Afternoon, everybody, and thanks for waiting. Welcome to the live webcast of Mills' Third Quarter 2024 results. Please note that simultaneous translation is available on this call. Click on the translation button with the globe icon at the bottom of your screen and select your preferred language: Portuguese or English. Those listening to the call in English, you can always mute the original Portuguese audio by clicking on "Mute Original Audio." We would like to inform you that this conference call is being recorded and will be made available on the company's IR website, where the complete material on the earnings release is also available. During the company's presentation, all participants will be in listen-only mode. Then we're going to start the Q&A sessions.
We emphasize that the information contained in this presentation and any statements that may be made during the conference call regarding the company's prospects and businesses, as well as projections, are based on forecasts based on the management's expectations regarding Mills' future. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve macroeconomic conditions, market risks, and other factors. Now, we'll hand over to Sérgio Kariya, Mills' CEO. Mr. Kariya, you may go on.
Good afternoon, everyone. It is with great pleasure that we meet again, this time to announce Mills' Third Quarter 2024 results. This quarter, we managed to achieve a number of significant advances that are reflected in our figures. Let's now analyze the main highlights, which show our resilience and adaptability to adapt in a dynamic economic scenario.
In 3Q 2024, we invested BRL 173 million in new equipment, with the aim of increasing our production capacity and preserving the quality and profitability of our fleet. In addition, these investments allow us to explore new business opportunities and expand our presence in strategic markets. Return on invested capital from Mills reached 22.3% of the quarter. The indicator confirms the effectiveness of our strategies in investment and our ability to generate returns in excess of our capital costs. Once again, net revenue reached an all-time high, amounting to BRL 419 million in the quarter, representing a strong growth of 21% compared to the third quarter 2023. Adjusted EBITDA reached BRL 199 million in third quarter 2024, with consolidated margin at 48%. Net income of the company reached BRL 71 million, and cash net income BRL 113 million in 3Q 2024.
I would like to highlight the company's tax efficiency, with a gain of 10 percentage points in the comparison between margins. For the second consecutive year, we were among the companies included in the B3 IDIVERSA Index and continue to be the largest company in Latin America for the rental of means of access, reaching 22nd position in the Access 50 ranking by the International Rental News. Before moving on to give you more color on the quarter's results, I would like to highlight that we continue dedicated to our sustainable growth strategy. We continue to expand our product portfolio, generating greater predictability in revenues, coupled with less exposure to more cyclical sectors. In 3Q 2024, we reached 45% of the company's net rental revenue based on long-term contracts, that is, above 12 months, and with a balanced portfolio of products with no specific concentration of client segments.
We are better prepared to face market variations and to grow in a sustainable manner. Throughout the quarter, we signed new long-term contracts in our business units, further strengthening our leadership position in the market and highlighting our commitment to quality solutions. The potential for cross-selling and increase of share of wallet with our customers is enhanced as we integrate our business units. This supports our successful strategy of increasingly becoming a multi-product company. We serve more than 10,000 customers with more than 110 points of sales with a complete platform, an approach that allows us to offer integrated, customized solutions, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The portfolio of light equipment remains the largest contributor in net rental revenue, but the balance with other products continues to advance. Now, I'll hand over to Renata, our CFO and IR Officer, who will talk on the details of the company's financial performance.
Thanks, Kariya. Good afternoon, everyone. Now, talking a bit about our consolidated results. As Kariya mentioned, this quarter, our net revenue was BRL 419 million, representing an increase of almost 21% over the third quarter 2023. Growth that results from the expansion of operations in new rental products, with better cross-selling, and the benefits we have gained as we become a one-stop-shop company. The chart on your right shows our Adjusted EBITDA, with growth of more than 11% year-on-year and an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 48% in the third quarter. It's important to mention that the company is always open, with continuous efforts to optimize processes and continue to make gains in operational efficiency. Next slide. Net income also performed well in the quarter, with BRL 71 million, which represents growth of 6% compared to the third quarter 2023. The result reflects our ability to consistently generate value to our shareholders.
