Iochpe-Maxion S.A. (MYPK3) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Interpreted] Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Iochpe-Maxion's First Quarter 2025 Results Video Conference. I am Rodrigo Caraça, Senior Investor Relations Manager for the company, and I will be conducting today's video conference. Today, in this video conference, we have Mr. Pieter Klinkers, CEO, and Mr. Renato Salum, our CFO. Please be advised that this conference is being recorded and will be made available on the company's Investor Relations website along with the respective presentation. Please note that Mr. Pieter Klinkers will conduct the presentation in English. For your convenience, simultaneous interpreting in Portuguese and English are available. [Operator Instructions] Before proceeding, we would like to clarify that any statement that may be made during this video conference regarding the company's business prospects, projections, and operational and financial goals constitutes beliefs and assumptions of Iochpe-Maxion's Board of Directors as well as information currently available to the company. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions as they refer to future events, and therefore, they depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Now I'll give the floor to Mr. Pieter Klinkers, CEO, Iochpe-Maxion. Please, you may have the floor. Thank you.

Hello. Good morning, everybody. This is the first time I'm speaking to you on this call, maybe not the first time I'm speaking to you, but I'm sure there's many people that did not speak to me yet. So, let's spend 1 minute on me presenting myself, and then the rest of the time we spend on Iochpe-Maxion. So, I am from Holland. I'm happily married, I have 2 kids, 10- and 12-year-olds. And I've been working since 30 years in automotive. The first 10 years for a fantastic company called Michelin. And then I changed towards an American-listed company called Hayes Lemmerz, worked for them until this company, Maxion, took over Hayes Lemmerz back in 2012. And so, in the last 10 years working for Maxion, I've had the honor to lead our wheel business globally. Some people may ask, and some people do ask both privately and business-wise. So, where are you going to be, Pieter? And I actually wrote a first day letter to all my 17,000 colleagues, and I told them, I will be around. I actually made a habit out of trying to visit all of our locations at least once a year. That becomes more challenging, the more locations you are managing that I will continue to strive to do that. Visit some locations more than once a year, some maybe every second year, but I will be around. Now given the nature of my job that I now have officially since a few weeks, of course, I will be spending more time in Brazil, and my official office location will be Brazil. So, in a nutshell, I would say, pretty global, but based in Brazil. And that's actually a good introduction, I think, to Iochpe-Maxion because it's the same. This is a pretty global company, which is based in Brazil, has its roots in Brazil, and it's based in Brazil. How is this company doing nowadays, among all the turmoil that we see in the world? If we go to the next slide. Then we can see that the market has been dynamic and, unfortunately, not in a positive way. When we look at these numbers, 1 year ago, they look a little bit more positive. And so nowadays, the latest information from Standard & Poor Global is that actually we will see a reduction in 2025 in light vehicle production, excluding China, of about 3%. I'm saying, excluding China because of Iochpe-Maxion, we have a limited presence in China. So, we prefer to look at numbers, excluding China. And then for commercial vehicles, actually, this number has now turned into a minus 5% for this year. The positive story is that over the next coming years, everybody still believes that this business will grow. The automotive industry will grow. And especially in trucks, we still expect a good increase going from 2025 into 2026. But right now, I would say we are having more of a downturn in the global markets than of an upside. Now, what does that mean for Iochpe-Maxion? If we look at the next slide, you can actually see that our net revenue in the first quarter of this year has been up almost 10%, just over BRL 3.9 billion of revenues we recorded. So that's pretty good. And we will go into some more detail on the next slide. If you look at gross profit, we've been doing good as well, I believe, an increase of more than 15% versus the first quarter of 2024. So, a total of just over BRL 443 million we generated, which represents a gross margin of 11.3%, which is about 0.6% higher than what we did last year, the same quarter. So good progress, I would say, as well in that respect. From an EBITDA point of view, we are on track with our internal targets. The growth has been good in absolute numbers, of course, also helped by FX, 12%, almost 12% of growth versus the same quarter in 2024, and we're actually generating about 9% EBITDA in the first quarter of 2025, which is an increase of 0.2% over the same quarter last year. And then last but not least, I think everybody here knows that we are very focused on improving our capital structure. We're happy to say that our leverage ended about 2.34x in quarter 1, 2025, and that is to be compared with 2.95x in the first quarter of 2024, just 1 year ago, and 2.39x when we presented these numbers just 1 quarter ago. If we have a little bit closer look on the next slide, when we talk about revenue, you see this growth from about EUR 2.6 billion to just under EUR 4 billion in the first quarter of 2025. That's a very good growth. Of course, that has been supported a lot by positive exchange