2/27/2025

speaker
Tank David
CFO and Investor Relations Officer

Good afternoon and thank you for standing by. Referring to the fourth quarter results for 2024, this presentation is also being recorded and being simultaneously translated for both languages. For those listening to the conference in Portuguese, please click on the interpretation button globe and select Portuguese for a better experience. Click on mute original audio. Here with us today, we have Mr. Marcos Molina, Chairman of the Board, Mr. Tim Klein, CEO of National Beef, Mr. Rui Mendoza, CEO for South America, and Mr. Tank David, CFO and IRO, José Inácio Scoceria, Corporate Finance Director, and also IR Officer, Mrs. Stefan Zolinowski. participants will be connected in listen-only mode during the company's remarks. After that, we'll start a Q&A session. When further instructions will be provided. Before moving on, I'd like to make clear that forward-looking statements made during the conference refer to the company's business outlook. Also refer to operating and financial targets, which are based on beliefs and assumptions on the part of the company's management, as well as on Information currently available for Marfree Global Foods SA. Forward-looking statements are no guarantee of performance, saying above risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, as they refer to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not materialize. Investors and analysts should have in mind that general conditions, economic conditions, and industry conditions might affect forward-looking statements and does lead to results that will differ substantially from those expressed in these forward statements. I'd like to turn the conference over now to Mr. Tank David, who'll start. Please, Mr. David, you may carry on. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for yet another video conference for Marfreak Global Foods. We comment on the results in a consolidated basis for Q4 2024. Consolidated numbers include the business segments BEEF North America, BEEF South America and continued operations and BRF as per CPC and IFRS standards. Starting on slide number two then, with the main highlights for Q4 2024 and also for the whole year 2024. In Q4 2024, we generated 41.3 billion reais in terms of consolidated net revenue, 22% from Q4 2023. That number totaled for the year 2024, a consolidated net revenue of 144.1 billion BRLs, up 14% from the revenues for 2023. The consolidated adjusted EBITDA for the Q4 reached 3.7 billion reais, with a consolidated margin of 9.1%. For year-to-date, 2024, adjusted EBITDA in consolidated numbers reached 13.6 billion, or 59% above that filed for 2023, a margin of 9.5%. The growths in EBITDA and revenue reflect our strategy in terms of investing in a business model which is diversified, both in protein and also geographically speaking, and a focus on a portfolio of higher added value. We also delivered higher free cash flow and net profit. and have reduced leverage to 2.4 times in U.S. dollars and 2.8 times in reais. And I'll comment on those numbers in the last slides further on. I turn now the floor over to Tim Klein, who will be talking about the numbers for North America.

speaker
Tim Klein
CEO of National Beef

Thank you, Tane. Let's begin on slide four, where I will comment on the results for the fourth quarter. Starting on the first chart on the left, total sales volume varied by 0.8%. remaining mostly in line with the same period of the previous year. Although we processed fewer head, overall volume was higher due to heavier carcass weights. Net sales came in at $3.2 billion, an increase of 4.8% versus last year. EBITDA for the quarter was $62 million, which was 22.2% lower than last year, with an EBITDA margin of 1.9%. Beef demand in the quarter was good, both at retail and food service. However, it was not enough to fully offset escalating cattle prices and lower values for drop credit items, resulting in a decrease in margins compared to Q4 of 2023. Now move to slide five, where I will talk about U.S. market data. Starting on the left, USDA reported Kansas live cattle prices averaged $188.80 per hundredweight, up 6.2%. The USDA comprehensive cutout averaged $308.80 per hundredweight, up 5.7%, while drop credit values declined 10.1% to an average of $11.26 per hundredweight, driven mainly by lower prices for hides and tallow. The cutout ratio was 1.64 for the quarter. Looking forward to 2025, fed cattle supplies will continue to decline cyclically, resulting in lower capacity utilization across the industry. Beef demand is expected to remain strong despite higher beef prices. Strong demand and reduced cattle supplies should push cutout values higher, allowing the industry to achieve margin levels stronger than they were during this segment of the previous cattle cycle. Now I'll pass to Rui.

