Hello, it's very good to have you with us in our conference call for Randoncorp. We will share the E arnings and Highlights for Q2 2024. This event has simultaneous translation in progress and also sign language. To hear in English, click on the interpretation button, and to hear only the translator, select Mute Original Audio. This video conference is being recorded, and it will be available on our investor relations site, ri.randoncorp.com. In our agenda, we will have the message from the CEO, Sergio Carvalho, the main highlights of the quarter with the CFO, Paulo Prignolato, the earnings of the second quarter, and finally, our traditional Q&A session with our manager, Davi Coin Bacichette , and also the participation of the Director of Investor Relations, Emerson de Souza.
To ask questions, you must click on the button Q&A at the bottom of the screen, or send your question via Zap. You can also follow the instructions. If we don't have time to answer all the questions, our investor relations team will get in touch with you after the closing. The information given in this conference call is not a guarantee of performance. It involves risks and uncertainties. They refer to future events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Now, I'd like to pass the floor to our CEO, Sergio Carvalho, to begin the presentation.
Good morning. It's good to have you here with us in this conference call for Randoncorp.
To begin, I'd like to thank you in a very special way for once again recognizing our executives and our investor relations team as the best in Latin America in capital goods small caps through the ranking of Institutional Investor. We're very happy and proud with this recognition, and this gives us more energy to continue searching for excellence in relations with investors, with transparency and consistency of our work in the capital markets. I would like to mention our Randoncorp Day, which happened in June, when we presented our transformation efforts, the potential of our company, and how we're generating value for our stakeholders based on a strategy of constant innovation and evolution of our governance. We believe that events like this one are fundamental for this relationship, direct relationship with our investors. So once again, thank you for being always with us.
I would like to remind you that the event is being recorded. The presentations will be available on our investor relations site. Now, talking about the earnings of Q2, we had important progress in performance, especially in relation to the numbers that we had in the first month of the year. I highlight auto parts, which has presented growth in volume and profitability, supported especially by the restart of trucks in the country, production of trucks. Apart from a favorable market, our strategy, going after new business and clients, expanding the portfolio and geographies, and capturing synergies, has strengthened the companies in this segment. We also made progress in important initiatives to increase capacity and portfolio with model plants, like the one in Mogi Guaçu, in the state of São Paulo, that will add revenue and good results in the next quarters. Another vertical that improved its performance was OEMs.
Once again, producing trucks and the beginning of recovery in international markets and railway cars. But our performance, consolidated performance, in this Q2 was had an impact due to movement control plants. The most relevant were the impacts of inflation in Argentina and the closing of our plant in Uruguay, Fanacif, which is part of our strategy to optimize production. The values and the details concerning these impacts will be presented by Paulo and Esteban during our presentation. Now, talking about the future of this vertical, during the quarter, we announced the acquisition of Kuo Refacciones, the largest acquisition in our history, and the details were already sent to you. We're, we trust, we're very optimistic of the potential of this new business for Fras-le Mobility and for Randoncorp, which will have, which will have more earnings abroad in a sector that is resilient, like aftermarket.
Now, I cannot forget to mention everything that we went through in Rio Grande do Sul, in the south of the country, due to the floods. More than the financial impact, we were very upset with the situation of the people, especially in the locations where there were floods. We made all our efforts to help all our employees who lost their homes and also other communities. We used financial resources, psychological, health, and legal to employees and their families to help them with the floods, and also we worked with suppliers and partners. The rebuilding of the state of Rio Grande do Sul is in the beginning. We continue active in this journey to make the state stronger and united. Our commitment with society is always a priority. Within this, I'd like to reinforce our event, ambition, ESG ambition.
This meeting will be on August 16th. Apart from talking about our social initiatives, we will also update you concerning our public commitments and ESG. Please, you can also register yourself. We count to have you with us. To finalize, I'd like to reinforce that we closed the first semester very happy with our performance because of so many challenges, and we're working hard to reach the objectives for the year. For the next months, we are following a challenging, challenging strategy, and especially in some regions in the export market, apart from the impact of Argentina in, impact of Argentina. But more than looking at the short term, we believe that 2024 is being a transformational year for our future. We're consolidating important changes in some units, expanding innovation and automation in our plants, apart from announcing the largest acquisition in our history.
