Tupy S.A. (TUPY3) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and thank you for waiting. We would like to welcome you to the conference call for the earnings for Q1 2020 for Tupy. [Operator Instructions] This conference call is being recorded. The company would like to remind you that this event is being transmitted simultaneously via the Internet, www.tupy.com.br/ri, where you will find the presentation. The selection of the slides will be controlled by the participants. Tupy clarifies that these -- any declarations made during the conference call concerning business perspectives, financial perspectives concerning the company's business are forecast based on the company's assumptions. These expectations are highly dependent on market conditions, both domestic and international, and the performance -- economic performance of the country. They are subject to change. Together with us, we have Mr. Fernando Cestari de Rizzo, CEO; and Thiago Struminski, CFO. Mr. Fernando, you have the floor.

Thank you, and good morning. I thank you all for participating in our conference call. I would also like to thank our more than 14,000 employees for the performance during Q1 and the effort due to the pandemic. Beginning with Slide #2, we highlight that Q1 continued with the growth trend, recovery trend that we saw in past June, as we can see on the graph on the left. We surpassed the volumes sold in Q1 2020 by 15% with growth in all the segments and geographies. This is due to the solid and -- solid sectors and diversity, the recovery of the economies and the investment cycles in important segments. We will give you more details during the conference call. Net revenue of the company reached BRL 1.5 billion, a growth of 41% in comparison with Q1 '20 and the highest net revenue in the company's history. Now going on to Slide #3 with some highlights of the performance of our operations. Once again, we had a very strong quarter when we have the highest operational profit and EBITDA of the company in the first quarter. In March, especially, we have the absolute highest EBITDA in the history of the company. So during time, we have increased our operational efficiency. We developed greater flexibility between plants, and we implemented new initiatives in purchasing and logistics. This helped to mitigate the effects, many effects that had an impact on our costs in Q1 '21. For example, a strong increase in the price of raw materials, both in the annual comparison and also in relation to the previous quarter, with some prices already readjusted according to contract clauses. Apart from cost, the scarcity of materials caused loss of efficiency. We have to evaluate new alternatives in our mix of raw materials every single day. We also noticed stoppages or shutdowns due to climate problems in the U.S., which affected the supply of electricity and natural gas in the north of Mexico where we have plants. The effects of the pandemic, although we are living with this scenario for more than a year, the impact on people's health in the regions where we are present was greater in this quarter. Apart from increasing absenteeism due to the safety protocols adopted, this impacts our operation. We have to reallocate people in key processes, and also, we have to increase over time. The increase in absenteeism, especially the increase in demand since November, for example, we hired more than 2,000 new employees. Although it's good news since it shows the increase in demand, there is a learning curve that has to be overcome. And this promotes some inefficiencies. If we excluded all these adverse effects, EBITDA would surpass BRL 250 million, reaching a margin that will be higher than 16%. On Slide 4, I would like to mention once again that we issued debt abroad in February. The demand for this shows the trust of the capital markets, and the good, also the robust situation of our company, reducing our expenses by $6 million per year. Now to talk about the main indicators, I invite Mr. Thiago Struminski, our CFO.

