Afya Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
August 13, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Afya delivered 15% revenue growth in H1 2025 to BRL 1.856 billion and a 20% rise in adjusted EBITDA to BRL 893 million with a 48.1% margin, reaffirming full‐year guidance.
  • Positive Sentiment: The undergraduate segment expanded with 3,653 approved seats (including Funiq) and nearly 26,000 medical students (+14%), driving a 3% increase in net average ticket prices.
  • Positive Sentiment: Continuing education revenue grew 8% to BRL 138 million with margin gains from operational restructuring, while Medical Practice Solutions revenues rose 9% to BRL 84 million, led by 12% growth in B2P.
  • Positive Sentiment: Afya announced a new share repurchase program to buy up to 4 million Class 8 shares through end‐2026, highlighting capital allocation discipline and a strong balance sheet.
  • Negative Sentiment: The residency journey saw a 29% drop in student enrollments and monthly active users in medical practice solutions fell by 9%, underscoring competitive and seasonal pressures.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Afya Q2 2025
00:00 / 00:00

There are 10 speakers on the call.

Operator

Related to future events, future financial or operating performance, known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause Afya's actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by these forward looking statements. Forward looking statements in this presentation include, but are not limited to, statements related to the business and financial performance, expectations and guidance for future periods, or expectations regarding the company's strategic product initiatives and its related benefits. These risks include those more fully described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward looking statements in this presentation are based on the information available to us as the date hereof. You should not rely on them as prediction of future events, and we disclaim any obligation to update any forward looking statements except as required by law.

Operator

In addition, management may reference non IFRS financial measures on this call. These measures are not intended to be considered in isolation or a substitute of the results prepared in accordance with IFRS. This presentation has reconciled these non IFRS financial measures to the most directly comparable IFRS financial measures. Now, let me turn the call over to Virgilio Gibbon, Afya's CEO.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Joao, and welcome to our second quarter and first half conference call for 2025 results. Starting with the Slide three. We are pleased to report that Afya continues to deliver strong operational and financial results. This quarter's performance highlights the high predictability of our business model and the successful execution of our strategy, which consistently combines robust growth, increased profitability and solid cash generation, Afya's three strategic pillars for long term value creation. This quarter, once again, was marked by significant revenue growth and gross margin expansion in both our undergrad and continued education segments, reflecting the steady expansion of our business and our ongoing commitment to operational excellence.

Speaker 1

We are also pleased to reaffirm that Afya remains on track to meet our full year 2025 guidance, supported by disciplined execution and strong business fundamentals. Once again, we delivered strong performance closing the 2025 with a notable growth of 15% in revenues, reaching $1,856,000,000. Adjusted EBITDA reached $893,000,000, expanding 20% year over year, with an impressive margin of 48.1%, an increase of two twenty bps over last year. This margin expansion was primarily driven by the solid results of our Undergrad and Continuing Education segments, supported by cost initiatives and our shared service center, helping to boost efficiency and unlock operational synergy across selling, general and administrative expenses. In addition, supported by the increase in adjusted EBITDA, our basic EPS climbed to 4.69, representing a 17% increase over the previous year.

Speaker 1

Even after accounting for the effects of the new tax legislation aligned with the OECD Pillar two rules, we continue to deliver higher value to our shareholders. Moving to our operational updates. We have 3,653 approved seats with the closing of Funiq acquisition, which contributed an additional 60 seats to our portfolio. Furthermore, our number of undergrad medical students has reached almost 26,000 students, representing nearly 14% growth compared to the 2024. In addition, the medical school net average ticket, excluding the Unidome acquisition, reached 9,140, over 3% increase year over year.

Speaker 1

In continuing education, revenue increased almost 8% over last year, reaching BRL138 million. And in the medical practice solutions, we saw over nine percent growth in revenues compared to the first half of last year, reaching 84,000,000. Lastly, our ecosystem reached 302,000 active users, reflecting strong engagement and deep penetration among physicians and medical students across Brazil. Moving to Slide four, where we will discuss the highlights across our three business segments. Starting with the undergraduate segment, medicine costs continued to show strong performance with a student base increase of 14%.

Speaker 1

This growth, in addition to integration of Unidom and the ramp up of four Mice Magicuts campuses launched in the 2022, contributed to a gross margin expansion for the segment. Additionally, as already mentioned, we completed the acquisition of Funiq, which added 60 new medical seats to our portfolio, with operations starting the 2025, further strengthening our academic capacity and presence. The continued education segment was marked by an increase in graduate journey students in addition to a gross margin expansion driven by our ongoing operational restructuring, which continues to contribute to improving costs. In Medical Practice Solutions segment, growth was driven by clinical management payers, an increase of 10% year over year. B2P, business to physician revenues, for the first semester also saw a growth of almost 12% compared to the same period of the prior year.

