Romi S.A. (ROMI3) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

February 2, 2022

B3 - Brasil Bolsa Balcao BR Industrials Machinery earnings 59 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Operator

operator
#1

Good morning. We will begin Romi's earnings call, where the results of the fourth quarter 2021 will be discussed. This call will be held in Portuguese with simultaneous translation into English, and slides will be available in our website, [email protected]/investors. Simultaneous translation is available for participants that have a log-in, or using the Zoom app on their desktop or mobile phone [Operator Instructions] Before proceeding, I would like to clarify this conference call is for investors and investment professionals only. Any statements that may be made during this call regarding the company's business prospects, projections and operating and financial goals constitute mere forecast based on the management's expectations regarding the future of the company. These expectations are highly dependent on market conditions, the general economic performance of the country, the sector and international markets and are, therefore, subject to change. It is worth mentioning this conference call is being recorded and held in Portuguese with simultaneous translation to English, accompanied by the slides available in the results center of our Investor Relations website with Investor Relations, www.romi.com/investors. [Operator Instructions] With us today are Mr. Luiz Cassiano Rosolen, CEO; and Fabio Taiar, CFO, CIRO. Initially, both executives will present the results of the fourth quarter in 2021, and they will be afterwards available to answer your questions. And I will now give over to Mr. Luiz Cassiano.

Luiz Cassiano Rosolen

executive
#2

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for attending the Fourth Quarter 2021 Earnings Release Conference Call of Romi Industries. We had notable results by the end of 2021, and better off, we're beginning 2022 with a solid order backlog in all of our business units. We have increased our production significantly last year, and we continue seeking to ramp up our production to meet the demand for machines and Romi rough machine parts. In our business unit, we began 2022 with our backlog, order backlog, 40% greater than 2021 with solid margins in 2021, higher than the previous quarters. Undoubtedly, the new generations of machines launched over the past years are providing higher productivity to our customers in the domestic and also the foreign markets, thus further consolidating the market brand globally. In the rough machine parts units, we had a higher entry order with a robust order backlog for 2022 mainly in the large machine parts unit. Margins were impacted by non-predicted operating costs during the development and manufacturing of new cast parts. We are implementing a more robust manufacturing process, and we firmly believe we will not be facing unusual problems in 2022. In the BURKHARDT + WEBER business unit operation in Germany, the order entries in 2021 had a good recovery over 2020, the period with low order entry in 2020 resulted in the sales concentration in the fourth quarter in 2021 when we attained good results according to the plan. Our main challenge is to continue seeking for new projects for 2022, and we firmly believe in the opportunities that are arising in the European and Asian markets. I would like to conclude by thanking all of Romi's stakeholders for their support, shareholders, clients, suppliers and our community. And I'd like to thank all of our team. A special thank you to our team for their cooperation and capability to react and overcome all of the challenges that were faced with excellent results delivered in 2021. We have begun 2022 focusing and relying on the opportunities we will capture to have excellence in our execution. I will give the floor to Fabio now, who will share more results on the fourth quarter. Welcome, Fabio.

