Good morning everyone, and welcome to the webcast for the results of the second quarter of 2022 of Valid. I'm Olavo Vaz, Head of Corporate Finance, and I will moderate this transmission. Before starting, I would like to make some important disclaimers. This presentation is being recorded and all participants will be in a listen-only mode during the transmission. This webcast has simultaneous interpretation into English, and the presentation is available at the webcast platform and at the Valid website. Replay of this event will be available shortly after it has been finished. At the end of the presentation, there will be a Q&A session, and questions can be asked anytime during the event and should be sent through the platform web chat that has a blinking light on the left corner of the page.
Any statements that may be made during this conference about the business prospects of the company operating and financial projections and goals are based on assumptions and beliefs of the board of directors, as well as the information currently available to the company. Future considerations are not guarantee of performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as they refer to future events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions of the industry, in addition to other operating factors, may affect the business of the company and lead to results that differ materially from those such forward-looking statements. After this, I now introduce the participants of today's video conference. Ivan Murias, CEO, Renato Tyszler, CFO and IRO, and Ilson Bressan, the ID officer. Now, I hand the floor over to Ivan, and after that, we'll have the Q&A session.
Thank you, Olavo. Good morning, everyone. I would like to thank each one of you for attending this call. I hope you all are feeling well and healthy. In this first part, I would like to go over the main points of the results of this second quarter of 2022. First, I would like to say that we ended this quarter with exceeding BRL 600 million in revenue, the largest quarterly revenue with an 11% growth, when compared to the first semester of 2021 and BRL 138 million in EBITDA. For this fourth consecutive quarter, this has been the largest quarterly EBITDA in the history of Valid.
On point number 2, this has only been possible because the Valid ID has had a growth of 27% and a 200% growth in EBITDA, reaching BRL 47 million, with the result of the largest volume of the last 6 months. In the semester, we have grown revenue by 27% and the EBITDA by 25% in this vertical. In the third box, in Valid Pay, although the revenue has not been so strong as compared to previous quarters, especially because of the hike in Selic rate and the highest levels of delinquency recorded in the area as well as in retailers. Even so, our revenue grew 7% given the sale of higher value-added cards as well as strong sales in Argentina.
In addition, in the operational front, the company also had a significant reduction in variable costs in Pay business due to initiatives of operational improvement that have been made during these last eighteen months, resulting in an EBITDA growth of 244% in the quarter and 142% in the first semester of 2022. On the fourth box of Valid Mobile, we had significant results. In the second quarter of 2022, we had a growth of 17% in revenues, 12% in EBITDA, reaching an absolute EBITDA of BRL 42 million. This has only been possible given the improvement in mix of ships and geographic allocation among the countries, as well as the constant update in our operating flows.
In the semester, although with the volume 17% lower, the vertical grew 19% in revenue and 20% in EBITDA when compared to 2021. On the fifth box, continuing with our continuous effort to optimize our business lines, at the end of 2022, we entered into a sale of ID and Pay contract to G+D. The funds will accelerate the process of improving the capital structure of Valid. This investment is part of the portfolio review that started in 2020, which also includes the closing and sale of subsidiaries in Rio de Janeiro and São Bernardo do Campo, and the discontinuation of some business units that had low return.
We believe that due to the low synergy with core assets in Brazil, and therefore our low ability to win in the most competitive market worldwide, we would hardly ever have the results that we have in Brazil, and therefore it would be much better to have those assets in the hands of another strategic operator. Going to the sixth and last box. As a result and consequence of our operational delivery, the EBITDA in the last 12 months exceeds BRL 440 million. This fact, added to the debt extension process also completed in the second quarter of 2022, resulted in a net debt over EBITDA ratio of 1.2x, the lowest level since 2014.
The closure of the U.S. operations plus the potential capital increase in the beginning of September as with the exercise of subscription warrants issued in January 2011 can reduce leverage even further in 2022. Now I will turn the floor over to Renato that will give more details about the results of 2022. At the end, I'll come back with my final remarks and for the Q&A session with all of you.
