CVC Brasil Operadora e Agência de Viagens S.A. ($CVCB3)

Welcome to this conference call to present CVC Corp Q1 results. Today, we have simultaneous interpretation into English and Spanish available. To access just click on the globe icon at the lower bar of your screen, then look for interpretation and choose your preferred language: Portuguese, English or Spanish. After choosing the language, there is an option to mute the original audio in Portuguese by clicking on mute original audio. We'd like to inform you this video conference is being recorded and will be available on the company's IR website, www.cvccorp.com.br/ri, where you can find complete information about our Q1 results. You can also download the presentation. The link will be in the chat window also in English and Spanish. During the company's presentation, all participants will have their microphones disabled. [Operator Instructions] We want to remind you the information in this presentation and statements that may be made during the conference call in relation to business prospects, projections, operating and financial goals of CVC Corp represent beliefs and assumptions of the company's management as well as information currently available. Future considerations are not a guarantee of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as they refer to future events and therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, market forces and other operating factors may affect CVC Corp's future performance and lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking considerations. Today with us Fabio Mader, CEO; and Felipe Gomes, CFO; and IRO of CVC Corp. I will now turn it over to Mr. Fabio Mader.

Good morning, everyone. I'd like to begin this call highlighting CVC Corp's Brazilians facing the Middle East crisis. I will focus on this topic now. Speaking about our capacity to reach out to customers to take care of our customers during this crisis, that is we know the conflict is affecting flights in the region and but also elsewhere, especially in Asia. Of course, we had a reduction in domestic flights capacity here in Brazil. But our customer service and franchisee teams designed a swift rebooking process. So not a single customer was left unattended during this crisis. I also want to highlight our pricing strategy in response to rising fuel costs and air fare price hikes in both the domestic and international markets, which we monitor in real time to ensure optimized sales to our customers thus minimizing the impact for customers and for the company. With that, our team can always offer the best products, destinations and value for money so that customers can still continue with their dream travel plans. Let me also touch on our financial soundness, which helped a lot during this challenge. Our robust capital structure has allowed us to absorb market fluctuations without compromising our operations, keeping us in a strong position to gain share after the conflict. Please note, we continue to work hard to improve CVC Corp's efficiency. Finally, the company's diversified portfolio. So for tourist travel, but also corporate products, which certainly helped our performance with B2B sales growing faster. Next. Now on the next slide, Slide 5, strategic pillars. In our last call, we showed this same slide. And so showing our exclusive products. In Q1 2024, exclusive products represented a 15% share of our sales, then 22% in Q1 2025 and now the same number in Q1 2026, 22%. Here, we had 2 very different scenarios. In January, the average domestic airfare price dropped nearly 8% compared to last year. So we had to quickly make adaptations in our own chartered flights and blocked seats so that we had no loss. Now later on in February, it was the opposite. With the Middle East war, we had a larger offer of exclusive products in our portfolio. So in March and April, the result is the same number we reported in Q1 2025. Now the second item here, alternative payment methods. We are doing our best to grow noncredit card payments. So we came from credit card payments representing 65% of our sales in Q1 2024, then down to 58% in Q1 2026. Compared to last year, we improved 1% in this number. I will explain in further detail some of the payment methods that gained share from credit card. But the third strategic point here is the growing share of preferred hotels. In Q1 2026, preferred hotels hit a record share of 77.2% preferred hotels, with other hotels accounted for 22.8%. Now really, this was thanks to our new international department we set up in January. So our structure is now working closer to hotel owners, strengthening our relationship with international providers, similar to what we already do in the domestic market. So more proximity with hotel providers in the main international destinations helped grow our preferred hotel sales also internationally. Today, on the domestic market, preferred hotels account for more than 80% of our sales. Now finally, the share of global customers in B2B sales growing 1% in Q1 2026. So it is now 7% of our sales. We cannot forget our preferred providers with whom we have a relationship, they have also been affected by the Middle East war. So we have maintained growth in global customer sales in this Q1. Now on Slide 6. This is a summary of the highlights in Q1 2026. And then I'll hand it over to Felipe, our CFO and Investor Relations Officer, who will provide more detailed information about our numbers. After that, there will be time for Felipe and I to answer any questions you may have. But here, we start from confirmed bookings more than BRL 157 million. Compared to Q1 2025, it represents a 4% growth. Now excluding the impact of the Middle East conflict and using a normalized FX rate in Argentina, the growth would be 9%. In Brazil, 8% growth versus Q1 2025. And again, excluding the impact of the Middle East conflict, the growth would be 11% in Argentina. So in Argentina, an 8% drop compared to Q1 2025. And here again, I mean, excluding the BRL appreciation versus USD, we would see a 4% growth. Net revenue, up 1% versus Q1 2025. And excluding extraordinary impact, the growth would be 2%. Net revenue in Brazil, up 6%, but B2B grew 22%. And excluding extraordinary impacts, B2B would grow 25% and CVC Corp 7%. Now in Argentina, we reported a 17% drop compared to Q1 2025. And -- but here, too, if we exclude the BRL appreciation versus the USD in Q1, we would be talking about a 7% growth. Now our profitability. EBITDA hit BRL 94 million, down 10.5% compared to Q1 2025. And the EBITDA margin was 25.7%, down 3.2%. The net adjusted loss was BRL 63.1 million. Our capital structure, so with an active management of working capital despite a changing environment, I will just give you an overview, and then Felipe will provide more detailed information about our capital structure. So we have been focusing on this line. Some of our initiatives, we will begin to see the results in the next quarters. We have implemented dynamic financing. So this is clearly helping our customers because they can easily see on their screen the amount of each installment they will pay. So this clearly helps customers understand the difference between paying in 12, 10 or 6 installments. So this is an incentive for customers to buy and -- but also, we believe customers will tend to choose payments in fewer installments. So now with dynamic financing, we have started to see improvement. In air travel sales, we reduced the number of installments with no interest from 12 to 8 installments. And in touristic attractions, the admission tickets, we also reduced the number of installments with no interest from 10 to 8 installments. We introduced also an over commission incentive for our sales teams working at the stores to invite customers to pay using Pix. So we are providing incentives to customers so which is a price discount to also migrate from installment to Pix payments. And -- but also the salesperson has an incentive to offer Pix payments to customers. This certainly helps our plan to grow sales if noncredit card payments account for a bigger share of our sales. Now before handing it over to Felipe, I just wanted to highlight our new corporate Investor Relations website. I want to invite you to take a look at the new website, we launched on May 7, also has a means to work closer to you, to all of you guys. So down here, you can see we have our GPTW recently renewed on April 30, just a few days ago with a score of 81% in their survey, which is 8% better than in 2025. And that is a very good result, really significant, showing the strengths of our company. So our employees are highly engaged in the plan and together, we are shaping the future of CVC Corp, and 80% are promoters of our brand, which is 4% better than in 2025. We have information that the GPTW average, so including all companies surveyed, it declined compared to last year, but our company had a 4% improvement hitting 80%. So this recognition is really important for us to celebrate with our teams. Now Felipe will bring more details and we will be together after his presentation to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

