asset light and asset heavy. Asset light accounted for 52% of net revenue, with EBITDA of BRL 177 million, margin of 16.3%. Asset heavy, BRL 1 billion revenue, 48% consolidated, margin 22.1%, reaching BRL 219 million EBITDA. Ramon and myself said, these are margins that remain healthy and still have the impact of the deployments and the recovery process of IC, which is still underway. CapEx, we closed the quarter with BRL 224 million gross CapEx, BRL 151 million net, which totals BRL 600 million for the year.
As we said in the previous call, because of the profile project contracted, CapEx represents the largest volume of the year, and we hope a smaller volume to come in the second half of the year. The CapEx already contracted ensures the deployment of the main projects that will contribute to JSL's second half of the year. Updating our comparison, fixed assets, trucks, machinery, equipment, and tractors, we have a value of BRL 5.6 billion residual value to BRL 5.3 billion at net. Updating the asset base to market level value, we have assets that are 1.2 times greater than our net debt. Remember, we have made eight acquisitions in the last three years and paid more than BRL 1.2 billion for these.
Moving on to the capital structure, we ended the quarter with BRL 2.4 billion in cash, have already paid BRL 1 billion in more expensive debts, and the funds from the issue of our CRA, which came at a cost of CDI plus 0.97%. The payment reduced our interest by five percentage points, and lengthened our debt by one year. Leverage closed at 3.04x, and 3.3, if we exclude the effects of the Sistema S. This leverage is what we consider the peak for 2024, as we said in the Q1 , and expect deleveraging for the growth of our business. Leverage closed the quarter at 2.6x. In short, a strong cash position in the process of deleveraging and a reduction of debt spread.
These are components that give us the comfort to continue the rate of growth and transform the operational work we've been doing into bottom line results. With that, I'll return the call to Ramon for his final remarks before your questions. Thanks, Guilherme. To finish, I'd like to highlight the pillars and foundations for our new cycle. We have solid foundations, unique positioning. JSL stands out for its ability to meet demands with customized solutions. We have a proven track record, huge scale, and the most comprehensive portfolio of logistics services in the countries, with diversification in sectors and services. Our managed model is based on accurate pricing and excellence in delivery, thus customer loyalty. We have a high level of cross-selling and huge opportunities to win new customers and expand our business.
We have the know-how to identify strategic acquisitions with expansion potential by taking advantage of JSL's scale and support, while maintaining the independence of our qualified management of our businesses. Our consistency in results comes from discipline and execution, operational efficiency and cost control, ensuring a strong balance sheet and the right profitability. We ended the half year with results within plan and the foundations laid for the coming years. Our strategic plans are based on the diversification of services and sectors, opening up multiple avenues for organic growth, which, together with the acquisition of good companies, complete our portfolio.
The consolidations of operational margins, combining with adequate capital allocation, provide consistency in margins and profitability. Our contracted growth has been consistent, and deployments already completed will ensure growth for 2024, with great potential for deleveraging, as well as contributing to the results of the coming years.
But our greatest differentiator is our people, dedicated and prepared to ensure quality and efficiency with individualized management of each contract, focused on execution and on delivering results. This is what guarantees a continuous cycle of growth and development. That completes our first part of the presentation, and I'm here together with Guilherme to answer your questions. Thank you very much.
We'll now start the Q&A session for investors and analysts. If you would like to ask a question, please press Reaction and then click Raise Hand. If your question is answered, you can leave the queue by lowering your hand. If you wish to ask a question in writing, please type your question in the Q&A field, followed by your name and company. Our first question comes from Mateus Sant'Anna from XP. Please, you may go on.
Good morning, Ramon, Guilherme. I have a question.