Thank you, Fernando. Good morning. Slide #5, please. The volumes continue with gradual recovery since June last year. We'd like to highlight applications for commercial and off-road vehicles. The mix, transportation, infrastructure, agriculture, 25% totally or partially machined versus 25% in Q1 '20, while 25% produced CGI versus 23% in Q1 '20. On Slide 6, we the revenue had an increase of 41%, and the revenue per kilogram grew 23%. When we compare with Q4 2020, the revenue went up 22%: 66% in NAFTA; 18%, South and Central America, especially Brazil; 12% in Europe; and the remaining 4%, Asia, Africa, Oceania. In terms of application, 90% commercial and off-road vehicles; 6% passenger cars; and 4% hydraulics -- hydraulic products. On Slide 7, we see in the domestic market a strong recovery in the domestic market for commercial vehicles, machinery and off-road, with an impact of the exchange rate on indirect exports. Here on Slide 8, we see the revenue in the export market. We see growth in all the applications. In applications for passenger cars, also light, medium and heavy vehicles, we see the positive result and recovery in these markets. Also, replenishment of inventory at our clients and also the exchange rate. Machinery and off-road vehicles, we also noticed in Q1, a global recovery for the market in these applications, especially the growth in agriculture, infrastructure and also the impact of the exchange rates, the devaluation of our Brazilian currency. On Slide 9, we see here the performance of hydraulics. Responsible for 4%, the growth in revenue of 50% and 52% in domestic and external markets, respectively; a better mix of products also in Brazil. The -- in exports, apart from the exchange rate devaluation, we also see an unmet demand of clients in Europe and the U.S. Slide #10, we see the cost and operational cost had an increase of 45% with a margin of 15.5%, an increase of 78% in costs with raw material due to inflation that we saw in this period; also, devaluation of the Brazilian currency, especially with the inputs in the Mexican plants; and also an indirect effect of these materials consumed in Brazil. This high increase in costs, especially the price of scrap and shows -- these effects were mitigated by our initiatives that we implemented during the quarters, suggest renegotiation with vendors, optimization of the use of materials, reduction of waste and renegotiation of contracts with suppliers. A high -- 17% higher cost with labor, especially due to the increase in headcount, more, over time, for higher products produced and the increase of absenteeism, especially due to the safety protocols we adopted during the pandemic and also the -- also wage increases and the exchange rate. Reduction of 6% in maintenance and third-party materials, apart from the impact of inflation, we had a reduction in services by third-parties and renegotiation of contracts, an increase of 28% in expenses with electricity due to the increase in the volume produced and also the tariffs with the annual comparison and also the exchange rate. Since in Mexico, electricity is paid in U.S. dollars. Also, we had a shutdown in Mexico 2 weeks due to lack of electricity and gas with an impact on the lines and also lower dilution of fixed costs, totaling BRL 18 million. Operational expenses had an increase of 19% year-over-year due to the growth in sales and also greater usage of freight, also more flexibility in production and renegotiation of wages and also exchange rate. On Slide 11, adjusted EBITDA reached BRL 199 million, an increase of 21% in comparison with Q1 2020 and a margin of 12.9%. EBITDA calculated according to the stock market was BRL 173 million, margin of 11.2%. Absolute values are the highest in the company's history for first quarter. At the bottom, you will see the seed. We had a net loss in Q1, BRL 15 million, especially due to nonrecurrent financial expenses. In the next slides, I will explain these effects that had an impact, not only on the results but also the EBITDA. On Slide 12, a little about the increase in the price of materials like scrap. We noticed this effect since September last year, and it became stronger in Q1 this year. With the recovery of the global economy, there has been more demand for raw materials, at the same time, as the supply chains are still recovering from shutdowns due to COVID-19. This really shows that this causes a problem between offer and demand. Above all, we see a recovery in our segments. An increase in the price of commodities is the result of better economic activity, having an impact on capital goods, off-road and commercial vehicles that represent 90% of our revenue. In Brazil, this effect is stronger due to the devaluation of the Brazilian