Good morning. Thank you for waiting. Welcome to Magazine Luiza's conference call to discuss the results of the first quarter of 2015. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded, and all participants will be in listen-only mode during the company's presentation. Afterwards, we will have a question-and-answer session, when further instructions will be given. Should any of you need assistance during the call, please press star zero to reach the operator. The replay of this event will be available soon after it ends for a week. We would like to mention that forward-looking statements that might be made during this call related to Magazine Luiza's business perspectives, operating and financial projections and targets, our beliefs and assumptions of the company's management, as well as information currently available. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance.
They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as they refer to future events. Therefore, they depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors may affect the future performance of Magazine Luiza and may lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. In order to open this call, we would like to give the floor over to Mr. Marcelo Silva, CEO, who will make the presentation. Mr. Silva, you may begin.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for participating in our call to discuss the highlights of the first quarter of 2015. You can see that the net revenue was practically stable, BRL 2.25 billion, vis-a-vis BRL 2.278 billion, practically the same figures, with a reduction in same-store sales.
Physical stores in the Southeast, as the Northeast continues to be positive, growing same-store sales. E-commerce growing by 9.2%. Vis-a-vis e-commerce, the share that last year in the same period was 16%. Now it's almost 18% or 17.9%. Another highlight is the participation of operating expenses of the company growing only 1.6%, in spite of all the cost components that suffered effects such as collective bargaining, energy prices, fuel prices, et cetera. We grew only 1.6%. Roberto will be talking about these figures in more detail. As a consequence, we got an improvement in our EBITDA, growing by 5.5% vis-a-vis the same period last year, and this represents 5.7% in the first half.
I would like to mention that we will be talking about these accounts later on. I would like to say that the equity income increased to BRL 23 million. You will see one thing that is of great concern to everybody, which is delinquency is under control. We will be giving you details about that later on as well. Our net income was BRL 2.9 million. Net margin close to zero. It was reasonable within the circumstances, especially when we observe the participation of sales and lower traffic, a more challenging scenario.
In spite of all that, we were able to keep our margins and a very small growth in our expenses in spite of all the factors and the lower sale, an increase in financial expenses, mainly due to the increase of the interest rate that has been happening consistently by the central bank. These were the main reasons not to have an increase in our net or a more satisfactory net income. This is a bird's-eye view. Now I would like to ask Roberto Bellissimo to get into details about our figures. Good morning, everyone. On page three, we show the evolution of the number of stores. In Q1, we opened three stores. In the last 12 months, 15.
On the right, you see our investments from BRL 17 million to BRL 33 million in Q1, including investments in many stores that will be inaugurated in the second and third quarters. The average age of the stores is shown here. Practically 40% are still maturing. On the next page, we show the evolution of our sales quarter-on-quarter. Here we show that we had 26.6% in Q1 last year. The comparison basis for Q1 was very high. Internet, it was 44%, and we grew 9%, reaching almost BRL 500 million in sales in our e-commerce in this quarter. Increasing the participation in the total sales of the company and same-store sales, we compare -3% to more than 25%. As you can see, last year, the base is very high.
If it were not this category, we would have had 5% positive growth compared to last year. Very much influenced by the World Cup. We are talking about the image category here. Including TV sales, gross sales growth would have been almost a 5% increase. In the first quarter, you don't have this kind of sale of image products, and this is the reason why. On the next page, we measure the evolution of gross profit and the maintenance of the gross margin at the same level, 27.3%, basically unchanged. Operating expenses, as you can see, selling expenses practically stable, BRL 421 million as SG&A with a slight increase due to collective bargaining and an increase in other revenues. The total of operating expenses was around 22.8%, slightly lower than last year. That was 23%.
As you can see here from 1.2% increase, equity income mainly due to the performance of Luizacred, which had a return of over 50%. On the next page, we have the EBITDA quarter-on-quarter, BRL 137 million this year compared to BRL 121 million in the first quarter last year. On the chart, a variation in expenses that were offset by equity income, as you can see here, and others, reaching 5.7%. On the next page, the variation of our financial results first on the upper part. There was an increase in the CDI of almost 20% quarter-on-quarter. The variation of the working capital as well, which also affected the variation of our net debt in this quarter. Net debt varied BRL 378 million, and the suppliers versus inventory accounts varied BRL 476 million. If you remove the variation of these two line items, it would have reduced.
As you know, this is very cyclical and very seasonal. It should vary over the next few quarters. Naturally, the first quarter is the worst quarter because of working capital due to the payment of all the bills of the previous year. Over the years, the trend of retail as a whole, and ours as well, is to get a drop in working capital, especially in the second half of the year. On the next page, we show our net income, and it was practically BRL 3 million with a higher financial expense. On page 9, we show the results of Luizacred. Revenue growing practically 10%, mainly in the Cartão Luiza. We believe this is a very important tool to increase loyalty. As you can see, the CDC and personal loans have decreased.
