Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We welcome you to the Portobello Group video conference for the discussion of results for the third quarter, 2024. This video conference is being recorded, and the replay can be accessed at the company's website, ri.portobello.com.br. The presentation is also available for download. Please note that all participants will only be watching the video conference during the presentation. Ensuring this, we will start the question and answer session when further instructions will be provided. The presentation will be conducted in Portuguese with simultaneous translation into English. Please be advised that the forward-looking statements made herein are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Portobello Group and current information available to the group. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties as they relate to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur.
Investors, analysts, and journalists should bear in mind that events related to the macroeconomic environment, the segment, and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the respective forward-looking statements. Present at this video conference are Mr. John Suzuki, Chief Executive Officer, and José Ângelo Sutil, Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations Officer. I will turn the floor over to Mr. Suzuki, who will begin the presentation. You may proceed. Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to our results presentation for the third quarter, 2024. We're going to begin speaking about the market context offered by José Ângelo. We will then speak about the financial and operating performance of the group and each of our businesses. I will then come back to speak about strategic updates and outlook for 2024. We will be ending with a question and answer session. José Ângelo, you have the floor.
Good afternoon, everybody. It is a pleasure to share the results of another quarter with you. When we speak about the update of the market in the third quarter of 2024, according to the data of ANFACER, the ceramic tiles market had an evolution of 3.7% in the third quarter vis-à-vis the third quarter of 2023. While for the entire period, the market evolution in these nine months was of 4.9% compared to the same period in 2023. The Portobello Group continues to present an evolution that is better than the market. The company had a growth of 20.6% in the sales in Brazil compared to the same period last year. When we look at the nine months, the growth was 19.5% compared to the nine months of 2023, and there was a gain of market share in all of the company's business units in the United States.
The ceramic tiles market is still facing challenges. We know that the TCNA disclosed a drop of 4.2% compared to the same period in 2023. According to the data of housing starts that reflects the dynamic of civil construction in the USA, the number of launches is lower than the historical base. The American market was impacted by economic and financial decisions with an influence in the short term. To speak about the performance for the Portobello Group in the third quarter, the consolidated net revenue had a growth of 1.6% compared to the third quarter of 2023. This is the highest net revenue for the quarter, with advances in all business units totaling BRL 662 million. In the vision per business unit, we had growth in all of our units. Pointer grew 38.8% compared to the third quarter of 2023. Portobello America had a growth of 17.3%.
Portobello Shop with consistent growth reaching 12.7% and the Portobello unit reaching a growth of 5.1% in the same period. Geographically, the operations in the USA had a growth of 17.3%, with this, the share of international markets began to represent 22.8% of the group's total revenues. We now go on to consolidated gross margin. We reached 250 million BRL for the quarter. Consolidated gross margin was 38.3%, two percentage points below the third quarter of 2023, but with sequential growth throughout the year in all of the quarters. Now, the margin performance in all of the Brazilian units is partially offsetting the impact with the ramp-up of operations in the USA that had a positive gross margin. Operating expenses totaled 27.9 million BRL, representing 9% of the company's gross revenues. The result was 0.7 percentage points lower than the third quarter of 2023.
Due to productivity management and operational management vis-à-vis the same period last year, in EBITDA, we report 103 million BRL, a growth of approximately 9% in the third quarter of 2024 vis-à-vis the same period last year, with an EBITDA margin of 15.6%. This is thanks to a positive trajectory in operating results. We ended the quarter with 2.6 million BRL in the third quarter. Now, this is the first positive result for 2024. The group continues with strategic action to enhance the profit of the company. In working capital, we made strides among clients and suppliers, and the inventories were aligned with the previous year. We're attempting to improve this indicator with the lowest cash consumption for the operation. When we look at the evolution of investments, we are aligned. We had an evolution of 59.6% in the company's CapEx compared to the third quarter of 2023.
We maintained only what was scheduled and what was essential for the operations. The net debt closed at BRL 973 million, and we ended the quarter standing at 2.9 net debt/EBITDA ratio. We ended the quarter with a reduction of 1.8 percentage points in the average cost of the debt and an improvement of 1.6 in the average term of the debt compared to the same period last year. I will now give the floor back to John to speak about our strategic projects. Thank you, José Ângelo. I will speak about the operation in the USA. In the third quarter, we had significant achievements. We continue to make strides at the plant, and we have gone from 80% use of the industrial capacity to 85% in the third quarter of 2024.
