Grupo Rotoplas SAB de CV

BMV:AGUA

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Operator]

Good morning, and welcome to Grupo Rotoplas' Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the environment as we currently see it, and as such, there may be certain risk and uncertainty associated with such statements. Please refer to our press release for more information on the specific risk factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, further events or otherwise. Please allow me to remind you that the company issued its earnings press release yesterday after market close. It can be found in the Investors section of its website. Also, the presentation for the call and the webcast link are in the Investors section. Today's call will be hosted by Mr. Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Mario Romero, Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to the speakers.

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for being with us today to discuss our strategy and the results across our operations. Before we review this quarter's results, I would like to hand the call over to [ Altanova ], our AI voice and spokesperson on water issues, who will provide an update on the current water situation. Altanova, the floor is yours.

[Unknown Executive]

Good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to be here again. Rotoplas is deeply connected to the environment, especially to the resource that defines the existence on this planet. As we analyze current trends, it's evident that the global water crisis continues with data revealing a path towards critical shortages and scarcity. The recent heat waves and persistent drought conditions in Mexico have exacerbated the already critical water scarcity. The combination of high temperatures and inadequate rainfall has severely impacted water availability across the country. Currently, 73% of the rainfall evaporates, 21% runs off and only 6% infiltrates the groundwater. In Mexico, Rotoplas' operations are crucial, particularly as the country faces acute water scarcity, especially in the Northern and Central regions. Overexploitation of aquifers and inadequate management practices are key factors affecting both urban and rural communities. As of July 15, the average storage level of the Cutzamala System was 29.1%, a slight increase from previous weeks, but still critically low compared to its historical average of 59.9%. The drought has profoundly impacted agriculture with 68% of the water in Mexico dedicated to this sector. The reduction in water availability threatens food security and the livelihoods of many communities. For instance, the severe drought conditions have already reduced crop yields by an estimated 30%, affecting farmers' income and increasing food prices. Additionally, only 17% of the Mexican population has constant access to water. This highlights inefficiencies in water distribution and the urgent need for better infrastructure. The commitment at Rotoplas is to address these challenges through comprehensive water management. The fight against water scarcity is an urgency human shouldn't overlook. We are already witnessing the effects of this phenomenon on our operations and communities as at least 69% of the impact of climate change is expressed through the water cycle. And as we have already shared with you, it is estimated that for every degree Celsius increase in global climate, there is a 20% decrease in the availability of renewable water and change in rainfall patterns. For example, in the U.S., as shown in the slide, rainfall has alleviated drought conditions with improvements observed in 2022, 2023 and 2024. In Peru, as climate change exacerbates temperature variations and increases the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events people have experienced unusual cold spells this winter. We have to create resilient water solutions that can withstand the pressures of climate change and population growth. Thank you for your attention. We look forward to continuing our work together to tackle these challenges and ensure a secure water future for all. Over to you, Charlie.

