Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Kepler Weber's earnings conference call for the first quarter of 2026. Joining us today are Mr. Bernardo Nogueira, the Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Renato Arroyo, Chief Financial Officer and Investor Relations Officer. We would like to inform you that this presentation is being recorded and simultaneously translated.
The interpretation option is available by clicking on the interpretation button. For those following the conference in English, it is possible to mute the original Portuguese audio by clicking on Mute Original Audio. During the company's presentation, all participants will have their microphones disabled. Ensuing this, we will begin the Q&A session. To ask live questions, please click the Raise Hand icon. Once your name is announced, you will receive a request to activate your microphone and may proceed with your question.
For those interested in submitting written questions, the Q&A feature is available on the lower Zoom toolbar. Simply click the Q&A icon, type your question and send it. Bear in mind that any statements made during this conference call regarding Kepler Weber's business outlook, operating and financial targets constitute projections by the company's management and may or may not materialize. Investors should understand that political, macroeconomic and other operational factors may affect the company's future performance and lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. We will now turn the floor over to Mr. Bernardo.
Good morning, everybody. It is a pleasure to be with you to share what happened in the first quarter 2026 and of course to speak about the future. To delve into the results, we had net revenues of BRL 318 million, EBITDA BRL 33.7 million, and net income BRL 17.1 million. This reinforces our strategy of diversification, operational efficiency in a very difficult scenario for the Brazilian agribusiness. To speak about the segments, I like to use this slide to explain what happened and to shed some light on what will happen in the second quarter 2026. We've been speaking about farms. It's a moment with more restrictive credit, very limited margins. We had a drop of 34% confirming this. Throughout the year, we expect a performance below 2025, we do continue with two digits of retraction. In agribusiness, the situation is different thanks to our diversification.
We grew 4% in the first quarter. We hope to go on to a 2-digit growth in the second quarter because of the backlog that we already have and based on biofuels, a very positive agenda despite the present day's scenario. International business had the best first quarter of our history, truly exceptional with a growth of 50% almost in the first quarter. For the year, we see a business highly aligned with 2025 for two reasons, because 2025 was already a record business in international businesses. We had a growth of 100% between 2023 and 2025. We raised the bar. Our customers in those countries are large producers. They work in logistics of soybean, corn, and rice, also with margins that are pressured. In the second quarter, we see a reduction vis-a-vis 2025.
Throughout the year, we will attempt to seek stability at a high level. In ports and terminals, we don't foresee any changes vis-a-vis the scenario of the first quarter. We do have negotiations that could impact the second quarter. Replacement and services, a business with quite a bit of stability, a drop of 6% in the first quarter. This because of last year, because we had very good deals in refurbishment in the last quarter. In the second quarter, we already see a resumption, and we will have a 2-digit growth. Throughout the year, we will grow vis-a-vis 2025. Let's go on for Renato to speak about the financial results.
Good morning, everybody. It's a pleasure to have you here with us once again at the close of the first quarter 2026. This is a more complicated year for farmers.
We had a drop in farms vis-a-vis the previous year. If we look at the chart, we have an EBITDA of BRL 33.7 million. If we compare this to the previous year. The drop is mainly concentrated in gross profit with a drop of BRL 19 million. This because of a drop in the sales revenue of close to 11% and we lose 2% gross margin in our businesses. As we have said quarter-on-quarter here, we have a highly controlled cost structure, variable costs that are very well controlled. The SG&A for the last two years is very close to what we had last year, attenuating the effects of inflation.
At this point, we have the price impact on our products and projects because of a macroeconomic situation with high interest rates, scarce credit, and of course, volatile prices for commodities with the profitability of producers still very low. We see that the gross margins deteriorated the results vis-a-vis the first quarter 2025, despite this, we deliver an EBITDA of 11%, which is reasonable if we consider the market situation. The company once again proves to be resilient, showing results in this unfavorable environment. Let's speak about CapEx. We had a CapEx routine last year with high CapEx. We invested BRL 70 million last year. This will become more stable and be somewhat lower than 2025. What is important, we had BRL 15.2 million in CapEx this year vis-a-vis last year, where we had BRL 17 million, 10% below 2025.
What is important to mention here is that the company continues to use the necessary CapEx to grow for the future of the company. The company is not going to avoid making the necessary investments in this challenging moment. We're developing new products. We see our routine of new products, 20% per quarter. We invested 17% of our CapEx in products, and 5% of the revenues are for products launched in the last few years. There should be a growing trend in coming years, and this year as well. We also invested in IT. More than 20% of our investments are concentrated on IT, and we changed to SAP S/4HANA in this first quarter. We're making strides in automation and data management, systems enhancement and security. This, of course, puts us in a different level.
