Good morning and welcome to the conference call of Grupo Vamos to discuss the earnings regarding the first quarter 2022. Today with us we have Mr. Gustavo Couto, Vamos CEO, and Gustavo Moscatelli, CFO and Investor Relations Officer for Vamos. Right now, all participants are in listen only mode. Later on, we are going to start the Q&A session when further instructions will be provided. Should you need any assistance during the conference call, please reach the operator by pressing star zero. We would like to inform you that this conference call is being recorded and simultaneously translated into English. Before moving on, we would like to let you know that any statements made during this conference call relative to the company's business outlooks, projections, operating, and financial goals are based on Vamos management's beliefs and assumptions and rely on information currently available to the company.
Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions since they refer to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. General economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors may affect the company's future results and lead to results that will be materially different from those stated in the forward-looking statements. We will now turn the floor to Mr. Gustavo Couto. Please, Mr. Couto, you may go on.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for yet another earnings call for Vamos, the first of 2022. Once again, we showed our capacity to grow with profitability. We started the year of 2022 with new records in our main indicators, operational and financial, and a business model that is just starting in the country.
We are very happy with the release of our results because we are able to anticipate to the needs of our clients by means of strategic moves and consolidated more and more as a competitive alternative that is convenient for our customers to renew or expand their fleets of trucks, agricultural machines, forklifts, and heavy equipment. By means of a unique positioning and accessible to companies of different size and segments in Brazil, we work hard in an integrated manner to offer our rental services, used car stores, dealerships, and distributors to an even larger number of clients. Each day our business model becomes more known, an innovative, agile option for those that want to expand or renew their fleets.
We expedited our pace of growth in the different segments of business, growing net revenues, net income and EBITDA, showing that we are on the right track, but with the certainty that we still have a lot to do and we are just starting our cycle of development. We thank for the work of our people and for the trust of our consumers, financial institutions, investors, and particularly the alliance of our clients that enabled us to continue grow with profitability in the first quarter this year. Even with uncertainties at the global scenario that are concerning for us all, Vamos is stronger and prepared to follow our journey in a consistent manner. Our assets continue to be appreciated, and we did more.
We have a strategic inventory of the trucks and equipment at the right time to expedite our pace of growth in the different business segments, expanding the rented fleet, increasing rental contracts, diversifying our client portfolio. We improved the profitability of dealerships, growing net revenues, net income and EBITDA. Reinforcing our positioning with the business model in all the ecosystem of trucks and machinery with an integrated network of alternatives to our clients. The concept of buying, selling, exchanging and renting is more solid than ever. This growth gives us even better prospects for the new quarters to come. On slide three, we closed the first quarter of 2022 with growth in all operational results. EBIT had growth of 125% compared to the first quarter last year.
Future contracted revenue backlog grew significantly to almost BRL 9 billion at the end of the first quarter. Growth of more than 110% year on year, which already assures us strong growth for 2022 and also for the coming years. In the dealership segment, we had excellent performance since the first quarter, with growth of 108% in net revenues compared to 1Q 2021, I'm sorry, and EBITDA growth of 154%. ROIC grew 14.3% and ROE 21.6%. On slide four, we show important accomplishment of the companies. By the end of March, our solid cash position and investments added up to more than BRL 3 billion, which is enough to cover our debt up to 2026.
We reached the record mark of BRL 1.6 billion in contracted CapEx for the first quarter, which is basically 58.4% over the first quarter 2021, and 158% higher than that of the last quarter of 2021. That ensures growth with positive reflexes on our results still for 2022. We also had a record implemented CapEx of BRL 846 million in a single quarter, up by 75% over 1Q 2021. That shows that we expanded our capacity of execution, delivery of assets for our clients. In addition, we have a strategic positioning with an inventory of new assets of BRL 1.3 billion and two competitive advantages for customers ready to deliver and improve profitability in the contracts that we have in the company.
We grew 85% in the total assets of our fleet compared to 1Q 2021, reaching almost 30,000 assets. Again, considering 2,800 equipment with the completion of the acquisition of HM Empilhadeiras that we announced. In addition to that, we also acquired Truckvan that is specialized in the customization and production of road equipment for heavy vehicles. That shows that Vamos is a platform for trucks, machinery, and equipment aligned with the company's strategic plan. We continue to focus on growing our business with long-term views and profitability. Our efforts aim at implementing new systems, digital platforms that can drive our business scalability and further strengthen our operational and control bases, increasing our base of rental clients and creating new opportunities for sustainable development of Brazilian fleet, contributing to safe, efficient, robust businesses.
To carry on with the presentation of our results, I'm going to turn to our CFO, Moscatelli.