variation. But I would say the other way around, even if you exclude all of that positive FX, we are looking at a very stable number in Iochpe-Maxion quarter-over-quarter in a market that has been down versus the first quarter of 2024. So, I would say, overall, it looks pretty good in absolute. But even if you exclude the positive FX impact, I think the company has been doing all right from a revenue point of view globally. If you go to the next slide, we look a little bit more in detail. How does that look by product? And you basically see 2 major changes. One is our structural components obviously was a little bit down compared as a percentage of our total revenue. It was a little bit down, and that's only due to the fact that the North American commercial vehicle market was down. We have been mitigating that effect a little bit. But clearly, components is a little bit down compared to where they were last year as a total percentage of our revenue. That has been made up, though, by wheels, and especially in aluminum wheels globally, we are doing all right. And so, you see, from 30% of revenue of the total company to 33% of revenue in aluminum wheels, and also steel wheels, they've been pretty stable, which means in the market that is a little bit down, we have been able to mitigate the downward effects there. So overall, a little bit less components quarter-over-quarter and a little bit more wheels, especially aluminum wheels. We go to the next slide. You look at our revenue by client. First of all, I think this is a very healthy slide. We don't have 3 big customers and then a few others. It's very healthy, I think, to see that top 5 is just under 50%. Top 10 is about 75%. And you see that same story that I was talking about on the prior slide back here. You see some clients like Daimler and like Tron, where we sell a lot of components, chassis. You see them down as a percentage of our total revenue. But we've been able to make it up with other customers, especially on the pass car side, if you look at Toyota, you look at Stellantis, you look at Land Rover, you look at GM, we've been able to make things up. And so that has been a contributor to that phenomenon of us being stable, even though the markets have been overall rather down. And so, I think a pretty healthy look on this slide. If we look in more detail by region. We go to the next slide. You see, our Pearl it's called South America. We are very happy to have about 1/4 of our revenue nowadays in Brazil. We're always happy, but especially today, because I think Brazil is outperforming global markets. And so, we are very happy to have a large presence in Brazil. You see, the market has been up about 8%. We've been up about 7%. Keep in mind, the CRU steel index was down in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2024. So, we've been adjusting our prices a little bit. But overall, this is a very positive picture for the company. Actually, in light vehicle, we were way above what the market has been doing anyway in a positive way. And so, we feel very happy being in Brazil anyway, but these numbers look good, and they have been helping us to mitigate some of the negative effects that we see in other regions, which if you go to the next slide, Aena, North America, you see minus 5% on the bottom left in light vehicles and minus 22% on commercial vehicles. That's tough. And so, you see that back in our numbers. Now obviously, our numbers absolutely, actually a little bit above the numbers from the first quarter of '24. But of course, we have a big support from positive exchange, about BRL 162 million, BRL 163 million. So, if you deduct for that, you see we are more or less in line with what the market is doing, mitigating it a little bit with steel wheels for light vehicles in the North American market. So, a little bit less down than what the market overall has been doing. And we expect that to continue like this. We will try to continue to outperform the market a little bit. If you go to the next slide, Asia. It's our smallest of the 4 regions that we present here. But nevertheless, it's about 9%. Now the Asian market has been under more pressure than everybody believed and everybody wanted. Our numbers are up. But again, we have a positive exchange variation in there. So, if you exclude for that, it's more or less stable. We're pretty close to where we were 1-year, same quarter -- 1 year ago, same quarter, which again means that we are outperforming the market to some extent. And we're very happy with our business in India. We have been growing steel wheels in India. We will grow aluminum wheels in India. And so, my expectation is that we will continue to outperform that market also going forward, but not a bad first quarter in Asia for the company, given how the market is performing there. Then if we go to Europe, on this slide. You actually see that our revenue is way up. And even if you exclude for positive FX, our revenue is still up. And that is -- in a market that is, I would say, under pressure, minus 7% on light vehicle, minus 12% on trucks, and our revenue is a little bit up. There's only 2 conclusions that we can draw there, and they're both right. One is we're passing on increased costs, raw material costs, other inflationary costs at an appropriate level, but also, we're gaining market share. And so that's a good thing to have happening in a market that is under pressure. If you can gain a little bit of market share, that, of course, helps a lot to offset negative effects that you would otherwise have, and that I'm sure many suppliers in Europe are facing. So, we wish the market would be up instead of down. But in this downward market, I think we are having a very decent performance from a revenue point of