It's so positive that Kepler can continue to invest in the future. To speak about our return on invested capital, we ended the quarter at 21.4% for last 12 months, a return on capital much above that of the market peers. We begin to have an incipient drop in interest rates, and the differential of cost of capital continues to be high, 7% vis-a-vis Brazilian companies. I think this is important. Even at moments where the company has a drop in operational results vis-a-vis last year, we maintain a good level of return on invested capital. This proves the working capital and the CapEx management that we have that maintain the ROIC even in challenging moments.
To proceed the company cash, and I think we can shed relative light on this, we had a good cash generation in the first quarter, BRL 55 million in the first quarter. Part of the company's operational result, BRL 28 million were generated by our operating cash. We have the working capital management. Normally, we come from third and fourth quarters that are strong. The first and second quarters seasonally tend to be the weakest quarters in the company. We recompose our working capital, and this recomposition is still proceeding. We have clients that help us to recompose that working capital. The company inventories are very well controlled as well as accounts receivable. We have a very low level of accounts receivable in the long term, and we have received the accounts receivable for the short term.
We see a strong control of the working capital of the company in those moments of difficulty of suppliers and customers. Financing, it's a change because of a change in interest rates and CapEx, BRL 55 million, and we end the quarter with BRL 375.8 million, which is truly important at this moment to have soundness and a balance to continue to move forward. I will now turn the floor over to Bernardo to continue on with these charts. Thank you.
Thank you, Renato. This slide here is something we show you every quarter to put into context where we are in this cycle. For those of you who see this for the first time, the orange line shows the price of soybean in $, BRL 9 to BRL 10. We had a peak of BRL 16. We're now back to BRL 11.
Below in red, green and red are the interest rates, the Selic rates, and the bars in the graph represent the percentage of our EBITDA margin. To summarize this, what is it that we can see here? In the last, low cycle of results in Kepler, we had this happening in a low cost of commodities and high interest rates, which is what we see now. Of course, we acted in a different way. We had crisis similar to 2016 and to 2006 and in 1996. We're repeating those cycles. What we see now is that we maintain a 2-digit margin even in the first quarter, which is the lowest quarter, as well as the second quarter due to seasonality. We see positive results in cash generation due to three broad factors. The first is structural.
Storage test in 2016, Brazil stored 93% of its production. We have 63% capacity, there is a priority in storehouses even in difficult moments. Secondly, the lean strategy that we have reinforced. We have reinforced the international business. When we look at the peak in 2022, there is a two-digit growth. Despite the headwinds in farms, we see other segments with a growing trend, which is a good outlook. The third is management efficiency. Kepler this year celebrates 10 year of lean methodology, lean strategy. After 10 years, it's using this as a philosophy, not only a policy. This is part of our methodology. 100% of our workers and team are focused on lean methodology, the Kaizens. We had 200 Kaizens adopted in this first quarter for security, better customer service.
It's a company that for 10 years has been working with the lean philosophy and is under constant evolution. This is a slide to clearly show you our thesis for investment strategy and our efficiency. We have numbers and facts to sustain this. In the investment thesis, we have a storage deficit. We look at our backlog, we have a better backlog in 2026 vis-a-vis 2025. In the second quarter, this is also taking place. That shows that this is a priority in storage in difficult moments. Revenues did not accompany this greater backlog because it has a different mix. It is a lengthened backlog because of higher projects. The revenues will equal out in the second quarter, and we're looking towards seeking stability vis-a-vis 2025 with very reasonable levels. If we look at the strategy, of course, we have the diversification.
This quarter, the business is thrusting ahead with more force. We spoke about connectivity, of connecting post-harvest through Procer. We had a growth of 41% units connected vis-a-vis last year. This puts us at the same level as insurance companies, tradings, and banks because of what we can generate. We have 25% of stacked capacity, 45% of Brazilian soybeans going through our IoTs. This is a good place to be in. The efficient management, Renato mentioned the discipline, the SG&A growing less than inflation, one-third of the inflation. This is a company that is always looking at costs and operational efficiency in a highly professional way, and simultaneously caring for our customers. We have an NPS in the confidence zone, which is essential. Our customers are loyal.
