Good morning and welcome to JSL's conference call to discuss the earnings regarding the third quarter 2022. With us today we have Mr. Ramon Alcaraz, JSL CEO, Guilherme Sampaio, CFO and Investor Relations Officer of the company. Right now, all participants are in listen only mode. Later on, we are going to start the Q&A session when further instructions will be provided. Should any of you need assistance during the conference call, please reach the operator by pressing star zero. 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 outlook, projections, operating and financial goals are based on JSL's management assumptions and beliefs, and rely on information currently available to the company.
Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions since they refer to future events, and therefore depend on circumstances that may or 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 materially differ from those in the forward-looking statements. Now we are going to turn the floor to Mr. Ramon Alcaraz. Please, Mr. Alcaraz, you may go on.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. It's a pleasure to be here to report the earnings of the third quarter 2022. Although in the last two years since the IPO have reported a significant evolution quarter on quarter really excelled ourselves this quarter. Results were excellent. It has been a challenging year, but the team has really excelled.
I'm going really to just, you know, honk my horn to the team, which is something that we do when we close, you know, a new contract or have excellent results. Here are the numbers. Gross revenues of BRL 1.9 billion, 13% higher, the third quarter 2021. Even better in EBITDA, 50% over the third quarter 2021 and 19% quarter-on-quarter with BRL 300 million. Margin of 19%, the best margin ever. 1.8% year-on-year and 0.3% over the last quarter. ROIC in constant evolution, 13.7%, 1.4 percentage points above the third quarter 2021, and 0.7 over the last quarter. We also improved our net income, 24% above the last quarter, the second of 2022, over 14% of revenues.
That shows our resilience even at an adverse scenario. We have natural hedge with a diversified growth and a unique positioning with presence in the real economy and a full service portfolio driving cross-selling. Financial capacity that is unique to support large projects and meets the needs of the different sectors of the economy. Growing capillarity by sector and geography with the deployment of new projects. We have again a natural hedge with such diversified growth. Beginning with, you know, our service portfolio, dedicated operations, warehousing, urban distribution, freight transport, but also sectors, automotive, consumer goods and steel and mining, food and beverage and others. I would like to highlight the growth of some of our acquired companies, Marvel with 75% growth and Rodomil with more than 100%, as we are going to see next.
Much due to the fleet that we acquired by means of JSL's capacity of investment. This quarter, almost all sectors grew. Automotive is the highlight, the sector that had some problems on lacking inputs in previous quarters, but that this quarter really stood out. On the next slide, I show you part of our growth. Evolution of net services revenue of 32%. In acquired companies, 40% when we compared them to themselves. As I mentioned, Rodomil more than doubled size. Marvel with 75%. Transmoreno in the automotive sector, 90%. Fadel, 21%. TPC, 16%. Truckpad, our acquisition this year, a digital company with growth of 204%. In sectors, many with substantial growth, 59% for food and beverage, 57% in automotive, as I mentioned before. Pulp and paper, deployment of new contracts, 27%.
Steel and mining, 21 and so on. Very, very good. On the next slide, we highlight our differentiated positioning and our financial capacity that enables us to sign a new contract. This contract, BRL 590 million in new contracts with an average term of 46 months. Added to the other quarters already released, we have BRL 2.7 billion of new contracts in 2022. Then if you think of the breakdown, we have a good balance by segment. 73% in freight transport, most of it with contracts of specialized cargo and therefore better margin. 2% in warehousing, 10% in urban distribution, and 15% in dedicated operations. Then in the breakdown of sectors, 50% food and beverage. That is a sector that has really standing out by more than two-digit growth. Steel and mining, 7%.
Consumer goods, 11%. Automotive, 11%. That shows a balance in between sectors, as I mentioned, which gives us a natural hedge to the business. 93% of new contracts come from cross-selling, which shows that we are using opportunities that our clients have to us. Now I'm going to turn to Guilherme Sampaio, that will give us further color in the quarter. Guilherme, please.