Thank you, Mader. Good morning, everyone. So let us go through some of the company's numbers. On Slide 8, we show data on Brazil in the same format we used in the last few calls. On the top left, confirmed bookings or sales. In Q1, sales grew 8.1% compared to last year, nearing BRL 3.3 billion, in Brazil. And the next number we're showing here, it is sales, excluding the impact of the Middle East conflict. As Mader said, we can see the impact on CVC sales. So it is useful to see both numbers. Some of you will remember, we did the same thing when we had the big floods in the south of Brazil, so we can compare these 2 numbers. Excluding the impact of the conflict, our sales growth in Brazil would be 11.2%. Net revenue, we are also showing these 2 numbers. So on the left, the net revenue growth, we reported 6%, slightly lower than our sales growth and mainly explained by our product mix take rate when B2B grows faster than B2C, the take rate trends down. We see an improvement in our working capital, which really helps, but our take rate is lower. On the right side of the chart, we show our net revenue in take rate, excluding the impact of the conflict in the Middle East. So we would have a revenue growth of 7.2%. Further down, a few highlights. Mader already mentioned in his presentation earlier today, B2B, as we can see here, had a significant 12% growth compared to Q1 2025, even with the impact of the conflict. So we cannot forget that a significant share of our B2B sales are corporate, which suffered a hard hit from the conflict that started on February 28 and continued the whole first quarter. Next, we show the airports of Dubai, Doha and Israel, where we had the hardest impact with canceled flights and lost sales of about BRL 80 million and higher air travel prices also led to an average ticket reduction. So with more expensive air travel, B2C consumers, they tend to buy lower cost travel, to keep their travel. EBITDA was BRL 76 million in Brazil, and we'll see more details in another slide. Now on Slide 9, we have some data on Argentina. In this Q1, besides the impact of the Middle East conflict and similar to Brazil, Argentina also had a significant foreign exchange impact. With the BRL appreciation versus USD, you can also here see the same number, excluding these 2 effects in our numbers. So on the top left, confirmed sales dropped 8.4% versus Q1 last year, hitting BRL 981 million. Now excluding the FX impact, there would be a 2% growth in Q1 and compared to 2025. Now those of you who track the company will remember Argentina had a strong Q1 in 2025 was the best quarter in our tracking series. Even with that, without the foreign exchange impact, we would report a 2% growth. In the next chart, we also exclude the impact of the Middle East conflict. So we would have a 3.7% growth quarter-on-quarter using a neutral FX rate. Next, the same thing with the net revenue intake rate. First, we can see a 17.4% net revenue drop and the take rate down from 7.1% to 6.4%. This is explained also by our product mix. Our B2B OLA is growing faster than Almundo, the B2C requires less working capital. So it's similar to Brazil. Now excluding the FX impact, the drop would be 8%. And without the Middle East conflict impact, Argentina revenue would actually report a 7% growth. So as Mader said earlier, we saw a significant impact, mainly in the first months of the war that started on February 28. Further down a few highlights in Argentina. So even compared to a strong Q1 in 2025, as I mentioned, excluding the FX impact, Argentina would grow. So the Middle East conflict caused BRL 28 million in flight canceling and sales loss in March, so 80 million in Brazil, BRL 28 million in Argentina. We're speaking about BRL 110 million sales impact between February 28 and March 30 because of the Middle East conflict. The take rate is under pressure because of the product mix, but that's part of the business. B2B is growing faster than B2C. The same thing we see in Brazil. EBITDA in Argentina, BRL 18 million. I'll talk more about that in another slide. Here's some consolidated figures, net revenue and expenses of CVC Corp, including Brazil and Argentina. So first, the first slide on the left, net revenue and intake rate, net revenue up 0.8% or almost 1% growth year-on-year. Take rate down from 8.7% to 8.3%, again because B2B grows faster than B2C in Argentina and in Brazil, too. So that's about our product mix. We can feel pressure on our B2C take rate, but this is mainly because B2B is growing faster. So pushing the take rate down. Next, the same number, but now excluding the FX and the Middle East conflict impacts. So without that, the revenue growth of 2.2% instead of only 0.8%. We closed Q1 with BRL 365 million revenue. And the middle chart shows G&A expenses over net revenue. We track this ratio closely. First, at the top, Brazil and Argentina consolidated, up 2.2% in Q1 2026 compared to Q1 2025, in line with our evolution. So expenses growing below inflation. This is our commitment. Further down only Brazil because Argentina had a few expenses in pesos and then sales in dollars. So in some moments, we can see big fluctuations because of the FX effect. In Brazil, G&A expenses grew 4.3%, in line with our plan to keep expenses growing less than inflation, so the number here is BRL 150 million with an improved G&A over net revenue ratio moving from 51.4% in Q1 2025, down to 50.6% in Q1 2026. And this number is important to us. Now in our media release, we provide further information about this. It is nice to see this ratio coming down quarter-on-quarter since 2023. Next, sales expenses over confirmed bookings, we can see a change in the numbers. I mean, moving up 34% from BRL 64 million to nearly BRL 85 million in sales expenses. Our media