Thank you, Ivan, and good morning. Before moving on to the details of the presentations with the next slides, I would like to recap this slide that I have presented before. As I mentioned in the event, until the last quarter, we had our results open in 4 business units plus the U.S., that's no longer here.
In the last year, we were convinced that the business units that we call digital no longer make sense. We have three core units, and digital will be key for these units to continue to grow both in revenues and margin, each one within its limits. The VDS unit was very important for the initial start of digital initiatives and for the new businesses of the company. Now we understand that it's time for this core business to leverage the technology within their scopes. Therefore, we extinguished the VDS unit and it was included within the main core business, Valid ID, Valid Pay and Valid Mobile. We made a detailed analysis that were in VDS to make them part of the other business unit. As you can see on the slide, we can illustrate how this new way of presenting Valid results look.
Year to date, we have 1/3 of revenue coming from each unit, and the EBITDA is distributed 39% ID, 25% Pay, and 37% Mobile. This is how we'll present our earnings from now on. Now, moving on to slide number 5. I would like to divide it in 2 parts. First, the top part that shows the consolidated results, including the United States, just for comparison purposes. See the main highlight points. As commented by Ivan Murias, we had the largest quarterly revenue from Valid, and the U.S. remained stable when compared to previous periods, showing the strength of ID, Pay and Mobile business units during the quarters. We continued with the development of revenue in the quarter since the first lockdown from the first to second quarter 2021.
We continue to evolve on a quarterly basis in terms of percentage margins, which shows the results of efficiencies in all the fronts. We closed the second quarter with a margin of 22.9% with the United States. Now let's look at the lower part of the slide, where you can see the individual development of the business units. We compare this quarter to the second quarter 2019. Why 2019? Because 2019 was the last of the three last years in which there was no effect of the pandemic. Here we see a significant growth in revenue and EBITDA margin. In ID, we grew 6.7% in revenue and ten percentage points in EBITDA. In Pay, 76% growth in revenue and almost seventeen percentage points in EBITDA. In Mobile, we grew 23% in revenue and almost ten percentage points in EBITDA.
A consistent growth in all business units even when compared to regular business times. On slide six, we have comparison versus 2021 year-to-date and for quarter. The results are strong growth results this year are still significant. 15% year-to-date in revenue and 79% year-to-date EBITDA. As shown in the previous slide, all the business unit contributed for such significant growth, especially in EBITDA, in which margins have grown from 13.6% to 22.9% in the quarter and year-to-date from 13% to 20%. We have a year-to-date EBITDA of BRL 440 million. It's a new record high of Valid which contribute to the lowering of our leverage. On slide seven, we have the first six months of the year results. Removing US, breaking down the US to show the effect it had on cash.
Although the United States accounting for 25% of our revenue, it contributed with only 9% of the EBITDA with BRL 22 million. When we compare the percentage margin, we went from 20.4% with the United States, with the U.S., with 22%—24.2% without the U.S. These 4 percentage point increase will be reflected from now on. Finally, as I mentioned in the opening slide, we show here a very well-balanced division among the three business units ID, Pay and Mobile, both in revenue as well as in EBITDA. This is also very important to bring sustainability for the risk management of the business. On slide number eight, I show the results per business unit, starting with Valid ID. The first good news is that volumes, growths are very solid.
The first quarter had the best volume in the last 15 quarters. I'm sorry. Despite the comparison with the lockdown periods, we still have a margin of 30.2% year-to-date, driven by the solid ID volume. In addition to the hub volume, we tripled in revenue in the six months period and the certification unit that continues steadily. Continuing with the Pay unit, we had another quarter of growth growing from 7.9% to 16.8% in 2022, with a 143% growth in EBITDA. Another factor that has contributed highly to increase margin in this business unit is the card results in Argentina in volume and especially in margin, given better mix of customers and prices.