I'd like to understand the dynamic of the new contracts deployment, thinking of the second half of the year. First, I would like, could you give us a bit, of more color in terms of what the running rate would be, for the second, half of the year, excluding, the heavier deployments, just thinking of full service contracts? And also, for the future, what to expect for this growth in the coming quarters? And as for CapEx from now on, I suppose that most of your CapEx has already been used. I would like to know if you have anything expected that is a bit heavier for the coming quarters. Thank you.
Hi, Mateus. Thanks for your question.... Well, deployments always follow the flow that we mentioned on the first slides, which are very easy to, which is very easy to understand.
We get a project. I'm going to give you an example with CapEx, but it's not very difficult from Asset Light, because in Asset Light, you still have to hire people, rent property, et cetera. But let me talk about Asset Heavy, that perhaps it's easier to understand. You buy equipment beforehand, trucks, machinery, you hire people, you rent property, you make refurbishments, and we have a cost that is what we call pre-operational, upfront costs. And that takes a little for you to start to perform. These two, three months that generated upfront costs, hurt our results for the period.
But then, this is offset at the normal ramp-up of the contract and when the contract ends, because then you have the sale of assets that will generate the opposite effect than the deployment phase, which is a positive effect.
This is normal, and this is what happens every quarter. What was different about this quarter is that there was a bit of a higher concentration of larger projects closed by the end of last year, and that is why we said that, in a way, it was an offender of results, and "offender" quote, unquote, because it will be a promoter of returns after the end of the contract, which is about 24 months on average. So it's very simple. And this is Guilherme Matheus, how are you? As for the impact of these implementations, we have about BRL 20 million between operational costs and expansions and depreciation and the financial expenses of the allocated CapEx that is not generated earnings.
So just for you to have an idea of the magnitude of these deployments of this quarter, you're talking about an adjusted net profit of BRL 33 million. As for CapEx, your second question. Yes, we already invested most of our CapEx for the first half of the year. And according to the profile of projects in several industries, food and beverage, chemicals, and et cetera, we see lots of asset light projects to be implemented. And as Ramon mentioned, you have the hiring of people, rentals, pallets for warehousing, so you have upfront costs as well, but they will generate returns for the future. But no major investment that is necessary to meet the profile of customers and profiles that we have in the short term in our pipeline. So, I think the most CapEx has already been invested.
We have some in the second half of the year, but now it's to benefit from CapEx made and deleverage the company, as we mentioned last quarter, and that continues to be a priority. Very clear.
Thank you very much. Our next question comes from Victor Mizusaki from Bradesco BBI.
Hello, good morning. Congratulations on your results. We have some questions here. The first is the follow-up of CapEx and concentration on the Q2 . What should we expect in terms of additional revenues from the CapEx made for the Q3 ? So if you could give us a bit more color. And then two more questions. One about IC. You showed the adjustment of contract, seeking for better margins.
If you could, talk a bit of the actions taken in a specific segment of IC that you thought were a bit more complex, that didn't make sense to allocate capital in the segment? And also, what is the evolution of margins of IC like? And in the press release, you talked about the CRA, operation. Now that you had the prepayment, do you have a number of how much we should expect in terms of reduction of financial expenses for the Q3 ? Thank you very much.
Hi, Victor. Good morning. Thanks for your question. Additional revenues come from the pile up of new contracts that we disclose every quarter. This year, we talked about BRL 1 billion in the Q1 , BRL 1.3 billion in the Q2 . But if you go back to 2023, we also had about BRL 1 billion per quarter.
And this is, you know, it, it's one thing on top of the other. Generally, you're talking about contracts of around 50 months. In this quarter, exceptionally, the average was 70, but generally, it's 45-55 months, and that adds to our revenues. Of course, in addition to that, you have additional volume of existing contracts. So what we can say is that we had a Q2 , particularly in April and May, that was very much impacted by very specific issues, and I'll give you an example. The floods of Rio Grande do Sul... They did not have a direct impact on us, not really significant, because we don't have a major concentration in the state. But there was an indirect effect, especially in automotive.