speaker
Tank David
CFO and Investor Relations Officer

Thank you, Tim. Let's now move on to slide number seven, if you will, where I'll be talking about the performance in Q4 for continued operations in South America. Let's start on the chart on the left. Total volume of sales. We have reached 241,000 tons in the quarter, 25% above what we had in the same quarter of 2023. The strong growth is driven by investments in an increase in capacity executed by the company throughout the past years, and also because of a higher level of occupancy ensured by the supply for feedlots. Moving to the central chart for net revenue, we have reached 5.1 billion BRLs in the quarter, 19% above that filed in the same period of last year. On the right-hand side, for just the EBITDA, we have reached the amount of R$660 million, up 25% over the EBITDA levels for Q4 2023. Strong performance can be explained mainly by a combination of an increase in capacity, more efficiency in our plants with higher scale having achieved, and a larger share of added value products. With that, we have reached an EBITDA margin of 12.8%. an increase of 60 basis points, even when compared to the great results we saw in 2023. Strong results that we reached during the quarters and the year-to-date numbers come to confirm the efficiency of our business model, which is much more resilient vis-a-vis cycle oscillations and also price moves. Moving to the next slide, I'll be talking about the exports dynamics for the continued operations. In Q4 2024, sales for the external market accounted for 51% of the total revenue for the operation as a whole. Sales for China had a lighter weight when compared to the share in the same period in 2023. And they now represent 52% of all exports for the continued operation coming out of South America. The year-to-date numbers, as you can see in the last chart on the right, exports to China also saw a drop, moving from 60% to a level 14 points lower, to the tune of 46%. worked hard to increase our alternatives in terms of sales channels across all units to reach other markets. The idea, the intention is to capture always the best commercial opportunities. With this objective in mind, we have seen excellent opportunities across different markets. A special highlight going to North America, which in 2024 grew four percentage points, reaching a level of 14% of the total exports for the operation. I now turn the floor over back to Tang, who will continue on the consolidated numbers for March 3. On slide 13, revenue and adjusted EBITDA in Q4. Out of the total revenue created in Q4, 41.3 billion, the segment North America contributed with 45%, BRF with 42%, and South America with 13%. In terms of the beta generation adjusted terms, 3.7 billion, BRF accounts for 74%, South America 17%, and North America 9%. In terms of currency, 72% of our consolidated revenue is generated in U.S. dollars and 26% in Brazilian reais. Now moving on to slide number 15. We see the free cash generation. In Q4, the consolidated operational cash flow was positive by 4.4 billion BRLs. Investments in CapEx and the amount under financial expenses reached 1.4 billion under each entry. As a result, free cash flow for the quarter came out positive at 1.6 billion. For year-to-date 2024, Mark Free created 12.2 billion reais in terms of operating cash flow, resulting in a free cash flow of 2.9 billion, as can be seen on slide number 16. Moving to slide 17, net debt and managerial leverage The consolidated net level totaled 6.3 billion U.S. dollars at the end of Q4, 2024, a drop of 12% vis-a-vis the previous quarter. The leverage ratio as measured by the relation between net debt and adjusted EBITDA year-to-date basis dropped from 2.86 times to 2.47 times as measured in U.S. dollars. When measured in BRLs, the ratio dropped from three times to 2.82 times, making it clear the strong operating results and subsequent strong generation of free cash flow. On slide 18, we have reduced the consolidated leverage for the seventh consecutive quarter, and we closed 2024 at a level of 2.47 times as measured in US dollars, or 1.4 times as measured, or lower than the final number for 2023, rather. the strong operating performance in Q4, combined with the receivable of partial resources from the sales of assets in South America, we have been able to execute several actions to reduce that, reduce financial expenses, and also to reduce leverage levels. Those initiatives are part of our financial discipline in allocating capital and generating value for our shareholders. The last slide, slide number 19, net revenue and value generation. In 2024, we saw a net income in consolidated basis of 2.8 billion BRLs, vis-a-vis a loss of 1.5 billion filed in 2023. The high profitability for Marfreak also appears in the generation and distribution of value for our shareholders in 2024. According to the B3 ranking, Marfreak was the company with the highest Percentage of dividend yield reaching 29.8%. And the second share, which was more appreciated at the World Baseball Index by 105%. In December 24, Marfrig paid out $2.5 billion in dividends and BRF paid out 1.1 billion BRLs in JCP for their respective shareholders. Our diversification of protein and also geographical footprint with a focus on a higher added value portfolio have combined to contribute in generating value for Marfrig's shareholders. In 2025, we continue to focus on the continuous capture of operating efficiency, cost control, and in reducing leverage, which will lead to maximizing return to all our shareholders. Thank you. Thank you. We'll now start the Q&A session. If you have a question, please click on the raise your hand button. When you are announced, you'll be prompted to unmute your mic, and then you have to click on it and ask your question. Once again, to follow in Portuguese, please click on the interpretation button and choose your preferred language. The question has been answered. Just lower your hand. Please stand by as we pull for questions. Thank you.