release also shows more details about this number is mainly explained by a reversal of provisions for a default that we reported in Q1 2025, but not in 2026. The difference here is BRL 10 million. The company concentrated marketing costs in Q1 also to run a national campaign that produced a favorable impact. But this cost will be diluted in the next few quarters. So by the end of the year, we expect to be back to the same sales expense over confirmed bookings ratio that we reported in 2025. So this is more temporary, the additional sales expense. Further down, the few highlights we already mentioned, revenue growing 1% and or 2.2% excluding the FX impact, then we had a reduction of 0.6% year-on-year and higher marketing costs in Q1, which will, as I said, be diluted in the next quarters of 2026. Next, Slide 11, with consolidated EBITDA and net adjusted profit or loss. So on the top left, Brazil EBITDA in Q1 BRL 75.5 million. And here, we're not showing it. But we know that the same EBITDA number, excluding the foreign exchange and the Middle East conflict impacts, it would be slightly higher than last year. But as you can see, we are reporting BRL 75.5 million EBITDA, with a 25.3% margin EBITDA. Argentina closed Q1 with BRL 18.2 million EBITDA. And again, excluding the FX and the Middle East impacts, this EBITDA number would be the same as last year or slightly higher. But -- well, this is the result. We reported BRL 18.2 million EBITDA with a 27.2% margin EBITDA in Argentina. The consolidated figure reported in Q1 is BRL 94 million EBITDA, dropping 10% from last year with a 25.7% margin EBITDA. The company closed Q1 2026 with a net adjusted loss of BRL 63.1 million, down BRL 87 million compared to Q1 2025. In the right chart on the right, we show a comparison to last year. So in this Q1, we see the impact of a lower EBITDA on our bottom line. And that was mainly caused by the Middle East crisis. And also the BRL appreciation in Argentina. In Q1 last year, remember that we had foreign exchange gains of nearly BRL 20 million in Argentina, but well, not in 2026. The FX rates in Argentina are now much closer together. So we do not see these foreign exchange gains anymore. We had a lower deferred tax, which produced a noncash effect and in use more details in our release and other documents. Also important to mention our CapEx is higher in Q1 because of projects carried from last year. So -- but the annual CapEx number will not be higher than last year, but it was more concentrated in this Q1. In the next 3 quarters, we will see a significant reduction. So by year-end, the number will be the same as last year. That's because our CapEx was more concentrated in Q1. Now our final slide. Slide 12 shows our corporate capital structure in the same format that you saw in previous calls. On the left, operating cash generation or consumption. So please remember, Q1 historically reports more cash consumption. This is because we have more customer departures that we have to pay for and while our sales are not so strong. During the year, we expect to see an improvement. This is similar to previous years. It's a seasonal effect. In this Q1, our operations reported a positive cash generation of BRL 600,000. This is a great number at the top, but we suffered a big impact of higher airfare prices, as we mentioned. What happened? Remember, we pay most of our flight providers according to the IATA terms 7 or 9 days, depending if you have a weekend there. However, we received payment from customers in about 120 days. So first, we pay the airlines and then we have to wait to receive our payment from customers. In March with higher air ticket prices, we ended up having a cash consumption of nearly BRL 120 million to pay for the new airline prices 15% to 25% higher prices. So we're now waiting to receive our customer payments in the next few months. In Q2, we expect to receive a good proportion of this working capital employed in the first quarter. But you can see a clear impact of higher air ticket prices that we had to pay in Q1. On the right, our debt, we have been tracking this number for a while now. Compared to Q1 2025, we reported a significant debt reduction in Q1 2026 from BRL 670 million to BRL 418 million, a reduction of BRL 250 million, mostly because of the debentures that we prepaid last year. So compared to Q4 last year, there is additional BRL 20 million. These are the interests accrued in the period. But on April 30, we paid almost BRL 40 million in debenture interest. So in Q2, we will have a lower number below EUR 418 million. In cash, we reported BRL 177 million. It's the minimum cash our operations. I mean, it always depends on payments we have to make to close the corridor. This number may change. So Q1 closed with a net debt of BRL 241 million and leverage over EBITDA, which is a covenant in our debentures, it closed Q1 at 0.5x compared to in Q1 last year. It's a significant drop. But compared to Q4 last year, we can see an increase explained by the seasonal effects, as we mentioned, the working capital we had to use to pay for Q1 departure. So this is not a clean number. Unanticipated receivables which we can use any time that we need. We reported BRL 310 million, only credit card receivables. Looking at receivables, already cash. We reported BRL 1.282 billion in this Q1. In closing, our net debt and the balance of receivables is BRL 1.2 million compared to BRL 1.1 million in Q1 last year. The increase is BRL 111 million, mainly explained by the additional working capital we needed. But the overall debt over EBITDA was capped at 2.7x. So even with a greater need for working capital, okay? So these are our numbers, Mader and I will be available to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you, everyone.