You saw news stories, OEMs stopping 3-4 weeks during April and May because of the lack of input from products manufactured in Rio Grande do Sul. So that was an impact. Also, the impact of lots of OEMs reducing production in Argentina. So there was an impact in our international segment that affected a bit our prospects for revenues, especially in March and April. June was much better, both in revenues and result, and July, I can already tell you, that was very good in terms of revenues. So we have two effects, revenues coming from new contracts that are deployed, and on the other hand, revenue comes from existing contracts. What was your first question? Second question, IC. IC, we have been mentioning that in calls, was an acquisition slightly different from others. The others, we just grow.
We use the potential with JSL's economy is upscale, and we grow. So we talked about Marvel, Rodomeu, doubling size, Fadel and TPC, companies that grew by 80%. So here, it's important to mention that Fadel, TPC, Marvel, these were companies that when acquired, were companies from BRL 300 million-BRL 500 million. The three of them are already at the BRL 1 billion mark. Marvel and TPC, very close to that, and Rodomeu passed that. IC was a bit different. You had the benefit of the bargain purchase, so financially speaking, it was a good deal. But in terms of the business, it's more challenging. IC and JSL are engaging into long-term contracts. Some were renegotiated, and you have asset-light contracts, especially in agribusiness, where we see the highest challenge in terms of margin.
So the decrease in revenues in IC were for mostly asset-light contracts. I'm going to turn to Guilherme to add to my two answers, if needed. Hi, Victor. How are you? IC, I think there were two different types. First, we went in, we understood the contracts, we understood their market dynamics, and that led to a reduction of revenues, basically agribusiness, which definitely did not have a correlation between returns and capital invested that was needed for the operation. So the first phase was passed, and then we had to readapt the company structure for its new size, and then really organizing everything, reducing the number of branches, especially for agribusiness, that was very scattered. Now it's time to reap the fruit of the work done on IC and see margin evolves months after month.
So our prospect is that the worst has gone, and now is to have margin evolutions on a monthly basis. Of course, we are monitoring that from close. As for the CRA, which I believe was the last part of your question, we issued the CRA at the end of February, and then we had a prepayment of some debentures that were to mature in 2026, 2027, at a cost of CDI +2.7, compared to the CRA that had the cost of CDI of +0.97. So if you consider the 50 basis points of the average cost of debt, on top of my gross debt of BRL 7.5 billion, we are talking about an impact of BRL 10 million for the quarter alone because of this readjustment of our debt.
Perhaps this is the number that is the simplest for us to disclose.
Okay, thank you very much. Very clear.
Our next question comes from André Mazini, from Citi.
Hi, Ramon. Guilherme, thanks for taking my question. Looking at the Q2 , it seems that you had slightly lower results, especially because the company is preparing for growth. The deployments you mentioned, you had upfront costs, financial costs, and also, I like the chart that you had in the presentation to explain all that. My question is, do you have bargaining power to change the characteristics of some contracts to have upfront payment? Because if the company continues to grow and current contracts don't change in terms of flows, we are always going to see the mismatch we see on this quarter.
Does it make sense if the company continues growing, we are always going to have a mismatch unless we change contracts, and I don't know how easy it is to do that. Second question, other economic sectors. You are almost in all sectors, but you're not in pharmaceuticals, and you're still small in fuel distribution. Are they interesting sectors? Are you looking into—quote, unquote—covering all sectors, or all the major sectors of the economy? Thank you.
Hi, Andrea. Good morning. Thanks for your question. See, the results of the Q2 were indeed slightly below expected, but we have the effect of the deployment, and I'm going to talk about the upfront cost. But it was not only that.
As I mentioned in the previous question, we had some effects that are normal of the business, but, you know, sometimes are concentrated in Q1 or another. We had a lower volume with OEMs, and that impacts our result. Even being asset-light, you have a structure, and when things do not happen, you bleed a bit in terms of results. As a counterpart, in July, we had record revenues with OEMs, the highest revenues since we started operating with OEMs decades ago. So it is, you know, the opposite of April and March. You had the international effect I mentioned, so there are many things. Whenever, you know, billing goes down, it affects results, but they are not structural things. They are day-to-day things.