speaker
José Inácio Scoceria
Corporate Finance Director and IR Officer

Our first question, Lucas from J.P. Morgan. Lucas, over to you. Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. My first question goes to Rui. You spoke a little about your business model. You were able to improve your margins in South America despite the rising beef prices. Can you talk about your capacity utilization? Is that sustainable in 2025? considering lower cattle supply in Brazil in the future? How much will come from your own confinement? And out of the total results, how would you break down your products, box the products, value added products? And my second question goes to Tang about cash generation. Can you remind us the expected investments and working capital for the year looking at Marfrig alone? And if somehow it makes sense to think about possible BRF dividend payouts and also liability management. How do you see BRF helping your liability management efforts? Good afternoon, Lucas. Well, our new business model guaranteed that result and it's based on a number of factors that led to the conclusion I will present. First, our large industries, our large industries lead to 35% less production costs. These industries were chosen by their location and also the number of plants approved to export. As for value-added products that you mentioned, today box products account for more than 25% of our revenue in South America. And boneless products with a premium brand account for more than 40%. There is room to grow. We are working strongly, especially for hamburgers in the domestic market, which is a growing market. Another important factor behind those results was market diversification. We obtained 35 new approvals for exports in continued operations in 2024, and we chose to maintain the operations with more approvals for exports. Large industries, value added products, market diversification, all of that was important. As for cattle supply, that was another key item. Our confinement allowed us to have an occupancy of over 90% in slaughter. Especially in November, that was a critical month That was really key. When we bring that cattle from confinement, that guarantees quality. An item I'd like to emphasize in our operating and commercial excellence program, we captured 800 million rales during the year, and this is a recurring factor. All those factors were really key behind those results, and they are recurring. efforts. Good afternoon, Lucas. This is Tang. Working capital. You know that working capital for 2025 will be flat. But obviously, respecting the seasonality we have in each quarter in Q4, we release some working capital as we do on occasion. CAPEX for beef in 2025 is slightly below that of 2024. And the CAPEX for 2023 and 24 were used to increase capacity in 2025. We just have the maintenance CAPEX and we have liability management. Just to remind you in Q4, We reduced our debt in about five billion reals in the first half of the year. We have prepared some reduction in our debt that will help us deleverage. As for BRF, the BRF board will decide whether or not to pay more dividends. Lucas, if I may add, looking at Morfig alone, its cash generation for the year is sustainable? And we are also receiving money from the sale of assets in Uruguay. And that's something to be defined in the next quarter. It might improve the EBITDA of the operation and cash generation coming from Uruguay. because that will be outside the continued operation. As you heard in the BRF conference call, you know that we ended the year very well and started the year very well. So now we have to wait for the end of first quarter, March and April, where we will have a definition of the operations in Uruguay and also the domestic market in Brazil our exports, grain prices, in order to make any definition in terms of dividends of investments. But I can assure you that both at Marfreak and BRF, we are quite comfortable. And we have enough flexibility to keep our indebtedness low and to reduce our gross debt and our financial costs. Thank you very much, folks. Now from Gustavo Itaú. Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you can hear me. I have two points. The first related to BRF, but looking at operations. You started selling some products with BRF. I'd like to hear from you. What else you expect from this partnership with BRF? what values can be generated, things you're not doing yet. And if you can comment on how you see the result of what has already been done with BRF. And my second question, going back to the South American operations, can you give us more flavor of the profitability of your box beef product as compared to the rest of your portfolio that is more fresh meat and looking forward, will there be a relevant mix change that you're aiming at with all the investments you have made in Brazil? Thank you, Gustavo. Good afternoon. Actually, let me start with your question on BRF. We started number of administrative activities with them and that work aims at benefiting from opportunities we are discussing opportunities with them participated in trade shows so the synergy has been very interesting as for the work with brands we're just beginning we are speaking about very solid brands in terms of quality and sustainability, both at Marfrig and BRF brands that are nationally and internationally recognized. So this is a project that is merely beginning. We have no doubt that that will bring many gains. Now to the second point you raised about boxed products. They already account for over 25% of our mix. They carry a larger margin. We're not going to go into margins, but it's always two digits. We have achieved very good penetration. 70% of the boxed beef are in the domestic market, Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay. We are beginning to export. And that's an alternative to expand our gains. but there is a huge growth potential for boxed beef. Very clear. Thank you very much.