[Operator Instructions] Now the first question came on chat. And the question is 2 points that caught our attention sales expenses and CapEx that had a relevant increase in Q1. Can you give us some more color whether it is something structural. So if you continue at this higher level or was it something that happened only once, and we'll go back to the previous levels.

Thank you for the question. I do not understand the name of the person who asked. But anyway, I will answer speaking about our CapEx where we had investments that were made earlier to help us gain more efficiency. That is why we had a higher number in Q1. Now during the next quarters, this number will normalize. So by year-end, the CapEx line will have a number lower than last year. But from the beginning of this management, we have emphasized that operating efficiency is key for the company because we are building an increasingly more efficient company to improve our leverage and grow our revenue. We also look at growing sales. Having said that, let me emphasize that in the next few days, you will understand more about this CapEx that was more concentrated in Q1 because we will provide more information. And so our moves will be clear. But this was investment to improve the company's efficiency. So if I want to be a bit more specific, we are taking a number of initiatives. And Felipe actually mentioned that we're working on the G&A number. So that's, again, one of the lines that we will announce soon. Now about sales expenses, higher commercial or sales expenses compared to previous quarters. There are 2 points here. First is the provision for doubtful accounts that was reversed in Q1 2025. So we didn't have that in 2026. Next, we made a marketing investment concentrated in Q1 2026, preparing our consumers for a bigger presence of CVC in the digital world. I announced that in the previous call, we are preparing CVC Corp and CVC Viagens to work in a purely digital environment. So in Q1, we advanced a few marketing actions to begin to build this new perception. So CVC is no longer a travel package sales agency. Now customers can buy different products using our app or using our portal. Depending on their preferences, they can buy individual products from CVC. But -- so this investment was concentrated in Q1, and it will dilute in the next quarters. Looking at this marketing investment, the impact was BRL 46 million in terms of our ABC target 25 plus. And in just one month in April, we had a record engagement in social media. So only in April, our engagement was greater than the whole year 2025. So again, I mean, we made this marketing investment. It was concentrated in Q1, but it will be diluted in the next 3 quarters. But this investment was really important for us to be able to begin building our image as a digital player. And also, we continue with our digital sales, working with CVC franchise stores. So this is the company evolution, and we expect to have higher sales led by this marketing investment in Q1.