Finally, operation improvements in Valid Pay operations have contributed to increase the margins of the unit consistently quarter on quarter. On slide 10, I show the mobile unit that had another solid quarter of results of revenue and EBITDA, with a 19% growth in revenue and 20% in EBITDA year-to-date. Although the volume is below 2021, given the chip shortage, global note, we are improving products in all geographies to bring higher volumes, and we continued with the high margins for eight consecutive quarters. On slide 11, I would like to divide it in two parts to show how clearly it impacts the sales of the US. First, we have the normalized net income of discontinued operations. We had a net income of BRL 20 million, driven by the significant increase in EBITDA and partially offset by higher financial expenses due to the debt rescheduling.
The profit that would be considered for the operation in the period will be BRL 20 million. We had a negative result from the sale of operation in the US. In this case, we had a loss that's only for booking value and one time only. Since the assets were priced at acquisition value, negative result of the sale is included here, but the positive effect on cash will only happen when the operation is closed and will happen in following months. In addition, we have a positive effect of free cash flow of the recurring operations of Valid. The negative booking value on the short term will be exchanged by a positive cash effect when the business continues. On slide 12. Now talking about consolidated cash flow.
We had an operating cash generation of BRL 212 million year-to-date, driven by an increase in EBITDA and partially offset by CapEx and interest expenses. Additional 49 million cash generated in paying interest on equity. We ended the quarter with BRL 155 million in cash with a conservative and solid position. Slide 13 shows the combination of operating and financial results generated by our initiatives. Starting with the top chart, we closed the quarter with the debt much better distributed throughout the years and more extended, reaching up to 2027. Not considering the sale of US operations and other liquidity or potential effects in coming months.
We also completed the ninth debenture issue for BRL 250 million, and with a reduction of 6 basis points in spread when compared to the eighth issue. We also renegotiated the other main debts with longer maturity periods and lower spreads. We can see that the result of that is reflected in our leverage that has been going down after quarter, now reaching 1.2x the EBITDA. On slide 14, the most significant item for the short term is the subscription warrant that is to mature in September 2025 and can raise funds of BRL 110 million. Now, the divestment and new opportunities. I'll talk about the USA part and then invite Ilson Bressan, who is the officer in charge of ID unit, to talk about the rest. Slide 16.
The logic of divestment in the U.S. is totally in line with the portfolio review that we started in 2020, and that has also included closing plants in Rio de Janeiro and São Bernardo, sales of Monroe unit in the United States, and discontinuation of smaller units that had low return rates and little scalability. Both the U.S. and other units were widely disclosed to the market in 2021 and beginning of 2022. We left the U.S. because we had little or low ability to win there and given the low market share of Valid, both in ID, Pay. The ROIC was much lower than our three core units. This is much different when this moves on to the global player that's strategic. They will be able to have scale for the business and obtain synergies that Valid was not able to obtain.
This is why we believe G+D was the ideal partner for this acquisition. The mobile operation, the US remains with Valid within our global platform. We still have the other business that has divestment potential. With this, I close my presentation and I turn the floor over.
Okay, thank you, Renato. Let me talk about Valid ID. I'll start talking about the new ID RG in Brazil. It's time to implement the new RG in Brazil as specified by Decree Nº 10.977. Right now, Valid is developing with five states plus the Federal District's pilot projects for the development of the new RG. Rio Grande do Sul, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Piauí, Maranhão, and Federal District.
Rio Grande do Sul state was the first one to start the issue of the new RG in July, and the other states will be operational until the end of October 2022. This is a very important phase to test the integrations, stability, and scalability of structures that support the project, either in the Ministry of Safety or Identifications or Federal Revenue Service. This new RG could be identified nationwide, available in paper, security paper or polycarbonate, and valid for 5 or 10 years with interoperable databases and with a final implementation period of beginning of March 2023. The next slide, I would like to highlight another important initiative of the second quarter 2022 as part of our process to accelerate innovation and transformation of our business verticals, which is to create a Valid Ventures.