speaker
Tank David
CFO and Investor Relations Officer

Our next question comes from Ricardo Boyatti. Please, Mr. Boyatti, you may carry on. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you. I have a question about, it's actually a follow-up to Rui's comment on feedlot, specifically about feedlot. It's interesting to see the positive effect not only coming from the assurance of supply, but also in terms of quality and so on. So the question is, do you see room to further expand that level of supply, this dedicated supply around feedlot cattle? And Rui, if you could give us a number in terms of what kind of premium in price can we expect for cattle, price that you get from dedicated feedlot? And also in terms of spread, how much would that contribution be vis-a-vis supply via direct market?

speaker
Ricardo Boyatti
Analyst at Morgan Stanley

Rui?

speaker
Tank David
CFO and Investor Relations Officer

which the company also uses. So that's my first question. And the second question for Tim, if you could comment, Tim, on all the changes with the new administration in the White House, do you see any significant risk for the operations of National Beef in terms of new restrictions around immigration and also the commercial policy? Has that affected the company in any way, shape or form? Or... if there's nothing in the horizon so far. Thank you. Ricardo, good afternoon. As for the feedlot part of your question, the idea is to reach 25% of supply through feedlots. We have already reached that level in Q4. Strong growth when compared to Q4 2023. That cattle coming from the feedlot provides important advantages. In addition to the assurance level you mentioned, in terms of occupancy, we had 90% of occupancy, which is really good. The quality of the beef is also important for us to meet our value-added products demand, branded products. Also, in terms of sustainability, traceability, better genetics, And the time to slaughter also reduces emissions. That's an additional factor for feedlot and also a certification for Europe. So as we go through the feedlot for 90 days for Europe, So cattle is better certified to go to Europe. And that, of course, brings about or brings forward gains because we have better pricing, premium for different cuts of meat. So that increases our mixed possibilities when we plan production. So as you have major gains coming from that, I do not have a number to give you right now to place a number, but it is a successful model which is replicated by National Beef now. This is a long track record we have in a successful one at that when we combine all that. Of course, there's room to grow. There's always room to grow. And we continue to discuss different possibilities, different opportunities to expand that model.

speaker
José Inácio Scoceria
Corporate Finance Director and IR Officer

Tim, over to you.

speaker
Tim Klein
CEO of National Beef

Yes, good afternoon. Regarding the change in administration, we're monitoring all policy changes as it pertains to immigration and tariffs, and we'll adjust accordingly. But at this point, we're not seeing any impact at all on our operations.

speaker
Rui Mendoza
CEO for South America

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Very good.

speaker
Tank David
CFO and Investor Relations Officer

Our next question comes from Ben Peter from Barclays. You have the floor, sir.

speaker
Lucas
Analyst at J.P. Morgan

Hi. Good afternoon, and thank you for taking my question. Just a quick one for Tim and then one probably for Tang, I guess. So as it relates, Tim, to the U.S. cattle industry, We've been kind of waiting for signs of heifer retention. Obviously, certain conditions have improved and we're seeing at least cattle prices fairly elevated. What are you seeing in terms of like your other suppliers, but also from an integrated point of view in terms of the willingness to engage in holding back heifers to kind of start a reproduction process? That would be my first question.

speaker
Tim Klein
CEO of National Beef

Yes. What we're seeing right now is for the last several months, a real slowdown in the cow liquidation. So ranters are choosing to keep those cows on the ranch rather than sending them to . So that's a good sign and the precursor to what we believe will be heifer retention has not started yet, but we expect it will begin here in 2025, as you mentioned, The drought conditions that caused the liquidation or partly caused it have been alleviated in most parts of the country, and we expect to see capital retention beginning here in 2045.

speaker
Lucas
Analyst at J.P. Morgan

Thank you. And then maybe a quick one for Tang. As we look into the leverage right now and obviously the significant improvement that you've gotten versus a year ago, really, really showing good progress here being roughly two and a half times in dollar terms, 2.8 in BRL terms. You've already done a lot on like repurchase and increased dividends. If you think about the additional opportunities from a capital allocation perspective, is M&A something that you would consider right now as well as a third pillar of continuously using excess cash that you might be getting out of the different operations? Or is M&A just given of still the integration of BRF, something that's not under...

