Good morning, and welcome to Vibra's second quarter 2024 video call. This conference is being recorded. You'll be able to watch the video on the website of the company. The presentation slide deck is also available for download. Participants will be able to watch the presentation, and then there's going to be a Q&A session, and more instructions will be given later on. Prospective statements are based on the management's suppositions and beliefs and currently available information. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties because they are related to future events, and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not come true. Investors, analysts, and journalists must take into account that macroeconomic events, industry events, and other factors may materially change the results when compared to the ones expressed in the prospective statements.
In this conference, we have Ernesto Pousada, the CEO, and Augusto Ribeiro, CFO, and some other executives as well. Now I'll turn it over to Mr. Pousada, who's going to start the presentation. So, Mr. Pousada, you have the floor.
Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here with you to share with you our 2024 Q2 results. And it's the fourth quarter in a row in which we have EBITDA margins above 150 BRL per cubic meter. So the management that's been driving these results, our management has enabled us to have... Well, they were quite very different quarters, in some of them there was an oversupply of products, there was some quarters that were poorer in terms of product.
And still, the company's been able to experience all of these periods with more than BRL 150 per cubic meter margin, bringing our results to a new level. In other words, we are showing a management model that's been suceessful, and there's been consistency in results delivered. So for four quarters in a row, adjusted EBITDA margin is BRL 176 per cubic meter, and ROIC was almost 20%. So the management focus has been in having ROIC as one of the most important metrics for the company. Another very important point of information here, piece of information, is the recovery of our market share. As we've been saying in the past calls, there's a gradual incremental recovery that we see now. Vibra has recovered market share, and what is important, without hurting profitability.
There was also a quarter-over-quarter volume increase of 2.6%. As I see, we will see a market share recovery and growth in volume. And according to our promise last quarter, so we are walking the talk, we reduced our stock. And in the first quarter, there was the business decision that we made. We decided to have a slightly higher inventory in Q1, and now we reduced our inventory, and through that, we generated BRL 800 million. And we've completed our first transformation office experience. We call it Customer in the Vein, which... And there are a number of programs that have been well underway, with a focus on the increase of additive mix, the growth in lubricants in the company, a better restructuring of our trading activities as well.
And all of these projects, because there's no silver bullet, you know, each one of these projects are helping us to sustainably improve our margins. So what gives us the sustainability of this consistency margins for four quarters, that's not based on only market factors, that's all the management work that's being underway, and also the activities of the Transformation Office. And every month we monitor the project status, so my team and I spend one morning a week monitoring the project status, and they are on the right track, improving the company's margin gradually. And in the coming quarters, we expect the margin to grow even further. And in this past quarter, there was also the approval of interest on net equity of BRL 120 million. And also, we opened our buyback program that might achieve BRL 1.2 billion.
So I'll turn it over to Augusto.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you, Ernesto. So Q2, with better margins and ROIC, 176 BRL per cubic meter in Q2 is a record for a second quarter. Just like the ROIC, 19.6, is also a record high for us. BRL 1.5 million of adjusted EBITDA, which a 70% increase when compared to the same period last year, 8.8 million of cubic meters of sales volume, and net income of eight hundred and sixty-seven million reais, so nearly BRL 1 billion. So a significant growth of more than 500% when compared to the same period last year. The company leverage is 1.1x, excluding or including actually the 192 effect. So without that effect, the leverage would be 1.4 by the end of Q2.
We've been showing a slide like this in the past calls, because this is one of the main reasons driving this consistent growth we see in profitability year-over-year, which is our unrivaled human capital. We do believe that having people who know the market in depth and who are very engaged in our goals, and they help us sustain the pace of continuous improvement that we've been seeing in the past one and a half years. Our adjusted EBITDA margin was 17.6 in Q2, and as you see in expenses, we still have a major focus on expenses management. Our expenses should grow. Of course, there is required investments, and so they must be matching our profitability ambitions. But when we extract volume at effects, expenses are below in the inflation in the same period.
So we are trying to manage that as best as possible, and we've been successful, we believe, in controlling our expenses. So here we see capital allocation. It should be mentioned that, our liability management at the end of, of, say, BRL 1.41 billion, and we had resources coming in at the end of the Q2, and the payment of the debt of the beginning of Q3. So of course, there was a very good quarter in terms of cash and leverage, but just bear in mind that our net debt was not increased significantly. It was just 17.3 billion reals, and our cash is 6.9 billion reals. Net income, as I mentioned before, growing significantly year-over-year, BRL 867 million. CapEx.