If you think of operating cash flow, this quarter, it was BRL 202 million, an increase of 8% compared to the BRL 187 million in third quarter 2023, and in comparison to the second quarter 2024, growth was 131%. The increase reflects consistent cash generation, strengthening our financial position. And our conversion of EBITDA into cash remains robust, with the indicator reaching 105% in the period. Free cash flow, on the other hand, represented an outflow of BRL 8 million, another quarter of strong investments in rental assets. Now, going to indebtedness, our focus continues to be optimizing the capital structure. We maintained a healthy level of debt, with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.2 times at the end of the quarter, reinforcing that our company is a strong cash generator and that our leverage remains at very comfortable levels, enabling us to make organic and inorganic investments.
Now, looking at the debt profile, today the average maturity is 3.1 years and our CDI plus 2%. We rely on strict financial planning and robust operating cash generation, which allows us to meet our financial obligations and invest in the company's sustainable growth. Now, talking about each of our business units, on slide 10, we see the results of rental, and we see that the 23% growth in net revenue compared to 3Q 2023 was mainly driven by higher rental revenue in the period. The expansion in rental revenues is a reflection of the growth in heavy vehicles and the incremental revenue of the new Intralogistics Division, which has been fully accounted for since this quarter. Adjusted EBITDA also grew by 15% compared to 3Q 2023, mainly due to the expansion in revenues. EBITDA margin performed at 47%. Now, going to slide 12, Forms and Shoring.
When we take a look at this business unit, we see that in the third quarter 2024, there was an increase of 7.5% in net revenues compared to the last year. This increase in revenues is basically a reflection of the higher average price in comparison between periods. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to BRL 31 million in the third quarter 2024. I close now, and we'll open the Q&A session.
We'll now start the Q&A session. To ask a question, click on the Q&A icon at the bottom of your screen and type in your name, company, and language. When you're announced, a prompt to activate your microphone will appear on the screen. You should then activate your microphone to ask questions and camera if you wish. If you prefer, just type in your question and also ask the operator to read it if you want.
Our first question comes from Fernanda Recchia, sell-side analyst from BTG. Fernanda, we are going to open your audio so that you can move on. Fernanda, you may go on.
Hello, everyone. Good afternoon, Kariya, Renata. Thanks for taking my question. I have two questions on my side. First, I would like to have a bit more color on margins, especially on rental. We saw a contraction of margins year-over-year, a slight contraction also quarter-on-quarter, and I would like you to give us again a bit more color on the drivers for this margin contraction. I would like to know how much that is because of worse productivity, because of the coming of the Chinese, or any other effects that cause that. That's the first question. The second is the integration of JM.
If you could again elaborate a bit on what the first months have been like in the incorporation of JM, the learning curve in the forklift segment, so Kariya, if you could also mention a bit of the cross-selling opportunities, how many JM customers are still not Mills customers and vice versa, so just an overall idea. Thank you very much.
Fernanda, thanks for your question. I'm going to start with margins. I think the main impact is undoubtedly price pressures on elevation platforms. We had a price pressure of about 10%, but not for all of our equipment portfolio. Our aerial platform, because of the entry of Chinese equipment with slightly lower prices, did pressure prices this quarter. Somehow, I see a bit less pressure for the future, especially because of the exchange rate, so the dollar is offsetting the drop somehow.
And because demand is very heated, we believe prices should be a bit more balanced next quarter. In the other business units, like heavy vehicles and intralogistics, no pressure at all. We continue to perform as expected. As for the major integration of JM, I think that we are moving on. There is still a learning curve, as you mentioned, but I think the upside is cross-selling. So today, when we take a look at our equipment profile, something around 60% is still not in JM. So if you're talking about 10,000 customers, we have a potential for cross-selling within our own customer portfolio of about 6,000 customers. Just as a macro view, since we acquired JM, which has been four months now, we multiplied the pipeline of proposal for by almost 10 times. So a very robust pipeline.
And one thing that you know that is different in each one of the business units is the lead time of delivery. We work with KION and STILL equipment, and the lead time is slightly higher than other equipment. So the curve of signing/performing is still longer than construction and mining and obviously light equipment. I think I have answered all your questions, Fernanda.