Valid Ventures was created to complement the in-house initiatives to open innovation of startups and ecosystem. We do some things very well in-house. In other initiatives, we need to trust on other entrepreneurs. In Valid Ventures, we have GovTech to digitize journeys between the government and citizens. This is an environment we know very well. Digital onboarding and anti-fraud system with customers from public and private customers because we know the process of people identification, and we can guarantee the integrity of these processes and digital identification to support the other two initiatives. First, we'll offer access to channels and customers. We'll provide a mentorship to entrepreneurs to increase the scalability and provide strategic support for them and funding in Series A and B. This financial funding has a very clear strategic investment strategy. We start as minority shareholders.
We provide freedom for the entrepreneur to apply his thesis and provide support to, for what they need to grow and make the project feasible. We're pleased to announce that the first example of this investment strategy was the acquisition of 10% of Vsoft, as we announced on June 30. Vsoft is IDTech, headquartered in João Pessoa in Paraíba that has more than 20 years with platforms for defense and identification infrastructure, with strong research initiatives with universities. That complements our product offer to, for customers of Valid base for identification in the issuance of documents in RG, digital RG, or the CNH at the transit departments. The acquisition of this interest in Vsoft amplifies the geographic presence of Valid in Brazil, increase the offer of portfolio to existing customers, it improves our capacity to provide technology in the entire portfolio.
Welcome, Vsoft, and I'm sure we can work very well together. These are the initiatives that I would like to share with you. Thank you very much. Ivan, back to you.
Thank you, Ilson Bressan. Before moving on to the Q&A session, I would like to reinforce two important messages. First has to do with the deliveries of 2022. We have delivered against the highest quarterly EBITDA in Valid's history. This is the fourth consecutive quarter that we deliver consistent and record results. We have two verticals, Valid ID and Valid Pay. They are going very well. Valid Mobile, that is performing exceptionally well. About Valid Mobile, although we have posted a semester results very close to three quarters of 2021, it's important to say that we still are worried about the global shortage of semiconductors.
Therefore, we do not believe that it will be able to repeat this result in the second half of 2022. However, myself, the entire team will endeavor our best efforts for these results to repeat. There are so strong indications that we'll have a real shortage of telephone chips in the second half of this year, especially low-end chips in some geographies. In ID and Pay verticals, we remain confident in the power and sustainability of our results because we have a company that's much more capable of leveraging its results as a consequence of an effective implementation of a management and sales agenda that we have discussed lately. Even with the United States, our EBITDA margin in the quarter has reached 23%, and the year-to-date margin has exceeded 20%. The second point has to do with our capital structure.
We are very proud of having worked hard in this last 18 months because in the moment when in the macroeconomic scenario in Brazil has reached the summit of a monetary tightening with Selic rates in a record high, we were able to reduce our leverage, restructure our debt. This context of leverage of the company when compared to the macroeconomic scenario and the base rate, interest rate of the economy is important to any company, but especially for a small cap company. That positions us in a unique way, in a very solid way to navigate in this long cycle with the Selic at very high rates.
Added to that, future events, especially the closing of the sales transaction in the U.S. and the possibility of exercising the subscription warrant, provides a possibility of more expressive reduction in our leverage, contributing to a better scenario, a better possibility to navigate in the economy. In addition, this new level of leverage has never been experienced by this management team since we started to work in the fourth quarter of 2020. As of now, it provides us the possibility of redesigning the future of Valid with organic and inorganic initiatives with the same caution that defines us as a team, but as well as with a lot of power and confidence and certainty that we are responsible of placing Valid at the place of leadership. Now, I would like to congratulate the entire team of Valid.
The result that we have in this call is a result of everyone's effort in the different business units. My personal thank you from the entire executive team to each and every one of you. Now, we remain available to answer any questions you may have. Olavo, back to you.
Okay, let's start the Q&A session. I would like to remind you that questions should be sent through the platform chat box. Give me 30 seconds to organize the questions that have arrived. First question comes from Fabio. Congratulations on the EBITDA and revenue results. What were the main reasons for the little loss in the second quarter?
Well, basically here, this loss is due to the loss recorded on the sale of the U.S. operation. The entire operation, excluding the United States, was profitable. We would have a positive result in the quarter, but because we considered the United States, we had a small loss. This is the difference between attaining profit or loss in the second quarter of 2022.