In our perspectives, we're in the beginning of a beautiful journey to build the future, to make Randoncorp even stronger and complete. Now, I pass the floor to Paulo for his presentation.
Thank you, Sergio. Sergio, good morning. I would like to express my thanks concerning the ranking in Institutional Investor. We received this award with a lot of joy and responsibility, and we will continue. Now, the data for Q2 2024, some financial indicators that impact the business suffered changes. Selic interest rate reached 10.5% a year, and the expectation is that it will remain on this level during the rest of the year. The exchange rate closed the quarter above the expectation of the central bank. This can bring challenges to the business environment.
Now, talking about our main markets, the data of our main markets, you can see on the screen that with the exception of exports of semi-trailers, the other indicators had growth in comparison to previous quarters. As expected, the production of trucks is increasing significantly in relation to 2023, leaving behind the effects of the change in technology with new Euro 6 engines. Concerning semi-trailers, we observe a more timid growth in the domestic market. Last year, the volumes were already at good levels. The highlight this year is the change in mix, with a stronger demand for the products used in cargo transportation, like closed trucks and also, and also fuel trucks, and the reduction of semi-trailers to the U.S.A. dropped. The production of semi-trailers to the U.S. dropped. Aftermarket continues very strong.
We monitor the demand, looking at the number of vehicles, light vehicles in the garages in the country, in the repair shops. It is stable in comparison with last year. Concerning the main indicators in Q2 2024, I would like to highlight net revenue with a growth that we see here, growing, especially with the sale of auto parts due to the, the restart of production of trucks in the country. EBITDA margin had a drop in relation to Q2, especially due to the effects of inflation in the, in the results of the operations in vertical, in our vertical and Argentina, and non-recurring expenses due to the restructuring of Fanacif plant, adjusting the effects to these non-recurring effects with the closing of Fanacif, and thus, we have 14.4% in this quarter.
Concerning net profit, the drop in comparison to the previous quarter is due to reasons we gave, and also taxes due to deferred taxes in the quarter. These are the same factors that also had an impact and the drop on ROIC. Soon, Esteban will give you more details on these indicators. Now, going on to our debt. I remind you that in the last quarter, we announced important loans that allowed us to really lengthen the payment of our loans and our debt had a cost of 0.7%, and the average time went from 2.7 years- 3.3 years in the same comparison. At the top of the screen, on the left, you can see the history of our net debt without Randon Bank.
The increase in relation to the closing of Q1 is due to the greater need for working capital and the payment of dividends and interest on JCP, on our, for our controlled companies. It's important to highlight that our leverage is stable within the last periods. Now, we have our shareholder basis, which at the end of Q1 had 48,000 shareholders. With the closing of the first semester, we see an increase in the participation of foreigners, reaching 25.3% of the total shares of the company at the end of June. Now, concerning the payment of interest and JCP, we bring on the screen the history of the last year's payment of dividends. Until the closing of the first semester, we paid BRL 43 million concerning 2023.
During July, we announced JCP, based on the first semester of this year, worth BRL 50.6 million, to be paid as of August 15th. All the details were already sent to you through a material fact that you can access in our investor relations site. Now, I pass the floor to Esteban to continue with the presentation.
Good morning. We arrived at the first half of 2024, and I highlighted this period, the performance of auto parts, showing our strategy and capital allocation. As Sergio mentioned about Randoncorp Day, we showed how Randoncorp transformed itself from a company that made semi-trailers to a complete system for the automotive sector, with a robust participation of auto parts.
Now we can see here, we have 60%, it represents 60% of the consolidated net revenue, as you can see in revenue by vertical on the top part of the screen. In the analysis of this indicator by sector, in the second quarter of 2024, we have agribusiness, aftermarket auto parts, industry, and exports. Also, we have some variations, growth in industry because of more volume in parts for trucks and the greater demand for semi-trailers for the transportation of industrialized cargo. Also, agribusiness with semi-trailers, with more sales in relation to the previous one, progress of aftermarket, due to the frequent passage of vehicles in garages and repair shops, and the drop in the export market that I will detail on the next screen.