Speaker 1

On the next slide, I would like to share Afya's new share repurchase program approved by the Board of Directors, with plans to repurchase up to 4,000,000 Class eight shares by 12/31/2026, through open market transactions or privately negotiated deals. This initiative reflects our strong commitment of creating shareholder value and ensuring sustainable business performance. It also reaffirms the strength and the robustness of our balance sheet, while reflect our disciplined and forward looking capital allocation strategy aligned with the current economic and political landscape. And now I will turn the call over to Luis Blanco, Afya's CFO, to provide further insight into the financial and operational metrics. Thank you.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Vigilio,

Speaker 2

and good evening, everyone. Starting with Slide seven for discussions of key operational metrics by business unit, starting with the undergraduate programs. The number of medical students grew almost 14% year over year, reaching nearly 26,000 students, while the number of approved medical seats increased 14%, totaling 3,653 seats, considering the Phonique acquisition. Our medical school net average tickets excluding the Onidore acquisitions rose by over 3%, reaching BRL9140 in the end of the first semester. As a result, revenue for the undergraduate segment grew over 16%, totaling R1,642 million dollars It's worth mentioning that 86% of this revenue comes from the medicine programs and 94% from health related courses, reinforcing our strategic focus and leadership in the sector.

Speaker 2

On the next page, I'll present our continuing educational metrics. We approach continuing education through three main journeys, starting with the graduate journey, the most relevant within continuing educational. It presented a 12% growth reaching 9,055 students. And other courses and B2B offerings also saw a solid growth of 19% compared to the same period of last year. The residency journey, which include products focused on the medical residency preparation, ended the quarter with 9,224 students, a 29% decrease year over year.

Speaker 2

Revenue for continuing educational rose to BRL138 million, up from BRL128 million in the 2024, representing 8% growth. This includes a 5% increase in B2B revenue and an impressive 42% increase in B2B. Continuing on the next slide, I'll discuss the medical practice solutions operational metrics. The first graph shows our total active payers, which generate revenues in business to physician. This semester, we maintained a solid of 196,000 paying users, in line with the same period of the prior year.

Speaker 2

The second chart highlights our monthly active users, which accounts for 230,000, a reduction of 9% in comparison to the same period of the prior year. Finally, the third chart presents the revenue for the segment, which grew over 9% year over year reaching million. Of these BRL75 million come from B2P, up 12% and BRL9 million from B2B, 8% down compared to the same period of the prior year. On the next slide, we present Afya ecosystem. We are proud of the meaningful impact of Afya continues to make across Brazil healthcare ecosystem.

Speaker 2

By the end of the 2025, 302,000 users were actively engaging with our service and products, reflecting our solid relevance and reach in medical educational and medical solutions. Moving forward to Page 11, I want to discuss our financial overview for the second quarter and the 2025, starting with the next slide. With great satisfactions, I present another strong quarterly performance for Afya. Revenue for the 2025 reached BRL919 million, reflecting a 14% increase over the same quarter of the prior year. And for the six month period, revenue was BRL1856 million, an increase of 15% over the same period of last year.

Speaker 2

This growth is mainly driven by a 3.2% increase in the net average ticket for medical courses, maturations of medical seats and acquisitions of Unidone. In the second quarter twenty twenty five, adjusted EBITDA increased 17% to million dollars with an adjusted EBITDA margins of 43.6%, marking an increase of 110 basis points compared to the 2024. For the six months period, adjusted EBITDA was million, an increase over 20% in comparison to the same period of the prior year, with adjusted EBITDA margins of 48.1, an increase of two twenty basis points in the same period. The adjusted EBITDA margin expansion is mainly due to a gross margin expansions within undergraduate and continued educational segments. Completion of Unidong integration, the hump up of the Four Marks Magic Campus that started operations in the 2022, operation restructuring efforts in our continued educations and medical practice solutions segments, and more efficiency in selling, general and administrative expenses.

Speaker 2

On the next page, cash flow from operating activities grew 15%, totaling million dollars driven by our robust operational performance. The operational cash conversion ratio was 88.8% in the 2025. Net income for the 2025 amounted to million, a 9% increase for the same period of 2024. For the six month period that ended in June 2025, we saw an increase in net income reaching million, representing an increase of 70% year over year. Our net income this quarter reflects not only our strong operational performance, but also the impact of the new tax legislations implementing to the OECD Pillar two growth.

