Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our video conference regarding Iochpe-Maxion's first quarter 2024 results. I am Rodrigo Carassa, the company's investor relations manager, and I will lead today's conference. Today, with us at this video conference, and also available for the Q&A session, we have Mr. Marcos Oliveira, company CEO, and Mr. Renato Salum, company CFO. We inform that this video is being recorded and will be made available on the company's website, where the presentation is also going to be available. I reinforce that for those who need simultaneous interpreting, we have those two available. Just click on the globe icon that says "Interpretation," located on the lower portion of your screen. When selecting it, choose your preferred language. That could be Portuguese or English.
Those listening to the video conference in English, there is an option to mute the original audio in Portuguese by clicking on "Mute Original Audio." For the Q&A sessions, please send your questions through this Q&A button, which is also on the lower portion of your screen. You are going to be appointed so that you can activate your microphone and your camera when time comes. But before we proceed, we would like to clarify that any statement that may be made during the video conference regarding the company's business prospects, projections, operational and financial goals, they are beliefs and assumptions of Iochpe-Maxion's management, as well as information that is currently available from the company. Future considerations are not guarantees of any performance because they involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as they refer to future events, and therefore they depend on circumstances that may or may not occur.
Let's now give the floor to Marcos Oliveira, the company CEO.
Good morning and welcome to Iochpe-Maxion First Quarter 2024 Earnings Release Video Conference. The first quarter of 2024 presented a scenario of stability in the global vehicle production, and even if we still face a period of global economic and geopolitical uncertainty, we observed better predictability in the production of our clients. The segment of commercial vehicles in Brazil in the first quarter presented a consistent growth with expectation of recovery in the region after the process of transition in the motor legislation from Euro 5- Euro 6 throughout the year 2023. We continue with positive expectations regarding the recovery of the volume of commercial vehicles in Brazil, which contributes to the recovery in the company's profitability. With regard to other regions, we highlight the growth of volumes in North America and India and retraction in Europe.
The company's results in the first quarter were very much aligned with our expectations for the period and indicate that the planning for the year remains quite proper as we had anticipated in the end of 2023. I will now move on to the slides made available in our presentation. In slide number two, we can observe the global vehicle forecast. In the graph on your left, we see the forecast by IHS for light vehicles, indicating a production of 90 million vehicles in 2024, similar to the year 2023. Excluding the Chinese market, we can see a slight drop of 1% in 2024 when compared to 2023. In the graph on the right, we see LMC Automotive's forecast for commercial vehicles, indicating an estimated production of 3,457,000,000 vehicles in 2024, or 2% higher than 2023. Excluding China, production in 2024 would be 4% lower than the year 2023.
In slide number four, we can see the main highlights for the company in the first quarter of 2023. We have achieved net revenues of BRL 3.6 billion in the first quarter of 2024, a reduction of 10.1% compared to the first quarter of 2023. We had a gross profit of BRL 384 million, or a gross margin of 10.7% in the first quarter, an increase of 12.6% and of 2.2 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2023. We had a 10.4% increase in EBITDA in the first quarter of 2024, with an EBITDA margin of 8.8%, an increase of 1.6 percentage points. Our financial leverage was 0.95x in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to 2.77x in the first quarter of 2023 and 2.93x in the fourth quarter of 2023.
We had a reduction of BRL 301,000,000 in the net debt of the company for the first quarter of 2024. We had a liquidity index of 2.02-fold in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 1.54-fold in the first quarter of 2023. In slide number four, we can see the consolidated net operating revenue of the company with BRL 3,596,000,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024, a reduction of 10.1% compared to the first quarter of 2023. This reduction in the net operating revenue of the company is due to a reduction in raw material costs reflected in the sales prices of our products and a negative exchange rate variation of BRL 143.6 million in the first quarter of 2024.