Our estimate for this year is BRL 1.1 billion, BRL 1.5 billion, and our dividends, as was mentioned, we announced the dividend payout buyback in of 2024... in the second half of 2024, and this year we are paying BRL 1.6 billion. This is the second highest amount in the history of the company. This is a slide on our service station network, and the focus there is relationship. We do have a market share in additive, enhanced and premium fuels of 43.5%. And we are growing in the additive and premium mix. The volume mix was 20.6%. It was 20.2% the average of last year, and the market and the... It's 2.5 percentage points above what it used to be.
Now, it's 27.7%. Our adjusted EBITDA is, was at BRL 886 billion in the service network, and it's a 14% growth when compared to last year, and the market share in the branded network with 31.1% in June 2024, and non-branded, 5.1% market share at the Q2 end. These are the growth avenues in retail. 8,000 service stations at the end of the quarter, and increasing volume by 4%. In the BR Mania stores, there was a 14% growth in sales. It was BRL 418 million in Q2, and the same-store sales growth was 9.4% versus 2023.
In lubricants, the revenue growth in Lubrax to start with, nearly 40% year-over-year, and the gross profit growth for lubricants was 13% year-over-year, in terms both of volume and margin, and we are also growing considerably in cross-sale and B2B, in which there was a 5.6% increase in the B2B channel in terms of lubricant sales. Then this is a B2B slide. As we mentioned before, we focus on market share and profitability. Adjusted EBITDA of BRL 689 million, a growth of more than 200% when compared to last year, and a nearly 20% growth when compared to Q1 this year, and 3.3 cubic meters in the B2B volume. So it's 1.2% higher than Q1, and a slight decrease when compared to last year.
And that's explained in the second slide, there was a stability in diesel oil year-over-year, and a significant increase in, when compared to the first quarter. Jet fuel. Big increase when compared to last year. The industry did better, and it was an 11.5% increase in volume. And because of seasonality of Q2 and compared to Q1, there was a 5% decrease compared to Q1 to Q2 2024. And lubricants, with a significant growth both against last year and also versus the first quarter this year. And consequently, I'd like to draw your attention to this 31.3% market share in B2B in June 2024. The last time we had a market share above 31% was in November 2021.
So we still focus on growing market share in B2B and also on profitability in this channel. Comerc Energia, we are the investments are still maturing. Draw your attention that we ended the first project cycle that were approved when Comerc was acquired. So this is a milestone, 100% of the project. The first wave of projects were concluded. We have 84 plants in distributed generation. It is still deleveraging. We had a reduction at the end of Q2 of 1x of leverage, and it's now 7.6x EBITDA in Q2. So from now on, and because of that, the company will go on decreasing that because the project maturation and cash maturation become more relevant, and the LTMs of the past 12 months move forward in time.
To conclude, the ESG slide. There are two awards that we wanted to share with you. First place is the best of ESG 2024, according to Exame magazine in fuels and energy transition category. Also, for the third time, we've received the MIT Technology Review. We were in the... Actually, we were in the MIT Technology Review as one of the 20 most innovative companies in Brazil. We're very happy with these two recognitions that we've received. And also, we published our sustainability report. If you haven't seen it, do review it. I think it's really nice, and I think you should review it. And with that, I conclude the presentation. We can now open the floor for questions.
We now begin the Q&A session. The first question is asked by Monique Greco from Itaú BBA. So you can ask your question, Ms. Greco.
Hello, everyone. Good morning. Congratulations for your performance, and thank you for this opportunity to ask questions. I have two questions, actually. The first, Ernesto, is about something you mentioned in your presentation. The results are really consistent in terms of profitability and expense reduction, combined with the gradual market share recovery. So in this strengthening of your management model that you say is important for those consistent results, which changes in processes or in the decision-making process do you think have been the most important ones, along this journey? So what would you say would have been the key ones, and what do you still see in terms of improvement margins for your management practices? And the second question is about your Q2 factor. When compared Q2 to Q1, the recurring margin dynumics was different when you look at B2B and service station chain.
There was an increase in B2B margin, combined with increased market share. But in your gas stations, there was a margin reduction. Could you go into more details about that difference? Can we conclude that you needed to hurt your service station margin to prioritize market share? Thank you.
Thank you, Monique, for your questions. On your first question, our management model has a number of important aspects I'll speak about. First, there's our Transformation Office. So I'll give a step back. In the company, we are trying to establish pace, intensity, and discipline, which is key for us to be able to achieve results. What does that mean? Every third Tuesday in the month, we have a morning meeting in which we follow up on the Transformation Office project to monitor project status and see what else needs to be done.
It's a very active meeting, a whole morning meeting, and we believe that the small and mid-sized project, when combined, they can bring our margin to a new level. That's transformational, actually. It's not a silver bullet, but it's a number of projects. And some of these projects have come in and out of the transformation office. For instance, the retail pricing centralization is a project that's been concluded already. We expect more results from that, but this is already implemented in daily routine. And this is just an example. There are some other examples, and then there's also the ideation and dynamics, so that new projects can come in and using the transformation office. This transformation office is expected to go on working, bringing results in terms of pace, intensity, and discipline. Also, the business dynamics is important for Vibra.
