Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for waiting. You are most welcome to participate at our call, which makes reference to the first quarter of 2021 results. With us here today, we have Mr. Daniel Brasil Alves, Marketing Corporate Communication Manager, Mr. Daniel de Oliveira Camargo, Executive Account Manager, and Mr. Fábio Lopes Peres, Executive Finance Manager. This event is being recorded, and all participants will be in a listen-only mode during the company's presentation. After MAHLE Metal Leve remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. At that time, further instructions will be given. Should any participants need assistance during this call, please press star zero to reach the operator. This event is also being transmitted simultaneously through the internet via the webcast and can be accessed through the investors relations website of the company, where the presentation is also available.
Participants may view the slides in any order they wish. The replay will be available shortly after the event is concluded. Those following the presentations via the webcast may post their questions on our website. They will be answered by the IR team after the conference is finished. Before proceeding, let me mention that forward statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of MAHLE Metal Leve management and on information currently available to the company. They involve risks and uncertainties because they are related to future events, and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Those considerations will not guarantee they are related to future events, and they depend on circumstances that they may or may not occur. Now I will turn the conference over to Mr. Daniel Camargo, who will be starting this presentation. Please, Mr. Daniel Camargo, you may begin your presentation.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. You are all most welcome to our conference call to address first quarter of 2021 results. Before we proceed to our agenda, we hope that you are all doing fine and healthy. MAHLE is considering really strict health protocols to guarantee our operations, as well as to mitigate any possible contamination risks. By the end of this presentation, we will be available to your questions throughout the Q&A session. Now let's proceed to slide number two. We are going to talk about some highlights, market overview, net revenues performance by market. Also, a summary of our P&L, EBITDA, financial management, CapEx and depreciation, followed by a question and answer session. Next slide. Some highlights for the first quarter 2021 conference call. Net sales revenue BRL 835 million in first quarter, up 45.5% compared with first quarter 2020.
As to domestic aftermarket in this first quarter 2021, the company reported a 64.2% increase in sales compared to the prior quarter 2020. Domestic OE, we see an increase in sales of 40.5% compared with first quarter 2020. As to aftermarket exports in the first quarter 2021, the company reported an increase in sales of 53.9% compared with the first quarter last year. Original equipment exports, we reported an increase in sales of 35.7% in comparison to last year.
Regarding EBITDA margin, 23.9% in our first quarter this year versus last year, 15.9%. Supplementary dividends in our annual general meeting approved on April 29, 2021. We approved a dividend distribution of BRL 48.6 million relating to fiscal year 2020. The company paid out BRL 119.2 million for the full year of 2020, representing 100% of this net profit. Now I would like to hand over to Daniel Brasil, who will address sales.
Thank you, Daniel Camargo. Good afternoon, everyone. I hope that you're fine. Once again, thank you for your participation at MAHLE Metal Leve's conference on its results. I will start on slide four, where you can see the sales and production of vehicles in Brazil and Argentina in the first quarter of 2021, vis-à-vis the first quarter of 2020. In the first block, we have light vehicles. Starting with Brazil, we had a 6.7% drop in sales in Brazil. There was an impact of the month in March, when we had some restrictions in the operations of the stores. That had an impact on sales. Still we had a 6.7% drop, and in Argentina, growth of 20.2%. In the combined data between Brazil and Argentina, a drop in sales of 3.5%.
In terms of production of light vehicles, it was an increase in 0.8% in Brazil and 35.3% in Argentina, and the combined growth totaled 4.4% in increase in productions. There is a mismatch between production and sales, but still it was not enough to increase our inventory. To date, we have 97,000 vehicles in stock in Brazil. That accounts for 97 days, that usually should be 30 - 33 days. So although production grew more than sales, we could still not replenish inventory as we wished. It is still very low. Now moving to the lower chart. You see for medium and heavy vehicles that in Brazil there was an increase in sales of 23.6%, so a heated market. In Argentina, the growth was of 63.1% and a combined sales growth of 27.3%. In terms of production, there was a growth of 24.7% in Brazil and 66.7% in Argentina.
The combined increase in production was of 25.2%. Here we notice a major difference between light vehicles and heavy vehicles. Heavy vehicles have a high demand, especially driven by the agribusiness and delivery services. But mainly agribusiness has leveraged in sales of heavy vehicles. That includes trucks and buses. If you exclude buses, whose performance is not so good, basically, the growth in sales of trucks is even higher than this amount. Now I am going to talk about our expectations for the full year of 2021. Let me start with light vehicles. I will use the data from ANFAVEA as a reference. They expect a 15% increase. In the last call, I mentioned that our production was aligned. But this quarter, we are below ANFAVEA's projection because of the restrictions we have had. OEM suffered with that, and some car makers suffered even more.