Thank you, Ramon. Good morning, everyone. Before starting with numbers, I would also like to congratulate and thank our team for the work done. This is a quarter that reflected the result of our work. We closed the quarter with BRL 1.6 billion net revenues, almost 40% higher than last year and 13% higher than the second quarter 2022. In the nine months, growth is 47%.
We got to BRL 4.4 billion in net revenue, reflects the organic growth of all the companies that are part of JSL. To me, even better than the growth in net revenue was our EBIT, closing the quarter at BRL 230 million, 14.6% margin, 62% higher than third quarter 2021, and 25% higher than the second quarter this year. An expansion of 2.3 percentage points year-on-year. EBITDA closed the quarter at BRL 299 million, margin 19%, the best margin ever since the IPO in September 2020. Because of our seasonality, the third quarter is always a quarter with lots of volumes, but this really excelled all expectations.
Adjusted net income, BRL 42.2 million, lower than last year, mostly because of financial costs, but 23% higher than the second quarter this year. This level of margins led our ROIC to 13.7% considering the last twelve months, but if we analyze the numbers, it would be 16.9%. On the next page, we closed the quarter with net CapEx of BRL 304 million, 60% of the volume directed to expansion, which supports what Ramon mentioned, expansion of acquired companies and the deployment of new projects, especially in forestry and mining segments that have a more asset-heavy profile. On the next slide, we closed the quarter with BRL 670 million in cash and another BRL 630 million in revolving credit lines undrawn.
That gives us a comfort of liquidity because it represents more than 11 times short-term debt. Our net debt closed at BRL 3.1 billion. EBITDA net debt ratio 3.0x. Adjusted EBITDA, which is our reference in covenants of 2.8x. As we mentioned, we have total focus in capital discipline, which proves here we show deleverage just by the evolution of our cash generation. If we consider the EBITDA of the third quarter 2022 annualized, we are already talking about leverage of 2.66x. Our ratings, as I mentioned, were updated. AAA by Fitch National and BB globally. S&P AA and a positive outlook. With that, I turn the call back to Ramon. Thank you very much, and I'm going to be here for your questions.
Thanks, Guilherme.
Now on the next slide, in addition to excellent financial results, I would like to highlight what we have been doing in ESG. I'll mention since the second edition of the already famous Women Behind the Wheel program, and not only for vehicles, but now with machinery. The award that we received as best logistics operations by Natura &Co through TPC. Congratulations, TPC. Recognition as the best logistic operation by Klabin. Thank you and congratulations to the JSL's team that support services to these customer. More than 1,500 accident-free days to our client, Atvos, in the ethanol sugar business. Congratulations. Security safety in JSL is a value. For this third consecutive year, we are awarded the Gold Seal in the Brazilian GHG Protocol program, which proves the quality of JSL in managing carbon emissions.
To close, I would like to mention something about the evolution that we have had as the largest and most integrated Brazilian logistics operator. With unique size portfolio and positioning, our investment capacity really enables us to meet customers' growing demand and new contracts through cross-selling, but always with discipline in the allocation of new investments. We know that evolution of our results will only be possible with operational efficiency, managing resources, doing more with less, generating value and profitability. We do believe in independent management of the acquired companies, but with our continuous support so that they can continue to grow at a speedier pace. Our experience in other geographies and cultures is certainly an alternative to growth.
We do believe in the transformational potential of technology, in the digitalization of internal processes with more efficiency and productivity, but also with new differentiated products to our clients. The acquisition of Truckpad will certainly help us and accelerate the process. Thank you so much for joining us today. Once again, thanks to my team for the excellent result. Guilherme and I are open for your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now start the Q&A session. To ask a question, please press star one. If you want to withdraw your question from the list, just press star two. Please wait while we collect the questions. Our first question comes from Victor from Bradesco BBI. You may go on, Victor.
Hello. Good morning. Congratulations on your results. I have two questions. The first about Truckpad.
If you can please talk about how the integration process is going on, platform monetization. The second question about international expansion. You have revisited your CapEx guidance. I would like you to give us a bit more color on what to expect with this strategy and if in this case international operations, for example, the South Africa operations is branded under JSL or Fadel.