currency and also greater demand for Brazilians. Steel, an impact on the price of scrap, which went up 34% in comparison with 2020 and 76% in a year. We developed many actions to guarantee the supply of steel and mitigate the increase in prices, developing new vendors' initiatives to optimize the use of materials in production and others. It's important to highlight that our contracts have clauses that allow us to pass on the new prices of materials, but this takes time. It takes 3 months. Since in the previous quarters, the increases in costs happened in Q1 '21, during this year, we will increase prices, but our prices now are outdated. Slide #13. In spite of record numbers, the EBITDA of Q1 was affected by nonrecurring effects. I would like to highlight the shutdown, the stoppage of lines in Mexico for 2 weeks in February due to lack of electricity and natural gas, due to a snowstorm in Texas. The effect was BRL 23 million. We mentioned here the BRL 18 million in labor, energy and greater -- and lower dilution of fixed costs. So we now -- our contracts foresee that we increase prices, but our prices have not yet been recovered. So the difference is BRL 33 million. When we exclude these nonrecurring effects, these temporary effects, the EBITDA would be higher than BRL 250 million. And this would allow us to have a margin of 16%, an effect of 320 basis points. We also felt the impact of the increase in absenteeism, especially in Brazil, due to health problems of employees during the pandemic. On Slide 14, I talk about the impact of the repurchase of bonds. We issued bonds and bought back bonds, especially the financial results in the next few years. In order to have a longer time and reduce the cost in February, we issued -- made an issuance in the -- in other -- abroad. We saw great interest for our issuance. They demanded 10x the book. These resources worth $375 million were used to buy back bonds in -- of 2024 with a cost of 6.625% a year. In comparison, a recent issuance now for 10 years is paying 4.5% interest. Then this gives us savings of $6 million. These purchases also have some expenses that are one-off, the premium for the repurchase. And this gives us financial expenses with cash effect of BRL 58 million. The impact in net profit after taxes is BRL 38 million. In other words, we would go from a loss of BRL 15 million to a profit of BRL 23 million without this buyback. On Slide 15, we have the main accounts of working capital using Q4 '20 as a basis for comparison, an increase of 18 days in accounts receivable due to seasonality and greater volume of sales in March 2021 versus December 2020. Also, higher receivables had an impact due to the exchange rate devaluation because 86% is in foreign currency. Nine days of inventory -- a reduction of 9 days in inventory, the company had the strategy to increase flexibility between plants. And during the pandemic, we increased the level of inventory to mitigate any risks related to lack of products for clients since we are very important in the supply chain of our clients. And this situation will become normal during 2021. This line also suffers from the exchange rate effect, and they correspond to 5% of the total. In accounts payable, we had an increase of 10 days in accounts payable due to greater production and greater purchases and also the higher prices of inputs. And this represented until the end of March, 52% of accounts payable. On the next slide, we made investments, BRL 32 million, a drop of 16% in relation to last year, representing 2% of the revenue in Q1 '21. Considering the last 12 months, CapEx represented 2.8% of the revenue in the period. These investments are related to new programs and machining projects and also initiatives linked to safety and environment. Slide 17 shows our cash -- operational cash flow. We continue with strong cash generation with a nonrecurring effect of BRL 58 million in the financial results explained previously. We generated BRL 9 million in the period. I'd like to highlight that seasonally, the Q1 consumes more cash due to the greater working capital variance. On Slide 18, we show the net debt of BRL 907 million corresponding to 1.4x adjusted EBITDA in the last 12 months. Total of obligations in foreign currency represents 94%. The greatest part is linked to the bond with a single amortization in February 2031, interest rates of 4.5% paid every 6 months. In relation to cash, 40% is in local currency. We are in a very comfortable position in spite of the amortization of loans worth BRL 195 million. We have the 1.4x EBITDA in the last 12 months. This -- we had a negative EBITDA. This should improve when COVID improves. Now I'd like to pass the floor to Fernando. He will talk about our markets.

