Good morning. Welcome to the video conference of M. Dias Branco with reference to the results of the first quarter of 2025. We have with us here today Gustavo Lopes Theodozio, Vice President of Investments and Controllership, and Fabio Cefaly, Director of New Business and in Relations with Investors. We inform that this event is being recorded, and during the presentation, all participants will be just listening to the video conference. At the end, we will start the question-and-answer session only for analysts and investors. The translation is available clicking on the button Interpretation. For those listening to the conference in English, the original audio in English can be silenced clicking on Mute Original Audio on the bottom of your screen. The transmission is also being done simultaneously on YouTube on www.youtube.com/mdiasbranco.
I'd like to clarify that any declarations which may be made during this video conference relative to the perspectives of business of M. Dias Branco, projections, and operational goal and financial goals constitute premises based from the management of the company based on information currently available. They involve risks and uncertainties and premises as they refer to future events and therefore depend on current circumstances which may or may not occur. Investors should understand that economic conditions of the industry, as well as other operational factors, may affect the future performance of M. Dias Branco and lead to results that differ materially from those which have been mentioned as future considerations. We'd like to pass this over to Mr. Gustavo, who will start the presentation. Gustavo, please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning to everyone. Welcome to our results conference call for the first quarter of 2025.
I would like to start off by announcing the thank you for the effort and work of all of our team. We've had a very challenging period together with the continuous confidence of our investors. Going into the principal highlights, I would like to start off by saying that the strong operational cash, operating cash of BRL 230 million in the first quarter, which is an increase of 103% in relation to the previous period. We closed the first quarter with a solid cash position of BRL 2.3 billion, a very robust amount, which is an important differential in the current macroeconomic scenario of very high interest rates. Our revenue grew by 3.2% compared to the first quarter of 2024, reaching BRL 2.2 billion.
We had an excellent performance in our milling and oil refining and wheat milling units, which revenue grew by 17% compared to the previous year, leveraged principally by the food service channel, a strategy which is being adopted by Cefaly, our Investor Relations leader, in relation and we'll give you more information as we go forward, and also growth of 11% year-on-year in the adjacencies revenues, which is the divisions of healthy food, cakes, and cookies, and compared to 2024, which is a 5% of the total sales of the company.
Also, we'd like to highlight that our control of ESG, which has grown below inflation, SG&A below inflation, also relevant of ESG with the maximum of the CDP climate initiative for the second year in a row, pointing out the highlight of the position of the company being by 5% of women in the leadership, consumption of water in our production units, and other aspects which Fabio will also share with you in detail as we go forward. Beyond the financial results, we are advancing in the restructuring of our areas and welcoming our new Vice President, Mateus Bastos Serra de Alencar , for Sales and Marketing , and also our new Director of Marketing, Ana Carolina. These hires are fundamental to guarantee the excellence of our expansion plan already defined for the company, reminding all of you that it was led up by Cefaly.
It's also important to mention that in the environment of the corporate management, our administration, as well as under Pedro Parente, ex-Minister and President of large companies, reinforcing our commitment with the best practices of governance and adding immense value to our management and our strategy. To conclude, before passing it over to Fabio, I wanted to reinforce the following about our trajectory and our capacity to generate sustainable value. We continue working hard with a complete team, a very high-quality team, conscious of the challenges that are still ahead of us and the adjustments which we still need to make, which still need to be made, and which will be made. I'm going to pass it over to Fabio Cefaly. We detail the results, and then I'll be back at the end for this question-and-answer session at the end of our presentation. Fabio, go ahead.
Gustavo, good morning.
Thank you for the introduction. Good. Welcome to our call for the first quarter. We're here to illustrate some of the numbers which Gustavo mentioned at the beginning. The net revenue of the quarter totaled BRL 2.2 billion, net revenue, 3% above that of last year, the same quarter last year, with a fall of 11% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024, in the volumes which had a slight retraction of 1% compared to the same period of last year and of 9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. It's important to point out that when I make this comparison with the first quarter and the fourth quarter, that there is a seasonality, an implicit seasonality in these numbers. Historically, we see a falloff in volume in our principal categories in cookies and pastas from the fourth quarter to the first quarter.
This is in relation to school holidays, especially in the categories of cookies and crackers. We see that the retailers start to reorder. We are talking about sell-in for the retailers return to their purchasing gradually during January and February. It is normal for us to see a fourth quarter and first quarter a retraction in volumes. The EBITDA of this period was BRL 161 million, below that registered last year in the fourth quarter. Further ahead, I am going to go into the explanations for which motivated this retraction of EBITDA. Net revenue was BRL 69 million in the first quarter, following the same dynamics of the EBITDA. As Gustavo mentioned, the cash generation was double that registered in the same period last year and also grew in relation to cash generation in the fourth quarter. We are going to the chapter of market and net revenue.