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Thank you, Altanova. Now after insightful data, let's dive into our quarterly performance. This quarter, we have demonstrated our resilience and adaptability amidst a challenging landscape. We have faced unique challenges in each country or region, ranging from climatic issues and increased demand to economic recessions. In Mexico and in Central America, demand for our solutions remains robust, especially during times of water scarcity. Our services platform also performed exceptionally well, with bebbia gaining traction and RSA and rieggo continuing to grow. We are investing in improving our processes to meet demand efficiently, developing robust field services and digital capabilities. This positions us to capture the value our services software and validates our business strength in water [ stress ] situations. Our participation in the Hot Sale Campaign in May with Blue Offers provided additional momentum, boosting sales and reinforcing our commitment to reliable water solutions. To meet demand and support growth in this region, we are focusing on completing the modernization plan for manufacturing technology and storage plants, improving logistics and building the plant in Ixtapaluca to increase production capacity. In Peru, the climate event that caused severe cold during the winter significantly increased the sales of water heaters. Additionally, we face economic and political instability affecting demand for storage and piping solutions. Our plan is to maintain an efficient fixed cost and expense structure to adjust operations to the size of demand without affecting profitability. In Brazil, we continue to see positive trends and growth opportunities in developing wastewater treatment plants. We aim to continue business development and secure new contracts by improving our commercial strategy and expanding value offerings such as consultancy and digital data services. Moving on to Argentina; the severe economic recession and prolonged devaluation unprecedented in the last 20 years have significantly impacted sales and profitability. Our team remains focused on dealing with strong macroeconomic and political challenges. While it is difficult to provide an accurate forecast, we remain hopeful that Argentina is on a path towards a more favorable economic environment. The inflation rate is decelerating, and the country has achieved a fiscal surplus, which are positive indicators for potential economic development. Our plan includes keeping our team focused on navigating this volatility remaining alert to potential improvement in topline growth and profitability and closely monitoring developments to adjust our strategies, mitigating risks and capitalizing on opportunities. In the United States, the improvement in the drought situation has impacted demand. However we continue to focus on returning to profitability. We have identified opportunities to grow our Water business and achieve higher margins through our turnaround plan. Our mission is more important than ever. We must create resilient water solutions that can withstand the pressure of climate change and population growth. Before moving on for the second section of the presentation with Mario, I would like to highlight some key ESG milestones. Sustainability is central to our operations, and we have made notable progress in this area during the quarter. In Mexico, we have initiated a supply of 100% renewable electricity for our Leon manufacturing plant, which is one of our biggest manufacturing facilities. This is a major step towards a more efficient operation, reducing our carbon footprint and supporting our commitment to sustainable practices. We have also completed the first phase of development of our online environmental indicators platform, leveraging our strategic agreement with Google Cloud to incorporate our Artificial Intelligence Solutions into our functional areas, businesses and internal processes. This platform will enhance our ability to track and improve our levels of efficiency and environmental performance across operations. Additionally, we launched the 2024 addition of A Fluir initiative in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program. This program aims to benefit municipalities with high levels of social deprivation and water stress by donating Rotoplas products. We also implemented the Rotogotas de Ayuda campaign in response to the drought in Mexico, encouraging customers and the community to participate in activities that earn points, which Rotoplas then uses to donate water tanks to the most affected states. Looking ahead, we are committed to maintaining our market leadership by continuously improving our product offerings and expanding our service platforms. Our investment in modernizing manufacturing processes and developing digital capabilities are crucial to meet the growing demand for our solutions and improving our customer experience. We also recognize the importance of being agile and responsive to market changes. Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to your questions. Now I will hand it over to Mario.

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Thank you, Charlie, and good morning to everyone joining us this morning. [ AI Mario ] will assist me with presenting some of the financial results. Please go ahead.

[Unknown Executive]