Yes, thank you, Kariya. Just a follow-up. You did talk about a 10% pressure on prices. Utilization rate, any pressure on that and how much?
I think that's why I was positive about the fourth quarter. We are at 67% of utilization rates and the 10% of price, 60% are light equipment. That is 6% of prices. And in rental, about 3% on the margin for the light vehicles.
So 60% that today represents 60% of the portfolio, that is 3.6% is the impact of our margin. And just to finish, as utilization is ramping up, we are quite optimistic, and the exchange rate also offsets this delta price of Asian products in the purchase of machinery. So we believe prices are going to become more stable, and we might even have further gains in the fourth quarter.
Very good. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from André Ferreira, sell-side analyst of Bradesco. André, we are just unmuting you. You're on your way.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two questions. One is still a follow-up on the competition of machinery imported from China. What makes sense now?
Does it make sense to exchange part of this fleet of the 60% that is more exposed with Chinese machines, or do you think that perhaps this is sustainable and you can continue with fleet as is? And the second question is still about the topic. How much the pressure on platforms can affect your plans to expand in mining and construction lines? Because if that demands CapEx to change the platform equipment profile, that may affect expansion in other lines.
André, thanks for your question. Well, what we see, and we have a portfolio of about 10,000 equipment in elevation platforms. And I think our differentiator is that we can really elongate the life of these assets. So we see no reason for a swap with these machines that are leaders at an accelerated pace with Chinese equipment. We are bringing some equipment that we want to upgrade technology.
We have been acquiring Chinese equipment for that. But in terms of strategy, things don't change. Our way of renewing fleet or slash growing the lightweight unit. And when you take a look at the organization's strategy, Mills' strategy as a whole is a balance. If you think of how we are reducing exposure of a single product that was the elevation platform, now we are balancing a basket, bringing intralogistics, having equipment, power, generators, compressed air. And the idea is to balance it all. But our strategy does not change in terms of investments for elevation platforms or the growth of intralogistics and heavy equipment.
Very clear. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Kennethy Kappur, sell-side analyst from Citibank. We are going to unmute on audio so that you can ask your question. You may go on.
Hello everyone. Good morning. Just a follow-up on construction mining equipment.
I would like to have a bit more color on the competition. How you see competitors, smaller competitors, more regional competitors, larger competitors. If you could talk about the price dynamics in the segment. So if you can talk about competition and strategy, what are you thinking about? That would be very helpful. Thank you.
Hi, Kappur. Thanks for your question. We do not see a significant change. We haven't seen any since we started the construction mining equipment line. We have a very strong portfolio, and our choices of how we are going to grow have to do with long-term strategies of the company and also the suitable rate of return considering the thresholds that we want. So we don't want to grow for the sake of growing. The market could even provide the possibility, but we are very much focused and with discipline on internal return rates.
And just to add, we see that as an opportunity. The time that we have in Brazil and the momentum now, tighter interest rates provide less possibility for smaller companies or very leveraged companies to grow in a stressed scenario of interest rates. And when we take a look at our company in terms of leverage and even the possibility of raising capital at the CDI spread, this is an opportunity for us to grow in the market. So I would say two things. The addressable market has not changed. The competition environment continues the same, but with opportunities from now on, given the higher interest rates, the tightening of interest rates, and leveraged companies. So we believe it's a positive scenario for us.
Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Gabriel Frazao, sell-side analyst from Bank of America. Mr. Frazao.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I have a question about costs in the rental division that were slightly above what we expected. If you could talk about the cost with consumer goods, is it a one-off, so we should not expect that for the future, or are they more connected to a recent M&A, a new contract mix? I would highly appreciate the answer. And thanks for taking my question.
Hello, good afternoon, and thanks for your question. Costs went up because of the merger of JM. In the previous quarter, we only had 12 days of operation. Now it is full. And the drop in margin is more related to prices than increasing costs. That's basically it. Nothing that is one-off or specific other than the coming of JM that increased our cost base.
And just to add, pressure of prices is on elevation platforms, and we haven't seen that in the total of the market, not even for intralogistics or heavy vehicles.
Thank you very much, Renata , Kariya, and again, thanks for taking my question.