Every morning at 8:30 A.M., we have a meeting to discuss the demand of the previous day and the month to date, and what we need to do. Sometimes I can't attend, but the VPs are also always attend to this meeting we have every morning at 8:30 A.M., so as to establish this pace and intensity that our business requires. Our business is really dynamic, so this routine of result-focused management is indeed transforming the company. At the same time, we bring on new projects that little by little are changing, bringing our margins to new levels. So I'm really confident that we are going to go further in terms of margins. There are many possibilities and opportunities that we still can seize. So there's still potential in Vibra's core business to generate more value.
Maybe Augusto wants to add on, but I'd like to move on to your second question. We see the B2B segment. Last year, B2B, there was a drop in volume, but increase in margin. But if you see the performance in terms of results was not very good, and our performance was based most on retail. This year, we are stepping on again as of these actions. We're accelerating our B2B initiatives, so there are still some lower hanging fruits in B2B that we can use to improve the EBITDA more quickly, just like we accelerated our action plan for B2B. It's, I don't see that there's no problem in retail, actually. There was a competitiveness issue. The intra-quarter dynamic was very different. Early on, it was really poor, but it got better.
And we improved our results with new B2B projects. And for the second half of the year, we are already on a very good level of results in some projects in B2B, and we always have the monitoring meetings every day. And I mentioned before that we changed many processes in the company, and one of the major changes was in pacing. And our management model is not something that just was ready from the get-go. It was all based on Ernesto's experience from his background and experience of the leaders have in other markets, and together we've been putting some things that fit well with each other, and some of them may be even replicated in other projects.
So we needed to establish a pace for the company and then accelerate the pace, because there are many opportunities for acceleration. And then there's the metrics, the way we analyze the root causes of problems, and there's people. At Vibra, as I mentioned before, we have strong people who know the market in depth and who are highly engaged with our goals, so that helps us to deliver on our goals. And then technology. We have great technology, but we need to go on investing more, use the AI, data analysis, data science. So looking at the business model as a whole, we've been having good results, but we are still enhancing our management model, and I think this is going to help us grow even further in the future. Thank you.
Next question is going to be asked by Pedro Soares, BTG Pactual. You can ask your question, Pedro.
Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Ernesto. Augusto, good morning. My first question is about profitability and market share. If you take a step back, and as you mentioned early, earlier today, one year ago, after the results of Q1 and Q2 last year, the company and the whole industry had margins below BRL 100 per cubic meter. And now, one year later, even with the Russian diesel oil and other issues, in spite of all issues, you have margins that well above BRL 150 per cubic meter. So even... Well, so now we no longer have tax complexities and Russian diesel oil is no longer a competitive advantage for smaller businesses. Does it make sense for you-...
You're first to go on thinking that you've had these margins as of the 12 months or even more than that. But now with a fair recovery, not only in your profitable network, but also in the other volumes that are less obvious is fewer origination choices. I have two other quick questions. If you could give us an update on tax credit, especially for your expectations and monetization in case there's a favorable development? And with Comerc, if you could give us an update on the discussions regarding potential decision of exercising the purchase of the remaining stake before the established deadline or any update regarding that? Thank you.
Thank you for your questions, Pedro. You asked about margins and market share.
At Vibra, we decided that in our service stations, we would focus on branded stations, and our effort was to recover the margins in the industry in a direction that we believed in. So we focused and prioritized sales to our branded stations. With that, we reduced our market share in non-branded stations. The same goes to B2B. We've reduced our market share in TRR and increased elsewhere, and increased our sales to direct customers. In the second half of the year, what we expect is that we are going to move forward. Vibra will gradually recover its market share. In 12 months, we did lose market share, but we are going to recover our previous market share in 12-15 months. We're not doing anything abrupt. We are working in a sustainable way. We want sustained results.
So we want to work with customers who value Vibra as a supplier. We want to develop relationships with customers, customers that will help us get to new sales channels. Gradually, there's a process of service station selection, and at the same time, new service stations. With all of that, we will be growing market share gradually but sustainably. I think this is an important point. Our market share. We decreased market share to become more profitable, and we can achieve. We recover the same market share, but in a sustainable way, sustaining margins or even increasing margins, which is what we believe will happen. Margins will go up, and gradually, we will recover market share. I repeat, the number might seem the same in terms of market share going forward.
In 12 months down the road, we might achieve the same market share we had before, but the way we're going to get there is different. We're going to get there sustainably and, with, relevant margins. So, so this is the trend. The trend in the two or three past months, this is what we expect going forward, and, we will gradually increase market share because of, because we, we lost market share, but, protecting our margins at the same time. But as to 194, well, it's, we are waiting for... The jury is still out, and we are waiting for the results, so there isn't much I can say about that. As to Comerc, as I mentioned before, we, we are happy with the, the business performance so far.