Thank you, Thiago. Slide 19, please. We will talk about the recovery of the U.S. economy and its effects around the world. The U.S. has led the global efforts for vaccination. 40% of Americans have already received the first dose of the vaccine, and 28% of the citizens have received all of the vaccines. The recovery of the economy, together with a package to stimulate consumption, makes projections for growth of the U.S. GDP for 2021 to be constantly seen as higher and higher. This impacts also international trade with an increase in demand for raw materials and imported products, with a strong effect in the clients where our clients have exposure like transportation of cargo, construction of homes, infrastructure and agro business, amongst others. Additionally, there are programs aimed exclusively at infrastructure, which are being discussed in the Congress in the U.S.A. and could leverage even more our demand -- the demand for our products. In the next slide, the positioning of Tupy in strong segments, fundamental for the recovery after the pandemic. Our revenue comes mainly from countries with dynamic and strong economies, which are benefiting from low interest rates, stimulus to credit and government health programs. On Slide 20, we have some points that reinforce the recovery of demand. In the U.S., the freight activity is already stronger than before the pandemic, and projections show consecutive positive reviews, which should bring a new cycle of replenishment of trucks -- medium and heavy trucks this year. The -- our inventory levels are very low. Also, the recovery in generation of employment in the U.S. has been positive. In March, the U.S. generated 916,000 jobs. In previous indicators like housing starts, it also show that this -- we should need more light and medium commercial vehicles and also construction machinery. The high prices of commodities should result in high demand since they are an important lever for the off-road equipment market. In relation to the Brazilian market, the production of trucks had a growth of 34% in Q1 2021 in comparison with the same period in 2020. Apart from this, agriculture continued strong, demand in transportation for cargo and investments in machinery and equipment. In the next slides, I will talk about 2 important initiatives announced that show that good signs for our business: sustainability and innovation. Going on to Slide 20. Last week, we launched our sustainability report, including apart from indicators, our practices in relation to the environment, social and governance, with a highlight for our role in fighting the pandemic. We also show how sustainability is truly part of our business. Since the circular economy, recycling of waste and also the company's role in decreasing the carbon footprint and also reinforcing the need of our products, being part of machineries and equipment that contribute for a better standard of life and a longer life. The report also showed many points about our company, a process that involved many analysis of documents, policy studies and also hearings with the population with 735 answers with many stakeholders, including our leadership and the administration council. Thus, we saw the important topics that will guide us in our journey. I would like to mention that many of those who are hearing this conference helped in this. They participated in interviews and also sent us back questionnaires. Thank you for your contribution. On Slide 22, we will talk about innovation. Since its foundation, Tupy always had a strong commitment with scientific research, working with universities in Brazil and abroad for 50 years now. This relationship contributed for Tupy to become a world reference in the development of structural components of high complexity. We want to make more and more progress in this chain, developing new alloys and offering services of value-added services, such as machining and assembly of components. During the years, we developed a great knowledge in important fields, such as metallurgical engineering and materials, chemical processes, circular economy and recycling. And within our strategic planning, we still have been studying for some time new areas of applications for our technologies where we can add our expertise and generate competitive edges, especially in decreasing the carbon footprint of our clients. To expand this movement and to make stronger our leadership in the industry and our segments, we are strengthening innovation, creating 2 new areas in the company: Tupy Tech and Tupy UP. Tupy Tech aims at research and development that is disruptive, designing the future of solutions to be offered by the company and especially those that will enable our -- us to continue with our technological leadership in the segments where we are present and in the search for new businesses. Now Tupy UP has the focus of digital transformation and open innovation. The name UP comes from the clear intention of elevating the bar in many senses: results, growth, competencies and capacities, and reinforcing -- and reinforcement and innovation can bring. Although we are in specific structures, we'd like to say that many initiatives were already being used by the company. The most recent is the partnership signed with the University of São Paulo for an applied research process in the recycling of batteries. The program will take 2 years and will be conducted by our recycling lab and also the treatment of waste from the Polytechnic School of USP and will count on with 15 researchers and investment of BRL 4 million. The study has synergies with the segments where we are present, and will have the objective of using the process of hydrometallurgy, which has the highest rate of recovery and issues the least amount of CO2 in comparison with our traditional things. Now talking about 2021, we have a very promising year with growing demand and an increase in the services with high value-added services in the pandemic. The higher cost due to the pandemic, our challenge is that we will continue in the next quarter. For this, we will continue investing in the increase of our operational efficiency and the capture of new opportunities. We will also have the challenge of integrating the Teksid purchase, recently received the approval from the authorities to -- for the acquisition of the casting -- iron casting of Teksid. The process is not over. We're waiting from authorities for approvals from the U.S. and Mexico. It is an asset that is very strategic. It is the company's largest plant and has the greatest opportunities of synergies. Now talking once again about innovation, soon, we will have more news showing our -- an expansion of our presence in the ecosystem contributing with entrepreneurship. I thank you all. And now we will begin the Q&A session. Thank you for your attention.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Gabriel Rezende [ Tau ].