Starting with the information of market information, it's important to mention that these numbers are not M. Dias Branco's numbers. These are the numbers of the market of the cookie and pasta markets. The first point here is that both the cookie market as well as the pasta market presented growth in value compared to the first quarter of 2024. Any number that we look here in these graphs of sales value and sales volume compared to the fourth quarter presents a retraction due to the seasonality, as I commented. The cookies market compared to last year in volume had a retraction of 2%, and the pasta market grew by 1%. In unit sales, the cookie market was stable, and the pasta market grew by 1%. In terms of average price, the cookie market grew 4%, and the pasta market maintained the same levels of prices, stable.
The principal message here is that we saw an increase in prices of the cookies market. This also has direct relation to the devaluation of the real and the increase of palm oil in dollars in the market over recent quarters. The pasta market remained stable. Both markets showed growth in value, both cookies as well as pasta. Going now to the M. Dias Branco numbers, our net revenue year-on-year grew by 3%. There was a retraction here basically due to the seasonality of the fourth quarter to the first quarter. The volumes totaled 394 tons, slightly below last year and 9% below the previous quarter. The average price year-on-year grew by about 4%. Here we saw an increase of average price in almost all categories in which M. Dias Branco operates.
This retraction of 3% in the average price from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025 came from an effective mix factor. Our business of milling and refined oils, which are sold principally through the food service channel, had a performance in terms of growth above the growth in our cookie and cracker and pasta areas, which had slower growth. This mix factor had caused a retraction of average price by 3%. Individually, the categories showed increased average increases over that same period. Going into the details of our revenue, as I mentioned previously, the volumes year-on-year had a fall of 1%, average price went up, and the net revenue grew by 3%.
When we look at these three groups of categories, which we're utilizing since the third quarter of last year, the principal products, which is basically cookies, pasta, and margarine, milling of wheat and refined oils, and adjacencies. Here we have cakes, snacks, mixes, toasts, etc., among other products which are in a market which has a higher level of investment, which grows by 10%. The principal products maintain stability in net revenue of BRL 1,686 million year-on-year. The wheat milling and oil refining had a growth of 17%, and the adjacency grew by 11%. As Gustavo mentioned at the beginning of our presentation, I wanted to point out, highlight the food service channel and the adjacencies. The food service is an important growth area, field for growth. As I commented earlier, it includes wheat mills, refining of oils and margarine, special margarine.
Here it's important to point out the state of our units, of our production units, which have been permitted for a long time for very high-quality products. At this point in time, since the middle of last year, with our food service team 100% dedicated, well-structured, and trained for the realization of a consultative sale, we're adding more value to our operation. The open-door program, as was mentioned in the presentation, which our team has the pleasure of receiving clients in our installations, has been a very important tool to give visibility and value the work which has been done, above all to reinforce the quality of our products and of our productive process, beyond, of course, the investments in marketing and renewals. We are very confident with the potential for growth of this sales front, both in revenue as well as in profitability, since M.
Dias has capacity on reserve to attend growth. Another front which is already presenting promising results is the area of adjacencies, which includes snacks, healthy foods, toasts, and cake mixes, among other items. As Gustavo mentioned at the introduction of the call, this front is being managed now as a separate business unit with a team which is 100% dedicated, without taking advantage, of course, of all of the synergies with the principal business of M. Dias Branco, such as commercial and distribution. With that, we believe that we're going to leverage even more the growth of these products, which have very high added value and are inserted in markets that are growing by double digits. It's a business which last year represented 5% of our sales, with almost BRL 500 million of sales.
Entering into the chapter of costs and expenses, it's important to point out that the evolution, or in recent months, of the three variables which most affect our costs: exchange rates, wheat in dollars, and the palm oil prices in dollars. Approximately 60% of our costs are based on dollars. With that, the exchange rate was the dollar at the first quarter of last year was at the level of BRL 4.95 per dollar. It devalued, the real devalued, and closed the year, closed the first quarter of 2025 at the level of BRL 5.7 per dollar. This devaluation had direct impact on our costs, consequently on our profitability. Wheat in dollars maintained its same level. However, the impact on the results is the price of wheat in reais.