Fabio Taiar

executive
#3

Thank you, Cassiano. Thank you, and good morning to all. Welcome to Romi's earnings conference call for the fourth quarter 2021. On Slide #3, we have the quarter's highlights. Our net operating income, which was approximately BRL 443 million with a 22.8 growth compared to the fourth quarter 2020. Over the same period, the 3 business units also grew, looking mainly at Romi machines and also cast iron parts. EBITDA 2021 was BRL [ 282 million ] with a 22.7% increase in relation to the fourth quarter 2020 EBITDA, which was a robust EBITDA. In terms of order entry, the volume was very favorable, in the fourth quarter, totaled BRL 542 million with a 39% growth over 4Q '20 with highlights in rough and machine parts for large part of the other segments. In the unit with higher order entry despite a high net operating income, we actually recovered our portfolio by late December. We had BRL [ 125 million ] in order entries for deliveries over 2022, which represented an increase of 56% roughly in relation to the order backlog, and we -- that is how we ended 2020 with a substantial growth in Romi Machines, order entry and order backlog and also in the machine -- rough machined parts. That's for the performance of our business units. The Romi Machines unit had a net operating, income 28% above 4Q 2020 and 2021. Fourth quarter 2020, that unit had been a good quarter in sales for Romi machines as a result of the faster recovery in the domestic market. Still, the domestic market remained consistent but there was a recovery or resumption that was significant in the foreign market, throughout 2021, which reflected in revenues and sales in the first quarter this year. And there was also an increase in the volume of operations with the new solutions we launched mid-2020 for machine leasing. With the growing revenues, the growing sales and controlled expense costs, we brought down operating costs significantly and had an increase in operating profit of 27.3% over 4Q '21. On the next slide, we had the incoming orders for -- in the machine business unit. In fourth quarter 2021 compared to 2020, we had a 3.6% increase mainly with the continuity of the domestic market orders, growth in the foreign market consolidation and growth of machine leasing -- the machine leasing business. And if we look at the full year 2021, the Romi Machines order entry grew 43.5% in relation to 2020, also growing in the domestic and the foreign markets as well as machine leasing. The order entry for rough machine parts in 4Q '20 grew over 210% over 4Q '20, resulting from the continuity of order entries of large machine parts and the recovery observed over 2021 and the other segments of that business unit, which are trucks mainly, more particularly, agricultural machines and construction machines. The order entry in the B+W, the German unit, reached 28.3% million in 2021 with 41.6% increase over 2020. And B+W over '21 , it was a resumption of orders, new incoming orders that were consistent throughout the quarters from 4Q 2020 onwards, even though it was a gradual resumption when compared to the Romi machines business unit. Still, we have a good volume of projects that are to be converted and we have a reasonable order backlog that will be delivered throughout 2022. The economic scenario in fixed capital since late last year in relation to 2020, it has increased substantially, and we can also point out that in the transformation industry, where most of our clients are concentrated, the operation and industrial manufacturing activities has also been intensive -- intensively growing with the exchange rate promoting higher competitiveness to our clients' products and along with the logistics cost increase, which also increased in parts cost. Well, there is a higher volume of usage of domestic parts. In terms of installed capacity, throughout 2021, and this is what we can see in the light blue line, so we went back to the 2014 levels and looking at this year, which was the previous year of a more intensive manufacturing activity. So throughout 2020, manufacturing activity attained good usage or levels, leading clients to consider more investments. As for the confidence index that looks at the [indiscernible] this is a precursor of the indicators. Of course, you had a peak, the height of the pandemic, but it went back to favorable levels in the second half last year. It remained -- some volatility remained in 2021. But if we look at a longer period going beyond 1 month, we have levels that indicate a certain optimism and trust, reliability from business investors to continue investing, which is favorable mainly for the Romi Machines Unit. In regards to the segments where our clients operate, in Romi Machines, there were no major changes. So in relation to 2020, machines and equipment, which are one of the key segments that use our equipment, our machines remain strong. And services are normally provided to small and medium companies. In the past, they represented 12% to 14%. And those that recovered later have attained normalized and consistent levels over 2020. In automotive, we had this growth in commercial vehicles mainly, like vehicles in 2020 mainly with the problems in the supply chains and the downtime, unplanned downtime, but heavy vehicles had a favorable performance in 2020 as in '21. And the remaining segments presented no major fluctuations or changes. B+W has improvised projects, well, I would say, the customized turnkey projects, which are larger with a smaller number of clients in certain segments. Machines in 2020 remained to be the key market for heavy machines, just as engines and systems. In rough and machined parts, energy remained strong in 2021, remained solid. And the good news is that the other segments such as commercial vehicles, construction and agriculture had a resumption in 2021, meaning that energy in absolute terms had an increase over 2020, but there was a greater increase in the other segments. And therefore, we lost some market share compared to 2020, and we will see there was a substantial increase in sales in -- of rough and machined parts. In regards to market share of every business unit in consolidated sales, the highest growth was in the rough and machined business unit, which increased sales by 61% and represented 54% of the consolidated sales. And rough and machined parts had an increase of 56% also gaining more market share. B+W in reais was stable in terms of sales. And as the other segments had growth, it lost some share and now represents 18% of the consolidated sales in 2021. In terms of geographical sales distribution -- of our sales distribution there was an important increase of rough and machined parts of the segment in the domestic market, and domestic