In slide number four, now looking at revenue by product, we can observe an increase in the participation of light vehicles in the company revenue, with steel wheels for light vehicles growing from 22% in the first quarter of 2023 to 25% in the first quarter of 2024. In slide number six, now looking at revenue by client, we can see a growth in the participation in the revenues for Daimler, the Volkswagen Group, Ford, and Stellantis, indicating a higher growth in the segment of light vehicles during the first quarter of this year when compared to the first quarter of the previous year. In slide number seven, we can observe the operational performance of the company in South America. We can see net operating revenue of BRL 976,000,000 in the first quarter of 2024, a reduction of 4.8% when compared to the first quarter of 2023.
These revenues had a negative impact in the first quarter of 2024 of the reduction in raw materials costs reflected in the sales prices of our products and had a positive impact of the increase in the production of wheels, chassis, and side rails for commercial vehicles, and the increase in the production of aluminum steel wheels for light vehicles. The participation of South America in the company's net operating revenue grew from 25.7% in the first quarter of 2023 to 27.1% in the first quarter of 2024. Now, looking at the Brazilian market performance in terms of vehicles produced, we see a reduction of 1% in the production of light vehicles and a growth of 25.6% in the production of commercial vehicles when compared to the first quarter of 2023.
In slide number eight, now looking at operational performance in North America, we can observe net operating revenues of BRL 1,062,000,000 in the first quarter of 2024, or a reduction of 7.4% when compared to the first quarter of 2023. The net operating revenues in North America suffered the negative impact of the reduction of raw materials costs reflected in sales prices of our products, a production decrease in aluminum wheels for light vehicles and steel wheels for commercial vehicles, and the negative exchange rate variation of BRL 74.6 million in the first quarter. The participation of North America grew from 28.7% in the first quarter of 2023 to 29.5% in the first quarter of 2024.
Looking at market performance in terms of number of vehicles produced, we see a slight growth in the production of light vehicles of 1.4% and a decrease of 1.1% in the production of commercial vehicles in the first quarter of 2024 when compared to the first quarter of 2023. In slide number 9, the operational performance in Europe points to net operating revenues of the company of BRL 1,244,000,000 in the first quarter of 2024, or a decrease of 14.3% when compared to the first quarter of 2023. This revenue was negatively impacted by the reduction in the raw materials costs reflected in the sales prices, a reduction in the production of aluminum wheels for light vehicles and steel wheels for commercial vehicles, and a negative exchange rate variation of BRL 47.2 million.
On the other hand, it had the positive effect of an increase in the production of steel wheels for light vehicles in Europe. When you look at the market performance in terms of number of vehicles produced, we see a reduction of 4.7% in the production of light vehicles and a reduction of 13.2% in the production of commercial vehicles. The participation of Europe and the company's consolidated net operating revenues reduced from 36.3% in the first quarter of 2023 to 34.6% in the first quarter of 2024. In slide number 10, now looking at the operational performance of Asia and other markets, we see net operating revenues of BRL 314,000,000 in the first quarter of 2024, or a reduction of 16.2% compared to the first quarter of 2023.
These revenues had a negative impact of the reduction in the raw material costs reflected in sales prices, a reduction in the volume of aluminum wheels for light vehicles in South Africa and Thailand, and a negative exchange rate variation of BRL 21.7 million. But it had the positive impact of an increase in steel wheels volume for commercial vehicles. The participation of Asia and other markets in the consolidated net operating revenue went from 9.4% in the first quarter of 2023 to 8.7% in the first quarter of 2024. Now, looking at market performance in terms of vehicles produced, we had an increase of 6.6% in the increase of production of light vehicles in India, a drop of 15.2% in commercial vehicles in India, and a decrease of 17.2% in light vehicles in Thailand.
In slide number 11, we see the gross profit of the company of BRL 384,000,000 in the first quarter of 2024, a growth of 12.6% compared to the first quarter of 2023. Our gross margin increased from 8.5% in the first quarter of 2023 to 10.7% in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 2.2 percentage points in the first quarter of 2024. In slide number 12, we see the company's EBITDA of BRL 317,000,000 in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 10.4% compared to the first quarter of 2023, and a growth in the EBITDA margin from 7.2% in the first quarter of 2023 to 8.8% in the first quarter of 2024. We had an increase of 1.8 percentage points in the recurring EBITDA margin in the first quarter of 2024, as described in the table on the right.