The devaluation of the exchange rates with the stability of the price of wheat prices in dollars brought an impact on our costs and consequently on our profitability. Palm oil, which is a material which is very important for the cookie and fats and margins, went from a level of approximately $1,100 per ton, went up in prices during the recent years and closed our first quarter of 2025 above $1,700 per ton. Palm oil both had an unfavorable impact, both in its price in dollars as well as its real price due to devaluation. When we look at all of this together with the variable costs, which is the first line here on this graph, in the first quarter of last year, our variable cost per kilo was BRL 2.6.
As the real fell in value during the year and palm oil started increasing in price, this variable cost went up, and we closed the first quarter of 2025 at BRL 3 per kilo. Fixed costs went up a little bit in both periods, BRL 1 per kilo last year. There was a level change of levels which has direct relation to inflation, which happened during that period of salary increases, payment terms, and other variables. We closed the first quarter of 2025 with BRL 1.1 per kilo of fixed costs. The combination of these two factors had a direct impact on our gross margin, which went from 36.6% to 30.9% in the first quarter.
It's also important to remember that to do any type of comparison with the fourth quarter, we must always remove the effects which were favorable in that quarter of approximately 3.3% in our gross margin. The average price, as I mentioned previously, had an increase year-on-year of 5.4-5.6 per kilo, and a retraction compared to the fourth quarter due to the mix, the category mix. Administrative expenses and sales expenses are controlled. We had BRL 516 million in the first quarter, slightly above the fourth quarter of last year. Remembering that here in the fourth quarter of last year, we had extraordinary effects, positive extraordinary effects. We lowered our expenses of approximately BRL 25 million. So any comparison between these two quarters should be done with the BRL 480 million plus BRL 25 million, which favored the expenses of that period.
Looking again at the revision year-on-year, expenses with last year were BRL 512 million and BRL 516 million in this quarter, went up less than inflation of the period. This corroborates our explanation of our recent quarters that we are maintaining a discipline very present in the management of all the expenses that the company faces. Our EBITDA, principally due to the increase in prices, presented retraction BRL 276 million last year with a margin of 13% and BRL 161 million this year with an EBITDA margin of 7.3%. It's also important to highlight here that there was an effect, an unfavorable effect, extraordinary effect in the first quarter of 2025, which were the expenses with the interruption of our production of cookies in the factory. This effect totaled approximately BRL 17 million, basically due to the changes in the Lençóis Paulista factory, which was totaled BRL 161 million.
Net revenue summed BRL 69 million, the 160 in the first quarter of last year. Basically, this retraction was due to the same factors which explained the retraction in our EBITDA. Going to the chapter of cash generation, debt, and investments, we generated BRL 280 million in cash, in operating cash in this period, double that which we generated in the same period last year. Here the highlight is the working capital. While last year we had a consumption of working capital, this year we had a release of working capital, an increase in working capital.
The first point which you have to remember is that in the first quarter of last year was not a good reference for any type of comparison of the financial cycle in days due to the fact that in that quarter we implemented our new SAP and that it concentrates an atypical concentration of results and of production at the end of that quarter. Going back to the reading of the first quarter of 2025, we generated BRL 141 million. In nominal terms, our suppliers line was the same compared to the end of 2024. In days, we closed with 59 days, the same as was seen in recent quarters, excluding the first quarter of 2024.
The release of working capital in the first quarter of 2025 came principally in the account of receivables, which overcame the consumption of cash in our stocks in the seasonality of our sales between the end of the year and the first quarter. Looking here at the cash position of M. Dias Branco, we closed the first quarter with a healthy balance and robust balance, with a cash position which was well above our debt in BRL 162 million and with a deleveraging of 0.1% due to our EBITDA. For the seventh year in a row, we have been considered AAA by Fitch Ratings. The BRL 2.3 billion of gross debt are principally in long-term debt and with due dates starting in 2028. Investments in this quarter total BRL 90 million.
A good part of this is maintenance, remembering that we have an excess capacity which is relevant, which will support our growth. At these million reais beyond the maintenance costs, we also have certain investments in systems and improvements in our production facility in Eusébio. Remembering, as we always do, our strategy, which is based on three avenues of growth. The current business, especially cookies and pasta, food service, which is also included in this strategy. The other categories, which are snacks, healthy foods, toasts, which are the categories which have presented a growth rhythm quite accentuated, and international, which has grown over recent years, both in exports as well as in the company which we acquired in 2022, which is Las Acacias in Uruguay. All of this is based on a permanent program of increased productivity.