market for Romi Machines remained consistent in 2021. Domestic sales grew from 60% to 68% in consolidated sales, followed by Europe. Europe had a faster resumption with Romi Machines. B+W also had a resumption a more gradual resumption but did not have a relevant share. Latin America had already shown in late 2020 an important recovery, which continued to grow strong in 2021, growing in sales. In the U.S. It was more gradual, but the second half, mainly the last quarter, indicate, well, an increase in the volume of sales in Asia, well, it depends heavily on B+W deliveries. There is consolidated sales of the German unit with deliveries more concentrated in 2021 in the European continent. And here are figures, Romi Machines 4Q 2021, which was already solid order in order entry, had a 3.6% growth. Internal market remained consistent and growth resulting from -- coming from the foreign market. And machine leasing, the annual growth is more substantial, 45.3%, both in the domestic and foreign markets and leasing had increases. B+W with a quarter that was harder to analyze due to the concentration and the value of order entries for different projects. We -- it's easier to look at the annual results growth in BRL 44.8 and EUR 41.6 increase and indicating projects that were frozen during the pandemic are being resumed. And we actually brought back an important volume of entries and also have a robust pipeline. And for rough and machined parts, there were substantial increases with -- well, most of the increase is coming from the heavy part segment but were also driven by the other segments. And we can see a very significant increase here in terms of percentage. So BRL 1.7 billion in order entry, 61.3% higher than 2020 and 39% above 4Q '20. With this robust order entry, and despite the fact we had important sales in 4Q, we were able to actually increase our portfolio. And by late December, our order entry, our order backlog was 56% above 2020 with highlights to roaming Romi Machines. Our order backlog was very robust here, especially in the rough and machined parts for -- that will be delivered throughout 2022. In terms of our cost structure, there's more variability in materials with the [indiscernible] share with an increase. Of course, we have to look at inflation. Inflation rate had an impact, and we made price adjustments that were necessary in a very transparent manner, and we also had the fixed cost analysis and looking at labor, there was a reduction in total in relation to total cost. And our manufacturing had a significant growth with no proportional increase in the human resources structure. So we had this reduction as well as fixed costs compared to industrial costs, manufacturing costs, which were also distributed as a result of growth. Margins. 4Q '21, our gross margin is similar to 4Q '20. And here, we have 3 different behaviors. First, in Romi Machines, which had good margins in 4Q '20, when we -- and we actually had an increase in the domestic market similar margins. And the foreign market, higher margins with the exchange rate and machine leasing, which allowed for this increase over 4Q '20. B+W also had a favorable gross margin with high with an increase in projects and good margin. Still, the rough and machined parts unit, as Cassiano mentioned, well, we face challenges mainly in developing large machines, large-sized machines with unexpected unforeseen operating costs. And the margin, therefore, declined [ fairly ] well. The other units, well, made up for B+W and the margin was pretty much in line with the 4Q. But with the growing income on growing sales, the gross profit went -- increased to BRL 142. The annual results, the gross margin increase. And here, we have the net revenue and the gross profit increased substantially. Looking at operating income, operating income went up from 16.5% to 16.7% -- 15.5% to 16.7%, an increase in gross profit, BRL 74 million. The annual growth is more substantial increase, and here we have the volume growth with gross margin and controlled expenses. Well, drove this increase of operating margin from 4.4% points in absolute growth, BRL 106 million to BRL 212 million in 2021. EBITDA, we have a similar behavior. Therefore, no expansions -- important expansions in margin in 2020 as a result of performance in the 4Q'21. And in absolute EBITDA generation, we reached BRL 85.2 million, right above 69.4 in 4Q '20. The annual increase is also more substantial. EBITDA margin, from 14.6 up to 18.4% in '21. Total EBITDA in '21, reaching BRL 254 million. And it was BRL 143 million in 2020. Net income in margin and net margin had a decline, but the absolute volume increased. And there is a particular aspects in that last year. We had a higher incidence of interest on our own equity. We had our own capital also from previous years, which we used last year and also with the IRS tax was lower. Revenue tax was lower in 2020. And therefore, we paid less taxes in 2020 -- in 2021. And here, we look at going from BRL 101 million to BRL 160 million. And breaking down the business units, we're 61% growth in Romi Machines. Revenues, also -- we also had a significant margin last year, and we actually increased 0.5 percent points. The domestic market remained consistent also recovery of the foreign market with also machine leasing and controlled expenses, which allowed for a relevant increase in EBITDA margin going from 21.5% to 26.6%. B+W in reais, well, sales went to 6.1%, 9.9%. And still, B+W maintained levels -- gross margin levels that were similar, but the EBITDA margin had a decline resulting from lower volumes. And in rough and machined parts, we had a 56% revenue growth. We lost 0.5% points in margin. But with high volumes, our EBITDA was higher than 2020 and of course without development costs that were not foreseen this margin just been higher. And as for our financial position, we remain solid. The last -- we finished last year with BRL 45 million Net debt and short-term maturities are reasonable in relation to our cash position. And yes, there was cash usage throughout the year. There were also distributions, payouts, investments and machine leasing and capital allocation that were significant and, of course, capital allocation and stocks in order to be able to react, we ramped up production, 60% over last year, which requires for using working capital. As for our shares performance, looking at the Bovespa Index, we should bear in mind, we distributed over BRL 3.50 per share, which is not normalized looking at x interest rate and x dividends. And well, this is the end of the presentation of our Fourth Quarter 2021 Earnings Call. And now we are open to take your questions. Once again, thank you all for joining our earnings conference call.