In slide number 13, we see the company's net income of BRL 50 million in the first quarter of 2024 compared to a net loss of BRL 16 million in the first quarter of 2023. In slide 14, we see the main investments of the company that were related to the capacity increase to meet the demand for the commercial vehicle segment in North America and the construction of the new aluminum wheel plant for trucks in Europe, taking our investments to BRL 98 million in the first quarter of 2024 compared to BRL 91 million in the first quarter of 2023. In slide 15, we see the company's financial leverage in the first quarter of 2024 to 2.95x compared to 2.93x at the end of 2023. The reduction of the EBITDA is the main factor for the increase in leverage.
In slide 16, we see the company's liquidity ratio of 2.02x in the first quarter of 2024 compared to 2.12x at the end of the year 2023. We had a reduction of 15% in the short-term debt compared to the year 2023. In slide 17, we see the breakdown of the company's gross debt at the end of the first quarter of 2024, with 42.2% of the debt in reais, 39.8% in euros, 14.3% in dollars, and 3.7% in other currencies. We can see the debt maturity tower of the company indicating BRL 1,055,000,000 with maturity for 2024 compared to cash and revolving credit of the company, which indicates BRL 2,795,000,000 at the end of the first quarter of 2024. The composition of the long-term gross debt of the company has grown from 71% in the first quarter of 2023 to 77.9% in the first quarter of 2024.
In the next slide, we see some of the main launches of the company in the first quarter of 2024: aluminum wheels for light vehicles produced in the plant at Limeira, in Brazil, showing affordable style solutions for our clients. We have steel wheels for light vehicles in Spain for our new urban micromobility customer, showing the versatility of our products and applications for future global mobility. We have steel wheels for commercial vehicles produced in our plant in Nantong, China, showing the potential of our product portfolio, including steel wheels for heavy-duty vehicles. Steel wheels for electric light vehicles from San Luis Potosí, Mexico, confirming our low CO2 wheel solutions. In the next slide, we can see some awards and highlights for the first quarter of 2024. We have the Certificate of Sustainability Recognition by Toyota Motor Europe for our plant in Turkey.
We had the Achievement Award in the Export Performance category given by the Automotive Suppliers Association for Turkey, the Quality Five Star Certification given by Hyundai, Brazil, and the recognition for achieving the CO2 reduction target given by Toyota Motors in Thailand. We now move on with the Q&A session.
Now, we will start with our questions and answers. We kindly ask you to please pose all questions at the same time and await for company answers. We guide you so that you can use the Q&A button on the lower portion of the screen to pose your questions. Your names will be announced so that you can ask your questions live. A request for you to open your microphone will show on your screen. First question is from André Ferreira, Bradesco BBI. André, please use your mic for the question.
Good morning, everyone. Can you hear me well?
Yes, we can.
First question is in regard to margin. I would like to understand how margin is going to behave for the next quarters and in the long term. When do you think it is possible for us to get back to the margins that you had in the past? And the second question is, although I do not have a lot of exposure to this region, GM Plant has announced that they are going to stop producing, especially because of the strategy that is happening in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. I would like to know if there is going to be an impact with the stoppage, the closing of operations of GM for you, and how this is going to behave. Thank you.
André, good morning.
In regard to margin, we could see growth in our gross margin and in our EBITDA in the first quarter of this year when compared to the same period last year, and also a sequence in margin growth when we compare the second semester last year to what's going to come, which is very much aligned to what we are expecting for this year. We said before that the fourth quarter and the first quarter of the coming year are the lowest demand quarters. So strikes or stops that happen during the end of the year, they lead us to shorter, smaller revenue, and it is normal. But we were expecting some consistency in our numbers for the fourth quarter and the first quarter.