Fernando, Thiago, thank you for the presentation. Congratulations for the result. Two short questions. A follow-up about Teksid. Can you give us an update of the conversations in the U.S., the timing for the approval in the U.S.? We'd like to know. And the second point, in relation to margins, Tupy had a third quarter that was very strong last year and some nonrecurring expenses. So how do you expect to see the evolution of this during the year? What are your -- what's your opinion about margins in the next quarters?

Thank you, Gabriel. Thank you for the question. I will begin answering about Teksid, and Thiago can answer about margins. The process in Brazil is over. The approval is -- we got the approval for Teksid. And from the U.S., we expect an answer until July. And authorities have told us and they are concluding their analysis. They should give us an answer in June, July in Mexico later, after that. So we expect June, July to have the full approval for the purchase of Teksid.

Concerning margins, in fact, we had a much higher margin when we began to suffer a strong pressure in the cost of materials, especially metals. So in Q4, we had this effect. So we had 14.6%, the margin, and then it became stronger in the beginning of the year. So we have this mismatch, which should continue. When we began, we expected different things. So this problem should decrease, so margins should go up. So this mismatch will drop, and the volumes are strong. This is what we expect for the next quarters.

So just to confirm Teksid, the decision from the U.S. should be in June, July. And Mexico, 30 days after the U.S.

Yes. This is what we expect. This is how the process works. The analysis is in progress in Mexico. But we know from previous cases that it should happen this way. You asked about the process, Gabriel. They look at the subsegments in the market. Every subsegment has a specific characteristic, for example, heavy trucks, pickup trucks, light trucks, machinery. So there's this universe, imports -- so the rank -- it's a regulatory process. In the U.S., we have the new NAFTA, which places some restrictions in some sectors. So this analysis is more complex because of these points. This is what is happening.

Our next question comes from Catherine Kiselar, Bank of Brazil.

Thank you for the question. My question has to do with the automotive industry. We saw some problems in supply. How do you see this segment and the recovery of inventories?

Thank you, Catherine. I believe that we have a small role in passenger vehicles. Passenger vehicles, I can say they are going through important transitions due to the technology and the sale process or the usage of vehicles by new generations. Our participation is very small in passenger vehicles. We have some structural components that we supply to passenger vehicles. In the case of the markets where we are present, light commercial vehicles, pickup trucks in Brazil and abroad, medium-sized trucks and heavy trucks, we see a very favorable market because all these government stimulus packages, they are offering many opportunities. The sales of our clients in all the sectors are very strong. Sales are very strong in our clients. They are having difficulty in producing the vehicles due to semiconductors. We're suffering a lot due to the scarcity of raw materials, and the price is a reaction to the scarcity because we suffer not only with the lack but also due to the variety available. So we are not being able to have a more efficient mixture in our ovens, in our furnaces. But I know that semiconductors are a problem. In the vehicles, you have dozens of semiconductors in the doors and also in raising the windows, in the engines, yes, there are semiconductors. So what we have seen, some of our clients that have integrated lines have preferred semiconductors to be used in truck plants because the system is the same. You can sell a heavy truck with the same semiconductor, and the profit margin is higher in trucks. So they have preferred to use semiconductors and trucks, but they have suffered, too. You noticed in -- if you noticed in the last 5, 6 weeks, some pickup trucks in the U.S. had to stop, and this has an effect on industry. Inventory is low, and I believe that demand will not drop. There's a lot of liquidity, low interest rates for investments or buying vehicles. And that's why we see a strong market, not only this year but the next few years, too. All these plans, the plans that are being discussed for infrastructure, they have important impacts for construction, equipment, trucks and all the accessory systems. For example, if you are selling more homes -- so for example, more efficient house appliances, so the whole economy is really better. And we participate with our products in many of these areas.

