Good afternoon. For those who need simultaneous translation to English, you can press the globe icon on the bottom bar of your Zoom screen to enter the English room. After that, you can select Mute Original Audio. Good afternoon to all. This is Ian Nunes speaking, IR Manager of Tegma. Welcome to the Conference Call for the Earnings concerning the Q4 of 2024. This conference is being recorded, and the replay may be accessed in the company's website after the call. We inform you that all participants will be in listen-only mode during the presentation, after which we will have the Q&A session when further instructions will be provided. Again, for those listening in English, we have in the chat the link to the presentation in English.
Because we will be showing only the version in Portuguese, I'd like to give the floor now to Nivaldo Tuba, CEO of Tegma, who will begin the presentation. Nivaldo, please, you may proceed.
Good afternoon. This is Nivaldo Tuba speaking, CEO of Tegma. On behalf of the entire company, I thank you once again for participating in another earnings conference call. With me here are Ramon Perez, our CFO and IRO, as well as Ian Nunes, our Investor Relations Manager.
Very well. As usual, we start our presentation on slide two, where you can find our disclaimer regarding forward-looking statements. Moving to slide three, we have fourth-quarter highlights. First, we highlight the proposal for payment of dividends and complementary interest on equity referring to fiscal year 2024 to be submitted to the shareholders' meeting to take place on April 9th. A distribution of BRL 39 million, or BRL 0.59 per share, was suggested, the cut-off date for which will be April 9th, with payment on April 23rd. This distribution, added to the advances paid throughout 2024, corresponds to 66% of the net income for the period, and the dividend yield of these payments combined is 9.7%. The second highlight is an important achievement, which is the result of the company's efforts and the effort of our Sustainability Department.
After the publication of our second integrated report, we were among the finalists in the 2024 Abrasca Award for Best Integrated Report among companies with net revenue of up to BRL 3 billion. This recognition in such a short time shows our evolution when it comes to sustainability and makes us even more eager to go for this award in the coming years. The third highlight is the arrival of Paulo Franceschini, who joined Tegma as Officer of the Integrated Logistics Division. He will be responsible for the operational and commercial management of this division. Paolo takes over at a time of great challenges for the division. One of his missions is to ensure the continuity of the current anchor contracts, increasing productivity, and guaranteeing their renewal.
He will also work to find new clients who demand the services already provided by Tegma, as well as look for new segments and services related to the current ones. Moving now to slide four, let's talk about the main data related to the market of new vehicles in Brazil. As can be seen in the top graph, domestic sales in the Q4 of 2024 were up 14% year-on-year. This performance is due to the continued improvement in economic conditions in the country, especially the fall in unemployment and higher income. We would point out also that the legal framework for guarantees approved in October 2023 has contributed to expand auto loans and also explains part of this performance. On the bottom left, we show that production grew by 17% in Q4 2024.
This increase was due to the performance of domestic sales, as well as exports of vehicles from Brazil, which grew 41%, a consequence in turn of the depreciation of the Brazilian currency, the real, and the growth of some important markets. On slide five, we present the main operating indicators of the Automotive Logistics Division. The number of vehicles transported in the Q4 of 2024 totaled 202,000 units, up 15% year-on-year. This increase is a reflection of the growth in domestic sales and exports, as explained in the previous slide. Our market share contracted 0.3 percentage points year-on-year to 24% in the Q4 of 2024. This drop in market share, compared to the previous year, was due to the lower-than-average performance of the automakers' market, to which we have significant exposure.
Lastly, the average distance traveled in Q4 2024 was 1.3% higher year-on-year due to the increase in the average distance of domestic trips, which in turn stems from greater or higher sales outside the southeastern region of Brazil. After these initial highlights, I'll give the floor to our Chief Financial Officer, Ramon Perez, who will talk about our results, cash flow, and other indicators.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Moving to slide six, let's talk about the results of the Automotive Logistics Division. We can see in the top graph that there was a 41% increase in the division's net revenue in Q4 2024. This is explained by the operational performance already explained, in addition to the transportation tariff adjustment in 2024.
In this Q4, Fastl ine, our operation focused on the logistics of used vehicles and new motorcycles, contributed positively to the division's performance, as did the yard management and vehicle storage operations, due to a high demand from the automakers. In addition, we highlighted in our earnings release the increase in 2024 of a service that, although recurring in our operations, has been gaining prominence, namely the transfer of vehicles between yards and factories for some clients. The continuity of this service in subsequent quarters will depend on client demand and is not linked to the division's recurring transportation service. Below, we see the evolution of EBITDA in the Q4 compared to the previous year, as well as EBITDA margin, based on the concept of EBITDA excluding the apportionment of expenses for 2024.
