Hello, ladies and gentlemen. Good morning. Welcome to Kepler Weber's third quarter 2023 results video conference. Joining us today are Piero Abbondi, CEO, Paulo Polezi, CFO and Investor Relations Director, and Bernardo Nogueira, Commercial Director, who will participate exclusively in the Q&A. Please note that the presentation is being recorded and translated simultaneously. The translation is available by clicking on the Interpretation button. For those listening to the video conference in English, there is an option to mute the original audio in Portuguese by clicking on Mute Original Audio. During the company's presentation, all participants will be on listen-only mode. After, we'll start Q&A session. To ask questions, click on the Raise Hand icon. When you are announced, a prompt to activate your microphone will appear on the screen, and you must then enable your microphone to ask questions.
We clarify that any statements that may be made during this conference call regarding Kepler Weber's business prospects, operating and financial targets, are forward-looking statements by the company's management, which may or may not occur. Investors should understand that political, macroeconomic, and other operational factors may affect the company's future and lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. To open the third quarter 2023 results video conference, I'd like to give the floor to Piero Abbondi.
Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure to be with you for Kepler's Results Video Conference. The third quarter of 2023 was marked by an improvement in the dynamics of post-harvest business, mainly due to the resumption of projects in the farm segment shortly after the announcement in July of the largest PCA in history.
At the same time, sales to Kepler's corporate customers, especially cooperatives, remained strong. I would also like to point out that this upturn in turnover, with a growth of 44% compared to Q2 2023, led us to the second best third quarter record in the company's history, second only to third quarter 2022. As for EBITDA, Kepler delivered the second best performance for a third quarter, reaching a margin of 21.8%. I attribute this result to our commitment to operational efficiency and careful cost management. As I said at the beginning, the boost in sales following the announcement of the 2023/2024 crop plan, has also made it possible to build a healthy order book, which will enable good levels of turnover in the coming months.
I'll now hand over to Paulo to explain the performance of the business segments in the third quarter.
Thank you, Piero, and good morning, everyone. Starting on slide 4, I present the evolution of the 5 segments in which we operate. In farms, we reached BRL 145.6 million, best quarter this year, despite the 41.5% reduction in the quarter and 33.3% in the accumulated total for 2023. We did, however, see an important upturn compared to Q2 2023, growing 76.3%, a mark that wasn't higher, only because of lower prices in the market, which is based on the fall of the price of our main raw material, which is galvanized steel.
In agribusiness, the revenues were BRL 154.2 million in the quarter, an increase of 3.6% regarding Q3 2022. As in farms, we achieved the highest quarterly turnover of the year, up 81% regarding Q2 2023. Good level of turnover is explained above all by the growing demand for storage felt by cooperative cereal growers and agri industries, which is leading them to accelerate new investments. The international business also recorded the best performance of the year, driven by the favorable seasonality, despite the 33.5% reduction in the quarter and 37% in the year to date. The reduction in the pace of sales was mainly due to the slowdown in activity in Latin America, causing some retractions in sales in important regions for Kepler, such as Paraguay and Uruguay.
In ports and terminals, we had revenues of BRL 3.2 million in the quarter, down 77%, and BRL 63.9 million in the year to date, up 221%. Invoicing in the quarter was impacted by the uneven pace of major projects in this segment, generating volatility in invoicing. In the year to date and for the coming quarters, we enjoy a good portfolio of orders built up since 2022. Lastly, in repla cement and services, we saw an increase of 24% in the quarter and 25.6% in the year to date, as a result of a wider range of operations with a greater outreach of customers, growing coverage, and now reinforced by the three new DCs in Balsas, Maranhão, Paragominas, Pará, and Sorriso in Mato Grosso State, generating greater volume of business.
It is important to note that since March 2023, Procer revenue has been consolidated, adding BRL 9.2 million in the quarter, and BRL 23.4 million in the year to date. On slides 5 and 6, we look at some of the projects delivered during the quarter, showing the scale of Kepler's work. The project in Balsas, Maranhão State, it is a large-scale unit for 1 million bags, a milestone in the region because it has filled the logistical gap that farmers in Maranhão faced during the harvest season, with difficulties in freight, precarious roads, and excessive rainfall, guaranteeing safety. Cambé project in the state of Paraná, was an expansion of the client's volume, making it possible to receive, dry, and store 30,000 tons of corn in a new area of operation.