These are the actions underway, the principal actions underway currently, which look at the recovery of our results, principally our volume, and always seeking the retaking of sustainable growth. We organize these actions because these are managed by two major areas: growth and efficiency and productivity. The teams dedicated to food service and agencies is the commercial team under one directorate, under management team. It also has nationwide coverage and capturing all the synergies of our business and leveraging our volumes. The revenue management team since the second half of 2024 is in the financial area. Beyond having a more disciplined control focused on our commercial budgets, it is using a more structured pricing mechanism, which creates conditions for the recovery of growth, the strengthening of our exports, seeking here new clients, and including important quotes with international clients.
Here, as I mentioned previously, based on the effort, the continuous effort for productivity and efficiency, always looking at the optimization of SG&A and of our organizational structure. In fact, this is a continuous process of revisiting our logistics network and our production network in terms of the production of biscuits, of cookies and refining , and the adjustments which we did in the pasta in Madureira at the end of last year. To conclude in the ESG chapter, a highlight is that the CDP, this is the fruit of our efforts and the dedication of our teams in the knowledge and involvement with the environmental questions. For the second year in a row, we have joined the list, the select list, the A list of CDP climate focused on the issuance of greenhouse gases.
This is the best score in climate change, and we have concrete solutions for emissions in line with our public commitments which we formalized and which are long-term commitments. Other items mentioned as by Gustavo at the beginning of this call, the consumption of water, whether it's a reduction, reuse, abuse, residues, the increase of participation of women in our leadership, and the increase of purchases from local suppliers. With that, we'll close this step of our presentation. Now we go over to questions and answers.
Thank you. We'll now begin the questions and answers for investors and analysts. If you would like to make a question, please click the raise hand button. If your question has already been answered, you may leave the line by clicking again on the same button. Our first question comes from Gustavo Troyano of Itaú BBA. Gustavo, please go ahead.
Good morning, Fabio. I have two questions that I wanted to ask you about. First is related to the pastas and cookies. In the presentation, you put the data in the market where the sell-out of the industry, both for pasta as well as cookies, was going by 1% or 2%. And when we look at the top line of your top line for those principal products, it was flat or falling slightly year on year. That the base of the first quarter of last year had an impasse of the transition to your new SAP. It gave us the sensation that there may have been a loss of market share. I wanted to examine with you if there was a disconnection with sell-in and sell-out, and if you had a variation of market share in these two categories, taking into consideration all of the points which I mentioned.
The second question is also clinking with the question of market share and price. In the previous call, we talked about a new price list that you were going to implement at the end of last year or the beginning of this year. I wanted to see how have you seen the acceptance of this during the first quarter, and if you can give us an idea of what was the reaction of your competitors and how did that go around the industry. If you could highlight a little bit the geographic differences among the products or where you saw the biggest pass-throughs in prices. Thank you.
Good morning, Gustavo. This is Gustavo, your record question. First, it's important for us to make it clear that we pick up a market in general. We're looking at the only at merchandise.
The market grows in general, but it grows in value, but it's fallen in units and in volume. In our case, when we look at cookies, there has been a reduction in pasta that has grown. There is an important effect. If you eliminate the calendar effect, I would say that the volume in sell-out is about basically stable. When you take out the calendar effect, you remember that the first quarter of last year, there were two events which we did not have this year. One was a leap year, and the second one is that we had Easter, which fell in March, which is a big movement in retailing. Taking away these calendar effects, the volumes are basically stable looking at the market. I'm going to also enter into your question about market share and M. Dias Branco specifically.
The pass-through of prices, we did a pass-through in prices in the first quarter, which was not foreseen. We had decided to do this in the first part of the year. We made this pass-through, a price pass-through. We had in the first quarter that fight, which is part of the negotiating process. In this process, we looked at the volumes during these negotiations. The good news is that the entire market grew. There has been growth in the market in total value. We look at the volumes came back to normal. I would say to answer your question, there was a fight, an obvious fight in terms of region. There was very little difference regionally. What we did was to scale up in relation to the other questions in these terminals, which are most important for pricing, and to the less important.
Branco, as a leader in several of these categories, came out ahead, very carefully analyzing week by week. If we had 57.3% market share, Gustavo, in the category of water and cream crackers. The company did not do that. We also did that, Maizena cookies. In the national market, we have 46% of market share. There was a small penalty at the beginning. The competitors came. We lost a tiny bit of market share, nothing relevant in both categories, and we recovered it in April. The entire market had passed our prices through to sales. We started with the trade, and life goes on. This is the good news. Looking at volumes, I think this also has to do with market share. Our commercial team made a big change last year. I was the Vice President of Marketing and Sales.