Operator

operator
#4

[Operator Instructions] Well, I can ask for the first question from Victor Kietzmann Jr. from Portal SmallCaps. He has 2 questions. Well, apparently, the reason for lower margin -- gross margin to B+W is a lower capacity that was used. Considering the scenario where the growing usage, what are the margin levels it can reach in terms of gross profit and EBITDA? Can you also talk about margins for rough and machined parts?

Unknown Executive

executive
#5

Victor, for B+W, we should always look at the annual margin. We have -- we were about EUR 38 million in sales, and B+W sales are normally EUR 42 million to EUR 45 million. That is -- we had a lower usage capacity -- capacity usage, which is placed for a negative EBITDA, which is close to the breakeven. And if we can increase the usage capacity at B+W, we will, of course, increase the income and the EBITDA -- the gross income and EBITDA. And of course, we have projects in Germany and the product mix. Some have a lower margin. Others have a higher margin, and it's challenging but we have definitely been focusing on repricing B+W -- price reviews, and we've been adjusting our structure. We firmly believe that when sales go back to EUR 42 million, EUR 45 million, we are also going to add more value to the company -- to the business. And of course, we have to look at synergy in parts of machines that our manufacturer at B+W can be produced in Brazil, frames, columns, shafts, and this can also add important value and that is not seen in the business units. And I would also like to mention that the challenge for B+W is mainly to bring in more projects to the pipeline. The market is picking up. There are a lot of projects in the pipeline, but we need to move faster to deliver in 2022 because the supply chain network is increasingly more challenging and some suppliers have longer lead time, and that's a challenge, and we're really working hard this first quarter to increase our sales in 2022 and to attain higher margins. As for rough and machined parts, we had -- we struggled in manufacturing new parts in some sectors, mainly in the wind power sector. There's a new part that presented quality problems that were important and that hurt our margins. And well, we have already changed our processes and have been using new materials to manufacture those parts. And the new parts that are -- will be ready in January have 0 failure and 0 flaws. And these costs that actually hurt our margins will no longer happen and the margins of rough and machined parts will go back to normal. And as for the transfer of pig iron and scrap, the prices went up significantly in 2021. We actually had a fair trade with all of our clients in rough and machined parts. So this is a one-off, and we firmly believe this has been addressed -- has been taken care of.

