Good morning. Welcome to Ser Educacional conference call to discuss the company's results for the first quarter of 2021. With me today are Jânyo Diniz, Chief Executive Officer, João Aguiar, Chief Financial Officer, and Rodrigo Alves, Investor Relations Officer. We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in a listening mode during the company's presentation. After the presentation, we will start the Q&A session for analysts and shareholders when further instructions will be provided. Should any participant need assistance during the call, please press star zero to reach the operator. The event will also be broadcast live, audio and slides, via internet at ri.sereducacional.com. You can also access the webcast, audio and slides through tablets and smartphones equipped with the iOS and Android systems.
The replay of this event will be available soon after its conclusion for a period of one week. Before proceeding, we would like to make it clear that forward-looking statements may be made during this conference call relating to the business prospects of Ser Educacional as well as to its operating and financial forecasts and targets. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they relate to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors may also affect the future performances of Ser Educacional and could lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Jânyo Diniz, Chief Executive Officer, who will begin the presentation. You may begin, Mr. Jânyo.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in our results conference call for the first quarter of 2021. A positive quarter in terms of results, despite the difficulties still posed by the adverse economic scenario and the effects of COVID-19. Let us please go to slide four of the presentation where we show our highlights for the quarter. A significant increase in the base education that cost and expense control made net profits to increase 78% in comparison to last year. Adjusted by non-recurring events grew 20%. In fact, we had a positive operating cash flow that is less favorable due to the commercial discounts given during the summer enrollment season and the postponement of enrollments due to the pandemic. UNIFACIMED and UNIJUAZEIRO, which integrated in November 2010 and its initial synergies and UNESC which was consolidated this quarter.
Not least, we had our Ubíqua had its first fully and which moved to operational. Ubíqua also posted solid approval rates of 90% or more by students. Considering the satisfaction with the hybrid model itself as well with our class held by Notável Mestre, a new concept that we brought and that allows students to take classes with national alumni without leaving home, bringing academic differentials to experience. On slide five, we show quickly the concept of Ubíqua and its market differentials. Ubíqua's learning that creates new features to students to provide them access to quality education anytime, wherever they are, and the best way to access learning at fair price. In this way, we create a value proposition that is increasingly differentiated to the students and sustainable to our results.
This is only possible now because some years ago we started to invest in cutting-edge technology, quality content, different formats of learning and distribution of education, creating higher education ecosystems that offers courses whether in person, online or hybrid. As a result, we are launching new products on the market on a high frequency basis, such as shorter course and accelerated graduation as we did last year. This year, we launched a technology course with student certifications in partnership with tech giants like IBM and Google through Singular Tech School. Now we launched this differential in our undergraduate course with classes with renowned teachers we call Notável Mestre Classes. As you can see from the results and by the great amount of new features that our business has already been transformed, what we have been presenting since last quarter is that we are initiating to harvest these results.
Even better, I believe this is just the beginning because the more we study the possibilities within our new ecosystems and see the interesting things that are being produced in the market and the ideas that our teams are bringing, the more I see upsides to our business and to repeat our formula for success. Moving now to the operating results on slide seven, we show the summer intake season results so far. As you probably heard, the process as a whole was delayed due to the postponement of taking tests and to illustrate that we provide a preview of the month of April behavior so that you can better see the trend to the whole semester. As I mentioned before, the digital teaching had good performance both in the quarter and in April.
Given the recent performance we should have better than expected in this segment in the year. This is the result of the repositioning we started last year, launching new course in line with market demands, as well as launching new online distribution formats via social networks, messaging applications, among others. The hybrid education segment, on the other hand, had a good intake during November to January. As of February, intake started to fall in line with the increase in the number of cases in the second wave of COVID-19, and started to grow again in April with the opening of ProUni and CRC, which historically brings marginal funding in the wake of these events. In this sense, it is worth noting that the percentage fall in intake end in the first quarter was reduced almost by half since April.
On slide eight, we show the evolution of the student base comparing to the end of the quarter in comparison with the month of April. As can be noted, our students surpassed an important symbolic mark of 200,000 students enrolling, thanks to strong growth in digital education. On slide nine, we show that on-campus, now hybrid student base, is following its course of becoming increasingly relevant among health and engineering course. This proves that Ser Educacional has a premium and a resilient student, which explain a lot why we managed to remain profitable above the market average, generating cash and distributing dividends even after so many years of crisis. Another highlight in the field student base that's no longer relevant to our results, now representing only 7% of our total students.
The average ticket for the hybrid segment stabilized this year compared to last year, having even grown slightly due to acquisitions. In the digital segment, the reductions in the average ticket were due to a change in the mix, given that 100% online courses are being the main fields for new enrollments in our institutions. These were my initial comments. Now I give the floor to João Aguiar to talk about the financial results for the quarter.
Thank you, Jânyo, and hello, everyone. Please go to slide 10, where we have a summary of the results, which in general was positive, especially if we consider that a significant part of the intake was transferred to the second quarter due to the pandemic, and without a significant recovery in employment and income of students.