Okay, good morning. I'm going to start with slide number five, talking about the highlights in terms of our financials. In the first quarter, the company continued with accelerated growth of our results in a consistent, sustainable manner. Net revenue consolidated reached BRL 945 million, an increase of 81.6% compared to the first quarter 2021. And net revenue from services grew by 88.2% compared to the previous quarter. Significant growth in the main business segments. As for operational profits, that is EBIT, we also moved forward, closing the quarter with BRL 295 million, growth of 125.3% year-on-year.
Due to the organic growth in rentals, dealerships with gains of scale, productivity, and gradually reducing the depreciation rate of trucks and machinery due to the significant appreciation in the market. EBITDA also moved forward to BRL 361 million in the first quarter, growth of 77% compared to the previous year. Net income was also a highlight. We reached the record number of BRL 121.9 million in the first quarter, growth of 66.4% compared to the net income recorded in the first quarter 2021. These results is a really change of level in all indicators with gains of profitability, which results for strong organic growth in main business segments and focus and discipline in execution. Now we are going to break down our results per business segment. Going on to the next slide, we have rental results.
In the first quarter, we had strong growth in the recognition of results of rental, with growth in net revenue from services of 53.7% year-on-year. That proves an acceleration of results for the coming periods. In addition, we kept our focus on generating value to our clients, signing contracts with maintenance services and reaching a net revenue from services of BRL 82.6 million, growth of 30.7% compared to the first quarter 2021. EBIT with BRL 226 million, 117% higher year-on-year, which happened because of the organic growth and the signing of new long-term contracts and also the gradual reduction of trucks depreciation rates due to the significant depreciation in the market. EBITDA reached BRL 286.8 million, growth of 64% compared to the previous year.
Now going to slide number seven, other highlights of rental first quarter 2022. We had the strongest acceleration of contracted CapEx at a record of BRL 1.6 billion in new contracts, a new level for the company scale. Growth was 158% compared to the fourth quarter 2021. The volume of contracted investments already accounts for 1/3 of the midpoint of our guidance for 2022. Contracted backlog is at BRL 8.9 billion, increase of 111% compared to the first quarter 2021, which assures growth of revenues and profit for the coming years. We also had an important advance in the price of our contracts, going to 2.5% in the first quarter 2022, as you can see in the table below. In addition, the average term grew by 5.7%, also increasing profitability compared to previous years, and again, facing the new interest rates reality.
It's important to say that the first quarter is a time to close large contracts in the sugar ethanol business, which in a way distorts comparisons to other quarters. On page eight, we have a record deployed CapEx for 2022, with BRL 846 for the first quarter, growth of 74% compared to the first quarter 2021, and 67% above that of the fourth quarter last year. This is a very important indicator because it is by deploying CapEx that we know how, what contracts are going to perform. It's important to show how the company can make this operational with all the complexity of heavy assets. Our total fleet reached 29,669 assets, already considering the acquisition of HM. Now on slide nine, we show our strategic positioning in the market with an inventory of new assets.
We're able to anticipate ourselves and make purchases to support company growth, even at a challenging scenario with OEMs. We closed the quarter with BRL 1.3 billion of rented assets to be implemented, and they have important characteristics. First, the market value of this inventory is 36.5% the acquisition value, which improves the profitability of new contracts that use these assets. Inventory has been a competitive edge in the market because we can offer trucks ready to deliver for our clients to start working. Third, based on the contracted CapEx of the first quarter, this amount is just 2.6 months of new contracts. It is inventory with low capital allocation since we know that we are still in the term of payment to OEMs. On slide 10, we have the results of sales of assets.
In the first quarter, we sold BRL 46.3 million in used assets with a margin of 34.2%, way above the margin of the first quarter 2021. That was 19.6%. Our inventory closed at BRL 55 million, which is three months of sales. On slide 11, we do an exercise to show the generation of value due to the appreciation of fixed assets. Today, our machinery and trucks add up to BRL 6.1 billion. If we consider the gross margin of the first quarter, 34% approximately, we would have BRL 2.1 billion in generation of additional value due to depreciation of our assets. In addition to the inflation rates of the period, we are also going to have Euro 6 enforced as of 2023, bringing new embedded technology in trucks and therefore generating a new cycle of price increases.
On slide 12, we talk about our dealership segment. In the first quarter, the dealership segment continued with strong growth and margin gains. Net revenue grew 107.7% in the first quarter compared to the same period 2021, with a record number of BRL 578 million net revenue. Both markets, trucks and machinery, have high demand and strong growth. EBIT for dealerships reached BRL 68.6 million in the first quarter, impressive growth of 155% compared to the same period last year. EBITDA reached BRL 73 million in the first quarter, 150% higher year-on-year, and EBITDA margin reached 12.6% compared to 10.5% in the first quarter 2021. We continue quite optimistic by growing organically and through acquisitions in the dealership segment. On slide 13, we talk a bit about our net debt and leverage.