It's now entering into a deleveraging cycle, as EBITDA becomes stable. EBITDA is BRL 1 billion, roughly. 70% or 80% of the projects have had their prices defined, so there's confidence in the cash that the company can generate. We're happy with the investment there, and the results have been good for the organization. Thank you.
Next question is going to be asked by Luiz Carvalho, UBS. You can ask your question. Hello, Ernesto, Augusto.
Thank you for your presentation, and once again, congratulations on your results. I have three questions. Ernesto, in your presentation, you spoke about ROIC, which is close to 20%, which is a significant recovery. What do you think is a sustainable ROIC for the company in the long run? Second question: I'd like you to tell us about capital allocation.
There's the buyback program, the announcement, the JCP's been announced. There's opportunities or a commitment going forward of, with Comerc as well. How do you see your capital allocation strategy, given that your leverage level is now very comfortable? So, accelerating buyback according to share valuation or maybe pay extraordinary dividends. What can we expect? And third question, maybe to Augusto, if you could give us a breakdown of the recent effects of the diesel oil, and tell us more about the Russian diesel oil imports that you participated in recently. There was Copape license cancellation, and they were very important in the state of São Paulo. If you could please quantify those effects, I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Luis, thank you for your questions. ROIC is the most important metric for the company's management.
My metric and my whole team, all the top management of the company. Our long-term incentive is driven mostly by the ROIC. It's difficult for me to tell you what is the ROIC level. I don't want to establish a number because there's some variable. We are at a high level now, also because the results of the last year were not as good. So the first half of this year was much better in terms of EBITDA than when compared to the first half last year. What you can expect is that we will maximize all of the different elements that drive the ROIC. Strategically, and in the long run, we will always be looking at our capital base. This is something we do all the time, and we are very rigorous when it comes to capital allocation.
Even the tactical capital allocation, the management model, as I mentioned, includes a monthly meeting every first Monday of the month, where we discuss capital allocation. So CapEx and new branded stations, why we are investing in this or that. So we are very rigorous in capital allocation, very rigorous in maximizing our EBITDA, very strict in inventory management. We understand that ROIC is also a long-term metric. We need also to monitor other elements. Just like Q1, inventory levels were higher. We know that affects ROIC. However, that was the right thing to do at that time for us to have best results. So there's always going to be some ROIC variations because we understand that this is a long-term metric, and we intend to keep enhancing it. So we are being very proactive, trying to maximize the returns for shareholders.
We announced the buyback dividends over JCP, so we're always trying to maximize our capital allocation. As to Copape, Monofasia, Amapá, I think you must have noted that there's been an increase in issues. The government and the regulatory agencies in general have been more active in that regard. There's no increase in illegal-ish actions in Brazil. There's an increase in the initiatives against illegal operations in Brazil. Otherwise, we would have felt that in a way. So there's more initiatives against illegal operations. There's no increase in illegal operations themselves. So ICL, ICL is being very active, and Ernesto has been engaged in that. Henry, our Legal VP, also working. From the business point of view, there's been an improvement in freight costs.
You can supply some areas within Brazil without taking without so much of a tax issue. Prices in some regions, both the product and gas or in the case of Copape, also diesel oil, in the case of Amapá. I don't mean that there's been a margin repositioning in the market, but you see an environment where competition is doing better. We do not have a solution. Ethanol monophasic needs to be regulated in Congress, but the prospects are more favorable, favoring fair competition in a than it was like three years ago, for instance. So we believe that this improvement trend will be there in the coming years, and the Vibra and other market players have been very active, and also some agencies like ICL have been very active.
Just to complement, this is an agenda that is important for every player in this industry. We're working with the ICL Institute, led by Emerson Kapaz, which is ICL, is the Institute for Legal Fuel, and in the media, you've seen a great, great coverage for this initiative. And some we see sometimes a growth of volume of margins in some specific regions within Brazil when these initiatives are effective, like in São Paulo or south of Brazil, Paraná, state of São Paulo, state of Paraná. We already feel that in gasoline in the state of São Paulo, there's been an improvement in the competitive environment in the state of São Paulo.
And I think more and more this is going to be a level playing field, and if that's the case, Vibra has scale, and power, and opportunities for growth, which are unmatched. So this is the major opportunity I see. With fewer illegal operations, which I'm confident will happen gradually, and if there's fair play, we are very competitive, and we will be able to grow significantly in this business that you might think there's no growth potential. But I think there's great growth potential if we're all on a level playing field. Thank you.
Thank you for your answers.