What has confirmed for us is that we've improved our margin in the third quarter when compared to the fourth quarter, which is very much in line with what we are planning. The volumes in Europe are a little bit lower than we imagined for the third quarter, but then we saw North America volume above the expectations. Overall, we had a semester that was very much aligned to what we had planned, and margin growth is envisioned for 2024. We are looking into two-digit margins for the second and third quarter this year, and we believe that we are in a growth sequence. We believe that for the next quarters and even in 2025, we are heading towards the margins and EBITDA that we had in the past.
We are very much aligned, and with the efforts in increasing productivity, more consistency in pricing of raw materials all over the world, and it's been pretty stable. Our efforts passing on of all of our costs all over the world, they are materializing and actually delivering the results that we were expecting for 2024. In regard to the situation in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, yes, it is a social tragedy, and we are touched by what is happening to people. Iochpe-Maxion and our employees, we are all moved in an internal campaign trying to diminish the impact because it's difficult to really envision how much this is going to impact the industry.
In regard to transportation, in the short term, we see there will be a problem, but the replacement of assets, the building of infrastructures, and real estate, they're probably going to have a different scenario. We know what's happening with GM in Gravataí and a couple of hiccups regarding supply, but we don't see more significant stoppages at all. We believe that an eventual impact, direct or indirect, for the company, we don't think this is going to be a material situation for us for 2025.
Thank you.
Our next question is from Fernanda Urbano, sell-side analyst at XP. Fernanda, you may proceed.
Good morning, everyone. Marcos, Renato, Rodrigo, thank you for taking our question. I would like to understand profitability follow-up, especially with raw materials. In the last weeks, we saw an increase in the aluminum cost, and we understand in the mid-term, this may cause an impact.
But thinking of short-term impacts, I would like to know if it makes sense if we think of a margin pressure for the next third quarter, especially with pricing. And I would like to understand if there is any perspective regarding the cost of aluminum for the rest of the year. Thank you.
Fernanda, good morning. Thank you for your questions and considerations. We see stability in the pricing of raw material, steel all over the world, for example. And now we do see an increase in the price of aluminum all over the world, and it's impacted by demand and some geopolitical scenarios we see, and also by the tariffs in the import of aluminum in Mexico, especially aluminum that is originated in other countries with which Mexico does not trade with.
This impact, which was obviously influencing the aluminum pricing all over the world, this may be reduced due to the change in pricing in Mexico, and this has been impacting the market, the North American market as a whole. In our pricing structure, in most of the time, especially including aluminum, we do have an automated pricing due to the variation of the aluminum price and with a difference of 2-3 months. But obviously, we also have a transition stock, a stock that is going to serve in this change in pricing. We don't think we are going to have an impact considering this oscillation of price of aluminum in the market, and we don't believe this is going to be significant for the company in the next quarters.
As for steel price, it remains stable in the different markets, and we don't see lots of variations due to demand or geopolitical concerns, whether in Europe, Asia, or any other markets. Thank you for your questions.
It's very clear. Thank you.
Our next question will be from Luiz Otávio Capistrano, BBA analyst. You may proceed.
Hello, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity for a question. We see that globally, we see China retracting, and we also see some other areas in the world with relatively negative performance. What is the perspective for you for the rest of the year, considering that many of the sectors are suffering with interest, and this is why it is being deteriorating so much?
I don't know if this has impacted your clients' mood in the sense, but I would like to know from you if we could envision what's going to happen as far as demand is concerned.
Nice. Good morning. Thank you for the question. What we see is something somewhat positive, especially in the first quarter and getting into the second quarter, a better forecast regarding clients' demands. When we see Europe, North America, and Asia, whether volume is increasing or not, what we see is that volume is being predictable, which is good for us. It's difficult for us to plan for production and our efficiency. It's not only about a drop in demand, but also the lack of predictability, which is difficult. So what we see is predictability is something positive, and this is what we've been seeing getting into the second and even the third quarter.