In the first quarter 2022, net debt closed at BRL 3.2 billion and leverage at 2.69x, keeping a solid balance that is prepared for a new cycle of development. If we consider annualized EBITDA in the quarter, we would have leverage of 2.24x. Even with this leverage, we had contracted CapEx in the quarter of BRL 1.6 billion, BRL 1.5 billion of which in expansion CapEx. On slide 14, we talk about our debt profile. In the first quarter, we closed at a very solid cash position and financial investments of BRL 3 billion, which is enough to cover our debt until 2026. We also have available revolving credit lines of BRL 645 million undrawn, with an average tenure of 7.6 years and costs post taxes of 10.4%.
We continue with our debt hedged policy to guarantee the profitability of our contracts. Today, our average contracted CAP is 11.9% to the CDI, considering the cash flow exposure of our projects. We also have annual adjustments by IGP-M or IPCA indexes in our contracts to offset the increase of CDI, in addition to the appreciation of our assets as we already mentioned. On slide 15, we have profitability indicators. We are very much focused, as you can see, on accelerating growth and value generation. We continue to improve our return on invested capital, even growing fast, which shows it does not precisely show because we have long-term contracts, but still we closed at 14.8%, the best profitability of the last five years. I will turn back to Mr. Couto now for his final remarks.
Thanks, Gustavo. Going to slide 16, it's very important to talk about our priorities for 2022. We are committed to continue accelerating growth by means of sales channels, scalability and the intensive use of technology, and really making an effort to expand our businesses in line with ESG principles and recognizing the challenges of social environmental governance themes. In the first quarter 2022, we continue committed with the theme, establishing topics related to that, looking into the short, medium and long term. In April, we released our second integrated report with all the initiatives and commitments in ESG. Our efforts aim at implementing new digital systems and platforms that can drive for business scalability and further strengthen our operational control bases, increasing our client base and creating new opportunities to grow with safe, efficient and whole businesses.
With discipline and responsibility, as we announced last year, we want to invest between BRL 4.3 billion and BRL 4.8 billion in equipment and trucks that are or will be rented in 2022. We are much closer our objective of 100,000 assets in 2025. Finally, we thank all those that relate to us for their trust. We are leaders and pioneers in the development of rental for trucks, machinery and equipment in Brazil, and we want to further accelerate growth in this market with discipline and responsibility in capital allocation. I close the presentation with this slide. We thank you very much for attending, and now we are going to open for your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now start the Q&A session. To ask a question, please press star one. To withdraw your question from the list, you can press star two. Our first question comes from Gabriel Rezende from Itaú BBA.
Hello, everyone. Good morning. Congratulations on the results of the quarter, and thanks for taking my question. I have two questions about yields based on slide seven of your presentation, page six of your presentation. We got to a yield of 2.5% compared to 2.2% year-on-year. An improvement year-on-year, but below the 2.7% that is analyzed the fourth quarter. I would like you to please talk about that and what level do you think we should expect for the future. If this calculation of yields is counting on any seasonality, the 2.5%. Still about yields, I would like to know the monthly revenue amount that you have in your table.
We consider the backlog variation added to the rental revenue divided by the average term to get to your monthly revenue, and we get to BRL 33 million, which is slightly below what you have in your table. If you could share with us what other components are going into your calculation so that we can know how you got to this number. Thank you very much.
Well, Gabriel, thanks for your question. I'm going to answer the first, and I'm going to ask Moscatelli to answer the second. Okay. You are doing the calculation exactly like ourselves. That explains the improvement of 2.5% is the efforts in repricing our assets.
In the first quarter in 2022, there is this improvement compared to the first quarter last year. As for seasonality, this is very important, and we are going to make it clear for everyone. In the first quarter of every year, we have the crop harvest effect, which is when we close contracts with our clients from the sugar ethanol business. As we mentioned before, it's a very important business volume with slightly lower yields. They are very long-term contracts but with lower yields. Because of that, you naturally see that the first quarter has a slight drop compared to the fourth quarter, the immediate previous quarter. It did happen as well from 2020 to 2021. In the fourth quarter 2020, we had a yield of 2.7%, just like the fourth quarter of 2021.
In the first quarter of 2021, it went down to 2.2%, and now 2.5%. You can see in this quarter, this new price levels, therefore increasing our yields. There is a seasonal effect for the first quarter, but you should expect a consistent yield improvement for the next quarters. Moscatelli?