Next, Vicente Falanga from Bradesco BBI. Good morning, Ernesto, Augusto. I have two questions. I'd like to know more about what you see in terms of market dynamics, volume margins, Russian imports.
This is the first question, and the second question is about Comerc. 111 EBITDA, if you divided that by for the 48 plants, it means that it is. It's a little bit under BRL 1 billion EBITDA. When you acquired Comerc, I think the objective is by 2025, 2026, the goal was 1.5 billion. Do you think that's feasible? And which are the, the projects that might help you get there? Thank you once again.
Thank you for your questions, Vicente. So you, you asked about the market dynamics in the second half of the year. So what we see, I think, is something that we see every year. The first half of the year is usually more challenging, and we had margins of above 150 BRL.
When I say BRL 150, means that we exclude tax effects and other effects. Otherwise, the margin would be even higher, the adjusted margin, as Augusto mentioned. But the margin was BRL 150. The recurring margin was more than BRL 150. And the second half of the year is typically better. Every year, that's what we see in this industry. And again, this is what we expect this year, that the second half of the year is going to be better. Q2 started on a lower level and ended on a higher level, so we start Q3 at a higher level. We don't see much of that in July. There's an improvement in margin, but volume is something that we'll start seeing as of August.
But typically, the second half of the year is better for the industry, as I mentioned, so the expectations are good. And you asked about Comerc. So we are running at BRL 1 billion, and, when we acquired the business, the plans and, or, in terms of order of magnitude, they don't change much from the order of magnitude. I don't know if it's going to be exactly BRL 1.5 billion, or I can give you a, a precise number, but it's going to go up. We are at BRL 1 billion, and EBITDA is going to grow even further. Clarissa, Juliano, and I are board members at Comerc, and we're always looking at new opportunities. There's many opportunities that Comerc can seize to unlock value, such as the partnership we have with Itaú, which is still crawling, and we are just fine-tuning some things.
But there's great opportunities. With the deregulation of the market, we can generate much more value, and there's a number of other initiatives in energy efficiency, for instance, that will help us unlock great value. I'm confident. The EBITDA will certainly be over BRL 1 billion. And there are some projects that will mature in 2024 and that will have an impact on 2025. So there's still some projects that are maturing. Thank you.
Bruno Montanari, Morgan Stanley, you can ask your question...
Good morning, and thank you for taking my questions. First question is about your cash cap. You said that there was a reduction of payment terms with suppliers, especially with your most important domestic supplier. Petrobras was not offering a very long payment term. Did you review the contract with Petrobras?
Can we expect the shorter payment terms to be kept in the short term? And in terms of market share and volume, I understand that there's a gradual improvement, and that you expect to achieve your market share goal in 12-15 months. But looking at 2024 so far, and what to expect this year, do you think that the market share is going to be higher than 2023? So these are my questions. I'll start with your second question. Volumes will depend a lot on market and the crop season and crop year. There are many effects which... It's difficult for me to establish volumes. But what we will see, maybe Q3 or Q4, I don't know, but volumes will be higher than last year, without a shadow of a doubt.
I can't give you a precise figure because the market is dynamic, and there's a number of variables, so I don't know exactly what demand is going to be like. Apparently, demand is going to be strong in the second half of the year, but we still need to wait a bit longer.
As to working capital... Thank you for your question. Good that you asked it. In Q1, that was the point of inventory, and working capital is something that changes every quarter, we have to look at the company's profitability. There's no change in contract, no changes in strategy.
There'll be 2 or 3 important events in the quarter that led to some fluctuation, but there was a holiday on a Friday that there was a mismatching between the quarters, and also cash liability management, the same in accounts receivable and payable. The second important point is, there was 1 customer that took a loan within a credit limit, but more than what they had taken in previous quarters. It was an important customer, and that affected our working capital figures. There hasn't been changes in our strategy with Petrobras. When you look at Q3, for instance, I have figures for July, for instance, and you see that everything is stable. Thank you.
Bruno Amorim, Goldman Sachs, will ask the next question.
Good morning, everyone. I have a follow-up question regarding ROIC.
I know that you have no guidance, but the thing is that your ROIC is much above your capital cost, which is positive. And again, I know you cannot quantify your ROIC, but qualitatively, if you could help us understand, in your minds, what is the set of competitive advantages that you have that could sustain this ROIC much above the cost of capital in the future, that could be helpful. The scale, I think, is the most obvious advantage you have, but if you could tell us more about what you think are the levers for your competitive advantage, and therefore, what will enable you to sustain your ROIC much above your cost of capital in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Bruno, for your question. Indeed, we don't have ROIC guidance.