Now, we are in pre-operational phase in April of 2024, and we're evolving the ramp-up process, recording important strides in the volumes produced. Although this line has a lower capacity, it will have a strategic and economic importance very similar to our other US plants. We have observed a progressive evolution in the line item cost, with an enhancement in gross margin as presented. This gross margin would have been better by four percentage points if we had considered the running cost of production and not the cost of inventory. What is noteworthy is the evolution of the stability of the plant because of the quality, the turnover, or the organization of the plant showroom, enabling us to move forward in the production mix. We also continue to have an evolution in sales, as well as in the mix qualification of products and channels.
Beyond the volume of sales, this is important for our commercial challenge as part of our internationalization strategy. This quarter, the group was in Italy participating in the most important sector fair. We had highlighted participation with a collection, Bossa on the Road, our first global collection developed among all the business units of the group. In Italy as well, the Portobello America unit received the award Tecna 2024, being considered the best new ceramic coverings plant in North America because of its excellence in design and innovation in terms of ceramic tile. This award reinforces our positioning in the North American market as well as in the international market. Portobello Shop that leads the integrated retail area also has had very good results. I would like to highlight some of these.
Once again, we were in sixth place in the construction material for the Brazilian Association of Materials and Consumption. This is very important because we're a group of specialized shops. We're competing with our partners. Our own stores represent 49% of the units' revenues, and they continue to have a two-digit growth, reaching 22.4% vis-à-vis the same quarter last year, and the same store sales growth was 7.6%. Finally, the B2B channel of Portobello Shop had a growth of 73.4% vis-à-vis the third quarter of 2023, representing 8.7% of the total revenues of the unit. To speak more about our outlook for 2024, we don't have significant changes in terms of what we have disclosed in the last quarters. Portobello America will continue with the ramp-up in the plant as well as in sales, and this should have a significant impact on our results.
In Portobello Shop, we continue to focus on resuming higher levels of growth through the growth of same-store sales, the maturity of the growth of the network, or through the B2B segment. In the Portobello unit, we should grow in all of the channels, making strides in our product mix through our innovation cycle. Besides the advances in one of our strategic pillars, which is the internationalization, at Pointer, we will move ahead our strategy to train small and medium-sized resellers and strengthen the channel for exports and engineering. The resumption of industrial competitiveness has been a very important factor for this unit and will continue to generate good results in the future, be it on the part of costs or evolution. José Ângelo, can I speak further about the financial outlook? From the economic and financial outlook, we don't have great changes.
We're working with discipline in terms of costs and expenses to enhance our operating results and cash generation. We are at the right levels to be able to deliver our products and to work with technological updates. In terms of leveraging, we would like to sequentially reduce it quarter on quarter until the end of the year. We're working with liability management, implementing financial solutions to enhance the company's stock, and of course, to lengthen the amortization of debt and the effective cost of our debt. Thank you very much. Iniciaremos agora. We will now go on to the question and answer session for investors and analysts. Should you wish to pose a question, please click on the Raise Hand icon. If your question has been answered, you can withdraw from the queue by clicking on the icon Lower Hand.
Questions can also be sent in writing using the Q&A icon. Please hold while we poll for questions. Nossa primeira pergunta. Our first question comes from Thiago Nascimento, who says, "Good afternoon and congratulations for the evolution in revenues. What is happening with the anti-dumping analysis of Indian ceramics, and which would be the potential effects on your sales?" Boa tarde, desculpa eu não peguei. Well, good afternoon. I'm sorry, I don't remember the name of the person who posed the question, but I would like to thank you for the question. Regarding the anti-dumping process, this is a process that has two stages. In an initial stage, we have a decision on the preliminary rates. However, this process is still underway.
It is under investigation to come to a definite response in terms of the anti-dumping rate, which means we still have some months ahead before we have a full decision. Once this first stage has been complied with, the decision will be of a rate of 3% of rates or levying on Indian products. Now, the first good signal regarding the determination with which this process could advance is important, but it's still too early on for this to truly indicate which will be the final solution. This is not a fast process, as I mentioned before. It should extend for another six months before we come to a final decision. We have observed, and I think this is worthwhile remarking, a significant increase in the volume of imports from India, and more recently, we have observed perhaps a reduction in imports from India.