We can see the drop of sales to the export markets, sales abroad, a little below 20% in Q2 2024. Our objective is to make this number rise, and this will happen in 2025, with the conclusion of the acquisition of Kuo Refacciones in Mexico, and will add relevant revenue to the company. The main reason for the drop in international sales was the deceleration of demand of semi-trailers in the U.S., already explained by Paulo. You can see this also in the revenue per region, here at the bottom of the screen, with a reduction, a drop for exports. The trend for the next quarters is a recovery of this market. We sold a large lot of semi-trailers through Hercules in the U.S., which will be delivered at the end of this year.
We see some signs of recovery: the increase in the number of requests for price quotations. Now, going to EBITDA and EBITDA margin, we see a drop in relation to the previous quarter, especially due to a drop in the revenue from export markets, as already mentioned, which normally have higher margins, putting pressure on profitability. Also, with the smaller demand and more competition in Argentina, especially in aftermarket, which made it difficult to increase prices due to inflation. Here, we'd like to say that the inventory is high, and that's why the margin had a negative impact of one percentage point due to these combined factors. And finally, non-recurring expenses, BRL 50 million in Q2, especially concerning restructuring of Fanacif in Uruguay.
Although we had these negative points, we see better margin in auto parts and OEMs in relation to Q1, due to the good rhythm of production in the truck market and the recovery of volumes in Randon, with a positive demand in semi-trailers. The distribution by vertical can be seen in the graph at the bottom of the screen. Now, going to organic investments, we had an increase in relation to Q2 2023. The highlights in relation to investments in the period were continuity of construction in Castertech and Suspensys, in the city of Mogi Guaçu, and acquisition of machinery and equipment for maintenance and for automation. Before closing, I'd like to thank you for your recognition through Institutional Investor Award. So my words are the same as Paulo's. We, we don't work for recognition, but when it comes, we feel honored.
So we believe that a transparent work with an open channel with you helps us a lot in evolving and having best practices. We'd like to close the presentation, and now we will begin the Q&A session....
Thank you, Esteban. Once again, good morning. We will begin our Q&A session. To participate, you can send your questions by audio, or in writing, or Zap, following the instructions on the screen. The first question comes from Santander, Gabriel Tinem.
Good morning, Tinem. Thank you for your question.
Good morning. Thank you.
I have a question on trailers, semi-trailers in the U.S. During the Investor Day, you mentioned orders. How are the operations in Hercules in the U.S.? The volume is lower. So how is demand and investments in Hercules in the U.S. concerning the plant, the mix? A second point, concerning exports that you made to the U.S.
Will you continue or will you reallocate the capacity? Focusing on other parts, talk about the ramp-up in Castertech Mogi volumes. Thank you.
Thank you, Tinem, for the questions. As you know, in the U.S., the semi-trailer market had a weak first semester, especially containers. I will ask Sergio to comment more on the dynamics of the market and perspectives for Hercules and exports from Brazil. Then, Sergio, if you can talk about the operations in Mogi Guaçu. You were there recently, with the beginning of the operation and ramp-up. Perfect, Gabriel. Thank you for the question. We already communicated that the market for semi-trailers and container trucks had a drop, a substantial drop, in the beginning of the year, and it is recovering gradually. So we have had some, we have had some contacts for quotations, price quotations.
As we announced, it involves three—we have an order for 3,000 semi-trailers, which is not in production yet. As Esteban said, at the end of the year, we will begin production. We have invested a lot in manufacturing and thinking of productivity, also work safety. So right now, we have four modern cells that were made by our own company, Auttom. One of them is beginning, we're commissioning the second, and in September and October, all the new production cells will be implemented, will be concluded. In terms of products, we continue testing a different product that we mentioned, not a container, but a platform made predominantly in steel. And after this development, which is not complete, we will begin a hybrid platform made in steel and aluminum.
Next year, we will have a version totally built in aluminum, and thus, we will have a more complete portfolio of products. We're investing on the industrial side with gains in productivity, in terms of the work environment, and also in products for this development. The U.S. market as a whole, as I mentioned on another opportunity, the trailer segment, semi-trailers, was the first to have a drop and is the first to recover now. Semi-trailers, in general, is showing an increase in orders, which is coherent, aligned with what I said shortly about the increase in price quotations we are receiving. Exports from Brazil, we reallocated this capacity... We're focusing on taking care of the demand from other sectors in Brazil. We're increasing our production capacity in many product lines, including containers, but focusing in Brazil.