Considering that in Q3 last year, the result was much above the expected, not only because of our initiative, but also market circumstances at that time. And so with LPM and OPET, that happens, and naturally, that is going to bring ROIC down, which doesn't mean it's going to be bad, it is just something we must bear in mind. 15% ROIC, 16%, is a good figure. It's not a guidance, again, but comparatively, when we look at cost of capital, I think this is a good level. What's different today in the company, and what do we think is going to be sustainable for the business? Well, first, our capillarity, the legacy, the logistics chain that's already implemented, most of it well advanced in terms of depreciation.
Even taking into account maintenance investments, there's a competitive advantage there that we can be profitable, which is also what sustains our recovery of market share. So the competitive advantage in cost, which enables us to improve profitability and be competitive as we recover market share. This has a big impact on ROIC. Also, we already have good ideas for the CapEx and investments and needs. Even with some occasional expansion in some businesses, we can take them in without hurting our ROIC. And I think this is the main points. On one point, profitability and the size of the company, its capillarity, the brand trends. There are many challenges in terms of added value and branding, so there's room for growth.
But today, we are already the number one player in the market, which helps in profitability, and the base of employed capital is stable, which enables us to keep our ROIC on a healthy level. Thank you.
Next, Gabriel Barra from Citi will ask his question.
Good morning, Ernesto, Augusto. One question that I can break down into three elements. When we look at market share, there are some important points. There's fierce competition in your industry today, driven by price mostly, and that's where we see that maybe you decided to let go of market share in markets where you didn't have your expected returns because of that. So how do you recover market share, but sustaining your profitability? So there are three things I'd like to you to tell us more about. First, your entry in TRR.
If you could tell us more about why go
ing into TRR and how that can help you increase market share. Second, your, your brand, you—which is also very important in this business, especially in your branded state, and there's a process of discussing with the Petrobras. So I'd like to hear from you how you're dealing with that. If you have new branding strategies or not. And sourcing. There's been a structural change in the industry in the past few years. The imports have become an important pillar in this business, and that you mentioned this difference that that was before, because of Russian diesel, for instance, oil, and your lessons learned at the company. So I'd like to hear from you, how you're dealing with that internally, and how important that pillar is for you to become more competitive.
And if Russian products are marginal or not, or if we could consider that will still be an important pillar in your competitiveness in the future. Thank you. Thank you for your question. I will start with the last one, about sourcing. I mentioned before that we've restructured our sourcing strategy recently. Now, our trading organization is very active, positioning ourself, itself different, but we understand we have the lowest cost in the distribution industry, and we want to keep that or even improve that gap. And imports, or even the trading organization as a whole, will be important. And this is a very important organization for our performance this year. They are helping us be competitive in the market, helping us make progress in market share without letting go of margins.
Undoubtedly, this new trading and sourcing organization is helping us be more competitive, as you see reflected in our figures. So increased market share, but being very competitive, especially because of what sourcing and trading have been done. And you asked about the brand as well. Our brand. Well, there's no controversies. We have a contract with Petrobras that will expire in 2029, and then we have six years to debrand. So there's no discussion, there's no discussion about that today. Petrobras and us are in agreement regarding brands. So there's a consensus, and so again, 2029 is the deadline. So there's no pressure today for us to do anything regarding our brand. So rest assured, we have a contract which is very clear, and the brand is ours until 2029, so there's no risk today regarding brand.
And then you also asked about market share and TRR—you asked about TRR, but I think it's a question about market share at the end of the day. Well, with our competitiveness, we are repositioning ourselves. You will see market share increases. In B2B, this is coming from more direct customers. We are using different channels. We have a new structure in our sales team and we are reaching customers that we didn't use to, smaller customers that offer us better margins. In the past three months, there's 500 new customers with lower volumes indeed, but better margins. We are now using also different channels to reach these customers. We have telesales, which is a new organization.
So we are using different panels today to access markets we didn't have access to in the past. So I'm growing market share with additional margin. TRR. We are, and we will go on being TRR partners, but being more selective. We wanted customers who want a long-term relationship with Vibra, and who can value what we can offer. So TRR provider service is an important channel for us, a very important channel for us, and we want a long-term relationship, and incredible as it may sound, we've been successful. You see an improvement in our market share. Of course, this is a more volatile market. The TRR market is more volatile. It couldn't be different.
However, we are positioning ourselves differently in TRR, and market share is also going to be driven by growth in volumes in our own service stations, be the 8,000 stations today, or additional stations with the new branded service stations. So that helps us increase market share sustainably with larger volumes.
Thank you.
Next question is going to be asked by Leonardo Marcondes, Bank of America.
Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two questions. One about branding strategy. We saw that there was a slight decrease in number of service stations in the past few, so if you could tell us more about your branded service station strategy going forward. The second question is about margin.
