Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for waiting. Welcome to the conference. The Vice President, Piero Abbondi, and Paulo Polezi, Financial Director and Investor Relations. This event is being recorded, and the participants will only listen to the presentation. Following, we will open the Q&A session to all participants when more instructions will be provided. In case you need any help during this call, please press star 0 for the operator. This event is being simultaneously transmitted by webcast and can be accessed at www.kepler.com.br/re, and the presentation is available to download. You will control these slides. The replay of this event will be on the company's website. Before continuing, we would like to say that the straightforward that reflect the perspectives and operation and financial goals are based on the expectations of the company on the business future.
Forward, the statement should not be interpreted as a guarantee. This involves market conditions, the performance of the company, Brazilian and international market. Therefore, they depend on factors that could happen or not. The investors should understand the general economic conditions, industry, and other operating factor that could affect the future of Kepler Weber and may cause results that materially differ from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. Now, I would like to give the floor to Mr. Piero Abbondi, President, who will conduct the first part of the presentation.
Good morning, everybody. It is a great pleasure to be here with you again for the results of Kepler Weber. I hope you are well and taking care in this pandemic moment. I will start with the first highlight of the quarter, 85% growth of the net operational revenue compared to 2020. Very consistent in this pandemic scenario.
We observed the continuity of the favorable conditions of agricultural commodities with the depreciation of the BRL and better economic power of the clients leverage the performance of the company in almost all segments. I will detail every segment later on. Another highlight of the quarter was the growth of 85% with BRL 39 million. The EBITDA margin grew 0.2 basis points, reaching 13.9%. This is a result of all efforts of the organization. Paulo will get into details. The net profit grew 96.7% with BRL 72 million, and cash generation was consistent, even taking into consideration the less favorable seasonality, which is common to the beginning of the year, and closing the quarter with BRL 245 million contributing to keep the financial robustness of the company. We present now our business areas performance, starting with storage.
We had a leap in our billings of 25% growth compared to the same period of last year. The demand for storage solutions in the second semester of 2020 kept high in Q1 2021. This movement is associated to the excellent performance of the Brazilian agribusiness. Our exports had also a great performance, growing 54% in relation to the first quarter of 2020. Even with a tough environment that make us more competitive and allow us to progress. When we deduced the exchange variation in the period, we had a growth of approximately 25%, a very satisfactory performance, which has been the result of new projects in Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. In bulk, our business related to ports and terminals, we had a 28% reduction in relation to the first quarter of 2020, explained by the closing of the project in Rio Verde, Goiás.
This business area has more volatility in the volume of revenues because the sales are for large projects that have dips and downs in its billing. In services, we had a 57% increase in relation to the first quarter. This is the result of the expansion when we created the expanded five distribution centers. It is important to say that the RS area is additionally being boosted with this storage segment. In slide five, I share some projects delivered in the first quarter of 2021. The project of Catalão in Goiás is of a client that came back to Kepler Weber to expand his units. For us, it is an evidence that the client is satisfied and will refer us to the other producers in the region. The Rio Verde project, also in Goiás, we highlight the security that we provided our client.
It was 100% erected by Kepler and by our experienced professionals, allowing the delivery on time. The project Campo Grande in Mato Grosso do Sul, delivered in March 2021, is the first storage unit tailor-made for the client. Its personalization met the client's needs, showing the versatility of our solutions that allow us to deliver complex customizations on time. Slide six shows the Nueva Esperanza project in Paraguay. The producer selected Kepler due to the reliability of our brand through a representative that is close to the local clients. The project aimed to reduce the costs with grain storage, but in maximizing its results. We have the [Inpush] project in Zambia, which differential is the personalized service because the equipment had to be adapted to the tropical conditions. The client is located in an agricultural expansion area with no storage unit.
Now, I give the floor to Paulo Polezi for the main financial results and performance in the first quarter.
Thank you, Piero. Good morning. In slide seven, we show the EBITDA evolution in the first quarter of 2021 with BRL 32.9 million, 88% increase in relation to the first quarter of 2020. In spite of the inflation pressure with the increase of the prices of steel since August of 2020, we kept the prices of the projects, and the EBITDA margin closed in 13.9%, 0.2 basis points higher than the first quarter of 2020 and 1.6 basis points above the fourth quarter. The positive performance is the improvement in the activity level of our well-executed strategy and the price recomposition, decrease of costs, showing our commitment with profitability and results. In slide eight, we have the CapEx investments. The first quarter of 2021.
The investments were of BRL 12 million to increase the manufacturing capacity, then referring to the new products and 10% to comply with the legislation and new regulations and 6% of IT investments. In slide nine, I highlight the cash availability with a very robust level with a gross balance of BRL 245 million, then [BRL 236 million] of free cash. Our cash flow follows the seasonality of grains, showing a lower financial flows in the first semester and higher in the second semester. We saw an improvement in the working capital of the company, driven by a better level of the clients in their performance, and the reflects of the high quality of our portfolio. In the fourth quarter, we had a reduction in the advance to clients, which is normal, and also an increase of operational inventory.