In terms of these packages, how do you expect to capture the resulting growth? So will you invest more in some regions?

Okay. Excellent question. We are studying that, the investments. We have a strong demand right now for our products but without these new packages of stimulus from the government. So what we're doing? We have a lot of capacity available. We always told you this, some of our assets we have not invested in them in the last few years because they are dormant. It's an economic decision. So we concentrated. We concentrated on the assets that give us more cash and some equipment we have shut down. This can change because the cost of the investment for it to be -- to activate this capacity and make it more efficient is relatively low in relation to other investments in the industry. So naturally, as demand increases, as clients demand more products, we have conditions to react, and we're getting ready. For the time being, we're not investing because one of the advantages of our industry is that we don't have to invest. We can discuss the orders, and we have the time to expand our activities with contracts already signed. So we have observed this. The winners in this process will be our clients. Our clients will be the winners, the large manufacturers of trucks in the U.S., machinery manufacturers and the same in South America, in Latin America, with the lack of infrastructure because of the pandemic. So we are paying a lot of attention to this. Tupy has surplus capacity. Teksid is also helping us, the acquisition. The plant in Brazil has a lot of surplus capacity, and Brazil is very competitive in our industry. You know us well. You noticed that every time we have a drop in volume, we sell in Brazil. We -- every time we have a drop, we begin to use more Brazilian plants because Brazilian plants are more competitive. So we are ready with high quality, with an excellent team. So we have -- there's a positive outlook. And this is very similar to what we saw in 2010, 2011 when construction was very high around the goal -- the world with packages of incentives. And I said this in some conferences in the past, the restructuring of the market, the incentive packages from governments, the need to generate jobs and the renovation of infrastructure should be very favorable for our company. Now you asked about the automotive sector. It's good to separate capital goods from others. Motivations are different. Tupy is concentrated in capital goods.

A third question. Concerning the shutdown of lines in Mexico, is there -- do you see any effects in the next quarters?

No. No effects. We made clear in the financial report that impact was BRL 18 million and BRL 5 million of lost sales. That's the total effect. It will not continue in the next quarters.

Our next question comes from Pedro Santana, Bradesco.

Good morning. Thank you. My first question involves the purchase of Teksid. How do you see the effect of the restrictions placed by the authorities? My second question, if we remove the shutdown in Mexico and the increases in raw materials, we would have 16% margin. Do you believe 16% is a sustainable margin in the future?

Okay. Let's begin with the purchase of Teksid. First of all, it's positive. Our objective, it is a company. For example, in Joinville, we export 70% of the production, the plant in Joinville. Brazil is very competitive, structurally, also in the inputs. And we have an engineering team that is very good and prepared in Brazil, capable of giving us good results. Teksid also has a lot of capacity. But we should remember that they are -- they always operated with most of the sales to the Fiat plants. Today, it's called Stellantis. But in the past, you had Case New Holland. All these companies are associated to the Fiat group. So the authority said, of the sales in Brazil, excluding everything that is exported, everything that is part of global contracts and everything that is sold to the headquarters, to Fiat or CNH, is -- have no restrictions. And a fraction of the rest, yes, that goes to the market. So it's a fraction of the domestic market that is affected, and the result is very positive. So it's a small effect. And the important thing in this transaction is to see how we can cooperate in the global market. We are strong in Brazil, but the export market is also very important with competitive production. And this, we have done it during -- in all our history. The result is favorable. Concerning margin, we highlight that we -- it cost us BRL 23 million in the shutdown in Mexico and BRL 5 million in raw materials. So with -- this is the margin with the price of these raw materials right now. So we have very high prices. When raw materials are very expensive, we have a lot of EBITDA, but the margin is diluted. When raw material -- the price of raw material goes down, then our profit goes up. So we can develop high margins like this one, but this is for this quarter.