The project with the KW Max dryer, with a high level of automation and the results of the 2023 corn crop, exceeded expectations. In the Campo Novo do Parecis project, in Mato Grosso State, a traditional customer has once again bought the Kepler unit. Since he already owns another farm, the investment will avoid transportation costs between one unit and another. On slide 6, we see the construction site in Lambayeque, Peru. This is another client that makes recurring purchases and an expansion of reception and storage that will give the client better purchasing power with local producers. Finally, the La Paloma project in Paraguay, that met the need for storage due to an expansion of the client's production area. Kepler is a benchmark in Paraguay, with a constant presence and strong after-sales activities, generating repeated business for local customers.
On slide 7, one of the most important slides in our presentation, I present the increase in the pace of new orders. There were 18 different supplies contracted in the quarter, which together add up to approximately BRL 270 million in new sales. For the sake of comparison, if we revisit our, our third quarter of 2022 presentation, at the time, we presented relevant orders closed in the amount of BRL 93 million, a significant difference that we have now. On the table, we can see that the agribusiness segments, together with ports and terminals, the so-called CNPJ clients or corporate clients, demand a greater number of projects, given the increase in crop volumes and the need for greater speed in harvesting. On slide 8, we show the EBITDA evolution of third quarter 2023.
We generated BRL 88.3 million, with a margin of 21.8%. As Piero said, we're delivering the second-best performance for a third quarter of all times, despite the 43.3% reduction regarding EBITDA of BRL 155.8 million in Q3 2022, a moment in which we had a market that was growing strongly. In a challenging business environment like the one we live in, maintaining careful cost management to deliver a solid EBITDA margin is essential for the company's sustainable growth. On slide 9, we show the evolution of CapEx. In Q3 2023, investments amounted to BRL 14.4 million, an increase of 20%, and in the full year, we invested BRL 53 million, an increase of 70% compared to 2022.
I would like to highlight the entry and operation of AGVs in the sorting and shipping process, which are autonomous machines that carry out tasks without the need for human drivers. In factories, we are advancing towards greater productivity, investing in collaborative robotics in the welding processes through technologies that allow robots to work together with human operators in a collaborative way. On slide 10, I highlight the cash availability, which remained robust, ending September with a gross balance of BRL 320 million and net cash of BRL 113 million. I always like to point out that our business model makes it possible to quickly convert revenue into free cash flow. This allows the company to continue investing and, at the same time, to compensate our shareholders.
This quarter, we paid out BRL 55 million in between dividends and interest on capital, keeping our financial liquidity preserved. On slide 18, I highlight the liquidity performance of our share, KEPL3 , whose average monthly financial volume closed September at BRL 15.2 million a day, an increase of 9% compared to December 2022. On slide 12, we show ROIC for third quarter 2023, which reached 50.6% reduction of 56.9 percentage point compared to Q3 2022. Unlike 2022, this year, we had a significant increase in CapEx, mainly due to the new powder coating line, together with a lower market price environment, leading to a decrease in our ROIC, but stabilizing at high levels and above the average for capital goods sector.
As mentioned earlier, on slide 13, we have the payment of BRL 34.5 million in dividends and BRL 20.4 million in interest on capital paid on September eighth, as a way to demonstrating our commitment to increasing shareholders' returns. After more than a year of working, involving the main areas of the company and external consultants, on slide 14, I'm pleased to share with you the definition of the six priority SDGs linked to the company's strategy. Zero hunger and sustainable agriculture, health and well-being, clean and affordable energy, decent work and economic growth, action against global climate change, and peace, justice and effective institutions. The SDGs are part of the 2030 agenda, a plan to eradicate poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that people achieve prosperity.
Thus, prioritizing the SDGs aligns Kepler with a global agenda, facilitates an environment of innovation, increases transparency, and improves the communication of the impacts generated by our activities. That concludes my part, and I turn over to Piero.
Thank you very much, Paulo. Before the Q&A session, I want to highlight the recent achievements and then comment on the outlook for the rest of 2023. Regarding recent achievements, firstly, we would like to point out that we had a solid quarter in terms of turnover and profitability. The second best third quarter in the company's history as a result of the efforts made over the last few years, diversifying segments and territories. Another payment of dividends and interest on capital, showing our commitment to delivering returns to our shareholders that are consistent with the generation of value from our business.