view. And this is the biggest of the 4. This is representing about 37.5% of our total revenue in the company. So, a good story there, I would say, in a tough market situation. If we go to the next slide, Aena. We look at our gross profit and our gross margin. I'm actually very happy to say that we've been able to again expand that gross margin. It's now running at a level of about 11.3% in absolute numbers. That's an increase of about 15%, which is quite meaningful, I would say, and it represents a growth of about 0.6 percentage points in gross margin. If we go to the next slide, then we have a look at EBITDA. And also there, a very strong growth in absolute EBITDA, of course, supported by FX, by positive FX, and the margin increase from about 8.8% in the first quarter of '24 to about 9% in the first quarter of 2025, with minimal restructuring costs in both these quarters. In 2024, we didn't do a lot in quarter 1, 2025, also these restructuring costs are very, very minimal. So, being aligned with our targets when it comes to absolute EBITDA and EBITDA margin. We go to the next slide. You see our net income. That's a little bit different story that is impacted by basically 3 reasons. One is the Selic that everyone knows has been increasing. Even yesterday was increasing. And then we had some other non-monetary items, mainly in Turkey, not only in Turkey, but mainly in Turkey, caused by FX that led us to having a reduced number in net income to what we are planning and what we had last year. And then one more thing is that in the first quarter of 2024, we had some one-time upsides, legal upsides. And those, of course, did not happen in the first quarter of '25. That's the explanation for this number being positive, but going down compared to what we were showing last year. We go to the next slide, and we look at our investments. I would say we're really very, very disciplined when it comes to investments. It's about the same number of investment as what we had 1 year ago, same quarter. But if you deduct for the ethics variation, actually we're spending about 10% less than what we did a year ago at similar units. And so, I would say this is a very disciplined story, completely in line with our targets. We go to the next one, Aena. Then we look at our financial leverage. We talked about the overall number. It has been coming down over the last quarters and continued to go down also in the first quarter of 2025. And so, I think, again this is a leverage that is in line with our internal targets and we're happy to continue to be working in that direction, as you all know. We go to the next one. Our liquidity ratio, it's very strong. I would say we didn't draw any of our credit lines and our short-term debt continued to go down. Cash position is still strong. And so that led to kind of a similar strong liquidity ratio of about 5.2x, 5.3x as what we showed to you just one quarter ago. So still a very strong high level of liquidity ratio. We go to the next one. We'll look a little bit more in detail on our debt. You've seen a similar picture on the top left, a very good spread of our debt in the different currencies. You see our debt maturity. I think this year, next year, 2027, relatively low debt maturity and then a little bit more work to be done for 2028 that we will not do now. We will do it at the right time at the right cost, and I'm sure we will manage that one. But I think a very good situation for the company on the short- and medium-term. Of course, we have been reducing our short-term debt. We talked about that in prior calls, and it's now only about 8%, 9% of our total debt that we have on short-term debt. So, I would say a solid story in this respect as well. We go to the next slide. I want to wrap it up. As we see the first quarter for lochpe-Maxion, of course, the markets have been a little bit down in quarter 1, 2025, and there is a significant amount of uncertainty because of the whole tariff situation and the impact it could have, may have, may not have. I would say Maxion is performing very stable in revenue, excluding the FX. Of course, very well in absolute numbers, including the positive FX, but even excluding the FX, we're in a very stable mode. And we're working through these tariffs case by case and week by week. And when you ask me the impact on our business, I would say the direct impact of that tariff situation, being a global company, not being a big exporter that has not been our strategy since a long time. I think we're actually in a little bit better competitive situation than some of our peers. And so, the market is down. We're stable, and we're working through this tariff situation that as everybody knows, it's quite dynamic. So, I would say, top right here, we are on track for meeting our 2025 global targets. And I put CP there, which means ceteris paribus, means all other things equal because, of course, nobody knows exactly what will happen and what will be the impact of the trade situation that is going on right now. But overall, I would say Maxion is a resilient company. We are continuing to launch new products flawlessly. We win important new business in all of our segments in wheels and in components. And actually, as I said before, we're gaining some share in a distressed market, especially in -- from a point of view of Europe. And then from an investment point of view, I think we're completely in line with our targets, and we are finishing these major investments that we have started some time ago in Turkey for truck aluminum wheels and in Mexico for components. Both of these investments are on track to launch and ramp-up as we targeted in -- still in this year 2025. So, with that, I would say thank you very much and give the word back to Rodrigo.