And finally, Castertech Mogi, we began our production in May, June. The foundry process, the ramp-up, must be gradual. There are many variables, but it's happening. In July, we produced substantial volumes, higher volumes. This is a project where we need three—we, we are three or four months late, not, not because of us, but the production, a new production line. The importation had problems due to strikes in the ports. We did not receive the equipment on time. But this is a foundry that is a model, modern foundry. What we do here in Caxias, to give you an idea, we—every shift, we have 45, 45 employees. Now, we brought this number down to 13 employees per shift. Very modern equipment with less employees. Every month, we increase its capacity.
At the end of this year, we want, in one or two months, we will be already at the break-even point, contributing in a positive way for us at the end of the year. So it's going, it's doing very well. And the operation, the other operation, Suspensys in Mogi, is also making a lot of progress ahead of the schedule, and in the first semester of next year, will be operational. The model operation, as we mentioned, where we will have an operational performance that will be much higher. So to review, in the last two years, we have focused on launching new operations, modern operations. For example, you see in Campinas with only six employees. So flagship operations, model operations, with a new reality, with new concepts for production, with a lot of automation.
Castertech Mogi is in the same line, and Suspensys is in the same line, following this. I hope I answered your question.
Thank you.
Now, the next question from XP, Lucas Laghi. Good morning. Thank you for the question.
Good morning. Thank you, Carol. Good morning. I have two questions here. One of them, a follow-up in relation to auto parts. In Mogi Guaçu, concerning Suspensys, you mentioned their inauguration in Q1, 2025. If you can remind us the expectation for ramp-up beginning revenue, how will this happen in 2025, 2026, ramp-up and revenue? And also, what you see in terms of return for this investment. The feeling we have that-- the feeling we have is good, for example, when, as in the case of Suspensys. So what is the return that you see for this investment? I know you can't give us numbers, but maybe an idea of ROIC, in terms of what the company delivers today, and return for this relevant investment. And a second point for trailers. We saw a quarter after quarter, there was a small increase in price.
So the margin in Q2 was affected by the increase in price. Is the increase only volume or price, too? Do you think there is space to increase prices in the second semester? And also, do you believe you will go back to 9%-10% margin? Thank you. Thank you for the questions. Sergio, please talk about the beginning of operation in Suspensys, Mogi Guaçu, what we expect, and then, Esteban, if you can mention not only return on investment, also with other projects. And then to talk about equipment, implements, pricing, profitability, better profitability. Sergio? Thank you for the question, Lucas. Our operation in Suspensys, in Mogi, will produce front axles. Production should begin in Q1 2025. Certainly, we will have a ramp up. At the end of this year, we will be producing a little in Caxias do Sul. We will be machining components.
We won't be producing the whole front axle. This will help us to guarantee to avoid disruptions, and we should reach normal revenue in Q2 2025, sending the total demand to our clients. David? Okay, Sergio, feel free to talk about the profitability of this. Esteban can also supplement and talk about capital allocation in other projects and auto parts. Feel free to supplement. In terms of return, we have difficulty to be specific, but what we said before is that the performance, and to be aligned with averages we have in Randoncorp, it won't be different. It won't be different concerning what we already have today. Finally, talking about semi-trailers, yes, we had a first quarter that was full of problems, adversities, as we reported previously. Problems due to auxiliary software and the implementation of a modern version of SAP.
But in the second quarter, we had a more normal situation, and within this normality in operations, cost of transformation became more reasonable, and this helped us to increase margin. We had a better sale price and an increase in volumes. Our vision looking forward is to have more normal times. In Q1, we had the difficulties already mentioned. New software, transfer of products between plants, changes in layout. In our second quarter, we foresee a more normal situation. And unfortunately, we had the climate catastrophe in the south, the floods in Rio Grande do Sul, not only in financial terms, but also performance as a whole. We spent a lot of time helping people with the problems of the flood.
So, things, although we improved a lot, we believe that now in Q3, we will, knocking on wood, without new catastrophes, that will allow us to our normal operations. So we're always aligned to market conditions. We hope a recovery in agro business, but with our production capacity more, in a more normal way. We continue with a good backlog. We have a good perspective with Fenatran, which is near, which historically is a good generator of new business, accumulating. We have a change in regulations, in braking, in the braking system for trucks. Next year, we will have the EBS system, which is much more expensive than ABS braking system. This can generate, at the end of the year, a higher volume of sales with many businessmen buying more trucks to avoid this higher price next year.