Inauguration or opening of the new powder coating line with an investment of BRL 33 million, the first in Brazil to work in this concept, which excels in the exceptional quality of the finishing of the product, while at the same time increases our care for operators and the environment. As outlook for 2023, we have the continued strong pace of grain production, together with a lack of storage in Brazil, increases the pressure on production chains and generates negative premiums on the price of agricultural commodities. Growing demand for projects for corporate clients, mainly cooperatives and ports and terminals, that will enable our operations to continue at a good level of activity. Well-structured, strategic and operational direction to build businesses with profitability at healthy levels, while carefully managing expenses and costs, leaving the company prepared to continue growing in a sustainable manner.
I close here the main messages from the results of the third quarter of 2023. Please, operator, we can proceed with the Q&A session.
Thank you. We'll now start the question- and- answer session. To remind you that to ask question, you click on the Raise Hand button. When you are announced, a prompt to enable your microphone will appear, and then you must enable your microphone to ask questions. For those who wish to ask questions in writing, click on the link available on the chat. Questions will be answered according to the announced theme. If your question is sent after the conclusion of the topic, the answer will be sent to you via email. The first question is from André Mazzini, from Citibank. Andrea, your microphone is open.
Hello, Piero. Well, Bernardo, thank you for the call. But two questions.
First on CDs, or DCs and new geographies. You talked about Balsas. The question is whether these distribution centers have increased market share that you have in silos, these new geographies where you're placing them. In the presentation, you even show the project of, silos and Balsas. It looks like it. And if you could explain how the DCs could increase share in a region for greater trust of producers, that you have both sales, better services, after the silo having been placed on the farm, or better brand recognition in the region. Of course, Kepler started in the South, then Midwest. Brazil is very large, continental-sized country. This promotes the brand? This is more a fact as if it's, like a dealer, quote unquote, of a new region that has good services, post-sales or brand recognition. What are the factors?
Well, if you could comment on them. Second question is on competition. We see that the U.S. government is divesting in silos market globally. Does it make sense for inorganic growth, or do you prefer to continue on organic growth?
Thank you. Hi, André . Good morning. How are you doing? I'm going to take the first one on the DC, and then I'll turn over to Piero to talk about the second question. Well, the CEO pointed out quite well, identified part of the answer. The DC has two strategic reasons. One is selling parts, and the second is regional presence.
So while we, you know, put our flag in La Paloma, Paraguay, and this gives the customers that are deciding to buy a unit, they see that they have technical service, training for people that are going to operate the unit, and they have plant items manufactured and sold directly to Kepler customers. This is a perceived value that is quite important. Data that proves this, that we have this year, we have 3,256 customers served, a growth of 9% vis-a-vis last year. This geographical expansion gives us a relationship with a greater number of customers, with that, more sales. I turn over to Piero to follow with the second answer.
Good morning. Thank you, André, for your question. Speaking or talking about competition, well, first, I'd like to say that Kepler has competitive advantages that are quite great.
I'm not going to mention the mind share, top of mind of the brand, complete portfolio coverage, and we are always working to maintain and expand our competitive margin or advantage in Brazil. Our goal is to continue in the next decade, continue being leaders in Brazil and Latin America. As to your point on US competitors, yes, we always follow the moves of the competition because we may have growth opportunities through acquisitions. We are following the moves, and that was on the press. That was a sign of strategic revision on their part, but we understand that it's much more to maintain the focus on their other operations that they are selling. It's more an internal thing. We believe that it is important for us to evaluate those alternatives and see if they make sense to us.
If they do make sense, we'll certainly make a move, but this is very preliminary. So what we have in terms of information is that their operations are being evaluated strategically, globally.
Thank you, Piero. Bernardo. If I could ask a brief third question. You have the Fiagro of the company, six months, well, with the funding from BNDES. Speaking of this funding, Fiagro, the interests are dropping, so real estate funds are being invested a lot. Do you see new Fiagros coming up, help in the part of credit for buyers and even those fundings for bricks that buy the silos themselves? I don't know if they already exist. People, you know, separate or set out paper from brick. So do you have any Fiagro for bricks?
Well, thank you, André. Thank you for your question.
Important, you're what you're bringing up. I will answer in two parts. So first is the market we follow, and we agree with you. The Fiagro industry has grown a lot. It's been an instrument that is very much used, and we have observed that the farmers themselves, with large companies today, have been seeking their own instruments. Fiagro goes into a priority list or groups, investors, they are an instrument that this is happening, just as several other funding mechanisms, CRA and CRI. So we have the Plano Safra or the crop plan. Well, but this is added to the instruments we have in capital markets. Fiagro is here to stay. There are a lot of easy access tools, and it's going to grow, and we're following it closely. This is the first part. It's doing very well.