To begin, I would like to mention that our consolidated results were significantly impacted by Argentina. However, it is important to highlight the strong performance in other regions, such as Mexico, Central America, Peru and Brazil. Excluding Argentina, our growth reached 14% for the quarter and 10% for the semester. Additionally, the EBITDA margin would be 19.7% year-to-date. Regarding our financial highlights, I'd like to focus on our margins as I will discuss our topline performance by country and business unit later on. Starting with the gross margin, our pricing strategy and increased sales of Tinaco Plus significantly boosted the margin. In the quarter, it reached 47%, an improvement of 140 basis points. For the semester, it was 49%, up 210 basis points. This improvement is also due to lower raw material costs during the first quarter and manufacturing efficiencies in Mexico. However, the growth in expenses, coupled with lower sales has impacted our operating margins. The main factors include a drop in sales in Argentina, increased logistical costs to meet high demand in Mexico and Central America and expenses related to the development of digital capabilities. As a result, operating income for the second quarter is 29% down year-over-year, reaching a margin of 10%. Cumulatively, operating income decreased by 16%, representing a margin of 13%. Consequently, the EBITDA margin decreased to 15.1% for the quarter and 17.8% year-to-date. Finally, our net income saw a substantial increase, reaching MXN 364 million, a 29-fold rise compared to 2023. Last year, we were impacted by nearly MXN 500 million due to the valuation effects of currency exchange hedges. This year, we adjusted our accounting practices for hedges to record these effects directly in the cost of goods sold, aligning more closely with operational realities. For better comparability, we have included a table to analyze the impact of the FX hedging on the gross margin. As shown from January to June 2024, the margin was affected by 50 basis points. Last year, the impact would have been 870 basis points. Moving on to regional performance; net sales in Mexico surged by 19% in the quarter and 16% for the semester, driven by robust growth in both the product and service sectors. The Product segment, especially storage solutions like water tanks and cisterns, as Charlie mentioned, saw record sales, bolstered by water supply disruptions, mainly in the central region of the country as well as by the Hot Sale Campaign in May, which we called Ofertas Azules. The services platform also grew rapidly with significant growth in bebbia, RSA and rieggo. EBITDA margins contracted primarily due to increased operating expenses. In Argentina, net sales decreased by 37% in Mexican pesos for the quarter but grew by 145% in local currency due to currency devaluation and inflation. Cumulatively, net sales decreased by 34% in Mexican pesos and grew by 176% in Argentine pesos. This impact is due to the economic recession that has affected sales volumes and pricing, lower sales and dollarized expenses negatively impacted margins. In the U.S., net sales decreased by 11% in Q2 and by 15% cumulatively, primarily due to an easing of the drought situation and heightened competition. The septic tank business refocused to optimize services by geography, currently providing full service only in Texas. Cost containment strategies helped reduce negative EBITDA during the quarter and for the semester. While the EBITDA margin remains negative, it is progressively improving towards breakeven. Other countries saw net sales grow by 15% in Q2 and by 3% for the semester, driven by strong performance in Central America and the recovery in Peru during the second quarter. Despite a challenging environment in Peru, sales increased due to higher demand for water heaters during a severe winter. Central America saw growth across all categories with record storage sales volumes. In Brazil, water treatment and recycling plant projects continue to progress with significant contract closures. The EBITDA margins decreased due to increased logistics expenses in Central America and construction costs in Brazil. Regarding the performance of our product and service revenues, services now represent 8% of our total sales. Within the Services segment, we have seen remarkable progress. Bebbia has significantly expanded its reach now serving over 120,000 users, reflecting our successful penetration and growth in the consumer water solutions market. Rieggo, taking into account the recent acquisitions, has successfully installed innovative irrigation solutions across more than 55,000 hectares showcasing our commitment to enhancing agricultural efficiency. RSA has increased its scale and reach, while Acuanta Brasil shows promising growth prospects due to ongoing processes with the high likelihood of closing. Furthermore, our strategic acquisitions have strengthened our market presence, allowing us to create synergies that drive our growth. Additionally, our services sector is experiencing improved EBITDA as it scales up and benefits from additive M&A transactions. Back to you, Mario.