Okay. To answer your second question, Gabriel, and if you have any question about the first you can ask me again. You are doing the right calculation. The only thing that you are missing are the two items for us to get to 38.7%, which was reported.
One is monetary correction, which were BRL 16 million, and effects on the reduction of scope or some contracts that were signed in the last quarter last year and for some reason the client decreased the number of assets. It was a correction in the backlog of BRL 187 million. This is, you know, business as usual, and with these two items you're going to BRL 38.7 million, as you saw in the table. I think we have answered your questions, but whatever extra questions you have, we are here for you.
No, it's perfect. I understood it clearly. Thank you, Couto and Moscatelli.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Pedro Bruno from XP Investimentos.
Good morning, everyone. Can you hear me all right?
Yep. Loud and clear.
Great. Thanks for taking my question. I have two questions.
First I would like to have a follow-up for the previous question. You explained seasonality very well, especially the sugar ethanol business. You talked about the volume of contracts and the a possible bargaining power of these clients over OEMs and with yourselves. But I would like to confirm if besides that, there is any effect, because I believe most of these contracts are without maintenance, and perhaps in the remainder of portfolio you have relevant contracts with maintenance, which, you know, would explain a lower yield for the farmer, which is not necessarily a difference in profitability. This is the first follow-up, if it really makes sense, and what's your consideration with regards to the profitability of your contracts, of sugar ethanol contracts, vis-a-vis the remainder of your portfolio.
The second follow-up is if you could share the relevance of this segment in the BRL 1.6 billion of contracted CapEx, which is a expensive number. How much represents the sugar- ethanol business? First question, these two follow-ups. Thank you.
Pedro, you're right. It is true sugar- ethanol contracts in their majority do not include maintenance, and consequently they have lower yields. That's traditional. You do have some contracts with maintenance in the segment, but they are just a few. And it is true you have lower yields because you don't have maintenance services included. In terms of profitability has to follow our standards. We take into consideration that we have to preserve the cost of capital and cost of debt.
It is a lower yield, but within the minimum profitability that we demand. As for share, about 35% of the BRL 1.6 billion, which is also a business as usual. Last year we had more or less the same thing, 30%-35%, and today, the sugar- ethanol business out of the BRL 1.6 billion contracted CapEx account for about 35%. I don't know if we have answered all your points. Moscatelli, do you have anything to add?
Yes. In the first quarter, all the contracts signed in sugar- ethanol business were without maintenance services, just to make it clear. As Couto mentioned, we do have some contracts with maintenance, but in this quarter particularly, no maintenance included. Okay?
Perfect. The two points are very clear to me. Thank you. One more follow-up.
Out of the contracted CapEx, it is a very high volume compared to your expectations for the year. You have a guidance of BRL 4.5 billion approximately, and you are already at a third of this CapEx. We know that the fourth quarter has a negative seasonality, as it happened in the last quarter reported. Even considering that, I would like to understand how you see commercial activity for the second half of the year. I think it's clear that the yield is going to recover given the seasonality, but I would like to understand more in terms of volumes, and how does that relate to your yearly guidance? Thank you.
Okay, Pedro, this is Gustavo Couto speaking. You're right.
With the contracted CapEx announced for the first quarter, we are at about 1/3 of our guidance, at least, you know, the mid-point of the guidance we announced last year. The guidance remains. As we did in previous years, we'll try to anticipate contracted clients as much as possible in the first half of the year. Because with that, you advance implementation and you bring results to within the year. That is a recurrent effort of ours. We are going to continue to do so. Have no doubt, if we do have the opportunity, and there is a real opportunity there, just to answer your question, because the second quarter has been doing very, very well. The volume of new contracts continues at an ascending trend.
We'll try to anticipate and deliver the guidance as soon as possible in the year. If we can go over that, we are going to work with that, and we do not have a problem. Quite the opposite. It's always our objective, and we have been doing that in previous years. You know that. With focus, discipline, trying to get better profitability, but also anticipating growth. Because it is a given opportunity, and we want you know to use this opportunity when customers you know are looking for alternative to reduce costs, which you know is the case of rental. We will continue working strong. We'll try to advance deliveries of investment as much as possible.
If there is an opportunity, and I personally believe that, I trust the opportunity, we will go past what we expect for the year, so that we can bring even further news for you all. That's our commitment, and that is our target.
Thanks for your answers. I have more questions, but I'm going to give room for others. If they are not asked, I'll come back later on. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Lucas Barbosa from Santander.
Hello. Good morning, Moscatelli, Couto. Thanks for the results, and thanks for taking my question. My question is from gross margin of asset sale.