Second, looking into Kepler, those following this video conference results, we have our own Fiagro. It's a fund, André, today that is closed. It's a share agreement, so we have BTG Pactual, BNDES, so we have quota holders with BRL 300 million fund. We tried, André, to replicate as much as possible the Plano Safra plan, or of course, the interest rate as a spread above the CDI. We cannot compete. It's very competitive funds, the equipment and the construction work.
And to conclude, André, now that the time today is Copom or interest rate meeting, so since the interest rates are dropping, then to drop the interest search for our fund.
We have about BRL 100 million in our pipeline, so very consistent with this slowing down of interest rates, so Kepler will be able to finance to our customers. Thank you for your question, Andrea. Perhaps, Paulo, I would like to add, because Andrea talked about the two Fiagros, paper and brick Fiagro. Paulo answered quite well on paper, that we were innovators and we were the first to be present to launch our own fund. We see the market having several funds, and we believe it's a good leverage for our segment. And complement to CRA or PCA. So speaking on the rental fund or brick, this question always comes up in our calls, and we are following that up. We have some studies and projects underway.
We have already seen some small initiatives, actually, with our own products, with small rents and sort of a condominium. We believe very much in that. We are also working towards being innovators and being in the forefront. It's relatively simple, it seems, but it has a complexity factor because it depends on equipment maintenance. It's not commodity equipment, have to be the specific place. It has to have certain liquidity on the part of those that rent, because there is any default in the rent, we must have the second, third, fourth client.
So we're very careful regarding that, but I believe that shortly, we'll be able to bring good news on this opportunity that we believe is very important for us to further leverage our sales and move into—and actually giving our customers opportunity to invest in a different way and having their storage plant.
Very good, very complete. Thank you. Congratulations on your results.
The next question is from Lucas Laghi from XP. Lucas, your microphone is open.
Good morning, Piero, Bernardo, Polezi. Congratulations on your results. Points I'd like to explore with you. The first, regarding profitability in the quarter, we saw the strong revenue growth when we look at the third quarter, reflecting this expected stronger seasonality of the second half of the year. Because based on the first semester, that was relatively weak because of elections, the margins affected. Regarding profitability, we've seen that despite these gains, especially in terms of SG&A, we saw an EBITDA margin that was stable compared to the second quarter. We see the effects of the extemporaneous creditors. Well, I'd like to understand the main reasons for this smaller gross margin, which, at the end, is what justifies the stable margin in terms of EBITDA.
Thinking about some possible reasons, thinking about the mid of progress, perhaps, unit prices, lower transfer than from the second quarter or cost reduction, thinking about accounting of the quarter that show this, gross margin sequentially smaller, offset by less cost reduction in the third quarter. Actually, I'd like to, you know, ask the question because of how we should think about this fourth quarter, another revenue growth for fourth quarter. And the second question, well, we've seen last week the approval of receivables, and I'd like to understand from you, if you can help us, to quantify how relevant this program can be to encourage demand by sellers, thinking about the forthcoming years in this context of less high interest rates. Thank you. These are the two questions I have.
Hello, Lucas.
Thank you for being with us and honoring our calls and asking questions. Always, well, attentive. Speaking of profitability, first part of your question, actually, we had this quarter some revenue recognition that were extemporaneous, some financial fees, as the tax well paid off. Well, this is work we do every three years, and we end up capturing some benefits. They were great, approximately BRL 12 million in the quarter, and they helped boost even further the margin. Even without those benefits, we estimate about 1.5%-2% of EBITDA margin. That would be a margin very much in line with this year's reality, quite healthy margin for the company. Moving into the second part of your question regarding profitability. Well, first point, this year, we've explored materials a lot.
Well, we have the impact and the revenue, the change in the mix. We've been talking about the CNPJ or agri industries vis-à-vis the individual tax ID, the CPF. So the increase in the share of those corporate customers in our mix, so we end up having a difference in the margin. So prices do not change. We are at a very pricing stable environment. Steel gives us stability, so there's a scale effect, but that's an effect purely of the mix. So there is no difference in our operations... We work. Well, second quarter is quite similar. As we have order portfolio that is more robust, it helps us to work on profitability. It's a bit of that. So there's no change that deserves any greater attention. The market has been improving, the prices provide stabilities, raw materials provide stability.
