Good morning, welcome to the conference call of JSL to discuss the earnings regarding the Q2, 2023. Today with us are Mr. Ramon Alcaraz, JSL CEO, Guilherme Sampaio, CFO, and Investor Relations Officer of JSL. Right now, all participants are in listen only mode. Later on, we'll start the Q&A and A sessions when further instructions will be provided. Should any of you need assistance during the conference call, please reach the operator by pressing star 0. We would like to inform you that this conference call is being recorded and simultaneously translated into English. Before moving on, we would like to let you know that any statements made during this conference call relative to the company's business outlooks, projections, operating and financial goals, are based on the beliefs and assumptions of JSL management, and rely on information currently available to the company.
Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they refer to future events, and therefore depend on circumstances that may not occur. General economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors may affect the company's future results and lead to results that will be materially different from those in the Forward-looking statements. Now, we are going to turn the call to Mr. Ramon Alcaraz. Please, Mr. Alcaraz, you may go on. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to be here with you to present the earnings of the Q2, 2023. Excellent results and the consistent of the results make us very pleased. Those that have followed our results since the first IPO have been a witness of that, despite all the adversities in recent years. It's much different in Q2 2023.
We are very pleased with the results we are bringing to you. Compared to the same period, 2022, we grew almost 28%, BRL 2.2 billion in gross revenue, BRL 1.8 billion net revenue. Even better, we grew our EBITDA by 43%, with an improvement of 2% points, BRL 359 million. Net income grew by 20.8%, getting to BRL 41 million. ROIC 15.2%, more than doubled the number reported when we had our IPO. Many ask how we have come to such substantial, consistent results. Our answer is simple: resilience and discipline in our management strategy that we have released since the IPO. That is a strict management of cost, operational efficiency, right pricing of processes based on our expertise in already deployed processes, management and execution of projects.
For the reality to be even better than our prices ensuring expansion of margins. Unique model, post-acquisition, keeping the independent company of each company acquired, but capturing the synergies of scale. Expansion of international operations, enabling growth in other markets and other very important points. Excellence in services, demonstrated by the high % of uncertain and several awards reported each quarter. In this quarter, the highlights are the operation of uncertain, with the 1 award in the category of service, quality, and innovation, and also the Golden Helmet Award for our safety culture. Now, going to page 3, we highlight the transformation of scale and profitability. Growth of 140% in net income since the IPO, 201 in EBITDA, improving margin from 16.7% to almost 20%. More than doubled ROIC from 7.3 to 15.2.
That is because the growth and of our organic business and acquisition. As you can see in the chart, since October 2020, since the IPO, we went through Transmoreno, Fadel, Rodomeu, TPC, Marvel, TruckPad, IC Transportes , just two months in our earnings of the Q2, and the last one, FSJ, that is still not reported in results. On page four, we show how our managed model and expertise promote a continuous cycle of organic growth, with average growth of 14% compared to Q2 2023 with the same period, 2022. 20% in acquired companies, again, comparing them to themselves. Here, just a note, when we analyze the pre-acquisition period of each acquired company, we have an average growth of 91%. Some almost doubled in an average period of two years. In JSL, growth was 11%. Once again, I reinforce our model.
Independent management of each contract, agility in the making of decisions, projects developed together with customers in acquired companies, post M&A, independent management, immediate synergies in the purchase of inputs and assets, financial structure to leverage growth, also dilution of indirect expenses with growth. We use cross-selling and add new customers. On page five , we show how our competitive advantages ensure business expansion. $972 million new contracts are close to this quarter, average maturity of 51 months, 88% in cross-selling. With that, we add to the Q1 2023, $1.6 billion in new contracts with an average maturity of 45 months. The main sectors are consumer goods, 62%, pulp and paper, 16%, food and beverage, 14%, among others.
We have a unique difference, the largest logistics platform in the country, leading several segments with huge capacity to invest and efficiency in capital location, quality and know-how, unique diversification and integrated service portfolio in all the logistics chain, with experience in several sectors of the economy. We have a proven history of delivery, correcting deviations, which is crucial in the last three years, ensuring quality to our customers. On page six, we give you a breakdown of our business model. In projects with the customer, we have the understand to serve, which is our motto, involving all areas, not only commercial, operations, controls, finance, IT, you name it. In execution, we have the owner of the business with autonomy and agility in making decisions.