Thus, the recognition of revenue remained practically stable, with the following revenues from hybrid being compensated by the growth of digital teaching and acquisitions that began to be consolidated with UNIFACIMED and UNIJUAZEIRO, 100% aggregate in the quarter, as well as two months of UNESC that was integrated in February. In addition, revenue was impacted by two operational topics. First, as of 2020.2, we changed our paths due to issue renegotiating strategy, focusing on the reduction of future default for re-enrollments, but charging the amounts due under discounts. This caused the operating discount to increase, putting a little more pressure on revenue, on the other hand, reducing financial expenses. As a result, the final effect was slightly lower adjusted EBITDA and would be flat if it were not for this change, but improving our financial results.
Another important factor impacting the results was that for internal purposes, we cut revenue recognition as of March 25th. However, the last week of March was very strong in new enrollments during the Consumer's Week campaign, especially in digital education, and therefore, we will have some in additional revenue to be recognized in the second quarter. Another highlight was the optimization of personal costs, which went from 31.2% of net revenue to 28.7%, demonstrating the first effects of Ubíqua in the optimization of educational costs. Therefore, the stabilization of revenues, coupled with the optimization of costs and net financial results, as well as a lower rate of non-recurring events in the quarter, almost doubled our net profit this quarter with the adjusted net income showing a growth of 23%. On slide 11, we present our results by segment, which is growing at the pace of an ed tech.
Now represents 13% of our net revenue and 14% of our adjusted EBITDA. Another important factor is that acquisitions started to add the results, still in a timid way because they were institution with low margins. But as they are mostly med schools, they will certainly improve given we have the ongoing integration process that will bring operational synergies starting the coming months. On slide 12, we have the analysis of our net profit segregating the effects of IFRS 16. See how this account effect ends up reducing the profit by BRL 7 million in this quarter, which shows that we're still part of our profit damage and to be recognized in the future because of this change in the practice. On slide 13, we show the average term of accounts receivable, considering the new practice of-
We implemented at the end of the year, since we started to write off bad debts in two years instead of one year, better align our accounting practice with the company's operational reality. As shown on the slide, with the average term of accounts receivables decreasing the new comparison between the two quarters due to the regularization of the payments of FIES and the increase in provisioning for debtors that we made in line with the historical behavior of students of out-of-pockets. Even so, the FIES receivables increases slightly in comparison with the first quarter 2020, given that the impacts of the pandemic were not reflected in the past year, and we believe that this is in line with the expected behavior given the current environment. On slide 14, we show the improvement of operating cash flow, reversing last year and generating approximately BRL 38.5 million of cash.
If we consider that this quarter we paid about BRL 28 million of taxes for the severance payment of [inaudible], our cash generation was BRL 66.9 million, and post CapEx BRL 55.6 million, which is very much in line with our reported adjusted EBITDA. On slide 15, we present our CapEx that reached BRL 10 million in the quarter due to the reduction of real estate investments, while most systems developments and user experience improvements are being treated as expenditure, especially if they are being produced in-house.
Finally, on slide 16, we have the debt liquid, which reached BRL 117 million, mainly due to the acquisitions of UNIFACIMED, UniSuécio, and this quarter of UNESC. If we consider the acquisition of UNIFAS, our indebtedness will reach less than one term adjusted EBITDA, what can still be considered the leverage balance sheet. These were my comments, and I would like to give the floor back to Jânyo to making his final remarks.
Thank you, Aguiar. Before we start the question and answer sessions, we will highlight that we hope that some interesting levers of value generation will materialize in the short and medium term, and that they will certainly bring improvements in the results, as well as bring important strategic developments in the future. The first pillar is the growth of our medical student base, which alone represents BRL 57 million gross revenue in the quarter, an increase of 84% compared to the first quarter of 2020. As we still have only about 70% seats used, we will have contracted growth for the next few years, not to mention the gain in synergies that like most of these jobs have now entered through acquisitions.
The second pillar is the digital learning growth that we will surely highlight based growth of students and results this year and in coming years. The third is Ubíqua, which allows the creation of a complete ecosystems with high technology and academic quality, in which by functioning as a LEGO, allow us to evolve our offer to new course and distributions models. In terms of short-term results, it's clear your success in our respects, and was very accepted by the students, teachers, and operationally are contributing to the maximizations of returns through better distribution of course. As you can see, we are very excited about our future and we have some reasons for this. The growth cycle this year signs of ramp up. A proper operational structure and in line with our new reality with a return on investment greater than the market average pay.
New revenue generation lines are being created and implemented with speed and profitability. We still have a lot of space to generate synergies from recent acquisitions, and the pipeline of new acquisitions remains heated. We now have a higher education ecosystems under construction with a lot of growth potential ahead of us. Thank you all, and I am at your disposal for any clarifications that you may need.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session for investors and analysts. If you have a question, please press star one on your telephone. If your question is answered during the session, you may remove it from the line by pressing the pound key. The questions will be answered in the order they are received. We ask that you use the handset when you are asking a question in order to maintain the excellent sound quality. Please stand by while we connect to the questions. Thank you. That concludes the question and answer session for investors and analysts. I would like to pass the word to Mr. Jânyo Diniz for the final considerations. Mr. Jânyo, you may proceed.
Thank you all for participating in our disclosure of results and our investor relations is on hand to help you with further information. Have a nice day and weekend.
This concludes today's presentation. You may disconnect your line now.