So, at the end, what we have is the mix.
Thank you for your question, Paulo. I'll take the opportunity and add to the question on the bill that we have underway. We are quite favorable regarding movements that improve competitiveness in Brazilian industry, that help close this gap in terms of storage. We believe it's a good initiative, we support it. We are following it up, not only ourselves, and we have our association, ABIMAQ, also following it, so that it can be technically made well as a proposal. What is important to remember is that it's still a bill, a draft bill. It's being approved at a commission that is a grower. So I think it there are still two commissions it has to go through to go to be voted in plenary sessions or congress session.
We don't believe this should happen in the next months. Of course, it is an initiative that shows that the government and the legislative are concerned about this important pain of Brazilian agriculture, which is this deficit that we have featuring in all newspaper. It was cover page of Estado de S. Paulo on Sunday. And we as society and we as company and in the industry, should help bridge this gap and ensure that we don't leave any money on the table, because with this deficit, we see there are losses to all in the chain.
Thank you.
Thank you, Paulo Polezi . Thank you for your clarifications. Have a good day.
The next question is from Everton, from Kepler Weber. Your microphone is open. Please wait another moment while we collect questions.
The next question is in writing from Reinaldo Veríssimo and John Wine. Question: Could we infer that great part of revenue of orders because of the release of PCA will still happen in the fourth quarter, 2023 and first quarter, 2024? Therefore, the outlook would be a strong result in the forthcoming quarters.
Well, Reinaldo and John, thank you for your question. Well, I'll talk a bit about the Plano Safra, PCA as a whole, not focusing so much on one quarter or on another. Plano Safra, as a record, BRL 6.6 billion, 30% over last year. And we follow here the amounts that are being released. So we have a number around BRL 1.2 billion already released. It's important information, reminding you that these funds, well, half goes to infrastructure with the plants and half to storage.
So this is a relevant amount in a year of great need to expand storage, as we have seen, trying to infer how much will go into each quarter, that's more complex calculation. Well, the order entry has increased a lot since the turn in the second semester. We had an important effect of PCA or the Safra plan or the crop plan. Well, what's important to say is that many times it's not matched. Well, producers or farmers have the credit in their bank, and it takes months to be released. The farmers get the funds, and this helps the order entry, indeed. So it is really fostering or bringing greater opportunities or boosting the market, is the news of this, Plano Safra, and releases happen over the year, but not necessarily are they always matching. This is very positive.
It helps in the order entry to say how much for each quarter. Well, we'll be able to tell you that later. But thank you for the question.
Next question is from Ricardo Cosme and João Daronco from Suno Research.
Good morning. Initially, congratulations on the excellent results. On my side, I have two questions. First is referring [to] segment of ports and terminals. We see investments that are relevant in the logistics sector in Brazil, possible increase for outflow of grains up to 100 million tons, in addition to certain government projects of doubling the railways by 2025. Could you comment a bit more how you see this segment in the mid-long term for the company?
Well, thank you for your question. Well, ports and terminals is the essence of our business. We see demand of food growing in the world.
Brazil is a protagonist or a leading player to provide that, so we have to increase the railway system, and we have a growth of over 200% in the segment. We keep on very confident that this is a trend. We have a very robust order portfolio of businesses closed in 2023, that will be invoiced over 2024. We start the year with an important route for the segment. So answering your question very directly, yes, we are indeed very optimistic. Actually, this is very good for the logistic grid in Brazil, and we're very well-positioned in this segment.
Just to add, we are part. We are main, so we are integral part of logistics, so we actually provide transfer terminals from roads to rivers to sea.
So the south grid, with the concession for 2.5 years, led to investments of Rumo in 2 terminals. One, Rio Verde, other Rondonópolis, where we participate in the supply of equipment to those 2 terminals. It shows clearly the investment in this segment. And then, speaking of Cerrado, the logic for Cerrado is to actually have the outflows through the Amazon rivers or the area of Mato Grosso State and Tocantins State, north of Goiás State, through the railway. The 2 areas that we see major investments in those areas, so we're very much involved in those segments, not only in the short term, but also in the long term, because certainly, this growth of Brazilian agriculture that will take place in this handle. For the outflow, we need to use the north grid, and we have to have infrastructure built for that.
We ask you to wait another moment while we collect further questions.