Speaker 2

Our basic EPS reached BRL0.90 for the quarter, an 8% increase compared to the previous year and BRL4.69 per share in the first six months period, a growth of 17%. And now moving to my two last slides, I'll discuss our cash and net debt positions, also given more color on our cost of tax. These slides presents a table detailing our gross debt compositions and total cost of debt covering our primary obligations, the SoftBank transactions, the debentures, other financial liabilities, the IFC financing and accounts payables to selling shareholders. AFIA capital structure remains solid with a conservative leverage positions and the low cost of debt. AFIA net debt excluding IFRS 16 divided to the midpoint of the 2025 adjusted EBITDA was only 0.97 times.

Speaker 2

On the next page, we can look closely at our net debt variation. As of the 2025, our net debt has reduced to million dollars when compared to the 2024, a reduction of R194 million dollars even considering the payment of dividends and acquisitions of Oniq, reflecting our strong operational performance and capital allocation discipline. This concludes our prepared remarks. We are proud of our strong performance we've delivered this quarter. Our focus on improving the medical journey through an integrated educational system and medical practice solutions remains strong, helping students to become doctors, supporting ongoing medical learning and making physicians more accurate and efficient.

Speaker 2

Looking ahead, we are excited about the opportunities in front of us and confident in our ability to keep creating value in the entire ecosystem. I will now open the conference for the Q and A session. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Our first question comes from Luca from Itau BBA. Luca, please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Good evening, everyone, and thank you for taking our question. Our question regards the main leverages here for profitability expansion in the quarter. So you mentioned that one of the the the levers was improved efficiency in SG and A expenses. If you could provide just more color on which of the segments these efficiencies are focused on. And then going forward, if you expect any further dilution in SG and A expenses, that would be very helpful.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Luca. Speaking. I will take your first questions. We always chase the higher efficiency performance by our our short service. So during these disputes, we we had some additional centralizations regarding some some service that was still on the undergraduate units.

Speaker 2

We centralized it in our in our in our short service. On top of that, remember that last year on the continued educational segment and the the the practical practical management, medical solution segments. We made a huge transformations beginning on the first quarter, centralizing all the the teams from different products, from different units in a in a single in a single team. So all of that help us to have the expansion that we presented in our margins during 02/2024. And these initiatives are keeping providing results during this this this this year.

Speaker 2

So it's a little bit what we are doing, and we are keep doing capturing all the synergies that we we can within the three segments.

Speaker 1

Hi, Lucas. It's Regina. Just to add here some points. Just remembering that well, remember that we launched four Mice Magicos campuses two years and a half ago, and they are still maturing. So it's leveraging operational leverage as we have a very efficient, g and a cooperative structure.

Speaker 1

So as the top line, goes up, you have all the synergies being captured, to the bottom line. Also, Unidol, Unidol It's a huge operation in Salvador, so it's improving the gross margin from the the campus side and also helping to leverage and push our bottom line EBITDA margin. And the simple it's worth to mention here that, well, this first half, it's a all time high first half EBITDA margin since we became publicly traded in 02/2019. So we are talking about efficiency.

Speaker 1

So that's the beautiful all the model that we designed in the past, and now we have the full maturation of most of our campuses, all operation. And, also, as Blanco mentioned, also capturing value and leveraging from continued education and digital services.

Speaker 4

Very clear, Blanco and Vigio. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Luca. The next question will come from Flavio from Bank of America. Flavio, you may go ahead, please.

Speaker 5

Hi. Good evening, Virgil and Blanco. Thank you for the put opportunity to ask questions. I have two, on my side. The first one is on the guidance, more specifically on the EBITDA guidance and, taking into consideration what you just mentioned about, some more efficiency and more, leverage.

Speaker 5

So if we an annualize the first half, EBITDA, we reach to roughly 1,800,000,000.0 reais, right, for the year, which is slightly above the top of the guidance range. So, given that there wasn't any guidance revision here, should we expect the EBITDA for the second half to be slightly below the first half, or you guys just prefer to be a little bit more conservative here? And then, my second question is on tax rate. Okay? So, if we consider the not not only the second quarter, but also the first half figures, we see an effective tax rate close to 9%, right, which is below the 15% tax rate proposed under the global minimum tax of the OECD.

Speaker 5

So it'll be great if you guys could share some more color on what should we expect for the second half of this year related to the tax rate here. Thanks.

Speaker 1

Okay, Flavio. Thank you for your question. I will take the first one, and Blanc will help me with the tax rate. So regarding the guidance, we prefer to to keep on the conservative side here mostly because we have, like, a seasonality on continuing education. So the the warm up of the new cohort of the new season, it's after September, so we are in the very beginning here.