Some of them had to close their doors or sometimes advance the vacation of their employees. So it has been challenging to keep their lines running. This is why our production was a little bit lower. In terms of production, ANFAVEA's expectation is a 25% growth vis-à-vis last year. Here we are also a little bit lower than this forecast. In terms of medium and heavy vehicle, ANFAVEA expected a 13% growth, and MAHLE's perspective is more optimistic than that because of the sales we have had on year -to- date, including April, which was also a strong month in terms of sales. In terms of production, ANFAVEA's forecast was over 25% growth, while MAHLE's is also more optimistic about this point. So despite the difficulties, the market has shown to be resilient.
Daily sales, even considering April, daily sales were considerably positive, lower than the daily sales levels of the first quarter of last year, but still good level. Despite the difficulties, we are being able to keep up with the demand. Now I'm turning over to slide five. On slide five, you can see the vehicle production for North America and Europe. For North America, there was a 3.8% drop in production. There was a 17.3% growth in the production of medium and heavy vehicles, so that helps. Despite the - 3.8%, this was kind of offset by the medium and heavy vehicle production increase. In Europe, we also had a 9.8% increase for the production of medium and heavy vehicles and a negative growth in Europe in total. Combined, the information of North America and Europe, the production was of - 3.3%.
The figures are inferior than those of 2020. But we see a ramp up. We see recovery leading us to the levels we had before the crisis. Now moving to slide six. On slide six, we see the evolution of net revenue in the quarter. In the first quarter, you see the first quarter of 2021. In the second column, the impact on price. In the third column, it's exchange rate variation. In the fourth column, the figures for the first quarter of 2020. I'm going straight to the last column of variations. Starting with original equipment for the domestic market, there was a growth of 40.5% increase in revenue, the impact of exchange rate of -1.5%, that in the domestic market is related to Argentina, where we have a valve plant, and when this is converted to reais, then the impact is negative.
A total growth of 42% in volume and price superior to the market reference. The key reasons for this growth have to do with the mix between light vehicles and heavy vehicles, because heavy vehicles have grown more. Also, this is also an aftermarket. You see that there is a gain in market share, and this is why MAHLE revenues were higher than the market benchmark. In exports, there was a 35.7% increase in revenue, and the impact of the exchange rate variation was a 33.4%, while the volume/price was 2.3%. So it was basically associated with the exports market because of the exchange rate. Now considering domestic aftermarket, there was a growth in revenue of 64.2%. The exchange rate variation impact was -8.6%, and the volume over price impact was 72.8%. So this was a market recovery plus stock replenishment of our customers.
Also a gain in market share. Imported components lost some space because of the devaluation of the exchange rate. The aftermarket for exports had a 53.9% growth. The impact of the exchange rate was 19.6%, and the volume over price impact 34.3%. This indicates the market recovery. Of course, we are still in the middle of the pandemic, but the market is recovering, especially Chile, Paraguay and Peru. Those are the key countries that represent this growth.
The overall growth in revenue was a 45.5%, and the impact of the exchange rate variation 11.8%, and an impact of the volume over price percentage 33.7%. Now moving to slide seven. Here we see consolidated exports by geographic region. I have no comments related to this slide because you see that everything is very similar. Europe, North America, other markets, very similar between the first quarters. I turn back to Daniel Camargo, and I will be available for the Q&A session.
Thank you. In our next slide, we have some results highlights, and we have the gross profit, the gross margin with a 45.5% growth. Cost of sales, we see a very similar increase, therefore our gross margin reached 2.5 percentage points considering the volume of the markets where our company operates. Next slide. We have some P&L expenses in first quarter 2021 were impacted mainly by freight and variable selling expenses, and increased by 12.5%. It is still against growth of our net sales revenue. General and administrative expenses in this first quarter were highly impacted by the increase in maintenance, materials, and utilities expenses. R&D expenses, we see a decrease considering the main focus on the operation and commercialization of those sell quickly developing products. Other operating income expenses. We also perceive a lower expense in the period, mainly due to provision and reversal for labor contingencies. Next slide.
Operating income measured by the EBITDA, which amounts 23.9% in our first quarter 2021. Nothing much to be said. The slide talks by itself. That was the main factor. Gross profit, BRL 94.5 million for this combined EBITDA amount. As to gain losses on net monetary position, BRL 13.2 million. This is an amount which is a correction of the IAS 29 considering inflation. I would like to give the floor to Fábio Lopes Peres.
Thank you, and good afternoon. Let us address net financial result. Once we compare first quarter last year and this year, we see a total finance income of BRL 34.6 million. If we break that down, we have BRL 1.1 million. As to interests as a result of our revenue, that is based on our investments. Let me add that 5% of investment yield in this year is a result of the consolidation of the Brazilian market with the Argentinian one. As you all may know, Argentinian market consumption is higher than the Brazilian one.
With that, we had reached BRL 5.5 million. As of cost of debt, BRL 4.3 million, with a result of BRL 7.5 million. The variations that we see as to net rates amount to BRL 1.1 million. That is a consequence of the volume of investments within that period. In the last two lines of the slide, we see investments average in BRL million and an average debt amount in 16.0%, and the investments average BRL 98.2 million. As to exchange rate, we have BRL 35.9 million. As to exchange rate of ACC, we have similar operations to last year.