Good morning, Victor. Thanks for the question. I'm going to start with Truckpad. The process is just starting. We have been working a lot with efficiency and really turned this startup company into a company per se, in terms of profitability. We have grown more than 200%, as we mentioned just now, and more and more we see the huge profitability there.
In addition, we have been doing a lot in terms of adapting its know-how and technology to improve our efficiency as JSL. We already have a pilot project for an app. We had talked about that before. We have JSL app, but we see it can be much improved with Truckpad technology. We are going to have benefits with JSL, but also monetizing the Truckpad product in parallel. As for going international, the South Africa project specifically is a project that is being led by Fadel, and that because indeed it is a client that is part of their portfolio in Brazil. It is being led by Fadel. It has to do with urban distribution of beverages, very much similar to a Fadel focus in Brazil as well as Paraguay.
JSL had a four-fold increase in international operations with transportation Brazil and Argentina with some OEMs, which is an important avenue as well. What we do internationally is that we are based on closed contracts. We are not really being adventurous, but we do see potential in international freight transport with our neighboring countries. We had Paraguay operations. South Africa had a four-fold increase in one year. We see a very promising market there. If I can have a follow-up. Sure. About South Africa again, thinking of the group's strategy and your acquisitions. The fact that Fadel is part of the JSL group as a whole gave you this opportunity to South Africa.
Do you think that the opportunity would exist even if Fadel were outside the group, or do you think that it was JSL's support that enabled that?
Well, Victor, this is an easy question to answer because I came from Fadel, so I can be really truthful about that. If it were just Fadel, we will certainly not take this step, which is a huge step. We would be concerned of making such high investment in a foreign country, because even if you have a contract, it's a bit risky. With JSL, we have the comfort to do that. It's not only for Fadel. With Marvel, the same thing. We almost doubled the number of vehicles there, which enables the company to have the growth it had in the last 12 months.
Rodomil is the same thing, doubled size in just one year. It's easy for me to say because today I am a JSL executive, but I was the owner of Fadel, so it's easy to talk from the perspective of the two hats. As JSL, this type of investment is a lot more diluted. It's a lot easier for a smaller company, this is too much of a risk to take. It certainly was only possible because we are under JSL.
Thank you very much for the answer.
Our next question comes from Luiz Capistrano from Itaú BBA. Luiz, you may go on.
Hi, Ramon. Good evening. Good morning. Congratulations on your excellent results, and thanks for taking my question. I'd like you to talk a bit more on your margin. It was, I think, the greatest highlight.
You talked about new contracts, you talked about better return rate, you talked about the pass-through of prices. I would like to understand from you, how long do you think this margin is going to stay, and if there's anything that can change it in the short term. For instance, you have the ramp-up of the South Africa contract in the next quarter. Do you have a better return with this contract? Do you think it's going to help you with the margins? Do you think it will add to the results that you had in the third quarter? And also about CapEx, also a very positive surprise in terms of growth this year. I think even company's expectations were overcome. Which sets a pace of CapEx to be deployed in the fourth quarter, thinking about the guidance and what you have had until now.
I would like you to talk about the business environment as a whole. There was a bit of fear of the macro environment starting to contaminate contracts as of this quarter. The numbers are not showing that, your guidance is not showing that, but I would like to hear from you about this.
Luiz, good morning, and thanks for your question. Okay, first let me talk about the results. It was really an excellent quarter. I think that I've read in some articles that, you know, it was a mix of things. There were lots of things that helped. Volumes, very good. All our segments did very well. So even, you know, we are highlighting the automotive because it was a segment that was more affected because of the lack of inputs.
It had a very good quarter. Not only that, food and beverage did very well, which is not 100%, you know, common in the third quarter. It's more common for the fourth quarter. Pulp and paper. All our segments did very well. All our acquired companies did very well. When you have a good volume of revenues, you dilute fixed costs and et cetera. That helps with results. This is one thing. The other thing is that it was the third quarter in the past three quarters that we did not have major input variations, which helps us a lot. You don't have to, you know, spend so much time in negotiating prices and you focus on operation.