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Thank you. Our financial stability is supported by a robust balance sheet with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.8x below our policy target of 2x. The cash position includes significant disbursements during the semester, such as MXN 545 million in working capital, MXN 287 million in financial expenses, MXN 243 million in dividend payments and MXN 236 million in capital expenditures as well as MXN 170 million in the Programmatic M&A program. Our total debt stands at MXN 4.3 billion, structured between short-term and long-term liabilities to optimize financial [indiscernible]. Short-term debt amounts to MXN 322 million, primarily used for working capital to efficiently manage day-to-day operations. Long-term debt totaled MXN 4 billion, composed of a fixed rate sustainable bond. The blended cost of debt is 9.05%. Additional, we maintained a tight focus on working capital management. Our interest coverage ratio remains healthy, consistently above 8x, reflecting our strong ability to meet interest obligations. During the semester, our capital investments represented 4% of sales, reflecting a significant increase of 24% compared to the same period last year. Notably, 95% of these investments were allocated in Mexico. We continue to roll out the SMART program to the remaining plans to achieve more efficient and sustainable production of water storage solutions by [ Tinaco Plus ]. Additionally, we are investing in the construction of the new plant in Ixtapaluca, which is in Mexico City. Furthermore, we allocated MXN 53 million to bebbia and MXN 22 million to water treatment plants. Our return on invested capital reached 12.7% due to the weak results in Argentina as well as a higher effective tax rate in Mexico and Central America. However, it is important to note that this figure is still more than 100 basis points above our cost of capital. Finally, we will update our guidance due to the active economic recession in Argentina. Our current expectations are growth between 0% and 5%. And an EBITDA margin between 17% and 18%, leverage to remain below 2x net-debt-to-EBITDA and estimated ROIC equal or above the cost of capital. I want to emphasize that these estimates will remain valid as long as the situation in Argentina does not deteriorate further and macroeconomic variables in other regions remain stable. We appreciate your time and interest. In closing, I want to reiterate our commitment to leveraging our talent and resources to achieve growth and profitability while enhancing the quality of life for many people across the continent. We can now begin the Q&A session, please. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And let's start. We have the first question coming from Carlos Alcaraz, Apalache Research. He has a couple of questions. I'm going to read the first one. And it's about the Mexican market. What do you consider to be the main driver of revenue growth for the rest of 2024, higher sales volume or higher prices?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Thank you very much for your question, Carlos and good morning. So for the remainder of 2024, we expect that it's going to be driven more by volume than by prices and additional to volume of existing products also volume of new products, which continue to perform positively. As you remember, we had a significant increase in new products since we started with a Flow program and these new products have been performing positively and so contributing to growth in the products business in Mexico and Central America.

[Operator]

Thank you. So moving on to.

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

A second question from Carlos, right?

[Operator]

Correct. I'll be reading the second question, and it's about the Services division. At what level of sales do you expect the division to present positive margins?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Also a very good question. Thank you for your question, Carlos. So I would say that most of the losses that we have in services or, I would say, all of them is they're due to developing both capabilities and to growing the business at this rate. If it was not for the growth rate that we're having, if we were to suspend growth initiatives, businesses would already be cash flow positive. We expect that our goal is to sustain high growth rates. And so we would expect that we would have breakeven services at a higher sales level so that the base is large enough and the margin on the base is large enough to compensate for the expenses for the growth. Mario, I don't know if you can share any detail in terms of either by when or by what size of revenue we would expect this to happen?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Sure. And thanks, Charlie and Carlos thanks for joining us this morning. Just complementing what Charlie said is rieggo is very near to be EBITDA positive. We expect that for the end of this year, rieggo and [indiscernible] to be EBITDA positive. The main EBITDA to put its own dragger [indiscernible], which most of the expenses are due to the speed of growth. [ Presenting this ] yesterday, we were analyzing with the Board. What -- how does the P&L look like if we just stop growing? And the result is as of today or for the second quarter of this year, the EBITDA margin for [indiscernible] will be 25%. So that gives you kind of a sense about first, water treatment, which is RSA and rieggo are -- will be by year-end EBITDA positive. And second, bebbia is the one that is because the [ group ] having a negative EBITDA, which together presents a negative EBITDA for the Services segment. Having said that, we expect to be -- bebbia maybe in 2026 EBITDA positive. So putting all the pieces together, we expect that by 2026 to have the Services business unit EBITDA positive. Operator: Thank you. Let's proceed with the next question. So it's, hey Charlie and Mario. This is Felipe Barragan from BTG. And he has two questions. I want to read the first one. What's the strategy moving forward for Argentina? Perhaps this isn't the best timing given the depressed moment the market is going through, but has a potential divestment of the Argentine business been on the table?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Thank you very much for your question, Felipe. Thanks for joining. So I think we have been very disciplined in analyzing each of the businesses individually. We have done this since very well in my opinion since 2009. We have had divestments in the company. We've invested from a manufacturing business in the U.S. We've divested from a manufacturing business in Brazil. And so these conversations do take place in Rotoplas. Like you mentioned, it is not the best moment to consider this very actively because of the depressed situation of Argentina, but it's not -- it wouldn't be specific to Argentina. We could consistently consider the investment opportunities in Rotoplas. On Argentina, I think, has tremendous uncertainty, and we would really like to see what happens in the country in the next one or two quarters where I think we will have much more clarity in what's going to happen in that market. I have traveled to Argentina recently. I have been very close to the country. And I have seen a very different possibility for Argentina, and I would be keen to see whether this really materializes in a different way where a very long-term trend for Argentina might change. And obviously, then consider more seriously what is the best path forward for Rotoplas in terms of our participation in Argentina. Mario, anything else that you care to share?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Sure. Well, thanks. First, thank you for joining us this morning Felipe. As you mentioned, and it's like this moment is - this is not the best moment to make any calls. I think we need to remember that Argentina goes through these big cycles every two decades before there were smaller cycles, which is what we were expecting. So I think the long-term strategy for Argentina hasn't changed. If you remember for the last four years, Argentina has been performing very well. So because this first half was very bad, it's something that we need to rush and make a decision. And also, as Charlie mentioned, we're always analyzing where to invest and also where to divest. As we have shown in the past, when we sold our business in Brazil, when we sold a part of our business in the U.S. So we are actively looking at business performance and making decisions accordingly.