But this year, since last April 2020, we are paying our debts and the last installment will be paid in this month, reducing such an exchange rate, which also allowed that decrease. Last year, we had some devaluation of our exchange rate. If we compare October 2020 to March 2021, we see a BRL devaluation around 35%, and this is one of the reasons why we had perceived such a huge impact. We have some operations in Austria, rates over capital that also had to comply with some exchange rate. If we combine all these aspects, we reach a deal of BRL 34 million. Now page 12. This is our indebtedness. On the left chart, you can see the net indebtedness shown below with increase of BRL 76 million in comparison to one short-term results to long-term results.
On the chart below on the right, we have our debt of BRL 65.9 million for FINAME, BRL 27.8 million NCE and the Brazilian Development Bank ( BNDES). And FINAME, a total of 6.3%, 0.47% yearly. BNDES 5.89% with a total of 5% yearly. Below is presented the maturities of short-term and a long-term indebtedness. In last May, or this May I should say, we will be paying around BRL 70 million actually next week, and that has to do with our open debt. To the right, we have the payment flow chart for the Development Bank and FINAME.
Page 13, CapEx and depreciation. First quarter 2020, we have BRL 4.9 million, and this year BRL 14.1 million, amounting 1.7% of the percentage of net sales revenue 2021. For the first quarter 2020, 0.9%. A total percentage of depreciation for the first quarter 2020 of 19.1% and 54.2% for this quarter 2021. Our investments, they consider not only productivity, but also quality of our products and investment on technology. Throughout the year, we are responsible to approve each one of those possible future investments and to keep our net sales revenue. Next, we would like to open for your questions and let's now just wait for them. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, we will now start the Q&A session. If you have a question, please press star one. If at any time you would like to remove yourself from the questioning queue, press star two. Our first question comes from Victor Mizusaki with Bradesco BBI. Please proceed, sir.
Good afternoon. Congratulations for your results on the first quarter. I have two questions. The first one, I would like you to comment about the results of MAHLE Argentina. Could you please give us more details about that? I understand there was a strong increase in revenues there. Could you tell us more about their production of light and heavy vehicles? More specifically, in the case of MAHLE. What was the price versus volume distribution in this market? Is that going to be something sustainable along 2021 given the scenario of lack of components? I have a second question. Given the recovery in profitability in the company, what is your plan for CapEx and also investments in R&D for 2021?
Good morning, Victor. This is Daniel Brasil speaking. Let me tell you about the sales in Argentina. We have a unit that produces valves in Rafaela and also a distribution center for aftermarket pieces in Buenos Aires. Our Rafaela plant, the plant that produces valves, its main share is for heavy vehicles and for export. Basically valves for heavy engines for trucks. You could see the data for Europe and North America. We did experience a major increase in these markets, and this is why we had a higher revenue in the case of Argentina. Your second question has to do with CapEx and investments in R&D, right? Okay. If Daniel Camargo would like to comment on this topic, he can say more after me. We presented the data for the first quarter, and along 2021, we plan to make investments. Maybe Daniel Camargo can comment on that.
Yes, Daniel Brasil answering this question. We have an approved CapEx of BRL 73.3 million for development technology. We have the same percentage of that amount aligned with what we've been investing in the past years.
Thank you.
Let me remind you that if you want to ask questions, just press star one. Once again, I'd like to remind you that if you want to ask a question, just press star one. Our next question is from Jonathan Koutras with JP Morgan. You may proceed.
Good afternoon, and thank you for taking my question, and congratulations on your great results. I have two questions.
You have the gross margin in the quarter, considering the pressure of materials. I understand there is a peak right now. Do you have any update on the lack of semiconductors in the market? How do you see OEMs recover their components? Does that affect any line of business directly? Thank you.
Jonathan, this is Daniel Brasil. Regarding margins, you yourself highlighted that there is pressure related to materials, so the margin of the first quarter was very good. Of course, we have contracts with our clients, and because of that, we transfer price increases of our raw materials. We try to keep this transfer, but sometimes it is complicated to understand what is going on. It's difficult to make forecasts because of constant increases we've had. It's difficult to manage that. However, we've been working on the timing of these agreements sometimes.
Of course, there is pressure on MAHLE Metal Leve related to this. As to the semiconductors, we've seen some car makers having to anticipate their collective vacations, and of course, that is going to have an impact on MAHLE, too. Depending on the car maker, depending on the OEM, that will happen. But what we've been doing is to bring those components by air to try to keep production running. I mentioned about our stock levels in the beginning of the call. It is still lower than it used to be. We've not been able to replenish stock at the same rate, but we are keeping up with the daily sales volume. When car makers stop, of course, there's some change in the market share. Some car makers can run more smoothly, and they've gained market share in 2021 because of that. I don't know if I answered your question.
No, that's perfect. Thank you.
Once again, if you want to ask a question, just press star one. If there are no further questions, we will now conclude the Q&A session. Now I would like to turn over to Daniel Camargo for his final comments. You may proceed, sir.
Thank you so much to all of you. Please be safe and see you soon again. Thank you