Operator

operator
#6

Second question by Victor. Today, the company has a solid capital structure just by the growing scenario and need for [indiscernible] there is a high current leveraging levels, will lead to the same payout levels of 2021 or should we expect changes there. Our dividend payout was [indiscernible] maintain our payout policy fee, which is [indiscernible]. Yesterday, we approved those additional [indiscernible] specific payout policy. We have been following to pay -- to have at least a minimum 33% payout.

Unknown Executive

executive
#7

We have important projects for capital allocation in the machines. The machine business unit is growing and, of course, uses important capital and the growth, the increase period. We allocate capital to stocks to also pay for the company growth. In the past 5 years, we have been growing mainly in the past 2 years. We've had important increases in 2020 and now in 2021. And we need to, of course, look at -- use the working capital to leverage growth. But we have a solid working capital and the payout should continue as planned if there are no projects going forward, but I'm convinced we will focus strongly on having new projects. The payout might even be higher, but our plan is to stick to this payout plan and to add value through new projects we'll have in our corporation.

Operator

operator
#8

We have a question here from Alessandra Vargas.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#9

Can you give us forecast in terms of yield for 2021 and the net cash of the company and if you have more information about investments made?

Unknown Executive

executive
#10

Yes, I talked about yield. We have a 33% payout policy. For 2022, we believe we will follow this plan, perform this plan. We have -- our net debt is BRL 45 million, which is quite healthy considering our EBITDA level, and it can be explained by the growth that we are funding, especially with stocks and important payouts we had. Especially in 2021, investments have attained imported levels with leasing. Out of the BRL 90 million for investment, 40 -- let me just check the number accurately, BRL 40 million, roughly, in leasing from the EUR 99 million. Well, we have 50% from leasing and leasing -- well we leased the machine and once it is returned, we sell it as semi -- as a used machine, but the returns are very important there, and this is something that adds value to our shareholders.

Operator

operator
#11

And we have questions by [indiscernible]

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#12

Congratulations on your results. Romi has no guidance, Romi expect for the rough and machined parts to maintain the same levels, the current levels.

Unknown Executive

executive
#13

Yes, in rough and machined parts, we're strong with heavier parts. We have actually a robust portfolio for 2022. Some clients have placed their orders for the 12 months, and that is positive because we have predictability and we can plan for the year. At the same time, we are aware there will be no significant orders from additional orders in this area. Throughout the years, we expect more order entries to come from this sector. And the other sectors, it's a well regular business, agriculture earthmoving has positive levels in terms of order entries and purchases for 2022.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#14

Is Romi planning future M&As or organic extensions?

Unknown Executive

executive
#15

We are constantly looking at opportunities. But for now, we are focusing mainly on organic expansion, organic growth, mainly in Brazil, in order to react and to deliver -- well, to ramp up production and meet the demand. We have a high order backlog, and we will be delivering products throughout the year, and we are working focusing heavily on that. And this is what we are focusing earlier, we have been making organic investments. We have a new machine, a BRL15 million machine, which will begin to operate this first quarter to attain excellence and meet the demand.

Operator

operator
#16

Yes, one more question from Conrado. How does Romi assess its competitors?

Unknown Executive

executive
#17

Well, the other players are international players in this market, Japan, Germany, Korea, the U.S., Taiwan and we are constantly investing in R&D, and we have one line. The R&D line, you can see that in our income statement in our balance sheet. And this year, we'll continue launching new products to stay ahead of our competitors and to stay close to our clients.

Operator

operator
#18

And one more question from Conrado. Can you explain more about the ownership structure that was disclosed yesterday?