Our pleasure.
Our next question comes from Pedro Tíneo, sell-side analyst from Itaú BBA.
Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. I'd like to explore leverage, especially thinking for this year and next year, considering the current interest rate scenario. I felt in your previous comments that we might even have room to increase leverage. Is there a threshold that you could share? Any level of leverage we should consider for the future?
Good afternoon, and thanks for your question.
As you know, the company is quite diligent in capital allocation, and we have been developing work in recent years that is very much concerned with liability management, that is, allocating debt and reducing costs. If you take a look at our numbers, we are able to do that. If we compare quarter on quarter, our results, leverage continues quite conservative, 1.2 times, and we expect it to be kept at this level, given that the company has a strong conversion of EBITDA to operating cash flow that would enable us to support our CapEx for the coming years. And this is what we are working on. Of course, if there is a specific M&A, a specific transaction covenant, it can go up, but we don't see anything much different from what we see today.
Very clear. Thank you very much.
As a reminder, if you have a question, just click on Q&A at the bottom of your screen and type in your name, company, and language. When you are announced, we are going to activate a prompt for you to unmute, and then you unmute to ask questions and turn your camera on if you wish. Otherwise, ask the operator to read your question. Our next question comes in writing. Victor from Genial . Victor's question is, "Good afternoon. Congratulations on your results. I would like to understand a bit more about the Chinese elevation platforms in the market, how much they can pressure the market, and how many pieces of equipment should enter the Brazilian market in the next two years."
Hi, Victor.
It is very hard to make a prediction, but if we look at the past, this year, we think it's 5,000-6,000 pieces of equipment, 70% of which are Chinese. I believe the dynamics is not only for elevation platforms. Cars in Brazil are a good example. The deflation with exports from China is going on. As I mentioned, the exchange rate is offsetting the deflation a bit, the cheaper prices that Chinese have for equipment in Brazil. For the coming years, I think the dynamics is going to be more or less the same. Obviously, we have to see what the measures from the Trump administration are going to be like, what's going to happen in the U.S., what the global effect is going to be, but that's the scenario we have today.
Our next question, also in writing, comes from Roberto Fulgrave, buy-side analyst from Seven. We see good operational growth in the last quarters. However, with sequential loss in margins. Why are margins going down, and what's the level we should expect for the coming quarters? There was a substantial increase in financial expenses that maintained profit net income flat. With the increase of Selic plus CapEx, should we expect a continuous increase in financial expenses? What is the pressure expected on margin and net income?
Roberto, I'm going to answer the first question and then turn to Renata. Well, I think we already mentioned that somehow during the call, the pressure on margins, I don't think this is a constant. If you take a look from the first to second quarter, we did have an expansion, and then we have a pressure from second to third.
So I don't believe it's a constant. The margin this quarter was pressured, as I mentioned, because of a drop in prices specific to 60% of light rental assets, a drop of 10%, and because light rentals account for 60% of company results, we see this margin of 3.6%, or 36 percentage basis points for the future, not only because of exchange rates, but also higher demand in a more controlled supply. There are less pieces of equipment coming in in this quarter and recent days. I think not as many as we had in the third quarter. So I think prices are going to be a bit more balanced, and margins can be resumed.
And talking about the increase in financial expenses, we had an increase quarter -on -quarter, much more related to a new raising in June that was not even yet not booked in the results. Remember that our debt is back to the CDI, so interest rates go up. That pressures our financial expenses and results. That's why the company is always looking into opportunity to reduce costs, allocating debt, and because we have a very comfortable leverage, we do not think that we will pressure company margins.
Just once again, if you want to ask a question, just click on the Q&A on the bottom of your screen and write down your name, company, and language. When you are announced, a prompt is going to appear for you to activate your microphone or camera.
If you prefer, type in your question and ask the operator to read it. This concludes the Q&A session. I'd like to hand over to Mr. Sérgio Kariya for his closing remarks. Mr. Kariya?
Well, thanks everyone for your interest and participation in our conference call to discuss the results of the third quarter this year. And our IR team is always available for you if you have any additional questions. Thank you very much.