In slide seven, we have the liquidity of our share with 200% increase in the average level. With this, I close my part, and I give the floor back to Piero.
Thank you, Paulo. Before opening the Q&A session, I like to stress the current achievements, and I will also comment on our perspectives for 2021. Recent achievements, I want to highlight our solid results above expectations, even facing the inflation pressure on raw material. We also had action plans that allowed us to mitigate the effects due to the needs of the pandemic. We benefited from a good moment of demand and capture opportunities, delivering excellent results in the first quarter. We also approved the program to increase capacity and productivity in the amount of BRL 22 million for the production units of Panambi and Campo Grande.
I'd like to remind you that for 2021, we expect to have one more year of growth, contributing to the continuity of the improvement of the agribusiness in Brazil. What we had built in the second semester brings stability to our operation. We also have expectations of healthy margins, but may have some volatility because of the market pressure and instability in the supply chain. With this, I close the presentation of the results of Q1 2021. We can now open the Q&A session.
We now open the Q&A session. We kindly ask participants to ask questions pressing star one. Our first question comes from Catherine Kiselar from Banco do Brasil.
Good morning, Paulo. Congratulations for the results. I'd like to know about your initiative to [Seletron], and we saw that you have an update on this initiative. What can you say about it?
Good morning, Catherine. Thank you for the question. Our investments in the Sync platform are aligned with our efforts of recurrent sales. That's our goal. Our products today have the technological capacity of capturing data and apply this in the plant and in the cloud that will make this data available and also generate a series of services linked to management, maintenance, operation, and support of the plant. Specifically about the Sync, we have 120 works installed and 170 new works being installed right now, and they will generate the connectivity and the data to our Sync platform. We are also making investments in new sensors to expand the possibilities of operational support. We are also investing.
We are in advance of the process of creating an operational center to work on this information and generate, from the Sync platform, data and information to support the operation, the maintenance for our clients, and also the full support in post-sales support as repair and training to our clients. We are really focused in digitalization and digital services, and we are trying to accelerate this process to go faster in this recurring sales issue. Concerning Seletron, which is another leg of our growth in digitalization and higher added value equipment, after the announcement of last year, when we acquired the E-Technology brand, we are adapting the plant in Panambi that will incorporate the production of this Seletron equipment. Seletron's products are acknowledged by the excellency in grain selection. They are already in our portfolio.
And as expected and planned, we will have in the next weeks the total internationalization of this equipment. We are delivering the equipment already. Concluding, I would say that it is as we planned, and we will have good news about Seletron this year, which is an important positioning of the company in relation to equipment of higher added value.
Thank you for your answer. My second question, Piero, relates to your order portfolio. We know you have the silos, and I suppose your portfolio is in a healthy level and you have investments and the capacity to face the demand. How do you expect this demand to be, and how the announced investment will improve it?
Very interesting question because this is the scenario that we are living. The commodity prices and the dynamics of the Brazilian agribusiness is creating a strong demand, as we mentioned in the second semester of last year, and this demand continues during this quarter. So we have a products portfolio or order portfolio that is robust, that give us peace of mind to plan for the year, which is important. But the challenge is to deliver. Of course, our plant is well-positioned for that. We have a very good occupation of the plant.
The terms are expanded due to this demand, not only from Kepler, but we noted this in the entire industry, this extended term, and we are making ad hoc investments to follow this increase in demand. I can mention the investment approved last year that is being made this year in the first quarter. Investments in equipment in Campo Grande that are already in operation.
The total investment was of BRL 12 million, and we have investment plan that we will conclude for 2021 to follow this increase in demand to properly meet our customers' needs. In spite of all difficulties in the global supply chain, we are able to serve our clients with no delay in our deliveries, and this is very important for us. I think this is my answer. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Only one question. In your program of rebuying of shares, how are you doing this? How is Kepler doing this?
Well, Catherine, this is Paulo. Thank you for your question. First, I will start with the rebuy program. We announced here in April this program to support the variable plan in the long term for the company, is the buyback program. It was approved in 2020, and now we have to buy back these shares.
Right now, we are always aware and monitoring these buyback programs, but we have nothing planned now. From time to time, we'll create the programs as the shares are being allocated. Your questions about the dividend strategy, what do we have here? Our articles of incorporation provides that at the end of the fiscal year, 5% for legal and 25% for minimal dividends to the shareholders and 25% as an investment reserve and working capital. So the net profit not allocated to these can be allocated to the dividends.
This must be provided by the capital budget and approved by the Board in the assembly. As a reference, the payment of dividends as deliberated in the last assembly had a payout of 49% over the results of 2020. So the trend is that the dividends flow will follow the growth of the company and the profitability. I think this year is a very good reference.