The next question is from Daniel Henson, from Sweden Family Office.
Good morning, gentlemen. Congratulations on your results. Could you talk about the working capital dynamics? The drop in inventory did not follow the drop in sales. Does it reflect a strategic price strategy, turnover, or working capital, or another influence?
Thank you for your question. Speaking, working capital, it's one of the competitive differentials that we have at Kepler at the account. We work in detail all of the accounts payable, inventory, advanced payments, every day. Speaking on working capital from a year to date, it's improved. Something that BRL 10 million improvement, and we did have a reduction of BRL 72 million in the account of inventory. It's smaller than the drop in sales, basically because of price. We work quite well, the management of the order portfolio.
We work having matched deliveries, having the raw materials in-house when we close the order in the contract, so we're always paying attention to customers so that the project be delivered on time with quality. So it's important to have a good management of customer. We had this drop that is basically adjustment of steel price that is being corrected. So at the moment, to follow the growth in the portfolio that we see for the forthcoming quarters, we have a time of replenishing this inventory and to meet the demands of the next portfolio for the next quarters, for a good reason. The trend is that we see a growth in this area, so to actually have the delivery for the growing order portfolio.
Thank you for the working capital question. I would like to ask you to wait another moment.
We're grouping questions that have the same topic, so we'll have another silent moment.
Aguardem mais um minuto, enquanto coletamos as perguntas.
We kindly ask you to wait another moment while we collect the questions.
Por favor, mais um minuto, enquanto coletamos as perguntas.
Please, another moment while we collect questions.
A próxima pergunta é do João Daronco, da Suno Research.
The next question is from João Daronco from Suno Research.
This referring capital allocation. Kepler generates cash robustly year after year. I'd like to hear a bit what your-- how your minds are regarding investment of capital of co- company, looking at both coming years.
Hello, João. ... Very, capital allocation. This is rational in our business, so we will have cash generation is very robust. So it's a business that has this ability of converting EBITDA to free cash that is high, almost 1 to 1. So this gives us conditions to have several moments without stressing future capital of the company. So this is very important. These are examples for us to work on. So we have, for example, CapEx program. We have investing more on modernizing in culture line. We do that with low need for leverage.
Working capital, as you mentioned previously, we have to invest in working capital to meet a robust demand that we, that is arriving. We have this differential. We're going to have a strategic movement for better purchases, better negotiation. This cash availability gives us a competitive advantage that is quite big. When we look at other movements we had early this year, we had inorganic moves, acquisition of Procer. We made the acquisition. We didn't need to leverage Kepler because of that. In our mind, well, further ahead, is to continue that, to keep on looking at opportunities, getting the best of this robust cash position and capital allocation. Obviously, since there are special projects, other opportunities that come up, launch of products, investing more in innovation, all of this is on our radar, and the capital structure allows us to make those moves.
So just to conclude here, we've just gone through a period that was long, period of high interest rates, and Kepler goes through these periods relatively smoothly, again, because of our financial and robust financial conditions. Now with drop in interest rates, perhaps it's about time for us to keep on leveraging more opportunities. We are quite confident in our minds and use capital to support business growth... I'd just like to add and show what - well, the past can explain the future. So we, over the past year, we have been distributing a good volume of dividends. We are sharing with shareholders the value generation with the company. But we made a significant investment, both in our plant, as Paulo mentioned, the painted sector and, the paint segment, and the series of investments in the plants, not only capacity, but also improvements and productivity gains.
But also, we made acquisition of Procer. It's not a super significant volume to us, but it's been a volume of BRL 50 million. And this has also shows a competitive edge of Kepler. We are prepared. We mentioned previously at a previous question, we talked about M&A. We are prepared to if there is an opportunity to have the levers to take part of a possible M&A. So this shows how careful the company is, along with the board, in managing the cash year after year. And this will allow us in the next years, so Kepler, to exercise this number as one of its competitive margins. We'd like to ask you to wait a minute more while we collect questions.
The next question is from Alessandro Meneses from Vista.
We understand the results of the third quarter, 2022 were exceptional with the height of PCA released this year and greater distribution, more in relationship. We believe that there could be a maintenance of the level of margin, even if the level of invoicing dropped a bit. To which factors do you attribute the reduction in margins? How do you see these margins evolving for 2024?