When we look into the IHS numbers, LMC Auto numbers, what we see is in the automotive market, we see a relatively stable year, similar to 2023, with around 90 million light vehicles produced all over the world. When we look into regions for light vehicles, we see a slight drop of production of 3% or 4% in Europe and a lot of demand. We see a growth of 2%-3% in North America, and in Brazil, growth seems to be close to 4%. Maybe this is a little bit incipient. It could even be above 5%, but considering planning, we do consider 4%, which is pretty positive for the light vehicles. Now, in regard to commercial vehicles, the situation is a little bit different. We see numbers in Brazil growing up to 30%, and ANFAVEA says more than 30%. LMC says close to 40%.
We are now considering the predictability of a growth around 20%-30% in commercial vehicles, which is important for Brazil, and it's an important segment for us considering the selling of wheels and structural components. In Europe, we see a drop that is a little bit above what we expected for last year or at the beginning of the year. Numbers show a drop around 9%-10% this year, but also a lot of demand. And in North America, North America shows the greatest difference in numbers concerning predictability and visibility of ACT, LMC. And this is in line with what our clients say. They say that the drop would be close to 10% in 2024, and our clients say otherwise. They say numbers are stable, and they don't see this drop.
What happened in the first quarter was that our production, our volume of production in North America with commercial vehicles increased more than 10% in terms of volume. Our clients do see it different because they understand demand differently, and the interest rate variation is more of an uncertainty concerning the speed in the drop of this rate in the American market, but they also remain at levels that we saw at the end of 2023. This is why today, clients estimate that with their order portfolio and what they have to deliver to customers, they envision a transition with emissions in North America for 2027 and the capacity of the OEMs. They say that there will be 600,000 trucks produced in North America, which is mostly full capacity of the OEMs in North America.
And this means that part of this demand may occur during the year of 2025 and 2026, especially due to the change in legislature for 2027 because we do believe this is going to be positive and grow. We need to expand the structural component plant in North America. This is one of the investments we are considering because we understand that the level of demand will remain elevated, similar to last year. And in 2025 and 2026, this level of demand will be even higher. And this will allow us to use OEM and our plant at its full capacity. So thank you for your question.
Very clear, Marcos. Thank you for your answer.
Our next question will be from Felipe Lenza, sell-side analyst from Citi. You may proceed.
Good morning, Renato, Rodrigo. Yes. The question was going to be about what you've just mentioned.
We would like to understand a little bit more of the long term and what's going to happen to your plants in the United States. They are more rigid in regard to CO2 emissions. And as you said, in 2027, the legislation is going to change, and 2026 is a moment in which the countries have to prepare for it, right? So especially with commercial vehicles, numbers are booming. But I would like to know how your production is going to work. Should we see a dynamic that is similar to what is happening in the US? Do you think you're going to have a rebate situation after this?
Well, Felipe, good morning.
As we mentioned, the difference in characteristics concerning this transition in 2027 in North America, when we compare to the Euro 6 transition that happened in 2022 and 2023 here, the ability of working in North America for the plants is very elevated. They are working at their full capacity because last year, they produced more than 600,000 trucks. And this year, numbers seem to be repeating. So the level is pretty high with a portfolio of orders pretty high too. And an option for purchase for 2023 in regard to the anticipation that is going to happen in 2027, we don't believe the OEMs would be able to meet this demand. This will probably make them produce at a more elevated level in 2025.
We do believe that this transition to the new legislation concerning emissions in North America, effective in 2027, this is not going to impact in 2026 only. It should impact the companies starting in 2025. As I mentioned, this capacity increase for structural components, we are going to increase our capacity in 30%. This is going to show effect in 2025, and this is going to be very well utilized and very fast. We believe that these indications of demand, they seem to be very consistent with the OEMs. Our main clients we talk to in North America, they are very consistent regarding what they mention and what they need in 2024, 2026, and 2027. It's going to be an interesting visibility in the market for the coming years.
Thank you.