Your question seems to be if we can negotiate pre-operational revenues in contracts for us not to have the effects in the quarters. It depends a lot. It varies from contract to contract. Asset-heavy contracts with long-term, we do negotiate pre-operational revenues. Others, especially asset-light, no, you can't negotiate that because it is incompatible to the business model. And again, you have to hire people, train people, rent property, some kind of adaptation. So it depends a lot on the profile of the contract. As for sectors, I think there are even more than the two you mentioned. It's a huge market. We are 16, 17 sectors, which is a good number.
I'm sure we are the only company in Brazil that operates with so many different services in the logistics chain, in so many economic sectors. That gives us a natural hedge, seizing market opportunities, and we want more. You talked about pharmaceuticals, which is certainly a huge opportunity, a very, very strong sector. Fuels, we started from IC, very appealing business.
But just to give you another example, FSJ brought e-commerce to us, and as we mentioned before, we did not see a way of going into e-commerce with profitability. FSJ showed us the way, which is the middle mile. So in addition to the growth of FSJ, JSL is operating in mid-mile, enjoying the growth of this business. And certainly, there are other segments that we can explore.
This is the good thing.
Remember that we are very good, very big compared to our competition. If you put together of the 10 largest, the other nine together are not the size of JSL, but we are still very small compared to the market. We have 2.5% market share. So there is a notion of opportunity in terms of volume segments, and we are always looking into them, eager to enjoy those opportunities. This is Guilherme. I would just like to add something to that. What's interesting is that even in the industries in which we have a more relevant presence or the industry has a more relevant share in our business, food and beverage, pulp and paper.
Because of the diversification of services that we offer, the size of our portfolio, and organic development and acquisitions, we still have huge space to grow in sectors in which we are already very strong. And thinking of avenues for growth, you have one of growing with existing customers, bringing new customers. We brought 20 new customers in the first half of this year. 20 does not seem much, but you're talking about market leaders. You're talking about blue chips, which is our customer profile, so new avenues of growth. So existing customers and new customers in existing sectors and new sectors. Thank you very much.
As a reminder, if you want to ask a question, click on Raise Your Hand or type your question by clicking on Q&A. Our next question comes from Eduardo Lazzaretti from Citi.
Hello, everyone. How are you?
In the release, you mentioned that this quarter was marked by the deployment of assets that are not in operation. Pulp, Ghana, that are going to start yielding revenue. What is the impact of those revenues that did not have revenues this quarter? And as for liability management and the doubled cost of the debt in the quarter, what's the impact of that on your product? Thank you.
[Foreign language]
The first questions I answered to Mateus, when about BRL 20 million, of this group of projects that is in a ramp path project and implementation. The second question was the cost of carrying cash, since we had the prepayment on the end of June. Having the spread between cash and my cost of debt, we are talking about BRL 3 million on profit.
[Foreign language]
This is more or less the number of the carrying cost for us to have the prepayment. I hope I have answered your question. If not, just let me know.
[Foreign language]
Our next question comes from Luis Capistrano, from Itaú BBA. You may go on.
[Foreign language]
Mr. Capistrano, your mic is on. You can ask your question.
[Foreign language]
Mr. Capistrano, you can go on with your question.
[Foreign language]
Next question comes from Pedro Siqueira, an individual. What's the average age of your fleet?
[Foreign language]
Hi, [Foreign language]
The single answer is 3.6 years. Breaking that down, I would say tractors, about 3 years, trailers that have a longer life, about 6 years. Here I'm talking about our own fleets. And independent drivers, we are not at the average of 3.6. We work with an average of 10 years, on average. And what is important for us to remember is that the average rate of own fleets in Brazil is about 12 years, depending on the source, and for independent truckers, about 20 years. So when you get the average of own fleets and independent truckers, about 18 years, just for you to have a ballpark.