The second part of the question, if you could please repeat the question once again. Of course, the question was made by Thiago Nascimento, who says, "What is happening with the anti-dumping analysis of Indian ceramic, and which is the company expectation of the potential effect on the company's sales?" Now, of course, this anti-dumping process has come about because the Indian products enter the American market with significant competitiveness in segments that are not the target markets of Portobello, but indirectly, they could have an impact. I would like to underscore the structure of the American market that I have mentioned in some calls. The American market is served by 30% domestic production and 70% of imports, and the domestic production, of course, is very competitive.
This is one of the factors we took into account to go to the United States, not only from the viewpoint of costs, but also of services and the relationship with the domestic market, with the customers, and much more. So we have to take into account other factors as we are developing the USA market, and this puts us in a privileged position vis-à-vis any other international player. Nossa próxima pergunta. Our next question comes from Mr. Cleyton Mendonça, who says, "Considering the elections in the USA, which is the impact that you expect?" Well, that is a very good question. Well, without speaking about the ideologies per se, President Trump will tend to be more, well, leaning more towards the American industry. Our expectation is positive as we have business locally. It's positive regarding the policies that will be issued by the new government.
We look upon this with good eyes. Now, the American government has a lower impact in general compared with what we see in Brazil from government agencies. The American government agencies tend to be very robust regardless of the moment, regardless of the government. Therefore, the impacts are lower, but the trend is that this government will be more favorable towards business, towards industry. Nossa próxima pergunta. Our next question once again comes from Mr. Thiago Nascimento, who says, "With this present-day level of the exchange rate, is there a perception of better competitiveness to enhance exports?" Thiago, thank you once again for the question. A gente trabalha com. We work with a hedge policy that locks most of our exports.
We have applied this hedging policy because from our viewpoint, it is more important to be able to forecast the profitability of exports vis-à-vis taking advantage of specific moments, but that will bring about volatility for the channel management. We have worked with this hedge policy, but we don't hedge everything fully. Having said that, any additional exports beyond the exports that are hedged are benefited by a free exchange rate with this new level of the dollar, and if it remains at that level, yes, we will gain competitiveness in the international market, and we're going to make the most of it. Yes, we do have strategies to be able to make the most of that moment. Nossa próxima pergunta. Our next question comes from Alexandre Cavalcanti, who says, "Good afternoon. The share buyback program, has it ended or is it still underway?" Well, thank you for the question.
The share buyback program is still underway. It was approved with a term of 18 months. I remind you that this is a program that represents a very small part of our shares, and it has specific goals. Nossa próxima pergunta. Our next question comes from Mr. Thiago Nascimento, who says, "What can we expect in terms of CapEx for 2025? Is the second furnace maintained for 2026?" I'm going to answer about PBG, and José Ângelo will complement regarding 2025. Yes, it has been maintained for 2026 until the end of the first half of 2026. Regarding the first question about CapEx for 2025, we don't normally give guidance. I can't refer to the amount, but qualitatively, the expectation is that we will maintain our CapEx, invest in technological evolution, and whatever is necessary as we're focusing strongly on our leverage.
Now, if I could reinforce what was just said by José Ângelo, I think it is important to have that outlook that leverage system is very important, and the management of CapEx that we carry out is for the short term. Now, we do look towards 2026, but it will be managed in light of our commitment to gradually reduce our level of leverage. I think it's worthwhile underscoring this point because of its importance. We would like to remind you that should you wish to pose a question through audio, you can click on the raise hand icon. If your question has been answered, you can withdraw from the queue by clicking on the lower hand icon. Questions can also be sent in writing through the Q&A icon.
The next question is from André Prates, who says, "How is the process of conveying the Portobello culture to the American buyers and consumers?" I like the question, and I believe it is a very important issue. It's one of the great challenges that we have faced in Portobello America. We called this project Portobello Way in the United States. And the intention, of course, is to create a corporate culture at that unit imbued with our values, our principles, our way of working, but of course, always adapted to the American culture. And we have made significant strides. I have gone frequently to the United States.