Speaker 1

So we still have some uncertainty ahead even considering that we have a successful intake on the undergrads on the undergrad segment. That's the most important business. So our side here, we are confident with our guidance, and we prefer to keep the same range as we release in the first semester.

Speaker 2

And, Fabri, regarding the the tax rates, you are completely right. The minimal tax rate is 15%. But on the first quarter and, here in the second quarter, we could, recognize, two tax, deferred assets in our in our balance sheet. And with these recognitions, we could, reduce the effective tax rate in in this in this semester. But, coming ahead, we don't the the the the impact of the pillar two is the this 15 in the in the the long run.

Speaker 2

There is adoption effect that is growing, but at the end of the day, keeping its the the effective tax rates change to to convert to 15%.

Speaker 5

Alright. That's very clear. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Flavio. Our next question will come from Marcelo Santos from JPMorgan. Marcelo, you may go ahead, please.

Speaker 6

Hi, good evening, Virgilio Blanco, the Afya team. Thanks for the opportunity. My two questions are about the medical business. The first is, could you please comment a bit on the competitive outlook for the second half intake? How did that go?

Speaker 6

How did you see competition? Whatever you could add there. And the second question would be a bit about medical tickets. So could you discuss a bit? I mean, it grew 3.3%, if I'm not mistaken, and it's a bit below inflation.

Speaker 6

What are the facts that drive this maybe mix, maybe ramp up? So just want to hear from you guys. Thank you.

Speaker 1

I'm sorry. So we were on mute here. So just repeating here what was mentioned, Marcel. So regarding the medical competition, as everybody know here, we had a lot of new approvals on medical seats and also institution during the first half, and then we didn't have a new cohort of new or fresh students coming from their high school. So the competition on the second half to fulfill the seats was higher.

Speaker 1

We reduced the candidates ratio from seven last year to around five this year, but we have a good a good trend on the enrollments. We already started our classes, so it's something that we keep our 100% of occupancy. For that, we are we just launched our our first first half two thousand twenty six intake for next year. It's very you know, we are very confident on that because now we don't have so much new seats coming as unexpected, but we have a new and fresh cohort of students coming, graduating from from the high school. So the candidate ratio was reduced from seven to to five.

Speaker 1

It was a little bit more competition in some of the cities that we operate. About medical tickets, although we passed our gross tuition a little bit above inflation as we are having more, discount coming from Fiesta. The net, effect was a little bit below inflation, but we continue to pass around inflation, our strategy moving ahead. So the main the main effect here, was, the 27% discount coming from Fiesta depending on the campuses. We have around 10 to 15% of our student base enrolled on medical programs on that campus level.

Speaker 6

Perfect. Just following up on this, I mean, regarding this a bit more competitive second half, Did this entail discounts? Or you're able to pursue your normal pricing policy despite this bit more intense competition?

Speaker 1

Zero discount, the same policy.

Speaker 6

Thank you very much.

Speaker 3

Okay. Thank you, Marcelo. The next question will come from Samuel from.

Speaker 7

Hi, Virgilio Blanco. Good evening, everyone. Just one question on our end about this new taxation that you guys were commenting before. Imagine the company seeking to challenge the the the tax charge here through legal or, like, administrative means. My question is is if you guys could, like, elaborate on that opportunity.

Speaker 7

If you guys see, like, a more likelihood, or a more likely scenario through, administrative, efforts or through, legal process? Thank you.

Speaker 2

Hi, Samuel. It's Blanca speaking. I will take the this question. It's very good to to to have this question to to make clear for you guys, how we see that. We have two fronts that we are working right now regarding the the new go to taxations.

Speaker 2

One is to to to to to define define it in the in in a justice level. We we we enter a protection asking for protections regarding these new taxation questioning some points about about how it was defined and implemented. We don't have any concrete outcome from this questioning for this challenging yet, but we are we are questioning on the justice level. And in parallel of that, we are presenting to the the the executive and the the lower house representatives that these taxations at the end of the day, how it was implemented, it takes all the benefit from the the ProUni program. At the end of the day, as ProUni is not qualified as a a qualified credit under this this this pillar, all the the effects of the the the the the probability is we draw from the pillar two calculations.

Speaker 2

And because of each major because of its we have these these these these higher taxations. So we are showing that that ProWon is being directly affected. We have more than 10,000 students in in medicine, other health, and other courses being supported by by ProWon, and we don't want to reveal it. Our our policy regarding ProWinnie, we want to keep it because a very important program for for for for the the population itself. And with these pillar two taxations, these make a unit risk for the company that are affected by pillar two.