Thank you, Renato. The second question comes from Ricardo. Bressan, would you like to answer it? With a high rise in the issuance of documents, does Valid still believes that there is a suppressed demand? When do you expect it to be normalized?
Thank you for the question, Ricardo. Yes, we do believe that there's still suppressed demand, especially in terms of renewal of the driver's license, the CNH. SENATRAN has established a schedule to renew that only ends in August 2023, and it's a postponed schedule for renewal for those who are maturing now. These are expiring now.
For example, this calendar of the driver's license is a bit postponed and therefore we have not yet captured all the suppressed demand yet. When we look at the results, we do have a satisfactory results in CNH, and we'll be able to capture more volume until August next year. We have a better results in ID renewals, the RG, because there are new states in operation. When comparing 2022 to 2021, we have implemented Piauí, Espírito Santo. There are additional states and Minas Gerais that is now very close to its full potential of monthly issuance. We're happy with the RG issuance volumes, and we believe that they will also grow, not only because of renewal as of the second half of this year, but much more during next year. There are simple effects. A simple reduction in the unemployment rate.
If you have to onboard on your new employment, on your new job, you can't find your RG, so you need to issue a new one, and that will help us issue new documents. We also have other documents that are not driver's license or ID that have an excellent performance in 2022. These are especially the RNE, which is the ID for foreigners who live in Brazil, as well as the Conselhos Regionais, professional councils revenue, especially the CRM. We more than double the volume of such documents issued. There is still market to be captured. We still have a positive expectation to capture even more and grow more as of 2023. Thank you.
Thank you, Bressan. Renato, Fabio has a question. What do you expect to happen in the second half of this year, in the first quarter of 2023?
Growth of inflation and interest rate can be a source of worry. Given the positive results in 2022, will you pay dividends still this year? Okay, let's divide the question. The first part that is about the expected results for the second half of this year and first quarter of next year. As you know, we do not give guidance in terms of figures, so unfortunately, we cannot say what we project for the second half of this year and for next year. What I can say is that in this third quarter. The operation continues to run very well, and we expect the third quarter to remain so. The fourth quarter, there is a seasonality effect, especially in telecom.
It's usually a bit lower, but except for the seasonal effect, our operations are running very well, performing well. The second part of the question about the growth in inflation and interest rate, this is always a source of concern, especially for a company that has a very high leverage. We have tried to lower our leverage rates so that we can have a safer management of our debt, and therefore of the interest paid on debt, considering the high interest rates in force now. In the ninth issuance of the debentures, we are paying more than half of the last one. With the possible sale of the US, and with the capital increase due to the subscription warrants and other lower liquidity events, we'll be able to pay the other half of the eighth issuance.
That will give us an even lower leverage rate, and we'll be able to reduce the interest expenses. That's the second part of your question. The third part has to do with the payment of dividends. Yes, we project to pay. That could be interest on equity or dividends. That will depend on how the results are at the end of the year. As I said in the previous question, when we talk about the impact of the sale of U.S. operations in our figures, it also has an impact for interest and equity. Let's remember that the U.S., when it's booked on results, it's a one-time event. Going forward, it will help us improve our earnings. We intend to maintain an annual payment of dividends or interest and equity.
Renato, Carlos has a question. What has led IR to be so high as a percentage in this quarter?
Well, Carlos, again, the fact that we booked the sale of the U.S. in the second quarter has impacted our actual tax rate, the income tax. We record the sale at the booking of the U.S. that results in a credit. These NOL credits are booked, so the U.S. telco operation will generate profit from now on. It can use the credits that were generated. But here in Brazil, we pay taxes because if you remember, our operations provided very good results, and we pay tax because the Brazilian Revenue Service is not worried about the deficit generated in the U.S., but they charge based on what we make here in Brazil.
Although we have consolidated results that has a little loss, from the tax point of view in Brazil, we do have a high effective rate. If we do not consider the sale of the US operations, we would go back to regular standard here, regular level. There's no worry from now on in Brazil.
Thank you. Renato. How do you see the Valid Hub performance for the rest of the year? Are there any competitors in that vertical? From Carlos as well.