[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] First question is from Andre Ferreira from Bradesco.

[Interpreted] Congratulations on your results, first of all. [Now switching back to Portuguese.] I would like to ask 2 things, Pieter. First thing would be with the new projections in volume from the consultancy companies that you mentioned, do you see a deleveraging happening in the future? Or do you think it's even possible to think of a 2-digit margin, especially considering the expansion in capacity in Mexico unlocking this potential? And second, how much -- do you think the CapEx will be smaller in comparison to last year after the investments in Turkey and in Mexico? Do you have any flexibility maybe not with both, but maybe with one or another. Do you think more investment will be taken to next year, improving your cash flow?

Andre, thank you for your questions that I will try to answer both of them. I think the current projections, volume projections that we have from the institutions, those are already included in our forecast for the whole year. And so, if it stays at that, I would say we're on track with the deleveraging that we targeted for ourselves, and we are also on track for delivering the double-digit margin. Now of course, the situation is still dynamic as we speak and probably as we will speak over the next days, weeks and months. And so, we don't know exactly what the final impact will be. But if the impact will be around that, what is being projected right now, I think we will stick with our targets and deliver on the deleveraging as well as on the double-digit margins. But of course, I mentioned ceteris paribus, means things should stay like they are or get better, right? That will be helpful. If they get significantly worse, then we need to revisit these targets. But right now, we stick to our targets. When it comes to CapEx, of course, these were very big investments that we have been making in both in Mexico for components and in Turkey for wheels. Actually, those are the 2 biggest investments that we made since 2012 when lochpe-Maxion took over a lot of business, including Hayes Lemmerz. And when these projects will be finalized at the end of this year, beginning of next year from a CapEx point of view, we will have to do a little bit for the existing plants. Of course, when you run those big CapEx projects and you work on your deleveraging, that goes at the expense of some other stuff that you do in all the other operations. So, we expect to catch up a little bit there. But it is not our intent to restart such a big CapEx project, organic growth project anytime soon. So that should give us some relief from a CapEx point of view, albeit that all the plans that have been suffering a little bit to support spending the CapEx on these 2 big projects, we will have to catch up a little bit there as well. Does that answer your questions?

Yes, perfectly.

[Interpreted] The next question is from Fernanda Recchia from BTG.

[Interpreted] On our side, we have 2 questions, too. First, talking about the automotive scenario from a global perspective. We see that you've put the updated projection. If you could bring a little more granularity to the data, how do you see the perspective for Europe and North America, including this tariff scenario and this global recession. And another thing would be, I'd like to hear a little bit more about the perspectives for Brazil. As you've shown, Brazil was the region that really held your volume for the first quarter. When we look at the data from Brazil, we see the production of vehicles is a little bit lower, not many working days. I'd like to understand how you see the evolution of Brazil for the next months. This is what I wanted to hear from you.

Okay. Fernanda, thank you very much for the question. So, when it comes to global automotive, yes, I think the whole world is asking this question, what will happen in the end. I think we're seeing impact. But I think at the same time, it's impossible to say where the story will end. I think if we would see more impact, it could come 2 ways. It could come through supply chain interruption that I hope our customers, the big OEMs will avoid to let happen. And so there will need to be a good cooperation between suppliers, all suppliers, because only missing a few parts on the vehicle can lead to supply chain interruption already. And so there needs to be good cooperation between suppliers and OEMs. And I think if you look over a long period of time, these discussions have always been tough between suppliers and OEMs. But ultimately, I think people have always found workable solutions. And so, I'm counting on that as well. Now what will be -- what could be the other impact is, of course, recession or lower growth. And I think we see that happening. And if that happens, I think it could have a worldwide impact. But of course, the biggest impact could be in North America, in the U.S. in particular. And so there could be some more volume reduction there, not only for pass car, but also for truck, which is even more dependent on the economy, as you know. So that could be a further risk that we see generally for the industry and that, of course, also could impact Maxion. Now again, we know how to handle these situations because it wouldn't be the first time that something like that happens. And also, we would have plans ready to address that and to, again, mitigate impact on our numbers. So, I'm not counting on total disaster. Let's hope that will be avoided. But of course, depending on the impact being a little bit bigger or a little bit smaller, we will have to adjust, and we will be ready to do so. When you talk about Brazil, trucks, we have commercial vehicles, we have a very, very strong position in the market, both for components as well as for wheels. And so, we would really be going up and down with the market. So, if there's a little bit less, then we would see that as well. But we don't expect a huge variation to what we were planning anyway since the beginning of the year. So, I would say if you see a little bit less, that would be already incorporated in our projections for the future. When you look at pass car, I actually think we're doing pretty well. And you could see it from the slide that I presented where we were way over that what the market was increasing. I think the market increasing was more like 8%, and we are doing 18%. So, I think that story also will continue. So, there will be maybe a little bit less upside if there's a little bit less production, but we would still be doing very well compared to the market is my expectation. Does that answer your questions?