70% of our revenues come from customers who have acquired a Kepler Weber in the past because of the good experience they have in our products. This graph will show you more details about soybean, which is what pushes the Brazilian agribusiness. In detail, you will see the financial health of our customers, well, for the year and for our customers. The curve shows you the gross revenue. He corrects himself. Gross revenue between 2010, 2015 at 34%. This gross margin dropped between 2016 and 2020 by 21%. We went through a historical moment in 2021, 2022, 2023, and presently we see net margins of 21% for the harvest 2025-2026.
We're in a low cash generation, high interest rates, very high default levels, restricted credit. Perhaps one of the most challenging periods the company has seen in the last 20 or 30 years. In that environment, we do have cash generation for continuity and an improvement, a gradual improvement of efficiency. In the last slide before we go on to questions and answers, our actions in a more challenging environment. We see a reduction of COGS, a reduction of the cost with warranties. We work with works, and in works you have delays, you have costs that relate to the execution of the business. We were able to reduce that by 42%, a true efficiency gain, and we're seeking greater operational efficiency. We had a reduction of 83% in outsourcing, more than BRL 4 million that we left aside only in the first quarter.
As part of the operational efficiency, our focus, without a doubt, is on the philosophy that we truly believe in and that we work with, the lean philosophy. International expansion. Our neighboring countries nowadays, with soybean, corn, and rice as the main commodities and with headwinds against us. We still have some countries that are standing out in terms of investment, like Argentina, Bolivia, and Venezuela, because of a more favorable economic background. For years, Argentina was unable to obtain credit with credit lines in dollars, between 7%-10% at present. Customer service, NPS, and the importance of servicing our recurrent customers, especially in the commercial structure. Our focus is in the larger, more resilient accounts. We have biofuel industries and the more structured customers. There are significant bottlenecks, despite this, they have the ability to invest.
Therefore, our focus is on that universe and in research and development. We would like to develop products that will offer greater efficiency to the customers. The customers are buying efficiency. We have the KW Biocav, Seletron, and products that bring about a quick return on investment. The NPS that we already mentioned went from 61% in the first quarter 2025 to 81% in the first quarter 2026. As a final message, crisis is a moment for discipline and focus, not retraction. Discipline capital allocation, strengthening Kepler Weber. We're not speaking about miracles or seeking magical solutions for the present day scenario. We're simply seeking efficiency. It's not only myself and Renato. We have 1,800 employees strongly seeking that efficiency to share with you what we are showing you here. Thank you very much.
We will now begin the question and answer session. We remind you that should you wish to pose a question, click on the Raise Hand icon, and when you are announced, there will be a prompt to activate your microphone. You should turn on your microphone to ask your question. For those who wish to pose a question in writing, please use the Q&A button at the bottom of Zoom. Because of the high number of questions we normally receive and to be able to answer them all, we will group the questions according to the topic announced. Questions asked over the microphone will have a priority. If your question is sent after the topic has been announced, the IR team will respond to your question through email. The first question comes from Kiepher Kennedy from Citi. You may proceed, sir. Good morning, everybody.
Good morning, Renato, and the full IR team. Thank you for taking our questions. We have two at our end. The first referring to ports and terminals. We know this is a more volatile segment. It's difficult to open projects and products, depending on the nature of the project. Well, this quarter it was impacted by the dynamic of the segment. Which are the projects you foresee for this segment, the one you're delivering now for forestry and pulp? The result, is it a specific characteristic of the quarter? Is that what you're focusing on? Anything that will help us further understand this segment. The second question geared to Bernardo on strategy. In the last few years, in 2023, 2024, we have seen a worsening of the margin of producers. Of course, this is cyclical.
There are two factors that make this worse, the international uncertainty and the competition. Perhaps this is something more structural. Is the structural profitability of the sector, has that changed? Is it still healthy above 20%? Structurally, does this increase allow you to have a different balance that you had two or three years ago? Is this something structural, where the margins of the company are below what they could be with the deterioration in the market? This about ports and terminals and the structural deterioration of the segment.
Thank you, Kiepher, for the questions. About ports and terminals, it's precisely what you said. In, I agree, business, we have hundreds of customers in ports and terminals. We have 12 per year, perhaps six per year, so the cycle is quite different.
There was a drop of 50% now, and in the second quarter, perhaps a growth of 50%. There are few large projects that bring about these results. Regarding the profitability of the segment, this segment has a tighter profitability compared to farms. These are engineering projects with very stiff competition, and the supply teams of our customers, of course, are being pressured because of the high interest rates. It's a segment we truly believe in. It's part of our diversification, and with a broader outlook, we do see growth in ports and terminals. Regarding the profitability of the sector, Kiepher, there's a word that you included in your question, if this is situational. We saw a favorable storm in 2021, 2022, 2023, an increase in pace in the price of soybean before an increase in the price of costs.