Alessandro, thank you for your question. Quite important. We talked a bit about margin in the beginning with Lucas' question. I think it's worth talking a bit more, and I'll comment, and Bernardo will help me in this answer. I'd like to start my side. Well, Alessandro is saying that margin is something we always work on as a priority. We always work to have the best margin possible, considering the landscape.
Today, we're working with stability of profitability, profitability that is quite attractive for a company of capital goods, level of around 20% to delivering almost 22%. Now, this is a bit our focus. On my side, I will cover the part of expenses. I'll leave Piero and Bernardo to talk a bit more about the strategy for expenses. We have this view on details, every purchase, what is done. When the portfolio grows, we work on this future vision of profitability to work those levers better. So when we have certain retraction, we are also able, because it's a business that we have this benefit of looking the portfolio ahead on strategy of availability or not. So we are able to make certain moves to control expenses and planning that are more assertive, so that we can have stability and margin growth as well.
So to show you that margin is a priority to the company, and we're doing our best. I turn over to Piero and Bernardo to complement it.
In addition to the discipline that we have, with Paulo, we see the orders every Friday and determine evaluate best businesses to be carried out. There's an important part. It's important to talk about dynamics and market demand. We've noticed in 2023, our storage business moved from very necessary to the chain to critical. So high numbers and negative should be repeated in 2024. Farmers, the whole chain perceive that, and they invest in storage. This year, we've had over 419 works in 250 municipalities in 14 countries.
This also shows a demand that is not specific throughout Brazil and the whole chain, with a focus that is huge in agribusiness or agri industry. So it's important to talk about industrialization. Our Brazilian agriculture started in the past years, and it's speeding up quite a lot. To give you an example, the production of ethanol moved from 2.6 billion liters to 6 billion liters in the past three years. And have we stored every liter of every liter of ethanol produced, we need storage for that. These are things that were not present three years ago, so there's a very robust amount, and we conciliate this with a discipline that is quite big, and we can keep those margins. And I turn over to Piero to complement.
Thank you, Bernardo. Margin prices are the main assets of the organization.
As people, with the plants and technology, the best management of price and margins are priorities. So Bernardo and Paulo have talked about what we do internally. What I can add is that we have been maintaining margins, trying to maintain our margins equal or higher. Obviously, with this, the change in the steel price two years ago, there was a steep growth and then a drop. It is more difficult to manage because, well, a stability of costs, but we have been trying to do that. Obviously, every segment and the main margin difference that we see in our results are because of the mix, because every segment has its own dynamic. We have segments, market segments that are more linked to a brand and allow a margin that is a bit higher with the price premiums that are bigger.
So others are more technical, and then we have all this, more, well, deeper analysis of steel price, previous years' cost, and there's a whole dynamic, and demand has put more pressure on our prices. But overall, we have been keeping for every segment, reasonably stable margins. And reminding you again, well, we have our competitive edge. Kepler is a market leader with a major market share. So we try to exercise this influence to the market with this coverage and this presence and footprint that we have. So we, of course, depend on competitors, and we depend on the market. And for Kepler, it's important to have financial results that are healthy, to continue serving this sector that has this huge deficit, and we need to deliver a large volume of our models to be able to meet this market demand.
Wait another moment. We're grouping some questions, so we're going to have a few moments of silence. The next question is from Eric Soluti. Good morning. Congratulations on your results. How does the company evaluate the impact, positively or negatively, of the excess rainfall in the south of the country, and the impact of future moves for the company?
Thank you. Eric, thank you for your question. We follow closely these, climate and weather event. This excess rainfall in the south, it was expected within El Niño phenomenon. It, it will be positive for the south, where we had La Niña, we had drought in the southern Paraguay, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul, and Paraná States, and this year, the rainfall has normalized. It is in excess. Now we're going to have a good crop. The expectation is that the south of Brazil will recover the crops in the region.
So the dynamics of Kepler has changed a lot compared to 10 years ago, along with Brazilian agriculture, was very much concentrated in the southern region. It's grown to such a, so we have 250 municipalities, great footprint, and we are operating throughout Brazil. So these seasonal shocks have the smaller impact as we increase our diversification and resilience.
Kindly ask to wait another moment while we collect further questions. The next question is from Renato Luis Santos. Does Kepler think about continuing with the current dividend policy?
Renato, thank you for your question. Well, Renato, we have a policy that is established. Well, we don't have it, but the best way of explaining the way we work with dividends is going back to what I was saying regarding cash generation, how we work with capital allocation.