You delivered very strong results, and in previous quarters you have been adjusting the fleet depreciation, most probably even more so of those assets that are in contracts ready to mature. What are you thinking in terms of dynamics of deceleration of asset margins? When do you think the margin is going to go back to normal? What I mean is no more appreciation of brand new trucks and machinery. When do you think we would normalize the margin for the sale of assets? Thank you very much.
Hi, Lucas. This is Moscatelli, and thanks for your question. We do not see margins going down at least for the next 24 months because of all the appreciation we see in assets that are to be sold.
As I mentioned in the presentation, we have one more appreciation that is going to happen because of Euro 6 that is going to go into effect as of 2023. Also, there is an important thing about the inventory of our used assets. We already know that we have an increase of 36% compared to, you know, the price list that we have in the market today. We have trucks to be received until the end of the year at the same price. As we continue to receive trucks, we are going to have lower depreciation rates, and consequently, at the sale of this asset, even higher gross margins than what we have shown so far.
To be quite objective, for the next two years, we do not see a downturn in margins because, you know, of the situation. After that, it will accommodate a bit, but still at higher levels than we had in our history.
This is Couto. Just to add, talking to OEMs and understanding the impact of Euro 6 as of January 2023, the price increase that is still to happen because of this change is quite substantial. Although we have had very strong increases in the past two years, the fact of the matter is that more increase is to come, and quite substantial ones. I talked about between 15%-20%, than what was expected for next year. Talking to OEMs, I think it's going to be above that, so 20%-25% in some cases.
That only proves what Moscatelli said, just mentioned, and, in different ways. First, appreciation of our assets that are already rented that bring new opportunities for better margins. Also in the future to reduce our depreciation rates, since the trend is to be kept for a longer period due to Euro 6 certification.
Very clear, Couto, Moscatelli. If you allow me, I have two questions still related to Euro 6. We'll possibly see a period with anticipation of demand of Euro 6 for this year. Probably OEMs are already thinking that, perhaps the first quarter of 2023 is going to be a bit weaker.
Do you think you have an opportunity to close better deals for the first quarter of 2023 compared to brand new prices at that time, given the slowdown of demand that OEMs will have?
Well, Lucas, indeed, we are really convinced that the demand in the last two years is quite repressed. We do have a repressed demand in the orders of those clients that still want to make purchases. It is a repressed demand, and this is a factor now, quite clear. Our expectation, given all the problems that we are having in the production chain, is maintenance of the level of sales that we had.
Last year is 140,000 trucks and tractors, and this year the estimate revealed after all the problems of the OEMs is the same, 130,000-140,000 trucks. Again, depressed demand. Somehow, because you're going to raise prices in the beginning of the next year, we may have a drop in the volume of sales. OEMs are thinking of a 10% drop when we talk to them. Around this number. That is normal in whatever there is a change in Euro specs. For next year, there is a question whether it's just going to be 10% or if it's going to be up to 10%. It can be lower than that. Why is that? Because demand has been depressed for too long, two years.
Prices are stretched, they are going to increase even more, so there is the factor of elasticity, but the demand has been depressed for two years. It may be a lower drop. Rest assured, we are going to be close to OEMs, reinforcing our commitment with them, as we did in the pandemic. You know, the amounts went down and we placed firm orders with them, buying, you know, as usual. If things happen in the first quarter next year, we'll do the same to help OEMs, because we depend on them, they depend on us, and we have to walk hand in hand together. We are going to be there to buy any volumes that are placed as an opportunity. I have no doubts about that.
Thank you, Couto. Have a very nice day.
Our next question comes from Victor Mizusaki from Bradesco BBI.
Hello, congratulations on your results. I have two questions. Just going back to yield of the first quarter. Given the improvement year-on-year, and as you mentioned, when we compare quarter-on-quarter, you did have, you know, the effects of mix. Could we see that if we had the same mix of the fourth quarter in the first quarter, you would be talking about something at the realm of 3%, considering that in fourth quarter 2021 you were at 2.7%. My second question, the consolidation of HM that you closed the acquisition in the beginning of April.
Could you mention a bit how much of integration you were able to carry on and what you can see in terms of potential client cross-selling?
Hi, Victor. This is Moscatelli. You're very right about your huge calculation. If you compare year-over-year, you have an improvement of 0.3%. If we were to compare to the fourth quarter, excluding the seasonal effect, we would be at 3.1%. It's not a thorough analysis, of course, because we have to understand the mix of contracts with and without maintenance, but I would say that a more approximate number would be 3.1% against 2.7%.