The strategies are shared with our customers, exclusive management of contracts, evolution cycle, excellence in execution of what we propose to do, generating customer loyalty, cross-selling, and recommendation to new customers. All that has generated, in addition to substantial growth, a natural hedge for the diversification of services and sectors, as you can see in the pie charts on the slide. To give you more color on our financial indicators, I'm going to call my friend, Guilherme Sampaio. Guilherme? Hello, good morning, everyone. Another quarter with consistent results, keeping organic growth and extending margins. This quarter, we closed the acquisition of IC Transportes and the Transportes at the end of April, the largest company since the IPO. We have consolidated two months of the company in our results.
As J Logistics that we announced a few months ago, has not been closed yet and is not included in the numbers we are reporting. Net income closed at BRL 1.840, 21% better Q2, and 18% better Q1, already including the two months of EC. 54% were in asset light operations, and 46% in heavy asset-heavy operations. As Ramon mentioned in the previous slide, 35% in dedicated operations, 46% in transportation, 12% in warehousing, and 7% in urban distribution. The breakdown already reflects the consolidation of numbers of IC Transportes that focus on transportation and 70%+ in asset light. Operating margin closed at 14.5%, 1% point above last year, with EBIT at BRL 258 million in the quarter, vis-a-vis BRL 185 million last year, growth of 39%.
This growth already excludes the impact of the bargain purchase of EC, that we have to register in the end of the quarter this quarter. Without the bargain purchase, EBITDA closed at BRL 359, 43% above Q2, and margin of 20.1%, 1.9 % points above Q2 2022. Remember that results and margins are impacted by the consolidation of EC, that came to JSL with margins below the consolidated margin. The work to rebuild margins has already started. We are going to see the development quarter-on-quarter. Net income closed at BRL 41 million, excluding the Apex of EC and amortizations of previous acquisitions. The reported amount is BRL 205 million, BRL 232 million in the quarter, almost a four-fold increase of the Q1 last year.
The amount is still impacted by approximate BRL 18 million of financial results recorded by the exchange variation of cash and accounts receivable in Argentina, because of our international operations. This amount is already being negotiated with customers for reimbursement to keep the economic financial balance of our contracts. Reported ROIC, 20.8, already considering the results of two months of EC, and addition of invested capital of BRL 260 million. The ROCE rolling rate, with the same adjustments that we present in paid CapEx that still has not generated revenues, was capped at 15.2. In slide eight, net CapEx... in line with the last quarter last year, and we closed the quarter with BRL 509 million CapEx, 80% of the amount for expansion and 30% in our acquired companies.
To update the amounts that we have reported quarter-on-quarter, today, we have a residual amount of BRL 4.7 billion of assets, like trucks, tractors, machinery, equipment, that is liquid for sale, that at market value, considering to the margin of Second Quarter, gets BRL 6 billion, 1.4x our net debt. Before going to the next slide, it's important to remind you that because of the profile of growth, we always have a substantial amount of CapEx that is still has not translated into revenue. In this quarter, we are talking about BRL 24 million in net income because of the costs of CapEx already paid and the depreciation of assets in the quarter. On slide nine, I bring net debt that closed the quarter at BRL 4.3 billion, already with the impact of IC.
EBITDA LTM, combined with the 12 months of IC, is at BRL 112.2 billion and added EBITDA BRL 1.8 billion. With that, our leverage is 2.72x in EBITDA and 2.45x added EBITDA, which is our reference for covenants. If we exclude the effect of the bargain purchase, leverage would be stable compared to the Q1, below the Q2 of 2022, keeping our commitment to go beyond 3x . We close with BRL 790 million in cash, and also with available revolving credit line of BRL 569 million. BRL 750 million of new lines that are in process of being signed. That would keep us in a position of BRL 2 billion of available cash.
Going to slide number 10, I bring you some information on, on FSJ that is still being approved by CADE for us to close the operation and consolidate in our number. This is a company that is very much aligned in our history of acquisition, with a very qualified team for mid-mile operations for retail and e-commerce clients. That increase our portfolio of services and sectors. 500 people, 600 assets, eight years of operation, serving Mercado Libre, Jadlog , Magalu, among other large customers that are relevant in retail and e-commerce. Some important points that are available highlighting. First, it brings $300 million of new revenue to JSL, with CAGR of 133% from 2019 onwards. The founder and the team stay with us to keep the trajectory of growth.