Our next question comes from Vitor Fuziharo from Santander.

I'd like to ask looking at the current scenario of war in the Middle East, how are you thinking about working with different categories and services to focus during the year? Given the scenario of conflict, do you believe that you will increase your penetration of exclusive products? And my other question is about taxes and tax effects, I think there was a negative impact on the company bottom line. So I'd like to know if this was a one-off effect or if we expect to see more of that in the next quarters?

Vitor, thank you for your question. Yes, I will answer part of the question about exclusive product and then about the tax effect, Felipe will speak about that. So about exclusive products here, Vitor I believe it makes sense to go back to January. In January 2026, the year began in a very different scenario compared to what we see today because in January, the average ticket -- the average domestic ticket was 15% below last year. So that added pressure to exclusive products. Why? Well, because then consumers tend to choose regular flights instead. But then in February, we began to unbundle exclusive products. We began to be a bit more conservative in exclusive products because we saw lower average ticket, lower sales. But then we had the war in the Middle East, and that completely changed the scenario. Airlines began to push their prices up regular flights. So then again, the exclusive product became more competitive, much earlier in the year. So that led us to revisit the contracts with exclusive products and so we have more exclusive products in our portfolio than we had last year. We had a result of 22% share of exclusive products, and that will grow. This year, we will be working between 22% and 26% exclusive products. That's what we expect. Obviously, there is a cost challenge in relation to exclusive products. But because there is more price stability, we end up having good negotiated conditions. Also for hotel owners because we sell exclusive products in a package, so travel plus accommodation. And then we can have good negotiations if we are talking about chartered flights or block seats plus hotel, then the whole package brings a higher average ticket. And it is -- it has a lower cost for us. So today, I mean, we have more exclusive products, including flights, more than last year. We can see that we are having earlier sales. So we may -- we're going to see a much smaller loss in terms of block seats. And we have also seen that in some regions, we have more opportunity to add CVC capacity. So that's how we will grow exclusive products. So we're working between 22% and 26% exclusive products in 2026, as I mentioned. Felipe?