Such has happened already last year because of conservative policy in terms of credit assignment, CDC or direct consumer credit, from BRL 316 million to BRL 243 million direct consumer credit. So BRL 70 million less in direct consumer credit. This explains, in part, the lower growth in our sales. It also impacts on the Luizacred results. If you look year-on-year, our portfolio. You can see stability, a very high degree of stability. The delinquency indicators are stable. Past due over 90 days even improved vis-à-vis December. Because of that, Luizacred was able to decrease provisions for bad debt. The result of Luizacred was, well, it grew quite a lot, practically 20%, with return on equity, as you can see. I would like to talk about our expectations for this current year. Our focus is our multi-channel strategy.
Until a while ago, we were seen as a traditional store with brick-and-mortar stores and selling appliances. Now we are working to have a digital company, multi-channel company. This is very important. Keeping all the human side and friendly side of Magazine Luiza. We have been working on the strategy very strongly. Our website is fully integrated with the company. The website participates in the same marketing actions as DCs, distribution, and the interrelation of the website with the brick-and-mortar stores. This is our fundamental basic strategy for the next few years. We continue to be very confident, growing more than the average of the market. We are not comfortable having only almost the same sales as last year. We will continue to consolidate the Northeast.
The Northeast continued to be positive in the first quarter. Certainly will continue to be positive as well as e-commerce growing. We maintain our competitiveness. Our media visibility is very strong. From January to December, we have our sponsorship of soccer in the global network. We have a new promotional campaign, a very strong one, that balances or tries to balance this reduction in traffic from our consumers as the degree of confidence by consumers has been the lowest of the last 10 to 12 years. Cost rationalization is a target for every day. This is what we do in our DCs, in our stores. The selling expenses and the administrative expenses always having our attention in terms of reducing them, and our focus on profitability of the company quarter-on-quarter.
The first quarter was very, very tough. We understand that the second quarter will be a little bit less tough maybe. We believe the third one will be a little bit better. The fourth, when we compare on a year-on-year basis, we see the opposite curve. A very strong first quarter. The third quarter less strong. The fourth quarter already giving signs of a certain decrease in consumption overall. Now in the first quarter, we see this as the worst for this year. The second, not so bad, but it will still be a very difficult one. With some improvement in the second half of the year from the external viewpoint. Internally, our team is very confident, intense communication with the base of our organization and always trying to make our people be engaged. We track the performance store by store.
Each manager is like the owner of his or her store. As we have been doing in the last 50 or some years, we have gone through crisis before. This is a year of crisis. We remain confident that we will overcome this. The company is more robust to grow in 2016, 2017, et cetera. All the members of the executive committee of Magazine Luiza are available to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you.
We will start the question-and-answer session for investors and analysts. Questions asked through the internet will be answered afterwards by email. We will be available to clarify any doubts that you might have. Mr. Guilherme Assis, Brasil Plural. First question. Thank you for the question. Roberto Marcelo, I would like you to talk about the sales performance. Try to have some more color regarding the mix.
In the release, you said that there was a deterioration in one line. What about the other categories? You talked about image. What about smartphones and white line and furniture so that we may understand from now on? Also, I would like to know if a change in the mix in the sales performance could have some impact on your gross margin from now on. The second question, I would like to know the situation of inventories. I understand that sales were weaker than expected in spite of a very high comparison base, as you said yourself, which led to a slightly higher inventory. Could you talk about the measures being taken regarding your inventory vis-à-vis the demand that you believe will come from consumers?
Is there the risk of having to decrease your inventory at lower prices would impact on your margins for the next few quarters? These are my questions.
Thank you very much, Guilherme, for your questions. I will start. Then Fabrício, our commercial officer, will be talking about categories, et cetera. As [Assis] said, if we do not consider image because of the World Cup last year, which was one of the major drivers of 25% growth in the first and the second quarters of 2014, the other categories have grown 4.8%. Magazine Luiza gained market share both by the IBGE and GfK. In absolute terms, there was not a good performance. In relative terms, the performance was good because practically we showed the same. You can see the figures there. It was a good performance anyway.
Of course, retail needs to grow same-store sales because of the costs that go up. In spite of that, we made a huge effort in terms of cost reduction. Just to give you an idea, our personnel expenses were BRL 259 million, and this year in Q1, BRL 234 million. Our payroll expense is lower this year than last year in spite of the collective agreement of 7.8%. Our SG&A, our total SG&A, was BRL 509 million last year, and it was BRL 503 million this year. It's reasonable. Of course, it's not good, but it's reasonable. Costs go up. Energy went up 30%, freight, fuel, and the company has been making a very good endeavor in terms of rationalizing costs. In order to have a new employee, for instance, all the executive committee has to approve that, and we are making many changes in the first quarter as well.
If we see an improvement in consumer confidence, we will be leaner, much leaner. We will be much better prepared to face this period from now on. This is one part of the question or the answer. Fabrício, our Commercial Officer, will be talking about expectations regarding margins, et cetera.