Our next question is from Gabriel Tinem, sell-side analyst for Santander. You may proceed.
Good morning, Marcos, Renato, Rodrigo. I have two questions. One is more focused on investment. If you could please tell us how investment is evolving in North America, especially for commercial vehicles. And I'd like to know more regarding the evolution of the aluminum wheels factory in Europe. Is there a possibility of expanding your operations in Europe and other regions? And another concern, which is focused on long-term contracts and inflation. We do feel an impact of this in the current margins. How do you think this is going to evolve for the existing contracts?
Gabriel, good morning. Thank you for the questions. The investments both in North America for meeting the demand for structural components for commercial vehicles in North America is according to the planning we started last year.
In fact, just giving you more information, in the site for our plant in Castaños, Mexico, we have two plants on the same site. We're building a third factory, a third site, the same industrial complex. Of course, that increases our capacity between 25%-30%, but it brings the benefit of the entire infrastructure in terms of fixed cost logistics that serve the other side. So it's a positive increase in terms of increasing capacity and operational excellence since the fixed cost will be diluted with a larger volume with a third factory in the same site. With regards to Europe, well, aluminum wheels for commercial vehicles, our wheels portfolio is the most complete globally. We have steel wheels, aluminum wheels, and we have aluminum wheels for light vehicles. We have for commercial and light vehicles.
The only product we don't have in our portfolio now are aluminum wheels for commercial vehicles. Our analysis indicates that in the next few years, the demand for steel wheels for commercial vehicles will continue very high, but the use of aluminum wheels for trucks or long haul distances, as we call, due to the requirements for reduction of CO2 emissions should increase in the next few years. That is why we made a decision to build this factory and start producing from this factory in the second semester of this year and for next year to meet that future demand, increasing our portfolio and our capacity to meet our clients' needs both with steel wheels that are our main products and will continue to be for commercial vehicles, but also bringing aluminum wheels for trucks or long haul vehicles for Europe.
The focus of the project is meeting the demands of the European market where we see a growing demand. But of course, if there are opportunities that we'll be analyzing gradually in the next few years and we can take this capacity to other regions, we'll do that. For 2024 and 2025, we're heavily focused on strengthening our balance and prioritizing our investments in a very focused way, reducing debt, reducing financial leverage without missing the big opportunities offered by the market with new investments. So these are the two main projects for the year 2024 and start of 2025. But we are paying close attention to opportunities that might come up in aluminum wheels for commercial vehicles, being with exports from our new factory being built in Turkey or expanding the capacity in that area in other regions.
But in terms of investments, in terms of capacity, the main ones was the construction of our aluminum wheel plant in India with an annual capacity of 2 million aluminum wheels. This capacity is being well used in a very financially attractive way, in a very effective manner, and growing very well for the next few years. And the perspective for the Indian market is that it will be the one with highest growth in the automotive market in the next 10 years due to growth of the population, of their economic situation, and with a country that has a capacity for producing 5 million vehicles. So we expect this demand and production to grow 5-10 and even 15 million vehicles. And that would be important.
So the next projects we'll be analyzing and deciding on might be an eventual expansion in the capacity for our aluminum wheels plant in India. Our efforts in terms of pricing and passing to our pricing, inflation, and other reasons, this is being done according to our timeline. We have already implemented many of these changes to pass that on. And we continue working with our clients and occasional adjustments that might be necessary in the second quarter. We understand demand issues, economic issues of those players involved in the automotive chain, but this is necessary so we can regain our historical margins in the next few quarters. Thank you, Gabriel.
Thank you. Your answers were very clear. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Jonathan Contreras, sell-side analyst from JP Morgan. Jonathan, you can proceed.
Good morning, Marcos. Thank you for the time.
My question is that the performance in the first quarter has been in accordance with the final one, the last years, and it has to do with the decrease in production in Argentina. So I'd like to know how you see that going through the end of the year regarding this location.