This was the fourth quarter in a row that you have more than 150 BRL per cubic meter margin, in spite of the challenges that the industry faced in the first half of the year. In the past calls, Ernesto had mentioned that the adjusted margin was 140+. So can we be more confident that, that the margin is 150+ , or even more than that? Thank you. I was going to let Augusto answer about the margin, but you mentioned my name, so I think I need to answer it. But yes, we've been above 150 in the past four quarters. I'm not going to speak about plus anymore. What I see is that we are going to go on growing this margin consistently. Consistently. This...
I mentioned that there's a number of projects, a number of opportunities of projects that are still being designed, and that have not been fully implemented, and that will enable us to grow margins consistently. I'm very confident. One year ago, I was saying that we needed to reduce the volatility of our business, and that we needed to become more consistent, and this is exactly what we are doing. We are delivering consistent results, and our margins are going north. I'm really confident. And on branding strategy for service stations, we are gradually screening our service stations, and in spite of that, there's been an increase in market share, even if timidly. There were some service stations that already had a very weak relationship with us, so we're just doing that screening process.
Early on, what we can expect in the first one or one and a half years is that still the number of service stations is going to be equivalent, but we are switching service stations that are leaving us, but we are branding new service stations. So this is one of the ways we will be growing volume. We are leaving service stations that had a weak relationship with us, with low more volume, switching for a new service station that will add more value and bring us more volume. So there's going to be stability in figures, and gradually going forward, there's going to be an increase in number of services. Stability means that it's a slight reduction here, it's like an increase there, every quarter, but gradually you will see growth in the number of branded service stations.
Just a follow-up question regarding branded stations. Do you still see a long way ahead of you regarding this screening process, or do you think there's much has been done already?
Well, nothing very significant in terms of service stations. There are some service stations that are not performing, and we discuss some contract conditions, so this is what we would be doing. It doesn't mean necessarily that we are severing the relationship with all of these service stations. Sometimes we are renegotiating the agreements.
The ones that we are stopping to work with are the ones with very low volume, so there's no concern that there's—if there's a decrease in number of service stations, it's still a small number, and there's no direct correlation with volume, because these were service stations for which the volume was low already. So even there might be an increase in volume actually. Thank you.
Next question, by Regis Cardoso, XP Investimentos.
Good morning, Ernesto and Augusto. Thank you, and thank you for taking my questions. There's a number of topics that I'd like to address with some quick questions. First, about lease reduction. When we look at our net debt, it's down, but down because of leases.
Maybe there's the acquisition of your headquarters and your net debt that is down. Also, there's the out-of-court BRL 200 million agreement. If you could tell us more about what's the cash out? And another topic is the screening process with service stations, but from a different point of view. Your branding CapEx is very low for the second quarter in a row, and I don't know if that is on purpose. But if that's the case, then a provocation in your theory of growing EBITDA, that you have a unit EBITDA margin that is lower when you have new branded service. Also, I expected a growing result for Comerc, and that's not what happened when compared to the first quarter. I don't know if it's that because of seasonality or why.
So if you could tell us more about that.
Thank you, Regis. You spoke about net debt and lease, and I think we can meet later on to talk about that. But we had a building payment of BRL 127 million of the building in the first quarter and the second quarter. That is shown as CapEx variation that I showed you in this slide. So the year projections don't change, but that's something that happened in Q2. As the 200 million contingency, this is something that we announced last year. It was our highest contingency risk. And we were able to enter into a deal, and the BRL 200 million were paid in the second quarter, and we announced that to the market.
Branding CapEx, I don't think. You don't know what is anticipated or brought on early or forward, because when you have that paid afterwards, there's a counterpart in volume. There's the advantage of monitoring results much more closely, but there's a direct impact on expenses and EBITDA. So you see a reduction in CapEx, that doesn't mean to say that you're reducing branding, but I'm changing the mix to the post-payment. So there's no change in the cost of branding. And as to Comerc and in Q2, the curves are driven by project maturation, so there's nothing unexpected in Q2. The projection is BRL 1 billion. There is seasonality, end of the year and contract adjustments. Last year we saw the same, but the projection is BRL 1 billion.
Just adding to that, the major projects are on, so gradually the EBITDA curve that was like this is going to be more like this. So we expect growth in the coming months and quarters. But the most important projects are on. There are some smaller projects that are coming in, and because we've made no new investments in centralized generation, we are not... Specifically, what we expect is a gradual stabilization. Still growth, but at a different pace. And to follow up on your branding question. And in our management model, we migrated from paying forward to paying later, and that does not show in CapEx. And the branding cost has been managed, and there's been a reduction actually when compared to previous years.
As I mentioned before, we monitor all of these figures and all of ours. This is part of the goals of our executive. I have a follow-up question. I don't know if it's too specific, maybe we can schedule a meeting later on. But leases, there was a reduction of BRL 172 million in leases comparing quarter-over-quarter. Maybe it's the present value of your lease contract. Because this is a part of the IFRS 16 debt, that's my comment on the net debt. Probably, yes, likely that's the case, but yeah, we can have a follow-up meeting with you. In theory, that's the case.