About HM, the antitrust agency approval came in the beginning of April, and now we are in the process of integrating the company financially wise. In capital structure, I think we have BRL 50 million in debt. We already paid 95% of the debt because the cost of capital was too much higher than ours. Some pre-established debt we meant we kept, but the prepaid was paid. I'm going to transfer to Couto to say more about HM. We started at April 4. We are obviously in due diligence. We had our teams, finance, operations, commercial working, and we are seeing major opportunities. The first I would say about clients themselves. HM has excellent clients with good opportunities for growth, and HM has a very good reputation at the market. Clients like the services of HM.
They didn't have a higher share because they didn't have a more solid balance sheet. That's our role, consolidating a stronger balance sheet, growing a multinational clients, which HM did not have the opportunity to do. Now, they are going to be able to do so since the clients like the services. That's the first thing. We also have an excellent relationship. I've been talking very often with Toyota and reviewing, you know, the dealership operation. Now we are Toyota dealers, and we can even buy forklifts better, and that will add volume to Vamos portfolio as a whole. Lots of opportunities that we are coming across. We are just starting our due diligence.
As I said, April 4th, it was my pleasure to go there and get the team in person. We have an integration team. We are working very hard. In future quarters, I'm going to bring you more details.
Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Guilherme Mendes from JP Morgan.
Hello, Couto, Moscatelli. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Moscatelli, first question. Could you talk about your interest strategy? Is it for all contracts with no exception? And what is the term of your buy option? Is it during the whole of the contract, five years? And is it becoming more expensive because of the interest rates to have hedge in your contracts? And second, about the purchase of trucks you talk about this year.
In 2023, how much you expect to grow and how much is already contracted when we consider a more reasonable price point? Thank you.
Guilherme, this is Moscatelli speaking. I'm going to answer the first question, and then Couto is going to answer the second one. We do have as a policy to protect the profitability of our projects by means of hedging strategies. We go almost pari passu with the taking of debt. We have debt and hedge to protect the profitability of the project. We do that. As you said it well, we have a payback between 30 months, 36 months, and we generally hire hedge operations for the period. Today, we have almost BRL 2 billion in a contracted hedge.
If you saw, the average CAP went up because the new hedges for this quarter took into consideration the market reality, which is a much higher interest rate. It's not that it is more expensive, but it is more similar to the new interest reality that we have today. I'm going to turn to Couto to complement your question.
Guilherme, it's important to say that when we plan our purchases, we have to take a look at our growth plan and the reality of the market at that time. That's why we started to advance our purchases as of 2020, the beginning of the pandemic, when we realized we wouldn't have trucks available in the market. At the time, we decided to go on to strategy. We still are missing trucks.
We had 25,000 trucks being licensed in the first quarter this year, which is below the projection for 2022, and basically because the industry is still very much affected in deliveries. We do have the trucks because we moved faster. We have the strategic inventory that not only gives a ready-to-delivery capacity to our clients, but also brings other benefits in the appreciation of assets, as Moscatelli's mentioned, and better use. We always buy considering the time of the market, and we see that constantly. When we think about the 2023, it's no different. I'm not going to tell you what we have or bought and not bought for 2023, because this is a strategic move in that we are always seeking opportunities, not only to buy but also considering, you know, the momentum with OEMs.
Because as I mentioned, we want to ensure that they can have a continuity in their production. It's very strategic. What I can tell you is that as Euro 6 starts in January 2023, all trucks sold by OEMs will be Euro 6, with an increase of 20%-25%, as I mentioned, compared to current prices. I'm talking about retail prices, not our prices. In retail prices, we are going to have a 20%-25% increase in prices. We have a strategic inventory, and even signing contracts at a very strong pace. We bought enough to start 2023 with some strategic inventory of Euro 5 trucks. We are going to have Euro 5 trucks at very appealing, competitive conditions. It's only us.
We are the only ones that have the scale for inventory at a very competitive cost to meet a demand in the market that is still very much repressed. Our acquisition strategy, and it can be before or after, will continue to be analyzed day in and out. We do it every day. What's the best moment for each business that we have? Rest assured, we are going into a very important time with the right inventory, but at unique conditions and that show our capacity and scale that is second to none. That will bring even better results for the coming quarters. That is what we are considering in terms of strategy. I hope I have answered your question.
Yes, very, very clear. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Renata Cabral from Citibank.
Hello, everyone. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. I would like to ask about M&A, your M&A strategy for the future. You talked more recently about HM, and I would like to go back to Truckvan. You did mention about it, but if you can give us a bit more color about the prospects for Truckvan for Vamos and vice versa. And finally, I would like to know what are you considering for the coming M&As, and also the speed of your pace from now on? Thank you very much.