We see the margin increasing from 15.1% to 20.1% by virtue of productivity gains in the automotive operation, with growth in operating indicators and revenues, as well as control of fixed costs and administrative expenses. On slide seven, we have the results of the Integrated Logistics Division. We can see that the division's net revenue in Q4 increased by 1% year-on-year. We have this performance despite a reduced arrival of ships carrying sodium sulfate and soda ash, which drives the chemicals operation. On the other hand, the 9% growth of the division's net revenue in the full year 2024, also year-on-year, is the result of two new contracts to carry soda ash and the impaired comparative base due to reduced operations at the time of fleet renewal that took place in 2023.
As we announced in the last quarter, the new contract for the household appliances operation of a new client includes a smaller scope of services compared to the former client we had in the same sector. This means that revenues are still modest. On the other hand, we intend this new contract to represent an important new avenue for growth in services and revenues for our division. In the chart below, we can see that EBITDA margin in Q4 fell from 29% to 21.8%, excluding the apportionment of expenses. This contraction is explained mainly by reduced volumes of the chemicals operation, as explained when we talked about the revenue dynamics, as well as a lag in passing on increased freight costs to clients. On slide eight, we show GDL's financial highlights.
We can see in the top graph that net revenue for the Q4 of 2024 grew by 37% year-on-year, totaling BRL 65 million. This growth is the result of increased demand for bonded warehousing services and demand from distribution centers for the segments of consumer goods, automotive parts, and heavy machinery. The company recently opened a new distribution center to accommodate this demand. Revenues from storage of imported vehicles, which contributed to the strong growth of recent quarters in Q4 2024, now have a more balanced comparative basis and are not growing at the same rate as before. On the bottom chart, we show on the left the evolution of the joint venture's net income, which stood at BRL 13 million in the Q4 2024, up 39% compared to Q4 2023.
This performance is a reflection of the expansion in revenue combined with operating efficiency in terms of costs and expenses. Lastly, at the bottom right, in 2024, GDL has paid BRL 54 million in dividends and posted a return on equity of 91.6%. Moving on to slide nine, we present the company's consolidated results. Net revenue for the Q4 was BRL 624 million, increasing 38% year-on-year, basically explained by the growth in the Automotive Logistics Division in the period. Below, we see that in the Q4, EBITDA margin expanded by 3.9 percentage points, reflecting the increase in operating efficiency in the Automotive Division, with improved operational indicators and control of costs and expenses. It is worth noting that this quarter's expenses were impacted by higher spending related to M&A initiatives amounting to BRL 1.7 million.
In the full year 2024, the 10% increase in expenses above inflation in the period is due to higher spending with attorneys' fees and consulting firms involving a number of topics ranging from competition issues to tax contingencies and M&A initiatives. Finally, net income for the Q4 stood at BRL 85 million, up 67% year-on-year, with net margin expanding by 2.4 percentage points. This performance is due to the improvement in the operating results, as explained before, coupled with growth in equity income in the period. It is worth noting that this expansion took place even with an increase in the tax rate of income tax and social contribution, following the approval of Law 14789, which came into force on January 1, 2024.
Moving on to slide 10, the graph on the left shows the cash-to-cash cycle at the end of the Q4, which was 40 days, higher than the level of the past quarter, but within the normal range of the last 12 months. CapEx in the Q4 of 2024 totaled BRL 17 million, or 2.7% of net revenue. Among the most significant investments were improvements to two plots of land used in the vehicles operation to expand storage capacity for vehicles for imports and local production, totaling BRL 6.5 million, as well as the acquisition of semi-trailers for the vehicle logistics operation in the amount of BRL 3.8 million. Lastly, on the right, we show the company's free cash flow, which in the Q4 was positive at BRL 27 million.
This cash generation is due to the growth of the Automotive Logistics Division and the improvement in working capital in the period. On slide 11, we present details of our capital structure. In the graph on the left, we can see the company's current cash of BRL 241 million, which is significantly higher than the gross debt to be repaid in the following years. In the Q4, we didn't make any payments of debt, and we did not raise any debt. In the table below, we can see that our net cash position in December 2024 was BRL 138 million. Finally, on the top right, we present a history of our cost of debt, which currently stands at CDI plus 1.6%. Below is information on our rating, which was reaffirmed by Fitch in April of 2024 as A local, with stable outlook.