With JSL, FSJ starts to have the scale and robust balance sheet to improve its capacity to serve its customers. The transaction have an enterprise value of BRL 125 million, active value of BRL 108 million, which takes us to a multiple of 3x . With the synergies we expected, based on the historical acquisitions, we can go to a multiple of 2.6x . We're very encouraged of what we can do together with FSJ teams. With that, I turn back to Ramon for his final remarks. Ramon? Thanks, Guilherme. On page 12, just to close, ladies and gentlemen, I highlight our unique position in the market to grow organically and via acquisitions. We already a company of almost BRL 10 billion revenues when we combine our current revenues with the numbers of IC and FSJ.
Consistent, sustainable margins, as you can follow, even impacted by pre-operating costs of projects under deployment, that will support our development for the coming quarters. The start of the cycle of decreasing interest rates, which will impact our net income directly. People and management model prepared to bring even better results. A robust balance sheet that ensures us a unique position to meet the demands of large industries that need special services and quality services. Huge opportunities to grow in the logistics market, is still very fragmented in the country. We are absolute leaders in the industry, but have only the 2% market share. It's still way below the main global markets. Competitive advantages like execution, management efficiency, scale, and access to capital, put us in a unique position in the industry to continue with our expansion and consolidation agenda.
Thanks for your attention. Now we are going to open for your questions, both myself and Guilherme. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now start our Q&A session. To ask a question, please press star one. To remove your question from the list, you can press star two. Our first question comes from Luiz Capistrano, from Itaú BBA. Hi, Ramon, congratulations on your results. Thanks for taking my question. I would like to talk about the profitability of new contracts. This quarter, we had a margin that moved sideways compared to the Q1. We had the factor of the distraction of margins, talking about the consolidation of IC.
I would like to confirm with you, and understand, if when we look at contracts closed this quarter, the numbers that you announced, if they will also continue to improve margins as they start operations in the third, Q4, and they're going to have even higher profitability. That is, if the margin is pointing upwards. I'd like to confirm that. The second question is to understand, how you see M&As, if you think you're going to accelerate the process and your pipeline. Any comments that you have are most welcome. Thank you very much. Hi, Louise, thanks for your question. You're very right. Our margins of, of new contracts, for several reasons, are better. First, because our contracts are already priced at an updated interest rate. That alone improves profitability.
New contracts, we always have the expertise of past contracts. There is a trend that they are better designed. Reality always provides information to project areas for us to take more and more into account operating variables. That alone, already makes new contracts be better designed. You're also right to say that in the Q2, the margin was adversely affect because of a lower margin of IC Transportes . Guilherme already said that we are already renegotiating several contracts, analyzing the company inside. Gradually we are going to improve margins at IC, IC. As for your second question, the market is always favorable to M&A. This is not something that happens overnight. It is announced overnight, but it's a process that takes time.
We have several options in our pipeline, for many reasons, you know, sometimes it, it becomes true, as it happened this year with IC and FSJ. I agree with you, relative drop in interest rates, is advantageous to us. We hope we can have good news for the future. Thanks, Ramon. Thank you very much. You were very clear. Our next question comes from Pedro Bruno, from XP Investments. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. My question has to do with the answer, that Ramon just provided. It's about the competitive environment and the rates. I'd like to understand a bit more conceptually.
I think that we'll try to explain margin expansion, but I would like to understand your rationale for new contracts with the diesel policy, lower prices, and how this goes into our negotiations when you get a specific market, like agribusiness, for instance. Just because it is a very heated market, and it's a market in which we have data on road prices per route. We see an even higher transportation prices, even with lower diesel prices. This is just an example, but if you can bring other examples or really put this in the context of your negotiations, so for us to understand behaviors a bit and how we explain this phenomenon, and how this perhaps can be translated into an opportunity in terms of profitability.