Three, you yourself said that the last contracts signed already have a new level of interest rates and margins, which help us a lot. Not to mention something that I have been saying since I joined the company two years ago, not myself only, but the team. A management focused on cost efficiency. All this atypical scenario, post-pandemic inputs, you can go two ways. You can renegotiate prices and contracts all the time, which is something that has to be done, but you also have to seek operational efficiency. In our segment, in the logistics, there is much room for that, and we are doing our homework quite modestly and working hard. Quarter-on-quarter, you do see this gradual evolution. In a quarter where you have a less aggressive external environment, results show.
It is really, you know, many factors working together that brought those results. As for South Africa, you were asking if the contract has better margins there. I think new contracts have better margins. I think they, you know, lean towards that in South Africa. But not only that, contracts where you have, you know, guaranteed volumes that are asset-heavy, in addition to better margins, you have this guarantee of volume or frequency. This is essential in logistics because that ensures you a mass of revenues, a margin of fixed costs that enable you to have stable margins. That is very important in logistics differently from asset-light, which is good for, you know, on the one hand, but it fluctuates more and it can have higher, less or lower margins.
As for CapEx, I'm going to start answering your question, but I'm going to let Guilherme to speak next. All our guidance, and we released a material fact yesterday, is related to the contracts that we closed, BRL 2.7 billion. Part of it is in Africa, as I mentioned, but other closed contracts, we just closed it. We are not even including in this quarter. It's just for the next quarter. I shouldn't talk much about it, but I can mention we closed a huge contract in forestry, which again, involves CapEx and assured business for five years. More and more you're going to see that. We see the opportunity. Banks are restricting credit to smaller and mid-sized company, which is, you know, the characteristic of the segment.
You know that the segment is very fragmented and the companies have restricted credit, which favors companies like ours that have the capacity to invest, number one, access to credit, even at higher interest rates, but still lower than the market average. Third, because of you know the group we are part of, because we are the largest buyers of heavy vehicles in Brazil, so the access to availability and better prices. That you know makes a difference in projects like the ones I mentioned in Africa or Brazil, as I mentioned in forestry, we end up being a lot more competitive, and we are using you know the the opportunities. Guilherme.
I think I have no additional comments. Perhaps what Luiz also asked was about the business environment as a whole.
Well, I'm, you know, an optimist by nature. I do believe the scenario is very positive for the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, again, you know, the stars are to our side. We have the World Cup, summer, and some of the products that we ship with food and beverages, you know, just, you know, the best match possible. We have Carnival come. We have summer, World Cup, and Carnival all together. We do believe that things are going to be really with a positive outlook to our business. In addition to that, the BRL 2.7 billion that we mentioned in a closed contract will, you know, have their effect from now onwards. That is what we always say. It's not an immediate effect.
You'll have an effect in the next 45 months. In addition to that, we talk to clients, we talk about, you know, credit access, and we are benefiting from this environment. I do see a promising environment in the next months and year.
Thanks, Ramon. Just a final follow-up. You think that the pace of new contracts from now on is going to be in line with the third quarter? More, I don't know, in line with the first quarter? Other than that, your answer was very thorough.
Well, Luiz, you know, joking apart, well, we have no guarantees ever. I really see a positive outlook. I cannot tell you if it's going to be the same. I think, you know, the future is promising.
Our pipeline of negotiations is very good. So again, I'm very optimistic.
Okay. Thank you, Ramon Alcaraz. Thank you, Guilherme Sampaio.
Our next question comes from Ygor Bastos de Araujo from Genial Investimentos.
Hello, everyone. Good morning, and congratulations on your results. Can you hear me well?
Yes.
Great. I have one question about the last point you mentioned, new contracts. If you just do, you know, a simple math here, without adding new contracts to the base, we would think that you have 12%-15% already contracted for next year. I would like to confirm if it makes sense, and also if you could give a bit more color on margins, especially Transmoreno and Marvel, that had higher margins and growth. I would like to know if they helped us to improve operating margins overall. Finally, if I may, the last question about your contract in South Africa.