Yes, it does. Thank you, Pieter.

[Interpreted] Our next question is from Lucas Laghi from XP.

Pieter, we wish you our best and success and hope we can get more in touch going forward. [Interpreted] Now thinking of the questions that we would like to explore with you. We have 2 main points. Regard to the market dynamics and considering North America in order to understand what exactly is really pulling the market down. We've been seeing dynamics of residential spending that is a little bit worsened and the nonresidential spending is holding it back a little bit. Now thinking for what would be the most reasonable combination? Maybe a worsening in the non-residential spending and interest. Do you think they have come all the way to the bottom and nothing can get any lower than this? What do you think? But also, considering what do you think that are the drivers for North America, considering what the result would be of the dynamics in the market from now on? And in regard to Europe, considering the market share comments, just to understand what has led to this market share gain? Do you think that is Iochpe-Maxion's gaining share because of the new clients or the big clients with representativeness? Or it was Iochpe working on contracts that was in hands of the competition and now is not in the hands of Iochpe-Maxion. What do you think that happened with the market participation? We understand that the profile for Iochpe-Maxion is more global and more diversified in comparison to other -- to the competition. And they have a more concentrated pool of clients wherever they are. Considering the market, we've seen a more file situation in North American competition for you. And I don't know if this is happening in Europe as well, maybe a gain of a much larger market share considering what's happening to the competition at financial level. So, this is what I wanted to say, and I'd like to hear your perspectives in this sense.

Okay. Lucas, thank you for the questions. Let me start with your first question on North America. We talked about it in the presentation. We talked about it in the prior question. And I think there's really a lot of speculation around what's going on in North America and what will be the end situation. I would not like to add too much to that speculation. I know there's a lot of companies now are saying we are suspending guidance because we actually don't know what will be the impact of all that is happening. I just want to say that we are watching it very, very closely. We are mitigating there where we can, either through auto logistics solutions or through gaining share there where possible, there where wheels can help components was more impacted by the commercial vehicle situation that is much more down than the pass car side where wheels is stronger. We're trying to work together to see how we can mitigate impact. But I think we need one more quarter, maybe 2 more quarters to know exactly what's the situation and what's the ultimate impact and who is having more impact from that and who's having less impact from that. Right now, I can tell you year-to-date, we are seeing a little bit less impact for Iochpe-Maxion than what's happening on the total market, and we will do our best to make that even better, if any way possible. When I come to market share gain in Europe, I don't want to speculate about competition, but I think our customers see Iochpe-Maxion for sure as a very resilient company. And we are, right, if you look at our financials, but not only at the financials, also on the new product that we launch and on our global support that we can offer customers. If we want to work with Chinese OEMs in Europe, we are present in China. We are helping them in Brazil. We are working with them in Europe. Now we have some competitive advantages that I think all count in maybe us being able to either profit from a market that at some point in time, I think will come back or to mitigate impacts from a market that right now is truly down. But one thing that I can tell you is that this market share gain that we're seeing is not just one wheel here or there. It's happening in all the segments. It's happening in pass car steel wheels. It's happening in pass aluminum wheels. It's happening in truck steel wheels for sure. And I can tell you, once we sell our first truck aluminum wheel in Europe, that is a gain in market share as well because we've never sold any wheel there. So, every wheel we sell there will be a market share gain. And so, I expect this situation to continue. That doesn't mean we are going to be the only competitor there. There's no way like that. But right now, we're in a favorable position because of some positions that we have created for the company, both from a financial point of view as well as from a product point of view, from an innovation point of view, from a footprint point of view, from a customer relationship point of view. So, I would say it's a favorable situation that we, for sure, will try to continue to have.

[Interpreted] Next question is from Gabriel Tinem from Santander.

[Interpreted] The question is in regard to the mix. You've mentioned in general that this quarter was helped with the mix of products. I would like to understand a little bit better about the evolution of the launching of new products. And in regard to the plant in Turkey, what can you tell a little bit more concerning timing, if you can bring a better overview. In regard to your cash, what is the expectation for this year, especially with the impact of what is happening globally?