Thanks for your question. We have an M&A area at Simpar that leads M&A activities for the whole Simpar group, as you know. We are very active.
This is a very active area, and you have seen in recent years the volume of operations that we have had, not only with Vamos, but with other companies of the group. What I can tell you specifically about Vamos is that all the plans that we share with you is organic. It takes into consideration what we in operations, myself, Moscatelli, focus on, the company's organic growth. Then opportunities, as the case of Truckvan and others that you saw, are analyzed. If the opportunities come, we are going to discuss them, and we are going to lead them inside Simpar's M&A area. We don't have a specific strategy for that.
I myself, according to our board of directors, I don't have any target for acquisition of companies, and that's how we work, and that's how we prefer to work. Making it clear so that Simpar's operational subsidiaries can focus on their operations. Truckvan, which is a question that you asked. Truckvan, the approval of the antitrust agency, was, you know, yesterday to today. So respecting the protocol, we cannot, you know, go into operation. So as of now, we are going to be able to analyze. But Truckvan continues to be an independent company. The founders are still ahead of the company.
As Moscatelli mentioned, and I talked about HM, we are also going to make an assessment together with our partners, and we are going to look into the projects that were not implemented and see if we can support them to develop a market. Truckvan is referencing the customization of road equipment. This is very important if you think of synergy. Truckvan is not a market leader in road equipment. If you think of synergies, all trucks have some kind of equipment. It's very rare. Sometimes you can rent a tractor without a road equipment. For the truck itself, we always have equipment. Huge synergies. We are very optimistic.
It's important to say Vamos is becoming more and more a business group in our ecosystem. We have different businesses, the main one being, as you know, rental dealerships and now smaller businesses, but with huge opportunity to develop, which is BMB and now Truckvan after the antitrust approval. We are just starting, but as of now, we are going to be able to sit down with Alcides , Flavio and the team, and look into opportunities and giving our support. Remember, they have independence and autonomy to go on.
Thank you very much. Very clear.
Our next questions were generated on the webcast. The first comes from Rodrigo Faria from SulAmérica Investimentos.
Couto and Moscatelli thanks for the results and congratulations.
Your backlog, this is a 100% effect of sales, or is that something that is being carried out from other countries? Are you being able to deliver on time? Is the backlog full in your income statement? If not, when?
Rodrigo, thanks for your question. Good morning. You're always following us. It is very important. Our BRL 9 billion backlog is year to date, right? So if there is anything that has not been implemented that was closed in the end of last year, naturally you are going to have it inside the BRL 9 billion. Let me try to make it clearer. We closed large contracts in the rental of forklifts last year. These forklifts that are very specific are to be delivered in up to six months' time.
It is not equipment that we have in inventory, not even OEMs. They are manufactured outside Brazil, and they are imported. Generally, they are delivered between three to six months. The contracts that were closed last year were still not implemented. We're probably going to be able to implement them in the second quarter when we want to receive those imported machinery. The BRL 9 billion is an amount that can carry contracts closed last year and that still have not been implemented. On average, you can consider that the volume that you close in the quarter is going to be implemented the next quarter, except for this very specific equipment in which you have import times that are a bit more extended. I don't know if Moscatelli wants to answer more.
No, I'm okay.
Just to say that the implementation time has been reducing, and we have you know to have the assets. As we reduce implementation times, we are going to have the revenues showing more and more in our income statement.
The next question is from Carlos Herrera from Condor Insider.
The question is with the current interest rate level for 2022, is the company going to focus on deleveraging? This is the first question. The level of the net debt considers HM acquisition. If not, what are you going to get to before the closing? Are you going to have gains and synergies?
Carlos, this is Moscatelli. Thanks for your question. We are not focused on deleveraging the company. We are focused on growing the company within healthy leverage.
To develop all we have according to our guidance last year, the idea is to keep leverage of 3x, which is very healthy according to our cash flow. As for March 31st, we haven't had any movement because CADE has not approved yet. It happened in April, and we paid most of it, BRL 75 million. There is another BRL 26 million that are to be paid in 25 installments as of January 2023. The effect of leverage is marginal given the capital structure of the company today. I'm going to turn to Gustavo Couto.
Yes, just to reinforce what I said before. We are very much encouraged due to what I said before. A very good company, opportunities to grow, and with our support, we can grow significantly. We also see opportunities with our rental operations.
Remember that Vamos is also very strong in the rental of forklifts. We have teams, we have technicians. We can improve the quality of services provided to clients, reducing the cost in the purchase of these materials. These are some of the opportunities that we see, and we are very, very much optimistic with what we have seen so far. We were a company that had a very family-owned management, and we believe that now we will be able to contribute to the team, a very good team. We will help them to develop with independence and autonomy, which is our mark. We always want companies to work with independence and autonomy, not to lose agility in the relationship of customers, time to respond. We can really add to our clients with our balance sheet, and that's what we are going to have.