I would like to know if the contracts are priced in what currency? Is it current currency, dollar? And if it's dollar, are you thinking of having any kind of a hedge instrument? That's it that I had. But again, congratulations on your results.
Hi, Igor. Good morning, and thanks for your question. Let's just start with the first. Yes, you were right. If we get contract signed and closed, we, quote-unquote, ensure growth between 10% and 15%. Of course, that in addition to contracts, you have other businesses that fluctuate. You cannot assure that, but undoubtedly, the contracts will help us with growth for the coming months. Second question, which is related to the first, Transmoreno and Marvel. They are completely different companies. One is completely asset-light and margins are related to revenue.
If you have revenue, you have margin, which is what happened, particularly in the last two months, September and October. This is a company that is very much connected to the automotive sector, which is doing well, and it does well. If the automotive sector does not do well, it loses revenue. We don't have much of a problem with margins because it is an asset-light company, but the absolute numbers go down because it loses revenue. It surfs the wave of volume. The other is an asset-heavy company that has been able to enjoy the volumes of specific products, frozen, refrigerated products being shipped between Brazil and Latin America. This is a company that provides quality services, specialized services, and that has been able to really benefit from the moment with considerable EBITDA margins.
These companies, plus Fadel, plus TPC, plus Rodomeu, certainly have contributed to JSL's EBITDA, and that's the idea. Smaller companies, more focused, more specialized, with a trend to have even better results because of that, but it is the whole package that brings substantial results. We count on them for that. I would like to add something, and talking about, you know, operating margins.
This is Guilherme Sampaio. I think in the case of Marvel, Rodomeu, these are companies that have a more variable cost profile. Therefore, these are companies that show accelerated growth and margin expansion. Why? Because in JSL, we buy on scale. We have, you know, a volume of purchases of fuels, parts, services that really benefit these companies when they are part of the group.
I think that just to add to what Ramon said, in addition to substantial revenue growth, especially those companies that are asset heavy, and even TPC that is asset light, but it has a very diverse cost profile, even more than Fadel, benefits from the group.
Yes, and to close your question about South Africa, this is a local contract, 100% local costs, local investments, and therefore it is in the current currency, rand, which has a behavior compared to the dollar, at least in the last 12 months, quite stable and not really with much fluctuation. Everything in the South Africa currency. And of course, when you know, bring this to Brazil, you do have an exchange rate effect.
Again, we haven't had major problems with that, at least not in the last twelve months. It's very similar to what we have in Paraguay with the currency Guarani. Differently from international transportation, JSL South American countries or Marvel, we talked about Brazil, South America, then it is priced in Brazilian reais.
Sorry, just to a final comment. Both in Paraguay and in South Africa, the contracts do have a natural hedge because they are an open book. If we have any fluctuation in imports, interest rates, it is a contract that has a natural hedge.
Just to make clear, this is Guilherme Sampaio again, we do not have a connection with any foreign currency. Local cost, local credit, local prices. There is no need for a currency hedge.
The only thing is when, you know, when we translate the currency to real to consolidate balance sheet.
Yes, my question was about that, if you're also raising credit in local currency. Or if you had investments in foreign currency. But that's very clear. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you have a question, just press star one. To withdraw your question from the list, press star two. Now we are going to take the questions that were asked on the web.
Hello, everyone. This is Guilherme. I'm going to read the questions that we got on the webcast, some to Ramon, some to me, and we are going to answer them. The first is Danilo from an individual investor. He says, "Good morning, Ramon and Guilherme. First, congratulations for the excellent result. I'm proud to follow your evolution.
I'd like to know negotiations of new contracts for international expansion in Africa, Europe and the U.S., and the integration of Truckpad and evolution of the company's digitalization. Ramon.
Danilo, first of all, thank you so much for your question and for your incentive to our work. South Africa. You know, the good thing about having a contract with a large client is the opportunities that we have with the contract but also with the expansions. This is a client that is in the whole of Africa. You know that we have several countries on the continent, countries that have, you know, a shortage of logistics. So we see huge opportunities. We have several opportunities to grow in Africa. Some countries are more complicated than others, but we do see significant expansion other than what we already have contracted.