We brought in Mateus from Ambev, who's very focused on execution. We have said that very regularly, that the game this year is much more connected to execution. We're making a bigger investment in trade marketing and marketing in general. Mateus is very much involved as this mentality. Beyond Mateus, we also hired a new Director of New Business, which is Uncertain , also coming from Ambev, and recently a new Marketing Director from Mondelez, Ana Carolina, who's starting with us this week. Mateus entered in March. He's been with us just a month. We're already starting to see a lot of changes in our processes and our commercial routines and much more focus in the market at the point of sale, much more aimed at execution.
Putting all this together, looking forward, I would say that the company is very hopeful looking at the third quarter, which is the time that we see for the effects to appear in this new commercial thing. We have already seen a recovery, an important recovery in this third quarter compared to the first quarter.
Okay, thank you very much. That is clear.
Our next question comes from Lucas Ferreira from JPMorgan. Lucas, please go ahead.
Hi everybody. My first question, following up on Gustavo's question, is I wanted to understand how do you see the competitive environment because looking at the numbers and Nielsen's numbers, it seems that the prices in the industry have not changed from one quarter to the next. At the moment, the industry needs to pass prices, pass-through inflation to their prices.
The expectation, looking at prices that are solid in the first quarter, but that did not happen. Gustavo opened up, he said, "You have a new price list, and how much is the average increase for pastas and cookies? And how much should we see in the second quarter, the average price improving for M. Dias Branco?" The other question is your cost basis to follow up on the questions of stock or however, looking ahead in the next quarters, how we should see this. You see that whether palm oil has calmed down, whether the exchange rates have improved, and how these benefits may affect your costs in the company.
I am going to start off. Let me add, Lucas, one thing. Thank you for your question. The market did move.
If you look at the average price from the fourth quarter to this quarter, cookies in the market grew by an average price per kilo, and pasta grew by 3%. We are not publishing these questions due to competition, but from December until now, our increases were above 5% in both categories, cookies and pasta. We placed in the first quarter. This means that the negotiation and protocols occurred in the first quarter. You are going to see, but I would say that you will see the pass-through of these prices more effectively in April when these negotiations finish up and the orders come in with the new prices. Beyond this growth in the first quarter, which made our volume fall a bit, you are going to see an improvement in prices in the second quarter. That is what we should expect from M. Dias Branco. Costs cool off in terms of exchange.
Wheat prices, palm oil continues at a very high level. However, having said that, we expect, let's say, a positive impact on our results already starting in this next quarter, happening in a more important way in the third quarter of 2025. Just two add-ons to what you've just said. Lucas, you commented that prices have not changed from the fourth quarter to the first quarter. Perhaps you're looking at the M. Dias Branco numbers because there was a retraction in our average price due to mix. The average price individually, category by category, cookies and wheat, fried flour, and so forth have gone up a little bit from the end of December until the end of March.
Since these prices of oils and margins, which are being very much leveraged by the food service channel, had a performance which was better and a faster recovery, these categories have an average price below the average price of cookies and pastas. It had a mixed effect, an unfavorable mixed effect. The average price in the market for cookies and pastas presented an increase. As far as the timing of this effect, which Gustavo mentioned in cost, it is important to remember that we have four months of stock in wheat, and there is an average cost which will be renewed during that period. We hope that in the short term, the favorable impacts of these changes which we have seen in the prices of commodities in the market, also the appreciation of the real compared to the dollar.
Our next question comes from Thiago Duarte of BTG Pactual.
Thiago, your microphone is now open.
Hi, good morning to everyone, Gustavo, Fabio. It's a pleasure to talk to you. My question is, following up on this question of mix, as Fabio mentioned, I wanted to hear a little bit about your efforts in the food service area, which, of course, pushed the sale of wheat flour and oils. I wanted to talk to you about the contribution margin of this channel, looking at this mix, which is less focused on the principal product and more focused on refined products. I wanted to see how this margin compares to the average margin of M. Dias Branco. I'm talking less about average price and more about contribution margin itself. In my second question, I wanted to also ask about a discussion which we've had several times over the years about balanced margins or long-term margins of your business.
I wanted to hear from you a little bit, Gustavo. In previous times and previous calls, you always sought long-term margins, if I'm not mistaken, between 15%-20%. It beats the long-term, it beats the margin of 15%-20%. So I'd like to hear if you understand that in the current circumstances, market circumstances, with all the changes that you're implementing, you talk about several members driving in the management team. If you understand that this perspective will change for any reason, whatever the reason might be. Those would be my two questions. Thank you.