So we hope an acceleration return the recovery of agro business and also EBS braking system. Lucas, Sergio answered all the points, if you want-- if you need more clarification. Okay, the next question, it comes from Andre Ferreira. Andre Ferreira Bradesco. Good morning. Thank you. I have two topics. The first, expectations for the U.S. market in the U.S. in 2025, 2026. First, do you-- are you working with OEMs in the U.S. to export parts from Brazil? Does this justify a plant in the U.S. or a partnership in a plant? And do you have more acquisitions in the U.S.? And the second topic: looking at OEMs, do you believe the margins can go above 7%? We're seeing a drop in volumes. Would it make sense to think that margins are closer to historical values, 8%? Thank you, Andre.
Sergio, you can talk about the potential in the U.S. in heavy vehicles, and then Esteban, you can talk about the margins in OEMs. Thank you, Andre, for the question. There is a consensus in terms of EPA 2027. The U.S. market for heavy trucks will have a pre-buy, and this will not happen in 2026. Maybe in the second half of 2025, due to the size of the market, the difficulties in production. The large OEMs, one of them announced a new plant, not only for this volume, but due to their market share expectations in having a greater market share. So they don't stop growing. So the trend is clear. Yes, we have contacts with OEMs. We don't have anything closed, but we have negotiations in progress.
But we believe that for this segment, USMCA—use USMCA—the free trade effort in the U.S., is very relevant. Exports from Brazil compensate deficiencies. The final solution, you need U.S. content. So our vision is that being present there and manufacturing our auto parts in the U.S. or Canada, Mexico, is fundamental. It's fundamental to be there because of U.S. content and to allow the sustainability of the business. In this sense, we're thinking of a greenfield or an acquisition. So you, you buy capacity, know-how, local know-how. It's a better bridge, it's a better path for us, and we're exploring many opportunities. We have in our pipeline, many studies in progress. As we say, M&A, you go, sometimes you make all the studies and the deal is not signed. There are many uncertainties, but we are—we intend to benefit from these-...
demands, there are restrictions on capacity to exports. So this means to us, and we are looking for the best way to be established in the U.S. as a manufacturer of auto parts through acquisitions. Thank you, Sergio. Andre, thank you for the question. Concerning the second part on margins, this improvement we are seeing in the last quarters, and also we saw Sergio's answer. We had to, in the first quarter, we had to update our ERP. Another two factors also contributed to improved margin. In Q3, Q4, we had some sales campaigns. Part of these deliveries went to Q1, putting pressure on margin. And the second factor, more work days in Q2, we know that our OEM depends on us, and with greater volumes, helps us to dilute fixed costs.
This margin is being built in the domestic market with good volumes, and this allows us to build better margins. Looking forward, OEMs operate with 10%-12%. This continues to be our goal. Any improvement in volume will help us in this direction. Today, the positive factor we have seen is restriction on CPV, the cost of raw materials. Cost of raw materials. So when we build this better margin in the domestic margin, with the margin of the export market, normally, we know that traditionally, the export market helps with a better margin than the domestic margin. The third point, which can help us to have this improvement in margin in the future, is railway cars. We have an order for 180 railway cars. We delivered only 52 in Q2.
The rest should be delivered in the second semester of this year, and will help us to continue building better margins. And also, we have a question from Daniel Chagas, from GTI Investimentos. He talks about market share in implements, equipment. We have a market share of 24%. And here, Daniel, we always compare gain in market share and profitability. We believe that this recovery of market share and the recovery of leadership will come due to the quality of our products. If you allow me, Esteban, to. When we look at the picture, we had operational difficulties with a new ERP, which limited our production capacity in the first semester, when agro business in Q1 was booming. We were not able to benefit from this because of our production difficulties for the reasons we gave. In the second semester, we normalized our production capacity.