Hi, Pedro, good morning. Well, since the IPO, and you are a witness of that, this is something that I'm talking about many times. We bet on some pillars to improve our results, mainly operational efficiency and cost management. We cannot bet on prices alone. This is something that we have been gradually doing in terms of our homework. We have a plan that is very strict for us to reduce costs, because in the end of the day, we want to have better results and to be competitive. If you pass on everything to prices, then you are no longer competitive. This is the first part of the answer.
The second part of the answer that is more directly related to your question: obviously, when you have stability of inputs, and diesel is more widely known because of Petrobras, but not only diesel, tires, parts, vehicle values, and the confusion that we had in the end of 2022 and along 2022, you know, the scenario is almost in a turmoil, so it gives us more work to reprice and negotiate. Of course, in this environment, if you are faster, you take the lead, as we quite modestly believe we did. In the year of 2023, the major advantage is that prices are more stable, and that gives us the comfort for us to do our management right. The diesel you asked, indeed, is not the most important item.
First, because it is something that, you know, it is a price that is reported, it makes negotiations easier. Another part of the agribusiness, the diesel is paid by clients themselves, it's even easier for us to, you know, adjust prices, thinking of diesel. Of course, when the diesel price goes down, it's even better, because the negotiation is easier for both sides. The other inputs that are less reported, may be a bigger of a problem. What is important is that we had a surprise at the end of 2021, 2022, which was annual adjustments that we were not really used to anymore, but we very fast adjusted to this dynamics, which enables us to be faster in any market fluctuations.
This is part of the process, and the companies that are more agile benefit from that, and that will reflect in margins. Again, it's not just a matter of prices. Prices is part of it, but I have to bet on cost reduction and operational efficiency.
Thank you very much. Very clear. Our next question comes from Lucas Macchiari, from BTG Pactual.
Hello, everyone. Good morning. Thanks for your call. I have two questions. First, if you can give us a bit more color on elements, be it contracts, profile of customers, of FSJ, that really drew your attention. That would be very interesting, because you always had low exposure to e-commerce because of the low protection of contracts in the segment.
I would like to understand what capture your attention for FSJ.
What is different in commerce contracts that made you interested to go into the industry? This is my first question. Second, if you could share with us... the asset acquisition program, thinking of all volatility that we are having in prices, especially machinery and trucks, and the change from Euro 5 toEuro 6. Are you waiting to buy trucks for the future? Are you enjoying the market is at a discount and buying them now? If you could give us a bit more color there, it would be very interesting. Thank you. Hi, Lucas. Thanks for your question. I'm going to start with the first, FSJ. This is an acquisition that followed to the same model of any other acquisition. What is the rationale? This is a company that is well managed, well led, with very good margin.
The second important variable is that it is in a segment that we believe can reinforce some of our other segments, or that might be interesting for us. We have always been asked, even in calls, if you're not going to serve the e-commerce wave. We've always said, we like e-commerce. It always brings sales, and because we are in the logistics chain, we benefit from that. The last mile e-commerce is something that we are very cautious, because margins are very tight, as you yourself mentioned. JSL found this important niche, which is the mid-mile, which is supply a smaller distribution center to the last mile. It's almost the pre-last mile. Because you work with the supply, you work with consolidated loads, full truckloads. Because you have more concentrated logistics, you can have better margin.
It's important to say that FSJ is a young company, eight years old, but with lots of expertise, it has been growing very fast. It has customers with huge potential, Mercado Libre, Magalu, and others, with long-term contracts, very similar to JSL. It is an acquisition that fit perfectly our portfolio. That was the rationale for FSJ. Second question, that has to do with the change in technology, that is Euro 5 from Euro 6. For us, indeed, it was good that we no longer have an Euro 5 inventory in the market. You know, helped us wait for the market to settle down. Euro 6 amounts are more close to reality, in my opinion, and we only, you know, purchase...
A vehicle, that is, we only invest CapEx when you already have a contract, and our contracts are priced with Euro 6 already. For us, it's a good balance. It would be a problem to buy Euro 6 if the contract was priced at Euro 5, but that's not the case. We are quite comfortable. We are going to start buying Euro 6 as of this quarter, but fully planned, priced within our plans. Thank you, Lucas. Thank you, everyone. Have a good day. Our next question comes from Victor Mizusaki, from Bradesco BBI. Hello, good morning. Congratulations on your results. I have two questions. The first, about the growth of JSL, an important part of new contracts, as you mentioned, came from the company's capacity to cross-sell.