This brought about profitability for our customers who like to invest. They invested heavily in storage. We had a backlog of 250 days at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022. Because of the need and because of the profitability, today we have the need, which guarantees a robust backlog, but cash availability has disappeared. We have that perfect storm of 2021, 2023, is now an inverted storm. Low profitability of our customers, extremely high interest rates, soaring interest rates and restricted credit.
This before the war broke out with Iran. What does the war bring about? Even higher pressure in profitability. The problem with fertilizers and soybeans have not accompanied this. It could be that they will change. Soybean and corn could speed up vis-à-vis fuels, but this has not happened yet.
With the war, what we have is a postponement in the drop of interest rates because of inflation in our fuel. I would like to complement that second part, and I think it's worthwhile shedding light on the company's results this quarter. We spoke about a competitive scenario. It's true, there is a competitive scenario, an aggressive one at this moment. There is a negative situation. Rural producers as a whole, a macroeconomic situation that is not favorable. Despite this, the company delivers resilient positive results. We have to compare this with moments that are similar to this one in 2016, 2015, when the situation was similar to this one. Without the war, of course, the company was delivering more inefficient results. Now the company at present is leveraging efficiency. We believe this is a situational problem.
Once the levers of our sector once again operate, we can deliver better results. At present, we're delivering resilient results because of the market situation. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Our next question comes from Fernanda Urbano from XP. You may proceed, ma'am.
Good morning, everybody. Renato, Bernardo, thank you for taking our questions. We have two questions. First, about the agribusiness sector. The positive performance this quarter draws attention despite the challenging environment of interest rates. What is it in your vision that has sustained your decision to continue to invest in these industries? Which are the sub-segments that are gaining relevance? You spoke about biofuel, you do have a change of mix in the segment. Which is the evolution of the pipeline for coming quarters? You said this segment is gaining share in the company's backlog.
The second question is about capital allocation. The company has been more conservative in its balance and its net cash. I think this was favorable because of the high interest rates that are prolonged. You also have opportunities for valuation that are more attractive during these moments. Which are your capital allocation priorities if M&As are still on the table, and if you're thinking of organic projects and other ways to pay out to your shareholders?
Thank you, Fernanda. Thank you for the question. I will begin with agribusiness, and Renato will speak about capital allocation. In agribusiness, Well, what is interesting here is to have your eggs in different baskets. We see tighter margins on the farms. This doesn't translate on tighter margins for the industry, especially feed and biofuel.
We have customers working with biofuel and corn ethanol with healthy margins because of the somewhat lower price of commodities and making significant investments. Without a doubt, biofuel has helped us a great deal. We have strong demand in that area and a trend for this to continue that way for the full year of 2026, with new projects being announced in 2027. In agribusiness, the second part are the cooperatives. Cooperatives want to service their customers well. With growing volumes, we have a stressed profitability. The volumes are very healthy. The harvest 2026 shows this compared to 2025. In 2027, we're speaking about exuberant volumes. Because of this, the cooperatives need to invest to service their members. This is what we observe in our portfolio. Many of these cooperatives are highly successful.
They're very professional, especially in the region of Paraná, and they have been expanding to Mato Grosso do Sul, entering Mato Grosso, offering excellent services to producers. Their rationale is the following: when there are less investments, this is a time to make more investments. With that combination of biofuels along with the cooperatives, this is how we sustain the growth in agribusiness. It was somewhat timid growth in the first quarter, 4%. We hope to reach the two digits in the second quarter with good results for the rest of the year.
Good morning, Fernanda Urbano. Thank you for the question on capital allocation. Now, let's go back a bit. Last year, the company paid out dividends early on for the year 2026 to our shareholders, so as to pay back our shareholders.
A positive point of capital allocation is that Kepler Weber has a more strategic capital in-house. We're investing in new products. This guarantees future growth. It adds future avenues for growth with our products that will be part of these results. We are fostering investments to generate efficiency for the customers, which is very important. The Seletron machine has grown substantially in terms of sales, allowing us to access the seed segment. Procer is marketing a robot that was presented in the Agrishow. All of these alternative seeds, automation, verticalizations can be done through our internal CapEx or through M&As. Of course, we verify these opportunities continuously. In the period where we were in discussion with GPT, this was left us out somehow. Since March, we're back with our capacity to analyze strategic opportunities for the company. Thank you.