Unknown Executive

executive
#19

And the important notice it's not important, but we have a subsidiary called Rominor. It was set up in the past back in the '70s when Romi had business unit in the Northeast with minority shareholders, 6%. And if you look at the previous balance sheets, you'll see the net income was broken down and to Romi's net income and the minority shareholders net income, and then we actually changed that, and this will be voted in our assembly and in our meeting, we're going to roll out the minority shareholders in the small subsidiary, and they are going to have access to Romi shares -- Romi's total shares are BRL 73,333,000, will go up to BRL 73,500,000, something well, roughly, but you can find this information -- the actual number share is 0.34% of our capital, and there is a significant -- there is no significant reduction for any shareholders and everyone will actually have their payout from [ Rominor's ] net income, which is a profitable business.

Operator

operator
#20

Okay. Next question from [indiscernible]. How do you handle the [indiscernible] machines and leasing in the leasing business in your order backlog? And this is also do you have [indiscernible] that is similar to the traditional sales business? Do you have customized machines?

Luiz Cassiano Rosolen

executive
#21

Well, the leasing machines, these machines are not really customized. These are Romi Machines, actually standard machines. They might be customized but not much. Yes, they are standard machines, serious machines and order backlog order entries in the backlog. Well, we have closed contracts that we have a 24-month contract at a given amount. That is the amount that we will actually use at the very beginning and at the end of the period in a given quarter. We do not actually disclose the ROIC for leasing separately because it is still growing in Romi machines. But our ROIC is higher than in machine sales. However, it is, of course, mandatory because we also allocate more capital to the leasing business than the machine sales business.

Operator

operator
#22

[indiscernible]

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#23

Can you talk about the rough and machined backlog? Is it doing better or worse than '21? Are these execution plans longer?

Unknown Executive

executive
#24

The mix is similar to 2021. As mentioned, part of this backlog will be executed throughout '21 or rather throughout 2022. We do not have orders for 2023 in this order backlog.

Unknown Attendee

attendee
#25

Luiz Markis, investor. Like clarification on the proposal regarding [indiscernible], especially on Page 7 on refunding -- we are reimbursing shareholders who opted for recess. Looking only the GPA values 12, 55 in reference to balance sheet of 3Q '21 and the market value on the earnings release date or the date of the important notice release.

Unknown Executive

executive
#26

Luiz, actually, this transaction is actually consistent with the reports that will be disclosed in the ministry in the management's proposal. And according to the regulatory framework, once this value -- the restructuring value is disclosed, this status should look at the equity value. And since in this case, it is below equity value, look at when using this value, shareholders -- well, we'd look at this value at this amount but always looking at equity. And since there was a recess, this was the option in this transaction considering equity value, shareholders who will decide to have a recess will receive their dividends. And based on the net equity value that was disclosed, as you mentioned on Slide 7 of the important notice that was disclosed yesterday.

Operator

operator
#27

One more from Conrado who asks our CEO to describe his trajectory from the very beginning at Romi.

Luiz Cassiano Rosolen

executive
#28

I am Cassiano. I joined Romi over 15 years ago. I worked in São Paulo before that in a big 4 company, and I started working in the IR unit and then the financial unit, the controller unit as the Head of Operations and I've been CEO for 7 years in March now, and I work with a great team that works closely together.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#29

[indiscernible] in the rough and machined parts, what is your view on the automotive industry, which industries will -- have mostly contributed to your order backlog growth?

Unknown Executive

executive
#30

Well, undoubtedly, it was the heavy machines industry, the wind power sector. The automotive sector is volatile. We have, well, high incoming orders, but it fluctuates, it goes up and down. And the automotive sector in our case focuses on heavy trucks, commercial trucks. We do not have rough and machined parts for passenger cars. And this is the -- this sector's dynamics, but we're still very strong in agriculture and is moving as we were in late '21.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#31

I want to congratulate the team for the results.

Unknown Executive

executive
#32

Thank you.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#33

So the business using machine does it focus in the domestic market only with the revenues in reais?