Thank you for the question, Guilherme. This is Fabrício. In relation to sales, Marcelo said it very well. Our smartphones and cellulars have been growing, besides, we have a very strong performance vis-à-vis last year. You talked about furniture as well. We see growth in this quarter. I think this is a trend for the year. Smartphones and furniture. We are making the necessary fine adjustments. The interpreter apologizes because Mr. Garcia's speech is not clear. We are going to have a very important event in retail right now.
How do you see demand for Mother's Day, which is this coming Sunday? Could we expect something better than what we saw in the first quarter? Any improvement driven by Mother's Day, or do you think consumers are too cautious in this regard?
This is Frederico. Thank you for the question. The main days for purchases for Mother's Day are today and tomorrow. So far, we are seeing a good performance, we have to keep in mind that last year, May had the highest image sales ever because of the World Cup. If you remove the TV category, the performance of the other categories is very good, the general figure is affected by the same reasons that we have already mentioned, and the same regarding June.
As you asked me about Mother's Day, we had the biggest sale of TVs last year, and it was in May. The other categories are performing well. Thank you.
Alencar Costa from Goldman Sachs. Good morning, everyone. Let's talk about working capital. I know that there is seasonality regarding working capital and suppliers trade account, suppliers' days dropped more than we historically had 80 days, and now we had 70 days. Was there any other factor besides seasonality?
Good morning, Alencar. Working capital as a whole, we have already talked about it during the presentation. In Q1, it was higher, and the trend is towards normalization. In terms of suppliers, there are some things that you have to keep in mind. We bought less this quarter than in the first quarter of last year. There are two ways you can calculate this.
The right one, which is a reality, is over purchases. As our inventory dropped from December to March, our purchases were less. If you calculate this based on the effective purchases, we had 72 days of average, which was in line with the second, third, and fourth quarters of last year. Comparing this to CMV, it seems that it dropped quite steeply. This is the result from the sales. These are the accounts payable for the first quarter because the accounts payable of December matured over the first quarter. What we bought in the first quarter, as we sold less, we reduced our inventory from December to March. We have a lower accounts payable with an average term of 72 days.
We will go back to buy more in the second, third, and fourth quarters if they are more favorable. This should go up again, the suppliers' trade account. On the other hand, our inventories tend to drop as well, improving by one day, inventory days, in the first quarter. The first quarter was slightly affected by lower sales. Due to more strategic purchases in the first half and the transfers of cost increases, we would have bought a little bit less, but we bought more because of the strategic purchases. The trend for the next few quarters is a trend for improvement. The trade accounts will also be improving. We believe that this variation is very seasonal and affected by the factors that we have just mentioned.
I would like to ask another question.
Deferred revenues this quarter vis-a-vis the last quarter, about BRL 23 million, if I'm not mistaken. Vis-a-vis a lower average for 2014. In deferred revenues, we had the recognition Or part of the money that we received from Cardif, which is something that we signed in 2011 and which matures in 2015, and we have practically complied with all the targets already. We have just a few months for it to come to an end. We are about to renew these contracts that mature this year. The difference of BRL 20-some million to BRL 8 million was basically due to this factor. By the end of the year, we expect to conclude this process. With relation to our partnership with Cardif that ended in the 10th year, we were very successful, and they were very successful as well. Also we have the partnership with Thank you.
Mr. Felipe Rogado from NNP Paribas would like to ask a question.
Good morning. You said that your CapEx expectation for 2015 would be around BRL 150 million, like opening up to 30 stores, and you opened three stores this quarter. I would like to understand your CapEx outlook for this year. Thank you. BRL 150 million was estimated 40 to 50 stores.
The stores in the first quarter. Many of them will be opened now. We are talking about the 10 stores of Leroy Merlin that and from [inaudible], and this was contracted last year, and three other rentals that were signed last year. We will be opening them in the second quarter. We should have an additional 15 stores, but we have 20 stores being closed in the first quarter.
We are more cautious with the opening of stores in the second quarter. We had to close some stores last year, at the end of last year, in order to make it possible to open new stores in the first quarter. We had to rent stores at the end of last year and beginning of this year for the second half, and we are more cautious for the second half of the year. The stores that were Ponto Frio and other ones that we closed last year, we will be opening up to June 30. This means 20 stores. Well, an additional 10 stores will be opened in the second half of this year, and I believe that 30 overall is a figure that we consider as reasonable for this year, 2015. Okay? Thank you.
In case you have a question, please press star one. If there are no more questions, I would like to give the floor back to Mr. Marcelo Silva for his closing remarks. Thank you very much, everyone, for participating in our call. I would like to finalize saying that when you have a difficult time, we have to be more creative, and this is what we are doing right now. Thank you very much. Thank you. Magazine Luiza's conference call about the results of the first quarter of 2015 is closed. You may disconnect your lines. Have a good day.