Thiago, thank you for your question. It's a pleasure to speak with you. Let's start with the second question first, talking about the mix of flours and mix and margins. It's not a strategy. We had a negotiation prior to the end of the quarter for cookies and pastas.
The flour did well. We did well on flour. The pricing is a little different. It's more connected to commodities pricing. We had a reduction in wheat prices, and it entered more easily into negotiations. We should see an adjustment in the mix starting in April with higher relevance for biscuits, for cookies, and pastas. We should grow in the area of flours. We're looking at the cookies and pastas. We're looking at the profitability of these flours. If we're looking at the future in relation to margins, we're talking about EBITDA margin, our historic margin since the IPO. If we look at 2006 until now, it's already oscillated between 15%-19% with 16% of EBITDA margin. Last year, we had about 13% margin.
When I look at the company today, starting in 2018 with the acquisition of Piraquê with more added value, Jasmine and healthy foods and these adjacencies growing, still represent a very small amount, only about 5% of our income, but they have been growing faster than the pasta and cookie markets. Over time, this mix will have an effect and will have a portfolio that's more qualified, which also will bring more advantages. Currently, a lot of the profitability is affected by the lack of dilution of our expenses. It's a very large company, 26 units. If the volumes, if we're looking at below capacity, this dilutes you more than others and could hurt your market.
Looking at the white space in the market and looking at our deficiencies in execution and operational, we are convicted that we have a capacity to grow in volume in an important way, internal processes, and better so improving our execution and diluting our fixed costs. I can't see this company delivering EBITDA equal to or better than the historical average of 16%. We still believe that this should be our target. When we look at our plans, internal plans in the long term, after discussing with several consultancies we spoke with, we are in Bain and we deal with Accenture, all of our levers bring us to these historical margins. I think the internal discussion here is much more the velocity of reaching these levels of profitability.
We tried one, we changed our sales team, but we have levers and they are mapped out, and now we have to work with it and work on the execution. That is a little bit of I'm going to pass it over a little bit for Fabio to talk about the profit margins for flours and grains. Thank you for your question. We do not open up the details of these margins, both in the level of gross margins as well as contribution margins, but qualitatively, I think it is possible that we have a direction. I can give you some more orientation. The best margins are in cookies and pastas and the adjacencies. These are prices which have a higher average price and a greater appeal for consumers by a lot of greater brand loyalty on the part of consumers.
Looking at food service in flour and grains and margins and fats, it's not explosive growth when we compare it to the growth of the other categories. Both the principal business as well as the food service area bring more EBITDA. They bring more money into the company, and they help us to dilute our fixed costs. This dilution of fixed costs is important for the business overall. Here, it's important to remind you that the productive process of M. Dias Branco is verticalized, both in the production of wheat flour as well as in the production of vegetable oils. While the more we grow our business in the food service area, the greater will be the benefits for the cookies and pastas.
Because I'm going to have costs that are more competitive because I'm going to be diluting more my fixed costs of the refining oil refining units and diluting the fixed costs of the seven mills which are operating all over Brazil. Looking at the contribution margin is important. However, if we don't look at this only in an individual way because it is a mutual contribution among all of the categories of businesses of M. Dias Branco, but to answer objectively your question, and again, from the standpoint qualitative, the biggest margins are in cookies and pastas and the adjacencies.
Okay, that's very clear. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Isabella Simonato from Bank of America. Isabella, your mic is open.
Thank you, Gustavo. Thank you. Good morning, Fabio and Gustavo. Two questions.
First one adds on to the discussion about the price increases, which was done in these recent three months. We had understood in the call from the third quarter, from the fourth quarter, that mentality was much more aimed at following the competition in the majority of periods and focused more on the recovery of volume. As I understood, Gustavo, you went beyond the competition, the average of the market in the size of your average price increases for the quarter, and you got a little bit ahead. You were the first movers in several categories in which you're very relevant. I wanted to conciliate the strategy of price increases. I think going forward, what we should expect from you if you'll continue to be leaders, if you will continue to lead the price increases or no, if that's just a one-off.
If you could refresh us what you're considering, I think that's very valid. The second question is in relation to the discussion of capacity of the company to increase volumes and dilute costs further. You did this movement in the Lençóis Paulista factory. I understand that you have a lot of things, internal things to grow value, but that perhaps there's a relevant gap in capacity, unutilized capacity. Can we expect a movement of downsizing of the footprint, industrial footprint, and logistics footprint, or is your mentality to try and recover volumes over time? Along those lines, all of these improvements, operational improvements which you have mentioned, which you've sought out, and with a new team now, a little bit of what is the internal period of time for you to see this profitability growing?