Okay. Gabriel, I will take the first one, and then I will give the word to Renato Salum to talk a little bit more about cash. The positive mix is -- it's not just a product mix. I think we have a more positive mix, first of all, because we are a global company. And so, we are able to offset some negatives that everybody is feeling somewhere in the world by positives somewhere else where maybe not everybody is feeling. And so, our global footprint gives us a positive mix compared to the market and compared to maybe also some of our competitors. And then if you look at wheels and components, of course, components is more focused on heavy truck, and that's a market that particularly in North America is under pressure. But at the same time, sometimes we're able to make up something on the pass car side where Maxion Wheels has a very strong position. And so, the combination of all of that gives us the opportunity to mitigate some of the impacts that we're seeing in the market. I'm not saying we are immune at all. We are feeling the pressures in the market as well, but I think we have some tools to offset some of it and not feel the total pain. That's when we talk about positive mix, that's, I think, more relevant than one product here or product there. When you talk about new business wins, I think you mentioned that as well. I would love to show you in this presentation a series of slides of what business we are winning with nice cars and nice wheels and nice pickups and chassis in there from us. But we're restricted because of confidentiality reasons from our customers to do that. But I can guarantee you that we're excited about the new business that we have been winning and are launching and also the business that we're working on now where we have a good feeling that we will bring positive news to our results, both revenue and margin. So, from that point of view, I need to be a little -- I'm a little bit restricted on what I can talk about from a customer point of view, but we feel excited about the new business wins that we are continuing to win. If that's okay, on your first or 2 questions, then I would pass the word to Renato Salum to talk a little bit more about the cash. Is that okay?

[Interpreted] Gabriel, thank you for your question. Now in regard to cash generation and the view of the company in regard to EBITDA. It's important to reinforce 4 pillars here with you, the 4 pillars that really sustain our financial management. First is the consistent ability of converting EBITDA into cash generation. I think it's essential for the sustainability of our business model. Second is the very strict control of the working capital. We monitor these indicators monthly, and we can keep the level up to around 4%. And we've been managing to keep this for the last 4 quarters. We had a very significant evolution comparison to the 23% we had in the past. We had a working capital ratio of around 23% in 2021, 19% in 2022. And today, 3.5%, and it's been like this for the last 8 consecutive quarters. Pieter has mentioned about this third pillar before, but the prioritization of CapEx based on return -- as mentioned, this is something that is dealt with very seriously by us, and it's part of our monthly agenda, not only with the financial department, but also with the Board of Directors in light of the employed capital, of course. And the fourth pillar is one of the most important, which is a natural consequence of the 3 previous, is the reduction of our gross debt. We've been working very responsibly to decrease our debt, improving the way we deal with our costs. And of course, this is how we envision our future, and it's been very positive. When we compare the 3 quarters of '23 and '24, we see that the company is relevantly exposed to CDI with BRL 2.4 billion. That's in the first quarter of '24 and '25. And despite the increase in CDI in the period, when we look at the third quarter of '24, we had 11.28% and for '25, we have 12.98%. These numbers, you see an increase of 1.67%. That is we've managed to neutralize a little bit the impact applying liability management strategies. These strategies being -- let's emphasize the prepayment of debentures would be CDI plus 2.60%. We had the numbers replaced. And of course, this represent a very good number in regard to the spread with operational structures with BNDES in the amount of $130 trillion, a fixed percentage of 2.5% a year. And more recently, we've contracted a FEP line, 60% has already been paid off and there is an equivalent of an ATR rate plus 2%. This will contribute to an effective reduction of our debt. And as a result, our liquid result with interest have been redacted from the application and it's been stable to date. In the past, we had a gross debt margin. And today, we have less gross debt and a smaller cash because we're making the payments. In the first quarter of 2024, we had BRL 144 million paid in interest compensated for 40.7% in income -- in revenue. We are talking about BRL 5 million in debt. And in the first quarter, we had BRL 130 million paid in interest. When we look at the forecast and how it is broken into the price that we have to pay, we result in BRL 105 million of liquid cost of debt. What I mean is that when it comes to debt, if we had worked on our application with the same cost of CDI in the same semester of '24, considering exchange rate, we would have a negative result of around BRL 9.36 million. This is just to show you how important it is that we pay what we have to pay instead of investing to pay for now. What I mean in the end is that we are on a good projection, as Pieter has mentioned in his previous slide, it's a deleveraging of the company. We are monitoring today and we see that there is a perspective based on the projections that we have, the volume that I see and what I can convert into cash generation for the company. I can say that I am sure and confident that we are going to manage to achieve what we have set as a goal, which is the margin close to the levels we used to have between 2013 and 2019, around 11%. The strategies are still the same. The financials are the same. Monitoring is happening up close monthly and at any point considering movement that may be showing that we are off track, we are going to take the necessary corrective measures if needed exactly in the same month. But I can say with confidence that today, we can consider that everything that is being forecasted is being fulfilled. Is there any question to what I say?