We always work with free cash, making all the investments and all our obligations. The excess, if there is no better opportunity, will distribute dividends, as we've done to this year, of two payments, ordinary first quarter and an advanced payment in September. So as we continue with cash generation that is robust, no visibility that this should change. The answer is yes, we'll continue with this profile, paying investments. As we have an opportunity that is better for the company, we may make an adjustment. But always, dividends are a consequence of a company that is growing, that is generating cash with healthy profitability. We also have the dividend part that is present in our business model.
The next question is from Guilherme Augusto.
The next question is from Guilherme Augusto. Both administrative expenses and sales expenses had a share of Procer that was highlighted in the release. What is the expectation of the Procer share from now onwards? Is it something that is going to be incorporated or can it be diluted?
Guilherme, thank you for your Procer question. I'll answer it in two parts. Procer is a business that grows in a fast way and also has very attractive profitability, on average, higher to Kepler itself. Investment that we believe very much in digitization, connectivity of customers, so it opens up many opportunities for business at Kepler. So when it's consolidated to us, it helps for us to have greater profitability. It adds to invoicing and costs and expenses. Second—First part.
The second part is, since it's a business that's growing a lot and fast, we'll have times to expand, hire teams, et cetera. We're going to manage that over time. But when you look and we've modeled the company, it is a business that indeed has greater profitability, a combination of revenue and expense that is as good as Kepler's. And we have been working on that, and currently it's helping, and we believe that as it continue growing, it will continue helping. Okay, thank you very much. We're very happy with the acquisition since we acquired Procer. There are many synergies taking place, and we're working in synchrony. And, in our view, it was quite assertive to have Procer along with Kepler , and it will certainly help with the profitability of Kepler.
Thank you very much for your question. The Q&A session is closed.
We turn over to Mr. Piero Abbondi to make his closing remarks.
Well, very good. We've reached the end of our video conference. Very happy to see the excellent questions. I thank you all for your participation, interest, and for the excellent questions. To wrap up, I'd like to look with you the outlook, expanded. If we look at this last year, exactly at the same period, we had a landscape that was much more challenging. We had questions regarding interest rates, it was higher. Farmers were more discouraged, their profitability. They had a crop that was. Well, there was the war, the Ukraine war, all the impact of it and the impact on fertilizers, and the landscape was much more challenging, especially fourth quarter, 2022, first quarter, 2023.
And we see the company was very well-positioned, robustly, sustainable, with a footprint in different segments and responded quite well and allows us to deliver such results. So this is the first important point. Now, if we look today, comparatively to our position last year, at the same time, the landscape is much more positive. We see in terms of our sales, we see a recovery, we have an outlook of much better portfolio. The macroeconomic scenario is much clearer. Interest rates are dropping, there is more clarity. The profitability of farmers goes to a historical level, and the deficit of storage is a pressure that is huge on farmers. Even if we have interest rates in Brazil for long-term investment that are quite high, the gains that farmers will have by investing in a silo plant, that will certainly pay off the interest rates.
It's not a matter of an absolute analysis, but relative analysis matter. So we believe very much that this deficit will put great pressure on producers so that they can make storage investments. So what we see is a scenario that is much clearer, much better than last year. And what does it mean to Kepler? It means that we're very optimistic regarding the forthcoming quarters, last quarter and the first of 2024. And Kepler is prepared for the scenario. We're going to have better results, and we're prepared for possible multiple changes in the mix of segments. We've been investing in capacity. We have robust cash generation, which is very important for the company. We have been making major investments, not only as I said, in capacity, but improvement in operations and improvement in business productivity and the commercial area.
We've been making important moves of market coverage and operations. We talked about our DCs, so we talked about new products, processes that in addition to all the new digital territory, is that we have a differential and competitive differential in our core business, so in customer service. So we have several fronts, and I'd like to say that we're working to maintain and improve our competitive edge in the forthcoming years. We have all the conditions to, of doing that and delivering increasingly better and more robust results. So I sum up, and we are optimistic. We're moving on to fourth quarter. We're already thinking about 2024. We're working on our budget to prepare for this new year, that we believe will be better than 2023. Thank you all very much for your interest in our company, and stay well.
I'll see you in three months time at our next video conference of our results. Thank you very much. Have a good day.
The Kepler Weber video conference is closed. If you have any questions, you please submit your questions to the investor relations group through the email, ri@kepler.com.br. We thank you all for your participation and wish you a very good day.