Good morning. Thank you for your question. Regarding Maxion Montich, we know the current situation in Argentina with some stoppage in some factories in the sector. In this quarter, we had an asset equivalent of BRL 2,464,000, remembering that we have 50%. So that would be BRL 1,362 impacting our asset balance. And this situation should be improving for the second and third quarter. So we are expecting with positive perspectives regarding what happened in the first quarter.
With regards to your second question related to the aluminum wheel plant in China, we started the production and ramp-up throughout last year for that factory, not only for Dongfeng but also other clients in China. This is a gradual growth process in the production of the factory because it meets the needs of the electric vehicle segment for the OEMs in China in the electric segment. It should grow throughout the years of 2024 and 2025. Our perspective for the ramp-up for China factory to be we expected it to be slower when compared to the aluminum wheel plant in India, especially because the growth in demand and volume in China is much lower than the growth in the demand in India that has been occurring in the last or will be occurring in the next few years.
We are following up that closely, meeting the demands of other clients. The factory started producing very positively in terms of operation, very good quality, very good acceptance from clients, meeting expectations in terms of volume, quality, and production. We believe it is a gradual and slower process when you compare to the growth of our aluminum wheel plant in India. As we do that thinking of equity, we believe that the positive or negative impact of this factory will not be that big in the short and long term. Thank you for the questions. Perfect.
Thank you, Marcos, Renato.
Our next question comes from João Andrade, sell-side analyst from the Bank of America. João, you can proceed.
Good morning. Can you hear me?
Yes, João, we hear you. Good morning.
Thank you for allowing me to speak.
We would like to talk about revenues for aluminum wheels in the South. We have 16% increase in the commercial vehicles, I mean, 25% growth in South America. Can you give us a little bit more information about that? Did you have a stoppage in any production line in any client? Can you give us a little bit more color on this issue?
João, good morning. We didn't have any exceptional events, in fact. What we do have is that the volumes that had been produced and the turn from 2023- 2024, which were available for our clients to use in their own growth, we saw that volume. And in this mix of structural components and wheels, we see a combined mix not only of trucks and commercial vehicles but also a volume of pickup trucks. One of our pickup trucks clients is launching a new vehicle.
In that process, you have a transition for the launch of this new vehicle. There was no higher disconnection with clients having more difficulty than others, recovering faster than others. Some clients had some hiccups in the supply of some components due to some issues. I'd say that the trend in terms of volume growth should be very consistent in the growth of volume for commercial vehicles in Brazil. We believe it's more a timely constraint regarding the time of production and sale and the time for selling our products.
Thank you, Marcos. Thank you for answering.
We have a question through the chat from Luis Felipe Oliveira. He's an investor. He asks, what should we expect in terms of dividend payment in addition to the mandatory minimum?
Luis, thank you for your question. We have two types of dividend payment here.
We have the payment for the minority stockholders, which has been happening. We have reduced this payment due to the use of cash and cash generation too for the construction of our aluminum wheel factory in Europe. So what we expect for 2024, our values in the same level of 2023. Then you have the second kind of dividend payment that is for the investors that we know and is limited to 37% of the net profit. This is defined in our bylaws. This is the percentage we should be complying with through the year 2024.
If there are no more questions, we'll be closing the Q&A session. We would like to give the floor back to Marcos Oliveira for his final words.
Thank you all for participating.
We continue paying attention to the changes in the market, geopolitical issues, inflation pressures, changes in the production volume of our clients. But as I mentioned before, in a year where we have better predictability when compared to the year 2023 and 2022, we see it positively in our planning and operational efficiency. But we continue to be very well prepared to adapt to any changes in volume, positive or negative, that might happen in different regions. We continue to focus on productivity gains and operational efficiency in the launching of new products, use of advanced engineering, digitization, and transfers that might impact positively, and strengthening our balance and maintaining sustainability for the long term. Once again, thank you for your participation. And have a good day.
The video conference for earnings release for the first quarter of 2024 for Iochpe-Maxion is closed.
The investors' relations department is at your disposal to answer any questions. Thank you very much. Have a good day.