I have conversed with the people, and we do feel a significant evolution in terms of the integration of the Americans with our corporate culture and of the Brazilians who went from Brazil to the USA to work at that plant who have integrated into American culture. Further, two weeks ago, we had a celebration celebrating one year after the inauguration, and we held an event where we included the families of the employees. It was an event that was highly desirable for the Americans, an event that they normally carry out, and we were able to feel that we have had significant evolution with an impact on the operation as well. As I mentioned in the presentation, the evolution in stability of our operations is noteworthy.
The understanding of our team of how we need and like to work, I think this has had a significant evolution, and of course, we're highly satisfied with that. Nossa próxima pergunta. Our next question comes from Mr. Ricardo Cosme, who says, "Could you speak in detail about the coming stages of the project Portobello America?" Yes, we can, of course, and I will move back a bit so that we can recall some of the stages. We have already been working on the sales ramp-up for seven years. The project began seven years ago. The evolution was relevant, and this enabled us to begin with a plant project. The plant began with one furnace for tiles in July of last year, and in April of this year, we, and I think I've already remarked on this, we entered the stage of pre-operational production for small formats.
The coming year, we will make minor investments and enhancements for the enhancement of productivity and competitiveness at the plant, but still as part of the initial stage where we have two furnaces in 2026. We will go in with a second furnace for tiles, and we have the second part of the evolution: field tile small formats, and mosaic. Mosaic, as well as small formats, have a great deal of added value. When composing the full solution, all of these categories will be very important. [Foreign language]. Our next question comes from Mr. Carlos Tosi, who says, "Good afternoon, John and José Ângelo. Could you remark further on the Portobello America segment? What impacted the growth of costs vis-à-vis the net revenue?" Thank you. [Foreign language] Well, let me speak about this. José Ângelo, if I forgot something, you can please add it.
E também deixa eu ver se eu entendi. Let me see if I have fully understood your question regarding this segment. Our business, there is B2B, and it is basically focused on two main channels: the home center channel and the distribution channel. We also have a channel that we call national accounts or key accounts that are the larger accounts for the larger distributors. Well, these are the segments, therefore, that we have been working with. And I'm not sure I fully understood your question regarding the costs because our margin has been improving. I'm not sure which period you're referring to throughout this year. Well, last year we were still in a pre-operational stage.
I'm not sure if these figures are comparable, but in the operational phase that we are in this year, we have been improving the cost proportionally to the price and significantly so quarter on quarter. You cannot see in the gross margin exactly what it is that we observe at the plant because it has an impact on the inventory turnover. These effects will only be perceived over time, and if you would observe our gross margin, taking into account the production cost of the month or the quarter, in this case, the gross margin for the third quarter would be close to four percentage points better than what we presented in our release. We would like to remind you, should you wish to pose a question using audio, you can click on the raise hand icon.
If your question has been answered, you can withdraw from the queue clicking on lower hand. Questions can also be sent in writing through the Q&A icon. Please hold while we pull for more questions. Nossa próxima pergunta. Our next question once again comes from Mr. Thiago Nascimento regarding the investment fund. How does it operate, and how can it help you in terms of deleveraging? This is a FIDC of PBG. We receive the contribution of some investors. We also make minor investments. And this is a fund that is available to anticipate receivables from our customers, a B2B portfolio of customers. Once this has been performed, we can anticipate the maturity through the sale of that asset to the fund and transform this into cash more rapidly. Consequently, we bring that cash to Portobello before the maturity date of the customer.
It generates an impact on the debt leverage, and we saw this after the launch of this fund in the second quarter of this year. Now, the question and answer session has ended. We would like to return the floor to Mr. John Suzuki for the company's closing remarks. Well, thank you all for attending our video conference. It's always a pleasure to be here with you, not only to present, but also to offer you clarifications on our release, simply to reinforce that this has been a very good quarter where we grew as a group, but we also had growth in all of the business units, and we also had evolution in terms of the strategy at each unit.
Of course, there is a highlight for the units that are part of our strategic pillars, integrated retail and internationalization, but we have had an evolution in all of the units. You saw that Portobello had a growth of almost 40% this quarter. Thank you once again, and we hope to see you the next quarter. Have a good afternoon. The Portobello Group video conference ends here. We would like to thank all of you for your attendance. Have a very good day.