[Foreign language]
Once again, if you want to ask a question, please click on Raise Hand or type your question on the Q&A session.
[Foreign language].
Please wait while we collect the questions.
[Foreign language]
Our next question comes from Pedro Siqueira, about the growth of 21%, excluding ICMS, subsidies and interest on equity of 23. Did you have the same events in 2024? Were they excluded for the calculation of growth of 21% on a comparable basis?
[Foreign language]
Hi, Pedro, this is Guilherme speaking. Thanks for your question. Yes. Well, for the 21% calculation, we did the following: last year, until December 2023, we had a benefit, the subsidy of investments of ICMS. That gave me benefit in income tax and net profit. When you exclude the effect of last year and included this year, we don't have it anymore, you would be talking about growth of 21%. Just to add to the information, in 2024, we no longer have this benefit. So that is just the comparable basis. We had it in 2023, we do not have it in 2024. Okay?
[Foreign language]
Our next question comes from Luis Capistrano, from Itaú BBA. You may go on.
[Foreign language]
Mr. Capistrano, you may go on with your question.
[Foreign language]
Mr. Capistrano has a question in writing: "I don't know what happened to my microphone. The question is about the new contract in Ghana. If you can give us more color about the size of contract, level of return, and if you have expectations for more international operations contracts in the short term. Thank you.
[Foreign language] Hi, Luis. Thanks for your question. Well, it has to do with our strategy, and we mentioned that before, to have accelerated growth, possibly with other currencies in other countries. We started with an experience in Paraguay, then South Africa, a large project with the customer, but we don't want to be adventurous. We are not just going to go abroad waiting for customers. We're always going to go with long-term contracts that are guaranteed. That's what happened in Paraguay, South Africa, and now in Ghana. What's nice about this is the following: Africa is a giant continent, a huge population, major opportunities of growth. As you know, the population starts to consume.
We are already in the south of the continent, and now with Ghana in the north of the continent, northwest, to be more exact, close to pop- countries with large population. So strategically, it's very interesting, and it's a long-term contract with guarantees and likelihood of growth. So in addition to the business itself, strategically, it's very well-positioned. I hope I have answered your question, otherwise, just let me know. Our next question comes from Igor Araújo from Genial. You may go on. Mr. Araújo, you can unmute your mic. Can you hear me now? Thanks for taking my question. You may go on. I'd like to understand, just to calibrate our projections, the expectation in terms of asset sales.
In the beginning of the year, you were talking about selling BRL 600 million, and we are seeing a turnover that's slightly slower than expected.
What's your expectation for the second half year? Because the level of deployments is probably going to go down, and you will probably have the expectations of repossessing some assets that are in operation. Thank you very much.
Hi, Igor, this is Guilherme. Thanks for your question. Okay. Asset sales. This is perhaps an important piece of information. We increased the asset base available for sale. So we are creating an internal JSL sales efforts to increase volumes and keep sales in retail, because this is where we have the better margins when we negotiate directly with end customers. So we are organizing ourselves. It's still below our expectation in terms of volumes, just because of our structure, of putting together the structure for the year.
And consequently, you are seeing a particularly slower pace and increasing inventories for the period. But when the structure is up and running, as we want it, the volume is mostly going to be higher, and our objective is to reduce the number as soon as possible, because this is, you know, locked capital on our side. It improves returns, cash flow, and everything. So our expectation is to have an improvement from now on.
Thank you, Guilherme. Congratulations on your results. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Luiz Peçanha, from Banco Safra.
Hello, can you hear me?
Yes, you can go on.
This question is a bit more specific about the economic environment in the Midwest region for transportation of grains. I suppose that you monitor that from close.