We had the floods in Rio Grande do Sul that hurt us. But agro, which is an important part of our—for semi-trailers, ours, it suffered a drought in agro. Having said this, we closed the first quarter with a drop of 4 percentage points, now 2, a drop of 2 in second semester, and in July, within this normalization of conditions, I had explained in Lucas's question. In July, we have 6 percentage points above the market. Our vision is that in the second semester, which is stronger than the first six months, and now with a greater normalization, we will also in the beginning of August. Until today, we have had a good market share. So we're seeing a return to normality... Thank you. Now, the next question, Gabriel Rezende, analyst, Itaú. Good morning, Gabriel. Thank you, Caroline. Congratulations for the result.
My first question is about income tax. We see 40% in Q1 and 45% in Q2. Could you comment on the income tax? We see a higher tax. How can—what explains this? Is there a reason, maybe less credit? And why the company decided for this? Can you comment on the backlog of implements? How many months do you have in terms of backlog? And if we can, do you believe we will have less orders due to the trade show in the last quarter? Thank you. Thank you, Gabriel, for the questions. Paulo will answer the question about rates. It's higher this year. There are reasons for this. And Sergio, if you can comment on backlog of orders in the different production lines.
So if you can give us some color, and also the perspectives for the trade show at the end of the year. Thank you, Gabriel. Thank you for the question. This quarter, we had important factors that had an effect on income tax. Three reasons: First, restructuring of Fanacif plant in Uruguay. We did not record this due to this loss, and this is related, and the projections, and also the fact that we will not receive cash from this operation, Fanacif in Uruguay. The government approved a new law in terms of taxation and benefits from ICMS tax. So we had an impact this year on Nakata, due to this. Third point, this is something we're working on in Q3, in new projections, long-term projections, in all the verticals, but especially OEMs. So we will update you on future impacts during the next quarters.
What do I mean by this? I mean that in this quarter, specifically, we had a strong impact in income tax. So right now, we can't say that this will continue. Our expectation is that it will not continue, that we will have lower income tax rates, but we will keep you informed about this. Thank you. Sergio, backlog. Thank you, Gabriel. As Esteban mentioned, we produce semi-trailers for all applications in different segments in the market. We have a backlog that is very good, four months, five months of backlog. And especially for industrial cargo, siders, products for agro business, for short distances, fourth axle. Now, those for long distances, the backlog, the backlog is much smaller. What I mean- What I'm trying to say that it's heterogeneous, it's not the same.
But when we add up all the, all the markets, I prefer not to give you a number... because of the competition. But yes, we have a healthy backlog. Many months of backlog. Thank you. Thank you, Gabriel. Now the next question from Banco Safra, Luiza Mussi . Good morning, Luiza. Good morning. Good morning. Can you hear me now? Yes. Two quick questions. First, auto parts, weaker demand for agricultural equipment, and how this affected revenue, especially cast products. What is the perspective for the rest of the year? And the second question, how do you see logistics costs in, with, in terms of what happened with the floods, the logistics costs? Thank you, Luiza. The first, Sergio, could you please answer, and then Esteban on logistics. Luiza, please repeat the question. Luiza, would you like to repeat the first question?
I'd like to understand better how you see demand for agricultural machines. Okay, this segment, not agro as a whole. Agro as a whole, it has subsegments, agricultural machines to prepare the soil, to plant, to harvest, and also transportation, then taking the product to the ports. So machines itself has a very difficult year. And the expectation for the rest of this year, second semester, continue to be challenging. In the case of... You asked about machinery. In semi-trailers, since we have other harvests coming in and we don't have space to store grains, we know this, these grains must be transported, and this grain so brings us optimism for transportation. We believe that for the producers of agriculture equipment and our parts for them, it continues to be small, but we want to grow, and growth will be challenging. Thank you.
Concerning your second question on, in terms of impacts on logistics due to the floods in the south of the country, I will divide this into two parts: local logistics, Brazil and the state, and international logistics, the price of international trades. Concerning the state, it's almost normal, very small challenges in reality to the problems in May and June. All our operations are all very close to normal. For the second semester, we shouldn't have an impact in terms of cost of freight, local freight, domestic freight. Now, international freight, yes, we see a pressure on prices, both inbound and outbound, and this has to do with global dynamics. It's outside our control. Here, the perspective is that it will become normal when we have more availability of containers and ships. Thank you. Now, our next question comes from the analyst of UBS, Andressa Varotto. You may proceed.