Our next question comes from Marcelo Motta, JPMorgan.

Two quick questions. If you can comment about CapEx. There's also Teksid. You mentioned end of July, it should be approved. In demand, you mentioned investments in the U.S. But if we look beginning of April, Q2 is also strong. So how do you see volumes during this quarter and the next?

Marcelo, I'd like to begin with CapEx. For many years, we have been consuming a CapEx that is lower than depreciation to have an adequate situation. Gradually, the trend is to get closer to depreciation. We believe the purchase of Teksid brings us a good set of assets. We can use them well. So we choose very well the investment projects in the company, especially those that will give us new programs, machining and also sand regeneration. We follow depreciation and sometimes we're below to understand the potential of Teksid. Now concerning volumes, Marcelo, we see we have a booming market, a very strong market. It continues to be very strong. We don't see any change. We may have problems because of semiconductors. So OEMs will have to choose where they will use the available semiconductors. Our inventory is also low. Our working capital shows this. We have low inventory, so we have maintained production full. I said in the beginning, we hired in the last 4, 5 months more than 2,000 new employees. 2,000 new employees. And in this case, what do we see? We are hiring. We -- this group is new. They are being trained. There's a learning curve in terms of safety, manufacturing processes. So this is very relevant, this growth in the number of employees. We should get to 2,400 new jobs in the company because of the -- our portfolio and the demand from our clients in the next few months. So we have a portfolio for the next 3 to 6 months. We look at other market indicators, the U.S. economy, for example, the global economy. The expectations in terms of the GDP have grown every time there's a review. We showed this in the presentation. And this gives us trust to grow. So we were not sufficiently efficient due to the cost of raw materials that we were not able yet to pass on to our clients. And we are reactivating some equipment that was dormant and growing. So the perspective, the scenario, long-term scenario is very favorable. Now we have to see how we will work during this year because how the price increases in raw materials will behave. Because if the price of raw materials drops, we recover the margins.

[Operator Instructions] We would like to conclude our Q&A session. I would like to pass the floor to Mr. Fernando for his final comments.

Thank you. I'd like to thank the participants, the questions and the trust in the company. So we're very happy with the new scenario of the global economy, especially what we see in the U.S. There is a strong world demand for steel with constant price increases, and this has caused also great demand for iron, scrap. And the price of these materials doubled in relation to 2019. Also, with the devaluation of the Brazilian currency, there was a strong increase in the export of these materials. Scrap generation has suffered interruptions due to intermittent work at OEMs and stoppages and also shutdowns. We believe things are getting normal and raw materials with stable prices, or maybe even a small drop, to be confirmed. We're operating during a pandemic, so we have to be very careful with our employees. And this, in a certain way, is not the best, most efficient way of working. We are -- we left -- so we had -- we are strong now in Q1, Q2, and we see this continuing. We created more than 2,000 new jobs, 2,000 new positions that demand training and adjustments. We're beginning new shifts. Assets that were being used intermittently are now being used at full speed and 10 months of inflation in metals. We're in a transition phase that should help us to capture important demands from the stimulus packages from governments in the U.S. and Europe. And the combination of efficiency with our commercial strategy delivers value. And the conclusion of the purchase of Teksid in a favorable period will bring us great benefits. We continue to build a more resilient company with projects that will add value to our main products. We continue investing in machining this year. We believe that knowledge generates transformation. That is why our technological solutions are and will continue to be dedicated to promote a better and longer life. This is the objective of Tupy. Now with Tupy Tech and Tupy UP, apart from creating new business opportunities adjacent to our powerhouses like the recycling of batteries that we announced, we will do this in a collaborative way, in an innovative way and aimed at sustainable development of the company and society. Thank you very much for your attention. And we wish you a good day.

The conference call of Tupy is concluded. We thank you for your participation. We wish you a good day. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]