[Operator]

Perfect. So the second question how has the Programmatic M&A pipeline come along? When can we expect more transactions for this program?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Mario, would you like to?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Sure. Well, the Programmatic M&A, as I explained a couple of minutes ago, it's the same. We are focusing in Mexico with a light touch in the U.S. and Brazil, mainly the water treatment, now on the bebbia business. As you know before, the rieggo business was also included, but we're done with it. And so that's where we're standing. We are very active looking at different alternatives where to allocate those investments to accelerate the growth of our current portfolio.

[Operator]

Perfect. So let's move forward with the next question and it's from Regina Carrillo from GBM. Good morning Charlie and Mario, I have two -- she also has two questions. I want to read it separately because they are about two different topics. I'll read the first one. Regarding the update in guidance, can you give us more color on what trends to expect by region for the second half of the year?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Mario, would you like to comment first?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Sure. Let's go north to south. I think it's a best way to explain what are we looking. In the second half of the year, we expect a stronger performance from the U.S., better -- stronger sales and better EBITDA margins. Second, in Mexico and in Central America, we expect a very similar performance in revenue, but more efficiency in SG&A. So we are expecting to reduce expenses for the second half in Mexico and Central America, mainly driven by a slowdown on the IT initiatives because most of the deployments were done in the first half. Peru, we believe is going to be pretty much the same as in the first half. Its more tied to the macroeconomic environment where as you can see from different reports, Peru, economic perspective doesn't seem to change a lot. Brazil, it's a small portion of the business, good momentum that is not going to move the needle in terms of financial performance. And finally, Argentina is a big question. And it's the big question for everyone -- in the past couple of days through our different Board and coming to meetings. And we have had big discussions around Argentina for the second half. As you know, we have some Argentinean Board members. They mentioned that there are a lot of still unknown variables. They expect that the second half of the year will be much better than the first half. But again, the year is still out there. We hope that the recovery will start happening in the second half. We've seen and probably you also noticed some encouraging news regarding sequential economic growth in Argentina. So we're very focused on seeing what's going to happen in Argentina. So from all what we have said, I think the [indiscernible] is around Argentina. The other markets will be pretty much stable and performing better than the first half. I don't know Charlie, do you want to add up something else around?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Just to reiterate that we will have a strong focus on managing expenses. That's something that is under our control in Argentina, what we will be focusing most on is having the agility to respond to whatever the outcome is. And so expenses -- disciplining expenses and agility. Thank you very much for your question Regina.