The same client is based in the U.S., in Europe. There are no guarantees, but we believe that if we cross the ocean and you adapt to a new culture, which is different, you know, than working with neighboring countries that do have their challenges, but they are close. You know, get used to working in other cultures, countries and continents, not only with this client, but with other clients. That is clear by the contracts that we are having. The evolution of Truckpad and digitalization of the company. Danilo, I always say, whenever possible, is that technology is the way for us, you know, to reach a whole other level.
We need efficiency, productivity, and, you know, this is something relatively new, you know, digitalization, but the gains that you have in scale are huge. We have opportunities and technology can help. To give you a simple example, just to translate what I'm saying. You see what happened with taxis, Uber, due to technology. We left to a transportation system that was deficient. We had idleness. Now with Uber, you know, you use much more the time. I'm not defending one model or the other, but I'm saying that technology bring things to a different level. This is one thing. Another thing is to bring to clients some more tech product. Customers want us to have a more high-tech warehouse.
We talk about transportation, but JSL also has a huge volume of inbound logistics warehousing, where these activities have to be present and closer to us in terms of investment. We do see a huge evolution there. Truckpad, in addition, to be a very interesting company and product, and we can make it profitable. Its know-how will really speed up this journey, and it's happening already. We have several projects, integrations. In a little time, I think we are going to be releasing good gains along this line.
Thank you very much, Ramon. I'm going to the next question that comes from Eloísa Cruz. Good morning. Congratulations on your results, growth and profitability. I'd like to know your negotiations in recent years for new contracts. If customers are holding back or if they continue accelerating contracts?
What happened in recent months because of the volatility of fuel prices.
Hi, Eloísa. Thanks for the question. Good morning. In the last three, four years, everyone had challenges, the pandemic, war, lack of inputs, overpricing. I've been in those markets, you know, ever. I lived at the time of inflation, but it had been a while since we did not experience that. In the last 20 months specifically, you know, it came as a surprise, and it's always a problem when negotiating with customers. It also brings opportunities, and I thought that the JSL really seized the opportunity as well. You're sitting with clients renegotiating prices, but sometimes you have opportunities there, and it pays off sometimes.
This new contract came from there, from the opportunities of sitting down with our clients. Proof of that, 93% of new contracts came from cross-selling. Another thing that you asked, and I think this is also to our benefit, is the scenario of high interest rates, shortage of credit, especially in our segment in which you have loads of small and medium-sized companies. What we see, companies that in the past perhaps would not grant us 100% of the contracts are doing now. I just mentioned that we closed our largest contract in forestry because of that. Because the client knows that very few companies have our capacity to execute. What am I getting to?
Clients are thinking it's much better to be together with JSL, a company that has good structure, than finding someone that can be cheaper but that gives me no guarantee. So this is the opportunity that we see, and that's what we want to seize as much as possible.
Thanks, Ramon. One more question to Pedro. Pedro Bruno from XP. Good morning. With the evolution of the regulation from Euro 5 to Euro 6, we see a movement of clients optimizing invested capital. Can you talk a bit more about how JSL is managing this topic and how you're using it as perhaps a competitive advantage?
Hi, Pedro. You're right. Whenever there's a change in technology, it did happen that from Euro 3 to Euro 5, you have a window of opportunity or a window of challenges, depending on what you're saying.
It's hard to tell you what is going to happen because it hasn't happened yet. I'm going to tell you what happened from Euro 3 to Euro 5, which should have a window from this year to next year with lack of vehicles, because if we do have problems with parts today, imagine for a vehicle that needs more parts. Whenever there is a challenge, you have an opportunity, and that's what you have to seize. What do we see? Not only that, but we are really experiencing that. Because we have Vamos, which is the largest buyer of trucks in the whole of Brazil, and then JSL in the same group.