You think that the company will be able to grow in the question between the directors and the controllers and the CEO, of course, who is an important part of these two teams. What is the urgency and the internal period of time for the company to be heading towards these levels of profitability?
Fabio, thank you, Isabella, for your question. In relation to the first question, pricing and price increases, in fact, it's not that we follow the competition. As I mentioned, the company will always be attentive to always be poorly positioned in the market. We do not have our prices; none of our prices are above the competitors. We came out ahead in certain periods of time, especially in the categories where we are more relevant, but in the other categories, we had increases very synchronized with the rest of the market. We're very well positioned.
We look at the price index, the consumer price index with our competitors. That problem of being out of sync with the rest of the market, you will not see that this year. Much so that looking at April, we have had a negotiation which has passed. The price is aligned with the market, and the volumes grew. I would say it is much more a falloff in the trade area rather than talking about pricing or being poorly positioned in relation to our competitors. You are not going to see a relevant fall in market share, and you will see recovery going forward. That is the point. We have the problem of a loss of scale for our channel, prioritizing several categories, and that is our logic. Not that we had a price above our competitors.
Looking at item two, capacity, the utilized capacity and the reserve of capacity reserve, we're betting heavily on the increase of volume because when we look at the market, when we look at the point of sales in São Paulo and in the Southeast, we see lots of opportunities. There are brands that are leaders in this market, but we still have an execution in the service which is not perfect, which still has room to improve. We have made changes. We're betting on new models, new methodologies, new routines, and a lot of execution at the point of sale to recover our volumes. Downsizing of our manufacturing plant, no, we don't have any expectation of making new changes as we did in Madureira and also in Lençóis Paulista.
You're going to see some optimization of certain lines, perhaps, but what we really want to do is all of the focus of the company and all of our decisions of our board are to the arrival of these new members, pointing the direction of growth of both, not closing factories, but rather growing volumes. We don't control our future, but if in six months things aren't going, the company isn't going to sit here waiting for the world to change. We're going to have to rethink things and run the numbers, and if it's necessary, we'll go back to the downsizing plan. Looking at the current scenario we have in the way of levers going forward, the arrival of the new team, the diagnosis which has been done for this new team has a lot of opportunities to grow in volume. This is happening.
We're going to have to think much more about efficiency than about downsizing. We're going to have to have machines to produce more with less and not new closings.
Just to ask one more question about the timing, a little bit about what is the sense of urgency or timing in your internal discussions regarding this recovery of profitability. In six months, things aren't going. We may revisit these strategies just to have an idea of a sense of what is tolerable for you in the implementation of this turnaround.
Our mentality is, first of all, profitability is more complicated because it's a huge change in exchange rates with the consumer market. You can't pass through at the same thing that we saw in the Ukraine scene or in the pandemic.
For 2025, we see growth in volume, which will depend on an improvement in commercial execution, which is a diagnosis which is done internally by some consultants. There are internal questions, planning, levels of execution, and service that depend basically on in-house adjustments. This type of lever should generate changes in the curve and growth in volume for the third and fourth quarter, and this has been our bet. The timing that this new management will want in this process of change, internal and methodology and so forth, and in the management of the business. To be objective. Volume in the third and fourth quarter. Obviously, if we do not have any other adverse change as we saw last year, exchange rates, I am going to go back to FX being at an acceptable level. Remember in January, the dollar went above $6.
That type of thing complicates any type of prediction about when we'll get back to a better level of profitability. Our execution has to show signs of improvement in 2025. This is our mentality to give you a little bit of our vision of the discussions that we've had in the board.
Very good. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Guilherme Palhares from Santander. Guilherme, please go ahead.
Good morning, Gustavo and Fabio. I want to take advantage to make a follow-up on Isabella's question in the sense of restructuring of personnel.
I'd like to know what are the principal metrics that you expect, of course, aside from volume growth and going forward, looking at the future, what are the metrics that you would like to have seen evolve, as Gustavo mentioned in the last call, about improving the execution of new releases, new products, and that product which is being proposed is a good market fit. I'd like to hear a little bit about this. Also, to hear a little bit about your relation in relation to the previous questions, you commented that you probably won't have any further closings of capacity. These assets continue being under M. Dias Branco's control. Is there anything else to be done? What do you think about this capital which is employed in these current assets?