Hello, Carlos. Good morning. As we have said for some quarters now, Valid Hub is our solution that orchestrates the digitization in the real estate records with the digital certification and the consequent formalization of all the process at the real estate deed office.
As Renato explained, this is part of the ID vertical because it's highly based on issuance of digital certificates. The solution has grown approximately 100% in the first half of this year when compared to the first semester of the previous year, and especially for main customers with our Itaú and Bradesco Bank that account for more than 80% of volume. As you know, Bradesco and Itaú are the largest banks to finance real estate purchases. We are maturing this business to meet the needs of these customers. We meet less than 10% of their needs in terms of volume, and we intend to mature this track of business to be able to provide more business for them. Just to increase the volume, our performance in Itaú and Bradesco will ensure future growth.
Along with that maturing process, we can provide business to other banks. Finally, we do have some competition, but much more based on advanced or qualified signatures and not on digital certificates. Solutions are concentrated in São Paulo and not nationwide as we provide. We know that the decision to accept the digital certificate or qualified signature is based on the official decisions from the registers. We have a more complete solution in terms of guarantees and with the widest geographic coverage.
Now continuing, Renato, a question from Thales. The level of EBITDA without the U.S. operations at BRL 219 million in the first semester and higher margins of 24%. Are these sustainable from now on?
Well, Thales, considering our recurring operations, yes, it is sustainable. Of course, there may be some basis points up or down, but it is a sustainable operation. Everything that is in our results, excluding the US, that amounts to these 24%, has absolutely nothing that hasn't. Everything is a recurring operations. As I mentioned, the fourth quarter there is a seasonality in Telco, so there are some SG&A costs that are a bit less diluted. It is sustainable and may vary up or down at some basis points given the seasonality and some customers.
Renato, a question from Julio. Congratulations on the results. What is the sale value of the US assets?
We have mentioned that we are not disclosing the results of the sales value. We cannot say exactly what it amounts to. When we consider multiples, we're speaking about very interesting multiples when in terms of the EBITDA generated by this operation in previous years. We cannot disclose the figure that we agreed on with the partner. We expect that up until the end of the year, the transaction has been signed and closed without the approvals of the U.S. government, and once the deal is closed, then we'll be able to disclose it. As I have said lately, the bad part that impacts the net income is already accounted for, the ID and bank. The good part that will come as the operation is completed in coming months, and then you'll be able to see the effect of that in the company's cash.
Next question asked by Eduardo. What would be the recurring income or net income from the second half of 2022 reducing one-off event of the sale of U.S. $50 million more? Is there still some divestment to be made?
Eduardo, it wouldn't necessarily be 50 million plus exactly, but something close to that figure. You are right. In rounding numbers, it is something close to that. About BRL 50 million-BRL 51 million of our results, which would give us a net income in the quarter of BRL 40-some million. Another question is related to the sale of US from Yuri. Considering the cash coming from the sale of US and the exclusion of the results of the unit, what would be the company's leverage today? Yuri, if I give you that, you can calculate and you can tell me the sale value. Unfortunately, I cannot give you that number for now. It will be very helpful in leverage terms. In the previous question, I forgot to answer whether there are new divestments to be made.
As I mentioned in my presentation, there is still the data business in the U.S. that was not included in the results, that once the sale agreement is signed, it would have an effect on the third quarter of our net income without any effect on cash. It would be a positive cash effect. Other than that, nothing else on our radar.
Just to add on what Renato said. When funds come from the U.S. as well as funds coming from capital increase, this will be used to end the eighth issuance of debentures. We have paid almost half of it. We're just explaining what the funds would be used for.
There's a question from Patrick. Have you received any interest or proposal regarding the assets in Argentina?
Hello, Patrick. Good morning. Yes, we did. People talked to us, but nothing that we found interesting. The management's decision to continue with the operation has proven right during 2022. Because with the exchange rate situation in the US, the importing of cards and chips, which is the scenario in which our competitors operated, has proven very uncertain. A lot of the local volume is now operated by Valid. Both in the global telecom chips as well as bank chips dynamics, it's been very important to have a robust process of allocation of chips per customer and per geography. The company has to have a solid understanding of gross profit unit per product. We're looking at banking operations in Brazil as a Mercosul operation.