Thank you, Mader. Vitor, about tax effects, thank you for the question. So let us look at our financial results. I mean, the net adjusted loss in Q1. We had a number of events and I want to highlight some of them. Some are not structured. They are just one-off. So we had deferred tax for BRL 5 million and this is a one-off effect. Also, tax is payable in Argentina of about BRL 10 million. So now in time, with our results, we will probably be able to cross out this provision. So that's going to be helpful in the next quarters. Now this is not really about tax, but about our financial results. Mader said, we made this BRL 20 million CapEx investment in Q1, much more than last year. But as I said, this is going to be diluted in the next quarters because after everything we did in Q1, we will be able to reduce these amounts in the next quarters. Also, financial results looking at the payment of interest for cash in receivables. The number was BRL 30 million in Q1, and the EBITDA also had an impact. It was affected basically because of the Middle East conflict. So when we look at our financial results, the net adjusted loss -- and as we look at the future, I expect a significant improvement in the next quarters.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question came on chat. We have heard a lot about debt management plans to reduce the company leverage. Can you give us some more details about the recent moves in -- on this front?

Yes, this is Felipe. Thank you for the question. Mader has also mentioned about this. It is included in our media release because it is one of our main focus this year. And here, you have 2 ways. First, looking at the company debt. Today, we have a debenture of about BRL 400 million. We are talking to our current creditors and potential new creditors. The company had a credit improvement in the last 2 years. So now we have access to other lines, other banks. And we've had interesting conversations about this. Obviously, we know the scenario is not the best for this kind of negotiation. Private credit is complicated because of the interest rate and the Middle East conflict. But those of you who track the company and banks, they have seen our operating improvements. So I believe that already in Q2, we will be able to make changes to our debenture to extend the term and even to reduce the rate. So that would be very helpful. We are working that. The second part of the question is about leverage. And here, we have a number of initiatives we are taking. Mader mentioned a few. But just to answer your question, we are thinking about the debenture renegotiation and also thinking about the average time of receivables. Especially in B2C, we have done a lot, and we can see already good results in April. This is the new way that our stores and our app talks about payments, trying to reduce the number of installments, trying to grow sales paid by Pix. In April, we had 15% more Pix payments compared to installments so that helps our working capital. And again, operating efficiency is a very hot topic in the company. Right now, we are taking initiatives and we will be able to make some announcements very soon. So that's going to help us deleverage the company. By year-end, we maintain our guidance. Despite all the changes in Q1, we maintained the same speech and the same goals in terms of deleveraging the company. So that's it.

[Operator Instructions] If we do not have any more questions, the Q&A session is now closed. So now we'd like to give the floor to Mr. Fabio Mader for the company's final considerations.

Again, thank you all. Thank you all for participating in this conference call. Now as we mentioned, and even some of you asked questions about that, we continue to dedicate our efforts to maintain our cost discipline. In the next few days, you will receive more information about our commitment in terms of cost discipline and operating efficiency. We are also dedicating efforts to improve our revenue and grow sales. In this month, we celebrate CVC's anniversary. So again, it's a key date. As you look at our environment, we are getting ready to recover after the war is over. The war began on February 28. We had a very difficult moment when we had flight cancellations and lost sales. We had to reach out to customers. Some of them were not in Brazil, some of them were abroad. Some of them had travel plans. So we rebooked these travel plans customer by customer, taking care of them. And -- but now it's a different scenario. We begin to see airlines from the Middle East recovering capacity. We already see Emirates and Qatar Airlines bringing back the capacity they had removed. So after June, we believe we'll have a more normalized capacity in that region. And also, we can see that tourist travel sales to Asia are picking up again, I mean compared to Q1. So -- and that is because we see more capacity returning to these regions. We will continue to do our hard work, and we will be in touch with you. Once again, thank you all for participating in this conference call.

CVC Corp. earnings conference call in Q1 is now closed. The Investor Relations team will be available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you all for participating. Have a great day. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]