speaker
Tank David
CFO and Investor Relations Officer

Good afternoon. Well, the best capital allocation is around reducing debt. As you reduce debt, you reduce financial costs and we improve leverage. So that's the best recipe. Our next question is, Comes from from Santander. Mr. you may carry on. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. Congratulations, by the way, on your numbers, especially in South America. First question goes for Tim. Tim, I'd like to hear from you. The pricing dynamics in the U.S., we've seen premiums for prime beef at a quite high level in the U.S. I'd like to understand a bit more from you how sustainable those premiums are or can be. Or if we saw a premium beef market performing well. based on a higher demand than the remainder of the sector or not? That's the first question. A second question, if we could talk a little bit about those 35%, Rui, for you, in terms of cost reduction based on the scale. If you could break that number down a little bit, how much of that has to do with labor? Where is that reduction coming from? And if you could also give us some color on this ramp-up project in terms of the deboning for the company processes. Where are you today in terms of capacity utilization here in Brazil? Thank you.

speaker
Tim Klein
CEO of National Beef

The premium products, prime and high-choice beef, we are seeing very, very strong demand for those items. I think that's indicative of overall strong demand for beef in the U.S. Part of that is seasonal. When we go into the holiday season, we normally see those spreads widen out and then they tend to moderate as we go into spring before we get into the fall. So for the most part, it's really reflective of the demand. As cattle supplies tighten up and cattle are fed fewer days, I think we'll probably see those spreads remain fairly wide because the supply will be not as great as what we have today.

speaker
Ben Peter
Analyst at Barclays

Distinguished.

speaker
Tank David
CFO and Investor Relations Officer

Okay, very good. Rui, if you could address the question on capacity utilization here in Brazil or South America, please. Good afternoon, Guilherme. Speaking a bit our plans, this is the fixed cost, including labor, accounts for 70% of those costs, 80% of those costs. When we talk about reducing costs, it's basically based on units. We are slaughtering 13,000 heads, including feedlot. We're talking about units based on a model of a high volume so that those high volumes within our programs to improve efficiency and so on Those factors help us reduce fixed costs. Okay, thank you, Claire. Our next question from Brutalee from ProDisco BBI. You may carry on, sir. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two questions on my side. Number one, to your final point, last point, for volumes, we saw a very strong dynamics in the quarter, as we've seen for the past quarters as well. My question is, how much of that would seem a stable level for next year, or is there more room to further grow within the operation? And when you think about the investments already made, I'm not taking into account additional investments that might come to be. And number two, also for South America, if you could comment a bit on what you've seen in terms of large international markets. In the quarter, it drew my attention that US and Europe got my attention, those markets. And what have you seen in terms of pricing? Is there room for an increased mix for all those geographies where we have a premium? And also China, even though it's a market which lost some of its relevance, it remains important for the overall operation. So I'd like to hear from you a bit on the demand side for the international side.

speaker
José Inácio Scoceria
Corporate Finance Director and IR Officer

So let me start with volumes. We do have the seasonality of Q4. So we try and do our utmost trying to capture results, but we are at a ramp up phase in late 2024. we had increased the size of those units by 50%. One third of their growth is still missing, which will take place in the first half of 2025. So those units will have increased 80% of their capacity as compared to their initial capacity. That will happen sometime this year. As for international markets, the large number of plant approved to exports. We migrate markets and we use the domestic market as the major market, even price-wise. There is seasonality, but we do see China still strong with the highest demand. One third of the international beef demand in the world comes from China. And there are many new markets. For example, we have an opportunity in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico renewed a program removing taxes. One more year where Brazil will export to Mexico without any tariffs. So Brazil plays a very important role in the international market. Very clear, Roy. Thank you very much. Our next question, Ricardo from Morgan Stanley. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, everyone. Questions on South America have been answered. I'll focus my questions to Tim. I'd like to hear your opinion about beef spreads in the short term. We expect a weak beginning of the year because of seasonality, but I think January and February came out a little weaker. We always look at packers utilization in the U.S., but there is Better expectation for the cutout prices in March. In your operations, what do you expect for March or April where spreads might improve? And if you could explain the rationale behind your explanation. My second question to you, Tim, as I asked for Brazil, I'd like to hear your opinion about Japan and South Korea. Since we're going to have less global beef supply globally, how do you see those markets? How do you see international beef markets possibly impacting prices in the U.S.? Thank you.

speaker
Tim Klein
CEO of National Beef

Margins going forward in Q1, I can't really speak to forward-looking. However, we do normally see our lowest margins of the year in Q1. So that's normally a poor demand time period. We're not able to fully offset increases in cattle prices. But what we do expect to see is that as we go into the spring season, get closer to the barbecue season, that we have a better ability to move the cutout higher as cattle prices move higher.