And then unit margin, the anticipated cost, did you do an analysis of how much that post-payment strategy can have impact on your unit EBITDA margin, so that we have comparable margins going forward? I think we can have a meeting with you later on and go into more details about that.
Next question, Rodrigo Almeida, Santander. You can ask your question.
Good morning, Ernesto, Augusto. I have some follow-up questions, and a question about another topic that you haven't talked about today. First, a question about CapEx and capital bases, and 1.5-1.55 that you mentioned earlier, the recurring CapEx. And then the acquisition of the building.
In CapEx, I'd like to ask about capital allocation, and if you see the need for strategic region, regions to invest in your subsidiaries because of working capital or to new business. And second, I don't know if you're going to be able to answer, but a follow-up question on your screening process with the service stations. Could give us some raw figures and average volumes of the stations that came out. And the question about lubricants. The lubricant business is one that maybe could grow considerably. So, speaking about your plant expansion, what do you expect in the second half of the year in terms of volume and market strategy, new volumes, and ramp-up expectation? Thank you.
Thank you for your question, Rodrigo. As for the two last questions, and then Rodrigo can answer the other one.
So the gallons of volumes that the stations that we are no longer working with, they were not relevant. So were stations that were not buying from us anymore, almost. So it's less than 50 cubic meters of gallons, so. This is an important figure, of course. We're going to go on announcing that, but it's about the volume, VMM, sales to our service stations market share, because this number of service stations does not necessarily correlated directly with our volumes in terms of gallons, that's it. The other question is about what lubricants. Well, the lubricant plant is going to start operating by the end of the year. It's pre-operational, actually. We are really confident... Well, it's a plant that will give us an important competitive advantage in the lubricant market.
It's the largest plant in Latin America. It's one of the top largest plants in the world. It's really state-of-the-art. There are foreign experts in automation who are here with us, and they are all impressed when they come and see our plant in terms of automation. So the quality of the product that we will be making there is going to be much higher, and the cost is certainly going to be lower than the cost of any other plant in Latin America. So we will become even more competitive, and the plant is pre-operational, and by the end of the year, it's going to be fully operational. Our mission is to go on growing the lubricant market. Our volumes are up, and we expect them to go on growing.
We, we will expand the lubricant business, which is very important for us, a very significant business for us, and we understand that this is one of the most important growth platforms in the future. You mentioned CapEx?... and the building and all. There's a CapEx carryover effect, exercise and quote, then execution. So the investment flow at, at 1.5, it's not a guidance, it's got to be more or less, but it is roughly that amount, including the, the building, BRL 1.4 billion last year. This year we said that investment would focus on agribusiness, expecting BRL 100 million above, BRL 150 million above last year. So that's why we keep that figure, and that's the pace for this year. There's no relevant expected investment in, in the subsidiaries, so nothing new there.
A follow-up question, Ernesto, about lubricants and additional volumes, you expect what in B2B, in retail? So what should we be monitoring going forward in this ramp up this year, next year, so that that's in our radar screen?
The number of fronts for the lubricant business today, we've restructured our distribution network. So there's authorized distributors in every state in Brazil today, so with that, we have greater footprint, and we reach end customers more easily. And also distributors supply our own service stations, so they have more capillarity. They offer training, they train the service stations employees, so we expect growth in retail. At the same time, we're also working on B2B cross-sell. Many of our customers use diesel oil and lubricants, but very few customers buy diesel oil and lubricant from Vibra.
They usually buy diesel oil from us, and they don't buy lubricants from us. We showed you a 5.6% growth in the presentation. The B2B cross-sell is going to be an important driver. We are making progress there. Our B2B team has been trained. They have new tools to work on that. So these are the two fronts: better distribution network to work in retail, including our own service stations, and in B2B, the strength of our diesel oil sale is going to be the driver for greater lubricant sales. So these are the two pillars there.
Thank you.
That brings us to the end of the Q&A session, so we would like to turn it over to Mr. Ernesto Pousada for his final remarks.
To conclude, I'd like to emphasize what I've mentioned before.
We really trust that these results are not there by chance. There's been four quarters, and each one of them have been very different. Some quarters were more favorable, some quarters were not as favorable for us, but we've been able to navigate everything, managing the company, delivering results in every respect. ROIC, again, is one of our most important long-term metrics, and in this, we always managing short and long term, trying to strike a balance. As you've seen, and this is the tone going forward, a gradual recovery of market share, growing volumes, and maintaining or even increasing our profitability and unit margins. So we're really confident our management model has been successful. It includes pacing, intensity, and it will certainly deliver in growing results in the coming years. Thank you, everyone, and have a great day.