The next question comes from John Winnie.
Good morning. Congratulations for your results. About the transfer of clients, in terms of cost of capital in inputs, what's the average delay? Are prices adjusted just when contracts are renewed? What is the average time of renewals?
Most contracts, we have an annual adjustment clause, and that will be based on IGP-M, IPCA indexes, or a basket of prices, which has been, in our experience, enough to make up for eventual price increases, and we know that they happen. This year we had an increase of tires, parts, and therefore, that was regularly passed through, not having an impact on our profitability. We have very good contract that ensure an annual pass-through of inflation, ensuring the profitability of our contracts and even giving us opportunities to have better profitability.
We are very comfortable with any pass-throughs.
The next question comes from Pedro Pimenta from Eleven .
Congratulations on your results. The advance of CapEx, is it for the year? Is it more because of opportunities in the market or because you want to buy cheaper assets before Euro 6 is implemented?
Pedro, thanks for your question. I think that the contracted CapEx, and this is very important to say, which was record, is CapEx related to contracts already signed. It's a real demand. The anticipation is not something that is considering opportunities to buy products before Euro 6 . No. These are equipment that is being bought to support our growth plan for 2022. Those BRL 1.6 billion of contracted CapEx matches the volume of assets that will be implemented in clients that have already closed contracts with us.
Now, to answer the other side of your question, of course, we also make strategic purposes looking into the best opportunities to buy well and to have availability. The inventory that we have is strategic, and that is part of our business model given the scale that we have. With all the comfort, you know that we have a volume of business and a fleet of heavy equipment and a number of clients that enable us to make decisions and put together our inventory with comfort, quality, low cost, suitable to our current operations for possible renewals of our fleet that is already operating at our clients, and also with the objective of meeting a repressed demand, as I mentioned, of contracts that are coming.
As I said, the second quarter this year is very strong, and we are very much encouraged because 2022 and the guidance that we mentioned is once again going to be a record year in terms of investments of new assets and contracts with our clients. We continue working hard, and we are very much happy with the prospects for 2022.
We thank you for all your questions. Now we are going to turn the call to Gustavo Couto for his final considerations. Please, Mr. Couto, you may go on.
Thank you very much. I would like to make four comments that are very important. First, about the dealership business.
We increased the EBITDA delivered by 2021 2.5x , and we got to a record number. This is a real transformation in the dealership segment with EBITDA margin going up to 13%. This is a new company. This is a true transformation, diversification of revenues, and focus on regions and business segments that tend to grow enormously. Agribusiness is still not mature at our dealerships. Transrio is seeking diversification of revenues with the provision of services after sales, increasing margins consistently and in a sustainable manner. Likewise, our heavy equipment dealerships that we have just started have not reached maturity yet. We are very encouraged with the transformation, and I thank the whole team of our dealerships for our transformation in a sustainable manner.
The second aspect is that the volume, and here talking about rental, the volume of our business has been growing. As you can see, the yields of new contracts continue to grow. Then this is a guarantee of a sure return, as you can see in our recent history in Vamos. Third, it's very important to understand strategic inventory. We sometimes share with you our strategy of purchases and, you know, these are things that sometimes we prefer not to talk much about.
We think because of the transparency that we have with you, that it was important to talk about our inventory that was intentionally purchased for us to be at this point in which we have Euro 5 products that were bought at a timely manner and that will ensure our growth plan for 2022, as we had assured to you in previous talks with the market. This strategic inventory, as Moscatelli mentioned, ensures three differentials, ready to deliver to our clients, no one has that, no one can have this kind of inventory or delivery as fast as we have been doing. Second, this inventory is already 35% appreciated compared to the amount paid. And third, the opportunities that this represents in terms of yield or profitability when we think of the contracts to sign.
Once again, we made the decision carefully and responsibly to break down the information to you, given the transparency that we want to have with you always and showing how assertive has been our strategy looking at company's movement. Fourth, and to close, I invite you all to watch as of tomorrow our first media campaign on TVs and radios. We are going on TV for the first time. We prepared ourselves in the last two, three years to have the control and absorb even higher demands. We have commercial teams throughout Brazil and channels prepared to support our time to go to the media. I invite you all to follow our media campaign that is going to be in the main media. Thank you very much for your trust.
Thank our clients, suppliers, our team, our people, the real asset of Vamos, and we'll see each other at the next conference call for sure. Thank you very much.
Vamos conference call is now closed. We thank you very much for attending and wish you a good day.