Well, thank you. That was very clear. Have a good day.
Our next question comes from Ricardo Mohin, a private investor.
With a growing backlog and changing composition with a lower share of farms and a higher weight for agribusiness, how do you imagine the impact of this new mix on cash and margins once this portfolio has been executed? Will you sustain your EBITDA margin between 16% or 18%? Will you be more conservative because of present day competition? Cash generation in the first quarter 2026, aided by working capital, is this what we should believe will happen during the rest of the year, or is it difficult to receive from suppliers and customers?
Thank you, Ricardo, for the question, an excellent question. As we mentioned, as Bernardo mentioned, our farm segment is being pressured and the agribusiness segment has a better financial robustness, a better capitalization through instruments.
Because of that, the backlog has grown more. Now, there is a small differentiation between the margins of farms and those of agribusiness as both are being pressured. There's pressure that we observed in the first quarter in the composition of that portfolio that has a better leeway in agribusiness. Now, for the future, we understand that the company foundation is very sound. The investments the company has made are perennial. They're consistent. The company is showing that even in moments of difficulty they can deliver good results. As the situation returns to levers similar to 2022, 2023, 2024, economy is cyclical. We will be able to deliver better results. In the short term, there is a difficult situation. It's being hampered. In the long term, we can deliver better results. Regarding working capital, as I mentioned, generally the first quarter is recomposing the capital.
We have a first and second quarter that are somewhat weaker in terms of volume. We reduce the inventory accounts receivable, and after the second quarter we increase the pace. We have sales normally concentrated on the third and fourth quarter. This quarter we have been generating working capital. We will continue on with that work. Our supply chain group related to inventory is doing very good work. We're working with customers to reduce terms. We won't have the same impact we had in the first quarter in working capital because of the business dynamic, but we have a working capital that is very similar, perhaps somewhat better than in 2025.
Our next question comes from Werner Roger from Trígono Capital. You may proceed, sir. Mr. Roger, you may proceed with your question. Your microphone has been unmuted.
Regarding the costs, if you could speak about steel and other inputs, especially vis-a-vis the less capitalized competitors who cannot build inventories beforehand. Now we have that energy deal, the commodities, and what comes from China. Is this favorable for the company because you're working with preventive inventories for steel? Thank you.
Hello, Werner. Thank you for the question. Doubtlessly, I'll begin with the end of your question. Kepler works in a conservative way when it comes to inventories. We have a visibility of our backlog, and we have commitments, some items already purchased for that backlog, so we're never exposed to large variations in steel, whether upwards or downwards. This is being hedged. We work in a conservative and prudent way, guaranteeing good results regardless of the cycle of the steel price.
At the beginning of your question, the competitiveness, Kepler, because of its volume, has sales relationships straight from the main suppliers in Brazil, while some of our competitors buy through distributors or import from China. What we see at present, in terms of anti-dumping, well, this is more complicated with China because the freight is more expensive, cargo is more expensive, lower competitiveness for those who have more supply coming from China. Once again, we're well-positioned in terms of supplies. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
The question and answer session ends here. We would like to return the floor to the CEO for the closing remarks.
Thank you very much for your time. I do have some closing remarks. We begin on a sad note. We have the passing away of Doris Williams, one of our advisors.
Our We speak to the family. She was always one of our partners in the council, bringing in professionalism and helping us a great deal with communication. We will miss her sorely. To the family and friends, we do share a great deal of sadness. Regarding the results of 2026, my final message is full of optimism. Not that miraculously the interest rates will drop or our indicators will increase. This is out of control. When I look at the engagement of our team, the engagement of all of our employees in seeking efficiency, in seeking enhancements, in looking for alternative ways to enhance the service to our customers, focused engineering, developing products, and with a great deal of adherence from our customers, I see an organization focused on going through this adverse moment in the best way possible on the one hand.
On the other hand, Brazil is a giant in agribusiness. It's not as popular as it was two or three years ago, we continue to be giants in agribusiness. We're highly competitive in the production of biofuel, of proteins, this is how we will continue. We have a great deal of entrepreneurship of our customers, regulatory frameworks that have been well-established. Brazil will continue to be the important actor in producing sustainable food for the planet, Kepler is part of that environment. With a great deal of optimism, I look upon what is under our control and to be where we are. Once again, thank you for your confidence. We will continue to work diligently, we'll see you again in the 2nd quarter. The Kepler Weber earnings call has ended here. Should you have any further doubts, please send your questions to ir.kepler.com.br.
We thank all of you for your attendance and wish you an excellent day.