Thank you for your answers, and congratulations once again for the results.
Thank you, Catherine, for participating in our call.
Remember to ask a question, you just need to press star one. Once again, if you want to ask a question, please press star one. While we wait audio questions, we have some questions asked via the Internet, and I will ask them. The first question is from [Luis Fernando Salum], and he asks, "What are the definitions that Kepler are being studied? Are companies in the same sector as the last acquisition?" I think he is referring to Seletron.
Good morning, Luis. Yes, we are studying. The company has strategic planning well elaborated to organic and inorganic growth. We are looking for opportunities that are close to our area of operation, which is post-harvest.
We see opportunities for expanding our products even before this post-harvest process and after this process. So this is the sector we are looking closely, and most of them are more related to initiatives on the digital market, the [top budget] banking, and also opportunities to go to market. This is what we are studying now. The company has a favorable financial condition that allows us to look for these opportunities, and this is agenda we are working on. As we have any novelties, we will announce. Piero, if you want to add something.
No, Paulo, you answered the question very well, but I'd like to reinforce that we are focusing on post-harvest, which is our area of operation, looking for inorganic growth as other products in our line, as acquisitions that might accelerate some areas we want to accelerate our growth.
Very strong in equipment of higher added value, and also strongly on digitalization with all the electronics on-boarding and services to our installed client base that will generate a recurrent revenue. These are the two points we are focusing now.
Thank you, Piero. We have one more question from João Daronco. "I congratulate you for your results, and the first question is, how is your supply chain now? Not only in terms of price, but in terms of supply. Do you expect any delay in the supply?"
Thank you, João. I can say that since the beginning of the second semester of 2020, the supply chain as a whole was strongly affected by the adjustments and the inputs, but especially due to the difficulty of supplying, and our company has quickly responded.
The company was able to foresee these movements, and we are applying now several countermeasures to face this complex situation right now. We are working on replenishment prices and more strategic issues on inventories. We want to reduce the impact over the client and to avoid delays in the delivery. Some examples, João. For instance, we try to close the orders in advance to guarantee the price. The portfolio we have today is very robust and allows us this better visibility, so we can advance some negotiations. Second, we work a lot with the market intelligence, and we also advance some movements of on-landing. We have cases with expressive increases, the chain followed the increase on the steel prices of almost 90%. But when we have this large increase, heavy increase, we were able to negotiate the terms, and we are also working to diversify our sources.
Some process has been internalized, and that is how we are working now. If we have the expectations of delays, we have delays from our suppliers, but we were able to manage our deliveries to our customers with no delay up to now. I do not know if I answered your question.
We have one more question from [Wagner Cuenca]. What is the company's view in relation to the demand for storage in the north? Is this relevant?
I will answer that. Thank you for the question, [Wagner.] It is important because we are talking about the segment of bulk movement, so when we serve ports and terminals. In May, we will celebrate 96 years of the company, and the first project of Arco Norte was in 1996 in Porto Velho, in the Amazon Basin, the project of boats. For us, it is nothing new.
We are in this segment for many, many years operating. We have ports and terminals of agricultural bulk, grains, corn, soya, and also granulated fertilizers that Brazil uses to import. Currently, we have some important opportunities. I will mention just some. Santa Terezinha, Barcarena. These are ongoing projects in our pipeline. These are projects of BRL 600 million. We also have other projects, but Kepler, do not forget, in Kepler's scope is 30%, BRL 180 million are directly related to Kepler. We mapped all these projects. Usually, these are long-term projects. For the development of a project, they are specific, so it takes more time. We need to review. These are projects that require discipline, and these are also projects that have high competition because they are relevant, and the competitors are also looking for them. We need to explain to the client the benefits of our equipment.
We have total expertise and capacity to serve and to meet the needs of this project. We will be present not only in these two that I mentioned, but in others that we have in our pipeline. Lastly, we see that Brazil is concerned about the logistic. We are very competitive from the gate out, but not inside. We see the investments happening. The Arco Norte is an example. The concession of the railroad, West-East in the beginning of Brazil is an example. We have some discussions on Ferrogrão. We have on our horizon of some years of investments in logistics that will bring us very important business opportunity. Thank you for your question. It is a very important segment that we are continuing.
We have one more question from Ian [Schack.] Can you comment on the compensation program for the executives? [ Guilherme] also asks us about the competition environment. Is there any new entrant?
I answer the first question, and then Piero answers the second. [Guilherme], the compensation program for executives, we have a traditional program. It is a long-term program. It has a component of short goals related to the fiscal year and a larger part related to the long-term. It is a traditional program that uses the shares of the company. The company acquires these shares from the market, reserve these shares in the treasury. We have a resting period and as the long-term goals of growth of operation, increase in profitability, innovation, these strategic goals, as they are achieved, these shares are being released to the executives. It has a benefit because as they happen, they can come with a greater value.