speaker
José Inácio Scoceria
Corporate Finance Director and IR Officer

Would you like to comment on international markets, Tim?

speaker
Tim Klein
CEO of National Beef

Yeah, we've seen... really good demand from our trading partners across the globe. And we focus mainly on Japan and South Korea as our key markets. And demand there has been good, even at the higher price levels.

speaker
Rui Mendoza
CEO for South America

Thank you.

speaker
Tank David
CFO and Investor Relations Officer

Our next question from from BTG. You may carry on, Mr. Duarte. Thank you, good afternoon, everyone. I would like to, first of all, ask Rui to give us some more color on market access. He did mention market access in a previous question. I'd like to hear from him. the size of the opportunity that we have as Japan opens up or is about to open up, how much would that represent for the Brazilian beef export market? I'd say Japan and South Korea out of the larger markets and good payers, for that matter. I think they're the only ones left which are not yet accessible for Brazil overall. So I'd like to understand how optimistic or how enthusiastic you are right now in terms of this potential access to Japan and how that can affect the company's profitability. Number two, I'd like to hear from Marcus also about a specific topic, which is when you look at the past two or three years, the company's journey with BRF, if we were to highlight one of those previous earnings calls, we discussed back in the day, a potential for a merger between Marfreak and BRF. So I'd like to hear from you, Marcus. from the point of view of corporate structure, if a merger or some other kind of corporate move would still make sense in your opinion, having in mind how things have evolved, both for Marfreak and BRF, you have invested in plants across South America and so on and so forth. So those are my questions, thank you. Tiago. Well, as for Korea, Japan, and now Indonesia also, all those countries can be large contributors. In Japan, we're not competing with meat exported by the U.S. We have already accessed Japan via Uruguay. And the impact is an important one. Yes, and... Thiago, this is Marcus. As for the corporate structure, that's something I have not been thinking about thoroughly, to be frank. Marfreak is the controlling company for BRF, and we have focused on growing BRF. All the work we've put in in BRF is still unfolding investments in collagen the plant in china for brf as you know former freak we are increasing process products we are increasing the brand portfolio uruguay also we need to wait for a definition and then all of that all of that scenario with the new american administration that might eventually influence different markets. Also the growth in Saudi Arabia, a partnership with BRF. So our main focus is on that. I'm not really concerned about the corporate structure side. I'm not worrying about that. There's nothing still definitive. I'd say that's in the back burner now, right? So what we're doing now is to think about what's best for BRF, what's best for Marfreak, and for their respective shareholders. And we're trying to find, identify synergies for both companies to be working together and getting the best out of the collective work. Nothing planned in terms of corporate structure as of now. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Marcos. Thank you, Rui. Our next question comes from Tiago Bertolucci from Goldman Sachs. Mr. Bertolucci, you may proceed. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. Congratulations on your numbers. I'd like to hear from you, Marcus, once again. About Marfreak, if I look at 2023 onwards, based on the share buyback, the share from Marfreak moved to 72% from 64%. If I am assuming the execution of the new program, which you announced yesterday, you would be close to 74%, actually. We're talking about a minimum free float of 25%. Today, when you think about a capital location from the controlling group and opportunities to grow value, closing Marfreak's capital, is it an option which is on the table right now? And going beyond that, the question would be, given the low free flow level that the company has shown, why move on as a listed company? What would be the advantages of continue to be a listed company? Well, personally, leaving the stock market was never a matter of discussion. It's not in our plans. We have other benefits of being a listed company. In terms of capital allocation, in terms of that dividend allocation, We also sold the assets to Minerva, as you know. Investments that were good for the company with good returns. So in this buyback program for shares, which is at a very good price for us, quite attractive for buyback and investment. And going, looking forward, BRF still has room to grow. And we believe in a drop in interest rates as of next year as well. So there's a whole array of possibilities that we see going forward, both for the protein market, bovine and pork protein, swine also, and for poultry. And all of that is good for the company to invest. Those 25% you mentioned, even with those buyback programs, I think the daily liquidity continues to be quite comfortable. Our shares are quite liquid, so we are quite reassured in maintaining the current position as we are today. Okay, thank you, Marcus.

speaker
José Inácio Scoceria
Corporate Finance Director and IR Officer

the Q&A session and Marfreak's conference call is over. If you have further questions, contact our IR team. Thank you very much for your participation and have a pleasant afternoon.

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This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

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