If you could talk a bit about the market share of JSL in your existing customers, just for us to understand potentials for the future. Second question, also related to the purchase of assets. If somehow JSL sees an opportunities of using the government program, incentives for fleet renewal to go into new customers. Thank you. Hi, Victor. Good morning. Thanks for your questions. Okay, first, I'm going to talk about cross-selling and market share. This is an important question because we have customers in the most different sectors, and the answer depends on sectors and clients. We created a new management unit that is focused on new customers, number one, and number two, enjoying the capacities of cross-selling in existing customers. This is exactly we want to know: what is our market share in existing customers? We are quite surprised.
In major customers, we have loads of business, but they're still small. That is, there is a lot of room to grow in the existing customers. This is a good answer that we are to the question we are asking. In the coming quarters, you will see an increase in cross-sale. Despite we are in several sectors, more than 17 industries, we believe that there is still lots that we are either very small or we are not at all, like drugs, fuels, we have nothing. We have something with IT, agribusiness, grains, fertilizers. We didn't, we are just starting. I just mentioned FSJ in the middle mile segment. The market is so huge.
Although JSL is much larger than the runner-up in the segment, we still have 2%, 3% market share in the logistics market. Opportunities are almost endless. They will depend on our capacity to be able to keep pace with the market that exists in Brazil. That's the first good news. The second question. I forgot. I forgot to. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Victor. It was the government program, the, you know, clients that have an old fleet can use the government program. Perhaps you could go into new customers because of the program. Thanks, Victor. I'm sorry, I forgot your question. Okay. Government program. For JSL, per se, it's not a benefit because the program is based on the renewal of vehicles more than 25 years old.
Our trucks are on average 3.5 years old, and we have no truck above seven years. It could be a benefit to our independent truckers. We try to work with truckers with an average fleet of eihgt years to nine years old. Remember that, you know, the average age is 23 in Brazil, there are trucks that are 40years, 50 years old, so we try to work with a younger fleet. The problem is, you know, if you have a trucker with a truck that is above 25 years old, they won't be able to buy a brand-new truck, even with the benefit of BRL X thousand. I'm not saying that it is a good or bad benefit, but it's too much of a difference.
In practice, it's really not much of a benefit. Okay, thank you very much. Our next question comes from Renata Cabral, from Citibank. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. I have two. One is a follow-up about IC Transportes . We have two months consolidation as of this quarter. You talked a bit about margin, but I would like to know, because you've talked about cost management and operating efficiency. Which is natural in a merger acquisition for you to revisit contracts, and I would like to understand how you. Renata, this is Guilherme. Hi, Guilherme. We could not hear, part of your question. Could you please start all over again? I'm very sorry. Certainly, no problems. Again, my first question is about IC Transportes . Just a follow-up.
You talked a bit about margins, but I would like to understand how you think the top line is going to evolve. I think it's natural in a merger acquisition to revisit contracts. Thinking about cost management and operational efficiency, I would like to understand the top line a bit better. My second question is about leverage. I know that you're very comfortable with comparison to your covenants. Talking about leverage, except, non-recurring, I would like to understand how you see this number evolving from now to the end of the year. Thank you very much. Hi, Renata, this is Ramon speaking.
Thanks for your questions. I'm going to start with IC, and then Guilherme is going to answer about leverage.
IC Transportes , it was a slightly different acquisition compared to previous acquisition, because this is a company that was with the tighter, a bit more pressured margins because of its particular context. As we have been saying, our acquisition model is a model in which we do not absorb the company, we let the company continue its operations. What we buy is the know-how. Even IC, having tighter margins, this is a company that I've known for many years, even the owner. This is a company with a service portfolio that is quite recognized by excellence, by its sector, by its customers. It is a company that really cherishes its quality, which is very good even for us to renegotiate some contracts.
What we have been doing as a support to the company and not as, you know, inside management, is really to work with contracts, price analysis, and IC is working with its customers, trying to find ways whenever necessary. There is another part of IC in the agribusiness, which is a bit more a longer-term contract that is being analyzed in terms of routes. They are finding their way. That is not a concern. Our role is to support them strategically, in parallel to that, support with any investments, fleet renewals and et cetera. We really have much confidence in the excellence that IC developed in its 40 years. As for your second question, I'm going to turn to Guilherme.