[Interpreted] Our next question is from Keefer Kennedy from Citibank.

[Interpreted] Congratulations on your new position. I have 2 questions. I think that more questions have been posed. But still in regard to the Trump tariff, you commented on the presentation that you are going to see everything weekly or monthly and you're going to study every little movement. I would like a little bit more detail when you say on a case-by-case scenario. What do you mean when you say it? What specific measures are you taking? How do you listen to these conversations? How do you see the behavior of your customers, your suppliers? I'd like to -- you to shed a little color to this, if possible. And the second question is in regard to another topic. In regard to the Chinese OEMs, some of them have smaller contracts with some other suppliers. What I'd like to hear from you, do you envision an increase of representativeness with the Chinese market? They are more vertical players, I see. And they are taking a big step in the commercial vehicle scenario. They are showing off more now. I'd like to hear from you. Just these 2 questions.

Thank you for those questions. So, a little bit more color on how we handle tariffs. Yes, we have to be working on this week by week, day by day, in fact, because the changes are day by day and week to week. And so, we have a team that is focused on this and that keeps everybody updated almost on a daily basis. And for sure, when things change. And when I say we're looking at possibilities, if you have your operations in one country and you're a big exporter, like some of our competitors are, we have a lot of Chinese competitors then. On the one hand, you could say it's easier to understand what your impact is, on the other hand, you have less flexibility. We, at Iochpe-Maxion have much more flexibility. So, we can supply wheels from one location, let's say, India, but we could supply the same wheels from Brazil or from Turkey or from Mexico. And so, if it makes more sense to produce for a certain period of time in another location, we can do that pretty quickly. And so that's something that, of course, we are analyzing together with our customers. They understand that and I think they value those options that we are able to offer, the flexibility that we are able to offer. That's a little bit more work than when you say I'm stuck anyway, and I don't have a lot of possibilities, but it's positive work. And so, I would say the direct impact, and I mean, the direct impact, okay, this country gets this tariff and therefore, this impact, that's for us more manageable, I think, than for many of our peers. A lot of work, but we can create more flexibility for our customers, and they will value that. The indirect impact, of course, what does this do to the supply chain overall? What does this do to the economy? That's another question. And that's where you need to listen more to what customers are telling you on what it means for their releases, for their production schedules, and what it means for the economy. And so that's a different kind of work that's more -- that's just more trying to be aware of what's happening, but you can't do a lot about that as a company. So, a lot of work is being done. We can offer some more flexibility, and we're trying to capitalize on that. When we talk about Chinese OEMs and the representation with the Chinese OEMs, I think we're in a good position. We are gaining with them in Europe. We will be working with them in Brazil. And so, I think we're in a good position to work with these important customers going forward. And again, they know us from China. They know us. They will know us. They know us already in Europe. They will know us in Brazil. And so that also gives them more confidence to work with a partner that they have been working with in other regions that they know they can count on. I think that's a competitive advantage for our company. When you talk about vertical integration, there's always a risk of that, but we've not seen an example of that when it comes to wheels or chassis. And I think both these products are usually very favorable for localization. And so that's what we are counting on. And that's also what we see happening so far. When you talk about CV, especially CV outside of China, I agree with you. There is some more noise around that. And again, I think we have a very favorable position, both from a wheels point of view as from a components point of view to be a solid partner for the Chinese once they are also able in that segment to gain some momentum like they are already doing on the pass car side. I hope that answers your questions.

[Interpreted] Next question is from Pedro Tineo, Itaú BBA.

[Interpreted] I would also like to wish you great success ahead, Pieter, in your next position. I just would like to explore a little bit one thing that caught my attention in regard to price transfers in Europe. I would like to understand a little bit what the relationship bargain is like between the OEMs and in regard to acceleration, volume reduction. What is it like for you in regard to the price adjustment and leveraging? How much time do you have to mitigate to understand whether you're going to transfer the prices to the customers or not? And the second point is I would like to understand a little bit more the CapEx dynamics for 2026. I know that you've mentioned the Turkey and Mexico investments. But I'd like to know what's going to happen in the future. You've mentioned 2026. What do you see ahead? What is happening? What can you envision for the year-over-year evolution for '26 and '27? This is what I wanted to know.