[Operator]

Thank you, guys. Regina second question is about CapEx. And then we also have two other questions from different people Andrea and Raul, and they are also about CapEx and the Ixtapaluca plant. So I think we can wrap those three questions together. And the question is what is the progress on the technological renewal of your Mexico plants? And how much CapEx should we expect related to this in the next quarters? Also Raul is asking about the CapEx in the coming next two years and Andrea about the Ixtapaluca plant.

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Okay. Thank you very much for your questions and for joining Raul, Andrea and again Regina. So one of the major investments we have been having has been modernizing our water tank manufacturing processes. And we have completed the vast majority of this project. I would say we're close to 90%. Ixtapaluca is a manufacturing plant to serve the central part of the country, particularly Mexico City being the biggest market. We had been serving this market through the first manufacturing plant Rotoplas ever had. This was close to Xochimilco. It used to be in a well-suited place to the manufacturing. The City grew so much in the last four decades that this manufacturing plant ended up being in the middle of a residential area. And so we have developed a new manufacturing plant in Ixtapaluca, which is also very well located to serve the Mexican City market -- the Mexico City market. And we are now -- we have now started manufacturing in this facility since the second half of May. This was the last major manufacturing facility to be modernized in the water tank manufacturing process. And so this is why I say that we are very close to finishing the investments from this modernization project. So in the next couple of quarters, that CapEx will be coming down for the manufacturing of our products and CapEx will be more focused on continuing to develop -- some digital capabilities that can be capitalized and wastewater treatment plants or water treatment plants in general. Mario, any details you can provide in terms of CapEx looking forward?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Just [ probably ] I can give you some color. I think what you're going to be seeing is a trend of CapEx reduction in the second half because of -- we're almost done with all the Tinaco Plus initiative, which was a large CapEx initiative that took approximately three years to complete. So going forward, you will see more on maintenance CapEx in the product side and some specific CapEx in water treatment as we invest in new plants. And bebbia -- as you know, we -- a year ago, we started to capitalize the equipment. So the CapEx you will be seeing is mostly growth in the services part, water treatment plants and bebbia and maintenance CapEx in the product side.

[Operator]

Thank you, guys. So we have another question from Rodrigo Salazar, AM Advisors. Actually, he has three questions. I'll start with the first one. Could you expand on the sales and expenses in the Services segment and an approximate of how much each business is contributing and also explain how much of the growth we saw was inorganic?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Mario, would you care to share what color we can provide?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Good morning Rodrigo, and thanks for joining us this morning. Well, let's -- I think the best way to see the business is first, how the three businesses in the Services segment contributing revenue, give or take, RSA and bebbia are about 35%, 37% of revenue. The remainder comes from rieggo, so.

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

35% each.

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

35% bebbia, 35% RSA and the remainder, which is a little bit low, below 40% comes from rieggo. And then in terms of the growth from the 63% you're seeing in the growth, 45 points comes from organic growth, 18% comes from inorganic growth. So the two acquisitions that we did in the first half of the year, which is the [indiscernible] water treatment plant and the IrriVan business. Those two account for about 25% of the total growth. Again, 63% is the growth, 45% organic, 18% inorganic. And then in terms of expenses, the biggest expense driver in the Services segment is bebbia and is driven by growth. I was mentioning early on when Carlos from Apalache asked us when to breakeven? Bebbia, as you know, we do a lot of commercial and marketing efforts to acquire new customers, and that is where the expenses growth is coming. If we were to stop that and stop growth, then everything will be EBITDA positive. But I think right now, the market is so attractive on the three units for Rotoplas that we have a keen focus on growth initiatives. I don't know, Charlie, if you want to complement?