The results of Vamos, it was one of the downsides of Vamos results is the return of trucks rented by companies that transport grains in the Midwest. And I'd like to understand, on your side, if you're monitoring this from close, and if it has had any negative impact or worse performance, financially speaking, of customers in the agricultural sector, delinquency rates, delays in payments. So if you could talk a bit about that, it would be really helpful. Thank you very much.
Hi, Luiz. Thanks for your question. Well, for different reasons than you mentioned, Mato Grosso has been a state where we are growing the most, especially because of pulp and paper.
So if you get the contracts that we signed in the state, the two states, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso, it has been huge, especially because of pulp and paper. With grains, we have two effects at JSL. One, that we just mentioned of IC, but we are decreasing this business much more because we want it, because margins are not compatible to our strategic plans than because of value. And the other effect is an effect in the transportation of heavy machinery, that indeed decreased because of what you're saying. But it's not such a large segment to us. So there is an effect. It was better in the past, but it is a very small effect in our business.
So objectively answering your question, is that no, for us, the effect is basically null, with regards to what you're asking.
This is Guilherme. The JSL's customer profile when we are working with contracts in Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul are blue chips, customers, multinational, international companies. Regional grain transportation, local grain transportation, smaller producers are not part of our portfolio, and they were the ones that we mostly reduced from IC, as we mentioned in the beginning of our call. Even for IC, the reduction was much more related to margins than non-payment or delays.
Thank you
. Our next question comes from Felix Barbosa, from Velt. Mr. Barbosa, you can ask your question.
Our next question comes from Victor Katzman from Small Caps.
Good afternoon. Two questions my side. To the new deployments that hurt the results of the quarter, when are they going to be with normal margins?
What is the plan of JSL interest on capital or dividends for this year?
Hi, Victor, this is Guilherme. I'm going to answer the second question about dividends and interest on equity, and then Ramon is going to talk about deployment. The dividend payout policy of the company is the 25% minimum mandatory. Historically speaking, you're talking about something close to 40%, but we do not have a guidance on the amount that is going to be. That is a discussion of the board of directors, for the directors for us to propose that, but the policy is minimum dividends of 25%, as it is mandatory. Ramon is going to talk about deployment.
Hi, Victor. Thanks for your questions.
We have deployments every quarter because we are closing contracts every quarters, and so you're always having the effect of deployment on the next quarter or Q2 beyond. The difference specifically for this quarter was an atypical concentration. You have a large operation in Cerrado, you have Ghana and others. That will probably not is going to happen in the next Q2 . For the next Q2 , this is not going to be an offender. I think this is what you're asking. And just to give you more color, how close we are from these operations to start generating revenues, three major revenues we are implementing at the same time, one in Mato Grosso, one in the Northeast, one in Ghana. They are all generating revenues. They started generating revenues in June, so not on all of them.
You have a ramp-up process, not all of them start at 100%, but as of July, all of them are generating revenue. I hope I have answered your question. Our next question comes from Giacomo Zottolo. What is the size of your fleets today? Giacomo, the simple answer is 24,000 assets, including tractors, trucks, trailers and other equipments, forklifts, tractors, etc., depending on the operation.
Our next question comes from Danilo Cangussu.
I'd like to know if you have negotiations ongoing to expand to other Latin American countries, Mexico or Africa?
Hi, Danilo. Good morning. We want to expand to several countries, and there are... We are contacted, and we mentioned that before, by multinational companies that operate in Brazil and want to operate in other countries, Mexico, Argentina, other countries.
But that depends a lot of what we see in terms of consistency. So today, what we have closed is what we have already disclosed. It's Ghana. But undoubtedly, whenever we go to a new country, people, you know, invite us to go to even other countries. So we hope in the short future, to celebrate new contracts in other countries. We have the willingness and the energy. And I'd like to make a comment here, because, you know, willingness alone is not enough, you have to take action. But when we say that we have a global award from GM, then it was not, you know, a simple award. You're talking about 2,000 suppliers, not only of logistics, but of many things. So it is a global award. More than 2,000 suppliers in Brazil, and only JSL was awarded.