Pedro, thank you for both questions. So, first of all, on pricing adjustments, I think we need to, and especially Europe, which is what I think you were asking, I think we need to differentiate between pricing adjustments because of raw material where there is processes in place, sometimes formulas in place. And I think that's a very mature process that is ongoing there since a long time. Now that doesn't mean it's always crystal clear and always easy, but I think we have processes in place, and we can count on these working out over time in the right way. And that's what we haven't seen happening and we will see happening. Then there is other inflationary costs besides raw material, right? And I think those other inflationary costs have been higher recent years than what we've seen in the past. And of course, since this is new and at different levels than what we saw in the past, that has been a little bit more discussion. But as I said, these discussions are never easy, but we've been able to find good solutions any way. And we will continue to find good solutions, appropriate solutions with our customers going forward. But I can also tell you that this is a company that is more than 100 years old, both in Europe and Brazil, North America, we are more than 100 years old. And since 100 years, we're dealing with very big customers, very big OEMs. They are much larger than we are. We're dealing with very big suppliers. Some of those are very much bigger than we are. And we always need to fight our way through. Otherwise, we would not have been surviving today. So, we have had good training over the last 100 years, and we put it in practice every day. And I think you can count on us doing the right thing when it comes to adjusting pricing at an appropriate level. When you talk about CapEx 2026, of course, as I said, those big projects that we have initiated a few years ago, they are coming to an end. Now what will continue to happen in 2026 from a cash point of view related to these projects depends a little bit on how we finish 2025. As I said as well, some of our plants have been getting a little bit less money in order to support, to be able to finance these big projects and continue to work on our deleveraging. So, we need to take care of that. And then I think what will be next, I think that was part of the question as well. I got a whole list of good smaller projects, not $50 million, $100 million project, but a whole list of smaller projects. So do a few million dollars here, do a few million dollars there with much quicker paybacks in promising places like India or Turkey or Brazil, South America. And so, depending on how the world will turn around in 2025, how we will look at the end of this year, we will make the right choices when it comes to these smaller projects and the prioritization of those as well going forward. I hope that gives you some more insight related to those 2 questions.

[Interpreted] We have time for one more question, and the question is coming from Marcelo Motta from JPMorgan.

[Interpreted] Pieter, I would like to congratulate you and wish you good luck. Two quick questions. When we look at G&A over revenue, it is larger year-over-year, but it's in line with what happened in the previous quarter. You've commented on the rate exchange, but I'd like to understand the level of G&A that we see around 5, I'd say, 5% in comparison to the other quarters all the way to the third quarter of 2024. And the second question is the outlook for the next quarter. I'd like to know if you've seen any slowdown for April and if you don't, I'd like to know from you if you see any difference.

Thank you, Marcelo. Those are good questions. So, on the SG&A, yes, we have seen an uptick in the first quarter, partially because we had some upside last year, we didn't have this year, but also partially because we had some costs this year that in the first quarter that we expect to make up for in the next quarter. So, I'm not too worried about our SG&A number for the total year. But of course, in the first quarter, we could see some increase that I think we will manage through to get it back down in the rest of the year. So, I hope that answers your question from that point of view. Speaking about the second quarter specifically, a little bit early to talk about second quarter. I think that's in August. But of course, we're watching very, very carefully what's happening. And if anything, I want to say that what we saw happening during the first quarter, North America under pressure, truck North America under pressure. I believe that is something that is continuing to happen in the second quarter. So that could get a little bit worse. At the same time, we also see some of those positive effects, the things that we are able to mitigate not only in North America, but in the other regions. We see that happening as well. And so, let's see how it all turns out during the rest of the quarter. But I think we see a little bit more of that what we saw in the first quarter. We see that happening, both negative and positive in the second quarter as well. Does that answer your questions?

Yes.

[Interpreted] Now we have wrapped the Q&A session, and I would like to give the floor to Pieter Klinkers again for his final considerations.

Okay. So, thank you very much for spending time with us this morning. We really appreciate it. It was the first time I've been talking to you at least in this call. I hope to do it many more times. I hope the world stabilizes instead of becoming more dynamic. But let's see how it goes. I appreciate the time you spent with us, all the good questions that you asked and looking forward to talk to you many more times in these calls and also at other occasions. So, thank you very much, and have a good day.

[Interpreted] First quarter 2025 results video conference for Iochpe-Maxion is ended. Our department is available for any questions or concerns you may have. Thank you for your participation. Have a wonderful day. [Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]