Depending on prices and terms that we have to pay and repatriating the profits from Argentina and Brazil, we're trying to move part of that to Argentina to maximize the return on those assets. Yes, in summary, we did receive some. We had some conversations, nothing of interest. The decision to continue our operations in 2022 proved to be a right one.
Continuing with Renato. Question from Marco. The first quarter, there was losses on receivables. What's the impact on the second quarter?
The adjustment of sold assets sold in the U.S. was only a kind of booking adjustment compared to the sales value. Well, the first part of your question, Marco. Yes. In the first quarter, these monetary losses of receivables were related to a loan that we have with our subsidiary that was closed in euro at a high level.
Since there was a major depreciation of euro when compared to real in this first quarter, we had a booking loss. It's just for accounting purposes. Now in the second quarter, we reverted it partially. BRL 16 million came positive because euro appreciated a bit. It's hard to say what will happen in the future because each month is a different exchange rate. Changes are made accordingly. As for the second part of your question, the answer is yes. When we book the loss, we follow the accounting rule that you know. We have the value sold, value of assets. There are several costs related to the operation that are all allotted to the adjusted value. This is what we have booked in our accounting, in our books so far.
Another question from Thales. The Pay segment margins presented are sustainable. What is the prospect for mobile for the rest of the year given the scarcity of chips?
Good morning, Thales. In bank cards and Pay vertical, there are three factors that influence it. Price, prices of chips and PVC. The mix, the way you orchestrate your production capacity according to different customers and margins and efficiencies. I'd say that in terms of chips, we are more exposed to the variations of international prices. As scarcity is solved, and we don't believe it will be solved in a short term, the price of chips tends to level, and that will affect the price of the end product. On the mix and solutions and efficiency side, on the other hand, we have perennial gains. S&OP robust process and partnerships with our customers and existing customers, existing banks that are customers, as well as new banks.
We have solid partnerships established with such partners. That guarantees the perpetuity of orders and sustainable margins. The reduction of expenses that are the three factors, prices of chips can vary as scarcity is solved. Mix of plant efficiencies are perennial effects. Finally, as Renato said in the beginning of the consolidation of digital initiatives in this vertical, it's important to say that we have payment solutions in Brazil and payment solutions operated in Colombia, that because they are highly technological solutions, they operate at EBITDA margins of 25%, 30%, 40%. When you consolidate these solutions within Pay vertical as a whole, they contribute to the EBITDA margin in a positive way.
Renato, a question from Davi. "Congratulations on the strong conversion of EBITDA and cash generation for the expansion of ROI. Can this level be considered recurring?
What can we expect from Valid's in terms of CapEx to sustain current operations without expecting M&A? Davi, the first part of your question, yes. We are speaking of a conversion that we can consider recurring. I imagine you're talking about cash coming from operations. We are speaking of a CapEx that in the first semester was even higher than we would have had proportionally on a monthly basis because we implemented IP in first half of the year in some states. Once you make it, you just reap the benefits and there's no major investment to be made. There are no major investment to be made in new states in the second half of the year. Yes, we do expect that return on equity that we are advancing. When we look at the ROI, it has increased with a stronger EBITDA margin.
The ROI per business unit and ROIC excluding the US operation. As I mentioned in my slide, the US operation in terms of ROIC lowered the ROIC of the entire company because the EBITDA was low and the investment was high in assets. When we exclude the US operations, we gain some percentage points of improvement in ROIC. We are seeking a better ROIC, and we are now in EBITDA to NOPAT, and we're also working to control CapEx and working capital. The CapEx for the year, we have said that we expect to be around BRL 100 million for this year without M&A.
There are no further questions. Again, I would like to thank you all for attending this call and for the entire RI team and the entire team of the company and officers are available to answer any further questions you may have through the investor relations channel. It's a pleasure to have you all and now.