Hi, Renata, how are you? Fine.
Okay, just to add to what Ramon mentioned about IC, I think an important guideline of ours is that we will certainly try to have a profitable operation and bring IC numbers to what they were historically. For that, we have to understand the type and quality of revenues they have in the short term, what we are going to be able to do in the agribusiness, especially, which is a more advanced areas, but with our focus to keep profitability at a healthy level. Just as a side comment. Going to your question on leverage. You're quite right. We've always been comfortable, but now, even more so because of the growth of the business. We are significantly comfortable compared to our covenants.
You're talking about 2.4x leverage in our EBITDA ratio. The market as a whole follows JSL using EBITDA ratio as a reference. If we exclude the effect of the IC acquisition, you're talking about leverage of 3.6x , which is in line what we, of what we talk, that is to run the company around 3x . This is the commitment that we keep. We see leverage close to 3x . Now with this one-off effect, we know that we are going to live with it for the next 12 months, I see stability. Okay. Thanks, Ramon, Guilherme, very clear. Congratulations on your results. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Igor Araujo, from Genial Investments. Good morning. Congratulations on your results.
I have two questions, also with a follow-on on IC margins. I would like to understand the margin of the first twoF months of IC operations, and what is your target and ramp up for the future? Thinking of, you know, a company that you absorbed now and that you expect to deliver in the coming years. FSJ, you said that is an acquisition more related to cross-sell than margin ramp up. Also during the presentation, you said that you have 2%-3% share in the Brazilian logistics market. What do you see in the segment of middle mile for the future? Thank you very much. Hi, Igor, this is Guilherme speaking. I'm going to answer the questions on margins, and then Ramon is going to talk about the market as a whole. IC margins.
It started very similar to what we had in the material fact. The material fact had numbers of 2022, margin of about 7%, 7%-8% EBITDA margin. This is what reported in the material fact. We believe that an adequate margin for the company would be 14%-15%, because it has an asset light model. We believe this is a healthy, adequate margin. Obviously, the time that we'll take to get to this margin is still not clear. We cannot give you a deadline because we have been working on a series of factors, trying to understand the profile of the operation, the vocation, the types of contracts. This is still ongoing. After we understand everything, we are going to start more specific one-off actions to recover margin along time. That's IC.
When we look at JSL, it already has the margins at 15%-16%, which is also something we released in the material fact. This is also an operation that is about 55%-60% asset light. We believe that this is a margin that is also with lots of opportunities in other services in the chain, and depending on the services, we are going to have a different EBITDA margin profile, which can bring it up or keep it stable. Talking about the markets in general, then I'm going to let Ramon answer. Just to add to what Guilherme mentioned, the case of IC, you know, it's something that I also talked when Renata asked the question. It is IC excellence.
Half, IC market is a trade market, and it has to do with agility to hire independent truckers. Other contracts, asset heavy with customers, IC some$ is the sole supplier or the most important supplier. Because of its recognized excellence, it makes it easier for us to renegotiate contracts, because this is something that we believe the ramp-up is going to be relatively fast. Now, IC is a company that with high revenues, we have to be more strategic in reworking margins. FSJ is a young company in a young market with huge capacity to grow. Our investment capacity, it will enable us to seize opportunities the market will pose. We know retail, e-commerce have a higher chance of growth. Of course, they have accelerated growth during the pandemic, then stable, but this is a growing market.
I think JSL found a niche in the middle mile, which is quite interesting. We believe that this is a company that has accelerated capacity to grow. Thank you, Igor. Thank you, Ramon.
The next question comes from Julia Orsi, from JP Morgan. Hello, Ramon, Guilherme, thanks for the call. I have one question: Could you give us a bit more color about your international strategy from now on? Hi, Julia, thanks for your question. I'm going to answer your question in two parts. The first is international transportation, starting from Brazil. This is a volume that we grew a lot, especially with the carrying of parts from Brazil to Argentina. You know, there are lots of OEMs in Brazil that assemble vehicles in Argentina with parts that are manufactured in Brazil. This leads us to a transportation from Brazil to Argentina.