Good morning. So the main points, I have a question on Addiante company. Can you give us an update on the operation called Addiante profitability? Thank you, Andressa, for the question. Paulo, please answer Addiante. Andressa, thank you for your question. We continue strong in this journey of Addiante. Very good acceptance by the market, especially differential, the services, maintenance for differential, productivity and operational safety. 2023 was a very positive year. 2024, we continue strong in growth. We are participating in very important and relevant projects. Right now, we can't share anything with you, but as soon as we have the results, we will update you. But we continue strong and very optimistic with this project and this investment, and the perspectives for the future are very positive.
And we're seeing great possibilities of anticipating the business case, maybe in 2025, which will be the second or third year. As soon as we can give you more details, we will do this. Thank you. Another question concerning the guidance. The year began a little slower. Do you believe you will reach the guidance, the numbers in the, in the margin? Margin seems to be challenging. Please comment on perspectives and how you intend to reach the guidance with the performance of the second semester. Perfect, Andressa. Sergio, please comment the metrics of the guidance, and this is a question from Andre Mazini, mentioning margin, so we can answer these two questions. Thank you for the question. We, we established the guidance at the beginning of the year with the information. At the time, as we already mentioned, we had many unforeseen, many unforeseen things.
We had the catastrophe, the flood in the south of the country, Argentina, with a strong devaluation. Also, higher taxes, as Paulo mentioned. Sergio, your audio is a little low. Better now? Yes. I said that we established our guidance with our vision at the beginning of the year, but unfortunately, we had the catastrophe, the floods in the south, devaluation in Argentina, inflation in Argentina. Many events that were unforeseen, adjustments in EBITDA, other events that we're not including, but expressive numbers. And we, as Fras-le, our controlled company, we decided to close the plant in Uruguay and transfer most of the production to our operations in Brazil. A very good project with it's an optimization of footprint, but initially, will have a great impact on our results. So due to our decision, this large number of unforeseen items, almost BRL 125 million.
So all of this is bringing a more challenging scenario to us. We are still maintaining and we are saying—we are reaffirming the guidance. We continue with the guidance we established. We're committed to work on all the opportunities in, during the second semester, which traditionally, historically, is much better than the first semester. So we continue with our guidance. We have challenges that we had not foreseen in the first half of the year, and we will work for a better second semester. Thank you. Thank you. Now, we will have the last question from Bank of America, Gabriel Frazão. Good morning. Thank you. My question is about the margin for auto parts, which went up 70 basis points in relation to last year.
Even with Castertech and Mogi Guaçu, can you give us an idea of the margin of the new plants when they become operational, Mogi Guaçu and Castertech? Thank you, Gabriel, for the question. I will pass the floor to Esteban to comment on performance of auto parts, and then, Sergio, if you can add. I believe you already answered a little about Mogi Guaçu, but the operational efficiency, if you can comment based on the margin. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Gabriel, for the question. Concerning auto parts, we have a margin between 14%-16%, depending on the volumes and mix. Sometimes we can go over this number. Castertech, Suspensys, they don't necessarily all work with the same level of margin. Now, we can work between 14%-16%, and Sergio will comment.
With all these improvements in operational efficiency, this should have a positive impact on the margin. Yes, Gabriel, we have done a lot of things. I answered in a previous question, the improvements we made in the plants. So now we're on a new level of performance. Our auto parts, comparing with buses, articulated buses, working with six people in Castertech, a model operation, lower labor. So we have a similar operation in Caxias do Sul, in the south of the country. But in general, we have worked a lot with lean manufacturing, a lot of automation, and this really has brought good results. We have production cells for brake components, a very modern cell. In the current operations, we are modernizing to increase productivity. We intend to continue this way. This is fundamental for our success.
I would like to add, in the case of Castertech Mogi, we have another benefit. Today, we buy a lot, although we buy a lot of products from outside, so our demand is much higher than our production capacity. When we add the new plants and increase our internal capacity, we will be producing products that today we are buying, and when doing this insourcing, we will expect a better margin, a higher margin. Thank you. So thus, we would like to conclude our Q&A session, and I will pass the floor to Sergio for his final comments. I'd like to thank once again, your participation. All this material is available on our website. If you have more questions, if you need more clarification, our investor relations team is available to help you. Once again, thank you, and we will meet in the next event. Thank you.
Have a good day. Thank you.