[Operator]

Okay. So we can move forward to the second question. Can you provide insights into your working capital management for the upcoming quarters? Are there expected recoveries or challenges? Additionally, we observed higher interest payments this quarter. Could you elaborate on the reasons behind this increase?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Would you care to start, Mario?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Yeah. Let's start with the interest payment part. The only additional interest that we paid is from the revolver credit in the short term that we mentioned in the press release and early on in the -- and we were presenting the results. That's the only additional interest. The rest is a fixed rate from the bond, which is a fixed rate of 8.65%. The revolver credit is the one that we is paying additional interest, but that's -- that's it. And probably Mariana, we can provide Rodrigo with just a breakdown on the interest payments from the revolver facility, which are [indiscernible] the main part comes with the fixed, which is that we've been doing in the past few years. In terms of working capital management, and again, it's all tied to what to expect with Argentina. Because what happened in the first half or the second quarter is that in one side, you have Mexico and Central America performing very well. You have the Products division growing very fast. You have the Services division growing very fast. So those are working capital meters or the need for working capital. In the other hand, your second largest business, which is Argentina, because of the recession, working capital has been slower. So inventories have built up. It's not that we have -- keep buying more stuff. It's just that it takes time to reduce inventories. So when you put all that together, you see a double effect on working capital increase. As mentioned earlier on, we believe performance in Mexico and Central America will keep at the same level. And again, if Argentina improves, then the working capital in Argentina, which is the main driver will improve. And overall, the company working capital will be better off. If Argentina deteriorates further or does not improve, then you will be seeing pretty much the same level of working capital going forward.

[Operator]

Perfect. And the last question, could you expand in their margins in Argentina? Was there something special in the quarter or with this current situation and the current level of sales, can we expect margins to remain this low?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

I think margins will reflect on [indiscernible] directly on -- depending on the changes of volume and sales. And this is where we have mentioned that there will be high uncertainty going forward, Rodrigo. I think we will have more clarity for the next quarter. But for now, we do expect margins to be low as we are considering it's still very challenging economic growth situation in Argentina. We do see some growth starting to happen, but it is still include how much that growth will be. Now in terms of margins, also as mentioned, we will be focusing very much on controlling expenses. And I think we can improve margins slightly through our practice in -- through our control of expenses. I don't know, Mario, if there's anything else you'd like to?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

I think just to round up Charlie says -- margin expansion or contraction in Argentina is all tied to revenue sales. We are making great efforts to keep what we control under check, which is controlling expenses and we're very keen on what to do and how we do it. And as we mentioned early on, it's a temporary thing. We don't need to rush on making decisions. We keep a focus on maintaining or gaining market shares, keeping the team motivated and helping them navigate this complex situation that the whole country is facing. Actually, we -- as you know, we have our regional board meetings, and we have a specific board advisory for Argentina. And then [indiscernible] it is really remarkable that given the situation, we are posting positive EBITDA. So I think this is not the best news for investors, obviously, but the team and the local team in Argentina and the team in corporate are making tremendous efforts to keep this situation the best we can.

[Operator]

Thank you, guys. So moving on to the next question, [ Andrea Montiel ] from [ Miranda Partners ]. And also, we have a question from Martin that is related to services, both asking about what's coming next. So when I read Andrea's question, how do you anticipate sustaining this growth trajectory in services sales, given the strong performance of bebbia, RSA and Acuanta Brasil?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Hello Andrea. Thank you for your question, and thank you for the question, as well, Martin. So yes, we've been having very strong growth in services. The growth happens as a consequence of two things or three things. The first, obviously, is that there's a need for these solutions. And then it's -- what we're offering in services is quite novel, and it's a way where customers resolve their water issues in -- with a better experience and with a better result. So I think that the design of these solutions of these services has been very well done where customers are looking for these solutions. But to serve a large scale of customers with these solutions which happen to be decentralized solutions, we need to develop capabilities that have taken time as we have been developing capabilities, which is the second one, then our revenues have grown. And so as we continue to deliver on the capabilities we've been building on revenues will continue to grow because the opportunity, the size of the opportunity in these businesses is very large. And lastly, it's about customers learning about on the services that we provide. And Rotoplas has a very well-known brand, not necessarily for the services, it's mainly products, but we do leverage that brand to communicate that we offer these novel solutions through services, through these new services. And so as we continue to make progress in customers learning about this new approach that Rotoplas offers, then revenues will continue to grow. So we do see sustainability in the growth because of the size of the opportunity and because of the attractiveness of these services and lastly, because of the development of our capabilities to systemically serve these customers through these capabilities even in much larger scales. And what I mean larger scale, it means being repeated in more times, not bigger solutions but more customers. Mario, anything else?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