Moving on to slide 12, we show the company's profitability indicators. Return on invested capital for the Q4 of 2024 in gray was 39.5%, an increase of 4.8 percentage points quarter on quarter. This is due to the performance of the Automotive Logistics Division and the new stability of invested capital in the period. Also, in the case of return on equity, the orange line, we see an increase of 3.2 percentage points, both due to the same reasons for the increase in ROIC and due to GDL's greater contribution to the company's results via equity income. In the graph on the bottom left, we can see that EVA in Q4 2024 rose to a range between BRL 128 million and BRL 156 million, depending on the weighted average cost of capital used as a base.
This expansion is due to the improvement in our operating results and the new stability of invested capital in the period. On the right, we show the history of dividends and interest on capital paid by the company. The black line shows the payout of distributions, which in 2024, including the distribution to be proposed in the shareholders' meeting on April 9th, 2025, will be 66.4%. Dividend yield of 2024 payout was 9.7%. On the last slide, we show our share performance, the orange line, compared to the Ibovespa index in black and the small caps index in red, using as a comparison the last year's closing position. Tegma's shares, as shown in the top chart, outperformed both indices from the beginning of February due to the positive performance of the automotive market and the company's results.
Finally, in the chart below, we present a history of the multiples at which Tegma's shares have been trading. Despite the robust indicators and results, we can see that our shares continue to show multiples below their historical average. I would like to thank everyone once again for your participation and interest in our company, and let us start our Q&A session.
Thank you, Ramon. We are starting the Q&A session for investors and analysts. If you would like to ask a question, please press the raise hand button. If your question has been answered, you can leave the queue by clicking "Put your hand down." If you would also like to ask a question in writing, you can do so. Please type your question in the Q&A field at the bottom of the screen. There is a question by Gabriel Rezende with Itaú.
Operator, please enable Gabriel's mic. Gabriel, you can speak. The question is, we cannot hear you. If you were talking, your microphone is not coming through, but your audio is enabled. Please go ahead. Since Gabriel, for some reason, cannot be heard, there is a question from Christian Oliveira, and we will come back to Gabriel in a minute. Christian?
Hello, Ian, and everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. Can you hear me?
Yes, Christian, we can hear you.
Perfect. I would like you to explore the tariffs dynamic for the Q2. We see a very positive tariff performance in the revenue per kilometer, expanding almost 20%. You spoke in the release that there is a positive effect in the mix of services and yard management and more transfer of vehicles between yards and factories of the automakers. This service appears in the revenue, but not in volume, which is what we use for projections. Have you explored that? I would like you to elaborate on the mix. To what extent do you think that this is recurrent? Do you think that there will be a higher demand for this kind of service?
Hello, Christian, this is Nivaldo Tuba speaking. Thank you for the question. Indeed, what you mentioned is a big differential we have at Tegma. We do not just do transportation, in other words, moving the vehicle from one point to another, but adding logistics services, especially PDI, yard services, yard management services. This additional service ends up adding value to our tariff and, of course, to our revenue. This is a service which has been increasing gradually.
We also have foreseen expanding some yards in the coming quarters so that we can provide this service in a consolidated and integrated way. This will add value to our tariffs and to our revenues. When we translate that in terms of value of kilometer traveled, this is an increment. Thank you, Nivaldo. Let us, Christian, anything else you would like to add?
No, that was the question. Thank you very much. It was very clear.
Let's try to hear Gabriel Rezende.
Hi there. Can you hear me now?
Yes, Gabriel. Now we can hear you.
Oh, thank you, Ian. Good afternoon, Nivaldo. I have two questions. If you could elaborate on the company's expectation of payout for 2025.
I understand you do not want to give us a guidance, but I just want to know whether we could expect a level similar to what happened in 2024, close to 66% or something higher, considering that the company has a very healthy debt and a very liquid balance sheet. Perhaps the payout could be a little higher. Second question. What do you feel is the mood of the automakers? What kind of conversations are you having in terms of volume expectations? In the last investor day, Nivaldo said that he expected kind of a flatter market in 2025, but 2025 has started with a positive surprise. Do you maintain what you shared with us in the investor day? Would you expect this to improve?
Thank you, Gabriel. This is Ramon speaking. How are you doing? First question regarding dividend payout.
What I can tell you is, I would like to draw your attention to our proposal to the management where we submitted a quite significant increase in our CapEx. We had a CapEx of BRL 57 million in 2024 to almost BRL 90 million in 2025. We also need to take into account that, and this is something that we have been mentioning over and over for several months now, actually for several years now, that we have been preserving our financial leverage capability and linking it to discussions that have taken place in recent years regarding possible M&A deals. Another aspect to be considered is that even with this level of payout of 66%, if you look at our history, this is not far from past percentages of around 70%. It is much higher than our policy, which is to have a payout of 50%, 55%.