JSL won several contracts from last year onwards, which is nice. We were surprised with the situation in Argentina, the devaluation of the peso, more recently, difficulties to transferring funds from Argentina to Brazil. That generated a financial cost in our numbers. These are challenges, but these are one-off challenges, and we are already renegotiating with customers. We see that still as an opportunity for growth along this line, again, originating in Brazil. I talked about, you know, the parts that we have, Marvel, transporting goods to Argentina, Chile, Brazil, et cetera. This area of going international, we believe, has huge possibility to grow. The other part of going international, that is going truly international, that is having an operation abroad, as it is the case of Paraguay and South Africa, we also think we have a huge possibility of growth, especially in Africa.
We are already considering going to other countries in Africa. This is a continent that brings challenging, obviously, operational, cultural, as always, whenever there is a difficulty, there is also an opportunity, and this is what we see. We have a likelihood to close new contracts still this year. There are other things that are ongoing. I've already mentioned that in previous calls. Mexico, we are looking into opportunities, other countries. This is a channel that is interesting to us, but always being cautious and having, you know, going abroad with negotiated contracts. We are not adventurous. We are not going to establish a shop in another country, just, you know, to fish for business. This is not our thing. We want to go abroad with closed deals. Thank you very much, Larry here.
Ladies and gentlemen, just as a reminder, if you have a question, just press star one. Our next question comes from the web and is going to be read by Guilherme Sampaio.
Hello, everyone. We have received a question from Francisco Pontes, from Apex. What is your expectation about the impact of the fiscal benefits that are going to be removed from the payroll with an average impact of 2% on your results? I'm going to start answering your question. Ramon may carry on. First, we don't think the benefit is going to be removed. This is the first answer. Second, this is a cost that all our pricing models are based on. We are based on the cost of operation, plus margins to operate. Payroll costs, especially in labor-intensive operations, is part of it.
Obviously, if there is a change in the tax law that impacts our payroll, this is going to be passed on and priced in contract, increasing the cost of the system as a whole. The calculation of the 2%, I don't know how you got to that, but if there is a change, this is going to be included in our pricing model. Anyway, we do not have the expectation of this to change by the end of the year. Francisco, this is Ramon speaking. Just adding to what Guilherme mentioned, just a comment. Tax incentives do not benefit us as the company necessarily, but the system as a whole. It's just what Guilherme mentioned.
If the benefit or the subsidy is removed, and we do not believe that, this is going to be passed on to our prices, which is bad for everyone. Another important thing is that not all companies that are connected to JSL that have subsidies, that is, fully asset-light companies, do not use this benefit. I don't know if you know, but this is optional. Companies can use it or not. This is a cross-subsidy. You don't pay 20% INSS, but as a counterpart, you pay 1.5% on revenues. Companies that are more asset light, they have little labor, it makes no sense. It's not all companies, and we do that when we have more labor. It would be a shame if it happened.
If it happens, as Guilherme mentioned, automatically it is going to be priced so that it can reflect the new reality in our prices. That's the only thing we can do. You know, the same thing applies for the tax reform. You know, whenever there is a change in the law, this has to be adjusted to real life. Thank you, Francisco, for your question. I hope we have been able to answer it accordingly.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are no more questions, we are going to turn the call back to Mr. Alcaraz and Sampaio for their final remarks. Well, everyone, my final remarks are that we are very optimistic about the H2 of the year for two main reasons.
First, because for seasonal purposes, the H2 of the year is naturally better than the first half of the year. I'm sorry, it seems that we have lost the main line. Ladies and gentlemen, please wait while we reconnect to the speakers. I'm sorry, everyone, this is Ramon speaking. I'm just going to carry on. I'm just saying that the expectation is good because seasonally, H2 of years are better than first, and also because of the drop in interest rates, which, apart from the effect itself, also creates an optimism in companies turning the wheel of economy. Another important thing, everything that we talked about, JSL, we are already a company of almost BRL 10 billion revenues a year, considering the combined companies. With that, we have the scale and strength to seize our opportunities that the market undoubtedly will bring.
Thank you very much for your attention. I hope we have been able to answer your questions accordingly, and we are always here for you on the channels you're already aware of. Thank you very much. Thank you, everyone. This is Helene speaking. JSL Sales conference call is now closed. We thank you very much for joining us, and wish you a very good day.