Unknown Executive

executive
#34

That is correct. And this -- well, the value chain is focusing on the domestic market for now at least, where we have assets to drive this business. We want to add value to the company through this business, and we are using our internal assets to drive -- yes our business, yes. Yes is the answer to your question. In the domestic market in reais.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#35

Can you please tell us more about prospects for Romi Machines, order backlog and growing forecast?

Unknown Executive

executive
#36

The Romi Machines segment, well, we have machine exports in the domestic market that we have to look at. In the domestic market, we will have fluctuations according to, well, the industry performance and you have to look at the industry's performance very closely. And if we use our capacity well, this segment should continue to grow. We have machine leasing now. Also, we have found which clients that wouldn't normally purchase these machines, and this is driving the segment as well. And we can also continue growing in the domestic market. 2021 was an important year in the foreign market with significant growth and more than that, more importantly, with excellent quality. We have our 2 Romi machine lines in rather the rough and machined parts. You have [indiscernible] lines were the 2 main lines -- that are the new generation lines that were designed by our R&D team in 2019. They are now growing and consolidating in the foreign market. These are the 2 leaders, and they're leading the market, the foreign market and, therefore, consolidating the Romi brand. And we believe -- we firmly believe that this trend -- this growth trend will continue to grow. We'll continue to sell more Romi Machines in 2022 in the foreign market.

Operator

operator
#37

Diego Jose Martins asks. Diego from Alta Vista Investimentos. We have plans to increase your market share in the U.S., which are the barriers.

Unknown Executive

executive
#38

Well, we have actually increased our market share, our sales in the United States. Our sales in 2021 were very good. In '21, we had the same machine sales volume last year. We reached top levels. We worked with top dealers, and we're also operating in heavy machines factories, which we believe will bring possibilities to increase our sales in the U.S. over time. We have strategies in place and the company and capital goods, which must have credibility and work closely with customers to attain the results we have been attaining. We will definitely increase our sales in the mid- and long term in the U.S. by executing our strategies with excellence.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#39

[indiscernible] the problems, quality problems in wind power, rough and machined parts have -- were they also included in 2021.

Unknown Executive

executive
#40

Yes, as we normally do, we looked at our expenses in 2021, they were all also computed in 2021 without a doubt.

Unknown Analyst

analyst
#41

Congrats on the results. Are there any challenges in regards to new players coming into the domestic market in the mid run.

Unknown Executive

executive
#42

There are many competitors. In the domestic market, you have also imported machines. The import costs are relatively low. They're lower in all industries in the country with a modal tariffs, 10% reduction, and competitors have always been out there. There is stiff competition in our industry. Our competitive advantage is to manufacture to work closely with our customers to give them a machine of time to deliver, to look at their results, to help them thrive. And this is how we have been achieving our successful results in the domestic and now also in the foreign markets.

Operator

operator
#43

Victor asks one more question on the level of net sales quotes you're getting in 2022. Is it similar to the 2021 levels? Or if there was a ramp-down -- downturn.

Unknown Executive

executive
#44

So far, Victor, exports and opportunities continue to maintain similar levels to those of 2021. There are no signs that this will go down.

Operator

operator
#45

Since there are no more questions, I will now turn it over to Mr. Luiz Cassiano Rosolen, for final remarks. The IR unit of Romi will be readily available to take additional questions. You have the floor, Mr. Rosolen.

Luiz Cassiano Rosolen

executive
#46

Thank you to all for joining our 4Q '21 earnings release call and the 2021 earnings release call. Thank you for your excellent questions, and we will be available. Our IR team will be available any time. And see you again in April when we will talk about our earnings results for 1Q '22. Goodbye, everyone.

Operator

operator
#47

Romi's earnings call is closed. Thank you all for joining us, and have an excellent day. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]

This call discussed

For developers and AI pipelines

Programmatic access to Romi S.A. earnings transcripts and 32,000+ others is available through the EarningsCalls.dev REST API. Plans from $24.99/month — full transcripts, speaker segments, full-text search, and the recently-added /api/v1/transcripts/recent polling endpoint for ETL pipelines.