Hi, Guilherme. I'm going to talk with you and then add on. There's no idea of alienation.
Perhaps buildings. We've internally discussed the sale of buildings, but not of machines. We'd have no plans to sell our production equipment to not give opportunities to our competitors. The metrics won't change much, but what changes is the focus. When we look at the sell-in, these metrics of positivation, multiple opportunities for cross-selling, we have more than 1,100 SKUs. We have several points of sale that only have one to three or five or six SKUs when our portfolio is much bigger. If we sell cream cracker, why can't we also sell Maizena? And why can't we sell our filled crackers? This type of thing increases the frequency. We have the challenge of new points of sale, but selling with more frequency, those points of sale which we already do, as well as cross-selling. In general terms, the KPIs don't change.
What will change is the search for these KPIs. When you look at sell-out, it's that same logic. The logic is perfect. The assortment, the mix, the ideal mix, the space on the shelf, shelf space on the point of sale, prices, the correct price, the merchandising and adequate material at the point of sale, pointing out the attributes of each product. The logic of sell-in, sell-out, I would say, won't change much. The focus now is to guarantee that these KPIs which will be determined are reachable depending on this and on the speed with which these things should happen. I think it's a little bit of that. Just to complement the indicators, the success of these launches, now the non-fried biscuit, which was launched last year, which involved a large investment in marketing, is a product which has a differential, very clear differential in the market.
The level of service is measured here by the delivery in the correct quantity of SKUs, correct SKUs, and in the right time agreed to with our clients. Our growth principally in cookies and pastas outside of the Northeast region where we see the biggest opportunities for growth, as Gustavo mentioned previously. Obviously, all of the measures of sell-out, which are converged for the numbers of market share.
Very well. If you could allow me just one last follow-up question regarding the restructuring of the teams. As of now, the restructuring of the management, the mid-level management, has been changed in the company, or we will see more changes so that we have a completely new, total but a redirection of management. Is commercial marketing and sales in principle?
No. I would say that the people that we have on the team right now, I see more details.
But also, we have had several changes during these six months. However, naturally, when we look at these new people, especially at the level of Vice Presidents and Directors, it is natural that during this trajectory, these people will talk to us about the need to change, to structure or the model. The marketing, instead of being by channel, could be by category. An example, but we have to wait for people to sit down and get used to the jobs and do a diagnosis. In principle, what we have done with those who have been with us for more than a month, no more radical changes. We do not foresee any more radical changes. What we may have is slight corrections as we go forward.
Thank you, Gustavo and Fabio.
Next question is from Henrique Brustolin of Bradesco BBI. Henrique , your microphone is open. Go ahead.
Thank you.
Gustavo and Fabio, I have two questions. The first one, you commented about the performance of volume with all of the different projects of restructuring, and a lot of this has to do with the Southeast. There is also a discussion that I remember that in the Northeast, part of the performance was due to relative pricing. This was clear then in 2024, but it has been going in. Perhaps it would be a subject which would be easier to see this recovery, which is an adjustment in your price lists compared to the competitors. Let's see how this price is going and how you've seen this in the results that you see, both in the second quarter, volume in the Northeast, the relative pricing.
The second point is a quick follow-up to understand in the discussion of prices for the year, if you still see the need for another price increase to think about the recovery of your gross margins during 2025, or the discussion is based only on recovery of volumes, market share, and the operating leverage that this would bring.
Henrique , these relative prices, you're correct. We had a problem in the past in the Northeast with the common pastas. It was a very specific point to our more simple pastas, which has been corrected over this quarter. We've seen a recovery of this, which is sequential to the volumes of this category starting in the second quarter. I would say that this subject, I can't say it's resolved because it's dynamic. It is a challenge on the part of the competitors every day.
Theoretically, the principal prices have been solved, and life goes on. The questions which were placed by us in the first quarter and the market in the first quarter, that's the idea. We are going to accompany on the evolution of the market, commodities, exchange rates, and so forth. In principle, no. Our price increases for the time are done.
Thank you all very much.
Thank you. The question-and-answer session is now closed. We would like to pass the microphone back over to Gustavo for the final comments.
Thank you all for participating in our call and our results call. We are at your service, myself, Cefaly, Rodrigo, and the entire IR team to discuss a little more in detail and going forward. Once again, thank you. Have a good—maybe have a good day. Thank you very much.
The video conference for M. Dias Branco is now closed.
We thank you all for the participation. Please have a good day. Thank you.