Speaker 2

So we have these two, four months. It's very hard right now to define a probability regarding which one become take these two success, but we are working these two fronts.

Speaker 6

Thank you, Blanco.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Samuel. Our next question will come from Mauricio Sepeira from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Speaker 8

Hi, Vigilio Blanco. Thanks for the opportunity. We have two questions. The first one about the the m and a environment. How we're seeing that, because we have seen some transactions that are, being performed in Brazil by your competitors that seem to be cheaper than what we saw in the past.

Speaker 8

So are are you are you seeing, the sellers being pressured somehow? Can you take advantage of this new environment? And and how how how did this this wave that you did of or or how how this wave of new seats have changed the environment during the diligence process? And the second question is about a little bit this buyback program. We understand that 4,000,000 shares is is a significant portion of your fleet for all and and some several times your your daily traded volume.

Speaker 8

So how are you considering this trade off between the return to shareholder versus the stock liquidity? Thanks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Sepeda. I'll I'll take the the questions, and, Vijay, please jump in if if you want. Regarding the the the m and a environment, we're always chasing the the right opportunity, the right profile at the right price. Good brand, good reputations, and good location, good municipality are becoming even more relevant for defining the price from from from transactions. So with these new entities coming to the market with all these judicializations crop, I would say, that comes through the markets.

Speaker 2

Of course, we have offers and we stake together with good locations, with good reputations that we can take apart and get the right pricing for it. So location reputation is very, very important in this in this in this scenario. Regarding the buyback itself, as you mentioned, that's relevant. It's something about 4% of our our our numbers numbers of of shares and have a impact in in terms of liquidity, but we see that as an opportunity in in in capital allocation. In in in all the shareholder remunerations, we we discussed it a lot in in the last past past months.

Speaker 2

We decided that the combination between dividends and buybacks would make sense to return to to to shareholders, to increase the the shareholders' remunerations. So with the the buyback, we can take opportunity about the price. So we can take a price to action strategy on that. And for the shareholders for the long term, we increase EPS in a in a very constant manner. Of course, we are going to to follow-up liquidity to see this if it's a it's a pressure in the in the short term when we we we implemented the buyback itself.

Speaker 2

It could increase the trading volume, but in the long run, we'll increase value for for our shareholders because we are increasing increasing the EPS.

Speaker 8

Clear. You.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Sepeda. Just a quick reminder, if you like to ask questions, please raise your hand. Our next question will come from from Citibank.

Speaker 9

Hi, guys. Thank you for for the space. Just a very quick question here. Think, the colleagues cover all my points, but, it caught my attention that the residence journey, dropped significantly year over year. And, I just want to know if there is, like, any, meaningful trend on the market or this is just a a punctuality on this quarter.

Speaker 9

And lastly, you you guys comments on the release about the exams. So just wanted to hear your thoughts regarding this this new exams. I mean, is there any additional CapEx that you envisage to to put Asia to, to benefit from this from this new standards? Or I don't know. Just to I want to hear your thoughts on this on this new new exams.

Speaker 9

Thank you.

Speaker 1

Okay, Hernan. Julio here. So regarding the residence journey, we had a a very low cycle on 2024 or 2024 that reduced a lot to the intake, over 02/2023. So as the the seasonal the highest seasonality is on the fourth end of third and fourth quarter. So we are just, in the beginning.

Speaker 1

So, we change a lot our our approach and our product, on end of the first half. In July and August, we are seeing a very good trend, but it's a very small, intake when compared to the entire year. So we'll have an increase of all volume coming on September. So it's too soon. The year the the I think the the the main point here is that we are seeing that, well, residency, it's a very high competitive landscape.

Speaker 1

In 02/2024, we didn't have an successful intake, reduced, and we are since then, we are reducing the overall revenues. But on the other side, the Enamed, as you mentioned, I think it's a very important opportunity on continuing education besides the graduate business that is has continued to grow and and pushing our revenues as the most important product on on continued education. But in Ahmed, the CapEx require it's marginal because we we have all of the the assets in place, as also we can leverage what we are using on, residence prep and all the the the learning objectives that we already have on our learning and our curriculum here in. So it's marginal. It's just a good opportunity, not only b to c, but also on b to b, leverage the relationship that we had with some institution, not only, for energy, but also now, for.

Speaker 1

Okay?

Speaker 9

Great. Thank you.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Hennam. As there are no further questions at this time, I would like to thank everyone for joining us today. On behalf of the investor relations team, we remain available for any follow-up questions. We look forward to talking with you again during our next conference call. Thank you.

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