The only Brazilian company representing more than 100 suppliers in the world. So that is something that draws people's attention. So General Motors and other companies that work with General Motors saw that we have the potential, and that is a driver for us to negotiate other businesses. So that's how it works.
Our next question comes from Eduardo Lazzaretti from GTI.
"I have a question about the pulp project in the Cerrado. What's your expectation for ramp-up? When it's going to be running at 100%? Thank you."
Eduardo, okay. The Cerrado project, and I'm going to say what was already released in the media by the customer. The ramp-up was slightly delayed because of some plant issues, so it was slightly delayed. It should be at a higher volume, but it is on now.
So we should have a faster ramp-up. So it should be a bit more concentrated. I cannot tell you, because it depends on the customer. It would, you know, be daring on my side of giving you the information, but I think in the coming months, we should have a concentration of a ramp-up that is going to be close to the 100%.
JSL's Q&A session is now closed. We are going to turn the floor back to Mr. Alcaraz for his final remarks.
Well, gentlemen, ladies, first, I thank you for your attendance, your questions, that always help us, talk a bit more about our company. I'd like to draw your attention to some points mentioned before. I don't want to be repetitive, but these are things that we are truly proud of, and I'd like to draw your attention to things.
Resilience of our revenues, that has been proven not only by the numbers disclosed, but mainly for the consistency in the signing of new contracts. If you take a look at all quarters since we went public, you're always talking about new contracts of around BRL 1 billion, a bit more, a bit less. We talk about BRL 1 billion here, BRL 1 billion there, and you that are used to covering other companies, that's not that appealing. But BRL 1 billion for a logistics company, you know, is the size of the fifth largest, sixth largest. So what I'm saying is that what I close every month is enough for me to be one of the top 10 companies in the country.
The other thing is our positioning. Words are beautiful, talking about unique positioning. It sounds like a catch statements, but it's a reality.
Logistics companies in Brazil are mostly specialized companies for the transportation of new vehicles, for urban distribution, for bulk transportation, but JSL is the only company in the entire logistics chains. This is very important, and Guilherme said that in one of the answers. When you have a customer, because you have a large portfolio, the capacity to grow is huge, because you cover all logistics services in the logistics chain. This is a business that is irreplicable because it has been built along 68 years. So even companies that are large in the world would have difficulties to come to Brazil and do what we do.
And why is that? Because services, differently from production, depend on people, depend on expertise, so it is indeed something irreplicable. In addition, we have the know-how of the acquisition of companies that is very specific, because what is our business?
To buy companies, not because we are having a good deal. We are not a fund. We want to pay the fair price for the acquisition for a company that has a huge potential to grow, and then with our scale, capacity of investment, make companies take off. This might be what happened. All companies, with exception of IC, as we mentioned, but Fadel, Marvel, [Foreign language] , TPC, FSJ, in very little time, doubled size. At the end of 2020, we were a company of BRL 3.5 billion. If we only make this quarter × 4, we are a company of BRL 10 billion in 3.5 years, with consistent results. Of course, you're always going to have effects up and down, quarter-on-quarter, but results are consistent. So we are very happy with the recognition of our customers.
We mentioned two, Ambev and General Motors, because they are large awards, large customers, one of our top five, but several others that make us very proud. And we are certain that our business is supported by two pillars: customers, excellence in what we do. We provide services, and we will only grow if we provide good work. People, more than 30,000 employees that have to be motivated and dedicated for the same purpose and results. So in these three pillars, and those that follow us since the IPO, have heard me before, this is our mantra in the company. I truly do believe that, and so do the people that work with me, and we think we are on the right path. Thank you. And, well, let's keep talking in whatever opportunity we have. Thank you very much.
JSL's video conference is now closed.
We thank you for your attendance and wish you a good day.