With this, we have availability of Euro 5 vehicles that is higher than our competitors, so we can be more competitive. Our Euro 5 probably has a lower cost than Euro 6. We don't know how much cheaper, but you know, we know it's cheaper. With this availability, we can close contracts with Euro 5. When it turns to Euro 6, we are also going to have a competitive advantage because we are going to have more availability of these vehicles and therefore we probably are going to have a better price than our competitors.
Thank you, Ramon Alcaraz. Our next question comes from Tito Ávila from Lis Capital. Good morning. Congratulations on the results. The cost of debt seems to have a spread on CDI that is a bit high.
Are you working to reduce the spread or are you going to keep this level of credit? I'm going to answer the question. We expect to lower that. Yes. We just had the upgrade of our rating by Fitch. We are AAA now, nationally and BB, internationally. Undoubtedly, raising credit now is something that we are going to add to this piece of information, and we'll certainly try and reduce the spread that we have today. For any renegotiation or rebalancing of that or for new credit, this is something that is being taken to discussion. To answer your question, yes, of course, there is a time to mature, but we'll try and reduce the spread of the cost of that in the coming months. Okay. Next question comes from Carlos Guerra from Colin Snyder[inaudible]. Hello, everyone.
How do you see the market for 2023 in your conversations with clients? Do you see any strategic change because of Lula's election for president?
Carlos, good morning. I'm talking based on my conversations with clients alone. Regardless of the election, everybody's optimistic about next year. Everybody is expecting volumes that will grow as much as in 2022. I'm also very optimistic about 2023. We believe the strengths of our industry, of our clients, the most, the vast majority as privately owned companies. I think we are going to have a promising year regardless of candidates, elections or whatever.
The next question comes from Nicolas from GDI. Good afternoon. How are you?
I'd like to know how long your deployment takes to understand how much CapEx turns into revenue, and if there's a difference between asset-light and asset-heavy. How are your negotiations given a more challenging scenario? What was the main driver for the organic growth of the acquired companies? Deployment time of projects on average, if there is a difference between asset-light and asset-heavy, and conversations on contracts given a more challenging macro scenario.
Okay. I'll give you an average deployment time. I don't like average because average is never right. But anyway. You know that some contracts are faster, others are slower. But anyway, overall, asset-heavy between three to six months to be deployed, depending on the business. It has to do with, you know, the deployment of vehicles, but also of the project.
In asset-light, it's almost immediate. You have less demands for, you know, the machinery or equipment to arrive. So if I were to give you an average time from three to six months. The second, if there is a difference between asset-light and heavy, you already mentioned that. Current contracts given a more challenging macro environment. Okay. Contracts, no change. Our contracts are always long-term, always based on our clients' core businesses in the long term. So contracts had no interference or renegotiation due to elections or any macro change in the mid long term. Contracts are as they were signed.
The final question. The main driver of growth, 40% organic growth in acquired company. Again, 40% average growth.
Okay, Nicolas.
It is what I mentioned in the beginning. A lot of positive factors getting together. Five companies, different segments. One in car shipping, other inbound operations, the other refrigerated and frozen foods, beverages. They all grew because they were able to seize the opportunities. I think the market is positive, especially food and beverage, primary industry, pulp and paper, mining and even automotive, which is a bit more challenging. It's more affected by fluctuations. Regardless of the market, companies knew how to seize the moment because, you know, it's no use to have a good moment if you cannot seize the opportunity. I think that's it. Now we have the World Cup, as I mentioned, summer, carnival. Th
is is for everyone.
What makes us different is our capacity to seize that. Just to add, this is Guilherme speaking. In the case of the acquired companies, Nicolas, we had heavy investments in the renewal and expansion of Marvel and Rodomil fleets and Fadel as well. We cannot leave Fadel out. All the investment in operational capacity, almost doubling the fleet of Marvel and Rodomil, gives us the benefit of these companies growing. Rodomil more than 100% and Marvel 70% year-on-year. Fadel a bit more stable. This is already a larger company, so it starts at a different level, but also with fleet expansion. Just as a reminder, this is very important so far. The contract that we announced in South Africa in the second quarter has not yet entered the company's numbers because it started operations as of October 1.