But it is a traditional program that is driven by long-term goals, and the entire executive team is aligned to the execution. This is more detail in our reference form in case you need. The other question about the competition environment, if there is a new entrant. Piero, please.
Good question. Thank you, [Guilherme.] First, about the local competition, we have several companies in this segment: traditional companies, national companies, and international companies as well. So it is a very competitive market. The players are well-established, and Kepler is maintaining the 40% market share, and we expect to keep it. It is important to have good competitors because it drives our improvement, not to keep in a comfortable zone. Concerning new possible international players, new players, we are working not to be positioning only as equipment provider, but a turnkey. The complete work to deliver the work, working.
Kepler is the first to go to the site. When the producer thinks about a storage plan, he thinks about Kepler or other companies, but we are the ones who do the preliminary design of the plant and establish the value. After the order is closed, we produce the equipment, and we deliver the equipment working. So when the client buys a plant, he does not buy equipment. He buys a plant fully working. So having said that, we want to support the customer in this entire process. So the project management is very important because it is an integration of several areas: civil, construction, electric. The assembly is also our responsibility and the delivery and training, the startup, and the support in the first moments. So the producer teams are properly trained.
It is a great differential because the guarantee of delivering the project working, it is an entry barrier for some international barriers. Suppose a Chinese provider can deliver a more competitive steel price, but he needs to do this entire project just like we do. Our local competitors, when the producer says, "Well, Kepler's equipment is very good." Okay, we know that, but even better is what we see with the investments, including assembly, startup. Everything was perfect. It is like building a home. The ideal is to have your house ready, well constructed as you planned. So this is our challenge and the construction of entry barrier and the differential because they know that Kepler will deliver the works on time with the quality established. Thank you for the question.
Continuing, we have some other questions here. A question from Mr. Sergio Oba about the strategy of capital allocation. Can you give me an idea of this? He continues, due to the solid cash generation of the company, do you have any discussions on the increasing of it? Due to the no, this is the same question.
I will answer in general about capital and cash generation. I will start with Kepler. I would like to make it clear, is a leader company, as Piero mentioned, with very good market opportunities, with positive visibility, and we are doing well. We are in a strong position, but cash is important to provide security to our operations. So we won't compromise this. We are in a very comfortable cash position that allows us to make these moves of organic and inorganic growth. With this, we have the chance to negotiate and discuss strategies in an unleveraged way, and this is very competitive.
We can negotiate calmly and use the cash for these opportunities. We can also finance these opportunities of CapEx and innovation. We want to keep this cash position, not only cash, but also liquidity. This cash, as Piero mentioned, will help us to look for opportunities and try to accelerate this process. As they happen, we will use the cash we have and adapting the capital structure. In terms of payout, it will depend on the plans, but the position of the company allows us to have a position to have a healthy dividend payment. I think that's it for now.
Remember, to ask a question, you just need to press star one. With this, we close the Q&A session. We give the floor back to Mr. Piero for his final considerations.
Very good questions. We had the opportunity of showing widely what we are doing here at Kepler Weber. To close, I'd like to stress some points. The first is that the record in sales led us to a better result of the first quarter since the beginning of the PCA. An excellent result based on the current moment of the commodities, but this result was also achieved thanks to the excellent work of the Kepler team that exceeded and overcame the difficulties imposed by the pandemic. These were not easy moments, and I think that the company was able to anticipate everything since last year, working hard in all these fronts that were of a significant challenge, but the Kepler Weber's teams were able to overcome. I'd like to congratulate our collaborators who really engaged in this.
As a second point, we had a strong growth in the segment of ports and services. Showing that the strategy of investing in this area was corrected, including the five distribution centers of ports. This made us to have a nice increase in all quarters. This is based on the recurring team sales to reduce the exposure we have in natural cycles of the agribusiness. This segment accounts for 15% of our sales, but we have the objective of increasing even more these recurring sales. Concerning the increase of revenues in recurring sales, we are also implementing the digitalization plan, our Sync platform, our digital platform that will make available this onboard electronics, open the possibility of several recurring services to our clients. This will be another road for growth, recurring services, and we are looking for ways to accelerate this process in the next month.
We will work to accelerate the growth in this digital services area. As a last point, I'd like to highlight that we are very optimistic with 2021. We are confident it will be another year of growth. The PCA, the plan of constructing new storage, is in a good level, but not enough due to the needs of the segment, who faces a deficit in storage. We are continuing to look to expand our private financing options to our clients. This is a point to increase sales. These are the main points I'd like to highlight. I thank your interest in our conference call and the interest in our company, and I wish to see you soon in our next conference. Thank you very much and have a nice day.
With this, we close the conference call. Thank you very much and have a nice day.