No, I think you used [indiscernible] over the past years we've been investing through expenses on different initiatives to [indiscernible] this speed of growth and that the company set up is in good shape. Technology as we've been pointing out in the past calls, we have put together all that so we can sustain that speed of growth going forward. So if -- let's say that we have put the railroads for three promising businesses that should eventually move the needle going forward.

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

And just very quickly, we have only 5 minutes left and a couple of questions on the left. But on -- in these services, we had to develop capabilities that were very new for Rotoplas because it was such a different business from what we were used to. So a lot of investment went into us learning how to participate in the solutions through this service approach. And so I think that we have learned very much and we're benefiting from those learnings now today in a way that delivers very high growth. But thank you again for your question.

[Operator]

We have another question yet from [ Miguel Medina ]. How much of the plant modernization process has already been captured in the P&L? Should we expect more gross margin gains from efficiencies in product division?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

So in terms of reduction of course because of the modernization, I would say that most has already been captured. As we mentioned, most of our -- of the transformation has already been executed. So I don't know Mario if there's a particular number?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Well, thanks, Miguel, for joining this call. I think that you're going to be seeing 2025, the full effect of the -- all these new manufacturing and technological shift that the company started two years ago. For 2024, what we expect is that 60% of the Tinacos will be done with a new technology, 40% with the previous technology. So having said that, I think you will still see some improving gross margin in the coming months to go.

[Operator]

Thank you. And the last question is from Andrea Montiel. Can you elaborate on the specific projects funded by CapEx investments and their expected impact on the future growth?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

Maybe you can provide a precise data Mario but got on -- we have invested a few MXN 100 million in strategic CapEx. So one of our initiatives every time we execute CapEx, they come through a formal initiative that we take through the process of flow where we have a format where we look to have clarity and validation that gives us an expected IRR and expected IRR for strategic CapEx is over 25%, I would say. Maybe you can be a little more precise, Mario?

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

It's probably just connecting with what you said. If you see CapEx and let's put it this way, organic and inorganic. Just put everything there. The company is really focused on first to modernize all the technology to manufacture a better water tank. That's the important deployment of CapEx. The second part has been accelerating water treatment plants by building new assets and acquiring new assets such as the [indiscernible] water treatment plant in Puebla. The third one has been to put add-ons to be able to make it more robust business and take advantage of the opportunity we are seeing on water management in the Ag business in Mexico. And the fourth one is bebbia, bebbia with the speed of growth and the way we have changed the accounting of the equipment, those are the four components that probably takes 95% of the CapEx. The other 5% is mostly maintenance CapEx just to keep up our manufacturing plants. But those four pillars are the ones that the CapEx has been deployed around. Connecting with the previous question, what is going to be seeing forward is the technology upgrade on the water tanks that is going to start slowing down. And we're going to be left off with -- which is water treatment plants on one side and bebbia on the other side. Close maintenance CapEx, which is you have to do it every single year.

[Operator]

So this concludes our Q&A session for today. Have a great day, and we look forward to our next meeting. Something would you like to add, Mario or Charlie?

[Carlos Rojas Aboumrad, executive]

No, just thank everyone for your participation and your time.

[Mario Antonio Romero Orozco, executive]

Well, thank you for joining us this morning, and. If you have any further requests, please reach out to me or Charlie or the team. Happy to answer back to you. Have a great day. Bye-bye.