We are going to see that as of the fourth quarter and mostly as of next year, because then we are going to enjoy the full year. Next question from Guilherme Costa from The Quest. Quick question. Have roadblocks affected your business?
Hi, good morning, Danny. Fortunately, you know, the demonstration was short. It started the end of the thirty-first on Monday, the whole of the first of November and second, but yesterday it was a bit better. On the second, we had a holiday in Brazil, so not as much. The first is generally a day with lesser volume. It was a lesser impact than what it could have been. Two, it depends on the product. Some industries were very much impacted.
The automotive industry does not work with inventory, so the auto parts that were not shipped made line stop. Other industries a bit more, a bit less. I would say that some clients suffered more, others less. JSL was not really much affected because it is what I said. The first is already not a very strong day, and the second was a holiday. Remember, our business that has to do with long hauling, that will be affected by manifestations, by demonstrations, accounts for a small part of our whole.
Okay, next question, Gabriel Batista from Gutiara. "How does the company see the political scenario, the election of the newly elected president, and do you think there will be an impact with the demonstrations on the roads?"
I think we answered the question already. Okay, I'm going to start with the second.
I do not see any financial impact because of the demonstrations in the fourth quarter. Very short, I don't see any problem. As for elections, anything I say is just futurology. We will see as of next year. Based on the past, I always trust an orthodox economic policy. I do not see changes in our business, but that's jus t my personal opinion.
Next question from Alexandre. "What is this prospect for the use of natural gas in heavy fleet, and are you considering the fuel?"
Very good question, Alexandre. There is a high demand from customers and the world because of, you know, the whole sustainability conference to have less carbon emissions. We are pressured to work with alternative fuels.
In Brazil, we have two main strategies. One, electric vehicles, and we are already using some in urban distribution where they are possible. In fact, the first electric vehicle in urban distribution started in Paraguay with Fadel. But that's just solves part of the issue. If you're talking about long hauling, the fuel that is going to be most used is natural gas. Natural gas is not necessarily a benefit to in cost, but it is a benefit in the emission of carbon. Then if we can do that with biomethane in addition to natural gas, I think it's going to be a win-win. You know that the holding has one of the largest landfills that generates the biomethane. So this is something that we can take huge opportunities of.
Okay. Next question comes from Alfred, an individual investor. He would like to know if new acquisitions are on our pipeline for 2023.
Now, Fred, we have been mentioning since the IPO that we do have a very bold strategy of growth, which combines organic growth that we have been showing that has been very active, but also inorganic growth. Simpar treats us independently, but the holding has a very important pipeline of acquisitions and several negotiations are on the way. I hope we have good news for 2023.
Okay, these are all the questions I have here. I don't know if anyone has an extra question. Otherwise, I'm going to turn back to the operator.
Since there are no further questions, I'm going to turn the call to Mr. Alcaraz for his final remarks. Mr. Ramon Alcaraz, you have the floor.
Well, everyone, I thank you for your time and for the opportunity to talk to you and give more clarity about our business. I think I've mentioned a few important things, but I would like to just make a point in the end to say that we are starting the fourth quarter, but the third quarter is already gone and we have a very positive expectation. We never lose focus on operating efficiency. I truly believe that. We cannot just, you know, wait to be helped by external factors. You have to do your part. Truckpad is going to be transformational for us to gain efficiency, productivity, and offer differentiated products to our clients. We have 2023 with high hopes.
In between that, in the end of November and December, as I mentioned, we have to do so many things that will help us out with this triad, summer, World Cup, and Carnival. That's it. We are always here for you. We are very confident in the future, but at the same time, with our two feet on the ground, we are not going to be, you know, just led by an over-optimism based on the third quarter. We know that results come from hard work, and this is what we are engaged in doing. Thank you very much, and remember that we are always here for you with our press, team, IR, and our other channels to answer any questions that you need or just to provide further clarification. Thank you very much for your time. Have a wonderful end of year.
Happy holidays, Christmas, New Year's, and we will soon be together with good news for the closing of the fourth quarter. Thank you.
JSL's conference call is now closed. We thank you very much for joining us.