Lastly, I would highlight that even with a 66% dividend payout, which is very much aligned with increased CapEx and maintenance over financial flexibility and leverage flexibility, we achieved a dividend yield close to 10%. If you take all of that combined, we consider that this is the adequate level for the moment. We did not commit to 70% or 80% payout. We have an indicative policy, and we do active management of that depending on the tactical and strategic movements of the company for the short and midterm. All right, this is what I can tell you regarding that topic, and I'll turn the floor to Nivaldo.
Hello, Gabriel. For your second question, yes, in our investor day, we had an outlook, a commercial outlook, and these expectations effectively changed. They did not change dramatically, but they changed improving a little bit.
I can give you firsthand news. There was a testimonial by the CEO of Stellantis saying that Brazil is a stable country that is poised for sustainable growth in the automotive market. He announced the hiring of 1,500 new employees for their productive unit. This is good news coming from an industrial conglomerate, which is very robust. Now, to your question, the outlook for the first two months of 2025 was quite interesting. Sales in the first two months grew 8% over 2024. That is an important number and very much in line with the expectation of growth published by Anfavea and other regulatory bodies and their expectations for 2025. Given the amount of uncertainties in the Brazilian economy at the moment, that is different from the Stellantis CEO. We expect, we consider this 8% increase in the first two months as being a substantial growth.
To give an example of this growth, this was driven by intermediate automakers such as Honda, BYD, Caoa Chery, Citroën, and traditional automakers such as General Motors, Volkswagen, and Toyota, these growing slightly below the 8%. Considering the big ones, Fiat was the only bigger one that grew more than the market average. We also had a slight negative highlight that pushed the average down, which was Hyundai, which had a relevant sales reduction. Gabriel, you see, we had the first two months doing quite well. A first two months that gives sustainability to the beginning of the year, and we expect to maintain that level and that level of growth following the expectations of the regulatory bodies.
Excellent. Thank you.
Gabriel, anything else you would like to add?
Ian, if I can ask one more question, thank you, Ramon and Nivaldo, but if I may, what is your expectation for GDL? GDL became much more representative in the recent quarters. Now, with the tariffs for electrified vehicles in the middle of the year, we should see another acceleration in the imports of Chinese vehicles. I would like to understand, do you expect this dynamic to be sustained or perhaps accelerate the numbers that we are seeing today for GDL?
Gabriel, based on our budget, our 2025 budget prepared by the GDL management and supported by Tegma's board of directors, we are expecting growth in the level of revenues compared to the level of 2024. You see, BYD, which is the main client of GDL's automotive line, has a higher budget than their 2024 budget. This was in the news. There was the arrival of a huge vessel bringing 5,000 cars, and they were all moved to GDL. We just ended the investment in a fourth warehouse to store spare parts, automotive spare parts. We expect the growth of the automotive line and not being restricted only to BYD in Chinese. We have like three or four additional Chinese brands coming to Brazil, and these vehicles will be coming in through the Espírito Santo ports, and they will be moved to GDL.
More than that, we are developing a whole commercial work. We're continuing the commercial work we are doing to serve a diverse market that belongs to GDL. I'm talking about the domestic market, either for the distribution center or for bonded warehousing operations. In a nutshell, we understand that GDL will execute its budget very similar to the budget of 2024. In other words, kind of maintaining those volumes.
Okay? Excellent. Thank you very much, Nivaldo.
We received a question from Antonio Rizzo in writing. He asked us to speak about the expectations for 2025, but I believe that we have answered that in our previous answers. One last call for questions. Anybody else would have a question, or else we will move to Nivaldo's final statements. There seems to be no more questions. Nivaldo, you have the floor.
Everyone, before anything, thank you very much for trusting Tegma. Thank you very much for the work that we developed together in 2024. With your trust in our business, in our shares, we ended the year with very positive results. We started 2025 with optimism. Although our 2024 bar is quite high, we still have some challenges to overcome. We structured adequately our integrated logistics division.
We brought in a new officer, somebody who is very seasoned and experienced to develop this area. According to everything that we have been communicating to the market, namely having a better balance of our revenues to have integrated logistics closer to the vehicle logistics division. We had the first two months of domestic sales of cars with adequate volumes, as I mentioned. We expect that the market will keep it up. Thank you very much for your attention.