Natura & Co Holding SA

BOVESPA:NTCO3

Earnings Call Analysis

Natura &Co's Positive Q2 2024 Results and Strategic Moves

In Q2 2024, Natura &Co reported its sixth consecutive increase in adjusted EBITDA, reaching BRL 650 million with a margin improvement of 110 basis points, driven by profitability in Spanish-speaking countries. Despite challenges in the Home and Style category, the company remains confident in Avon's turnaround, especially in Brazil. Natura issued a BRL 1.3 billion green bond, maturing in 4 years. The ongoing Chapter 11 process for Avon Products in the U.S. led Natura to suspend potential brand separation studies, emphasizing their belief in Avon's brand potential.

Navigating Challenges with Avon

Natura &Co is confronted with challenges following the recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Avon Products, Inc. (API), which positions Natura as the largest creditor. The company has committed to providing $43 million in debtor-in-possession financing to support Avon's operations during the bankruptcy process. Furthermore, Natura has submitted a $125 million offer to acquire Avon's operations outside the U.S., leveraging its existing credits against API. This indicates a strategic move to not only support the brand but potentially consolidate more control over its operations internationally.

Resilience in Core Brands

Despite the challenges with Avon, Natura's own brand is exhibiting significant growth. CEO Fabio Barbosa highlighted strong revenue recoveries for Avon in Brazil, particularly as positive trends are observed in Spanish-speaking countries after the implementation of 'Wave 2' strategies. For the second quarter of 2024, the company reported a BRL 650 million adjusted EBITDA, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of increase, with a margin improvement of 110 basis points. This demonstrates resilience and optimism about revenue performance, particularly within Latin America.

Mixed Signals from Home and Style Segment

The company's Home and Style category, however, continues to face pressure, reported declines of 20% in the Hispanic region and as much as 42% in Brazil year-over-year. This drop is attributed to a planned optimization strategy alongside reduced commercial incentives. Such strategic decisions underscore Natura's commitment to refining its portfolio, but they simultaneously reveal areas where growth is lagging.

Strategic Focus and Future Guidance

Looking forward, Natura remains committed to its 'triple bottom line' strategy, which focuses on environmental, social, and economic benefits. They are also prioritizing operational streamlining as initiated in 2022 to unlock stakeholder value. Executives emphasized the importance of ongoing investments to drive sustainable revenue growth. As a measure of confidence, the company anticipates further improvements and launches, particularly in its core segments such as make-up and fragrances.

Digital Enhancement and Inventory Management

A crucial aspect of Natura’s growth narrative hinges on digital transformation. The introduction of a new e-commerce platform has been aimed at enhancing customer experience and driving sales. Moreover, the company is recalibrating its inventory position to adjust to changing consumer behavior amidst economic uncertainties. They noted a return to regular levels in inventory management, suggesting an ongoing focus on operational efficiency and cash conversion, which is vital as they prepare for the upcoming key retail periods.

Overall Market Sentiment and Investor Outlook

Despite the hurdles, Natura's leadership maintains a positive outlook for the remainder of the year, projecting continued growth especially as markets stabilize and operational challenges are addressed. As pointed out during the Q&A, consumer spending appears steady, and the company has high hopes for their continued performance in make-up and digital sales. Stakeholders are encouraged by the proactive approaches being taken amid the instabilities around Avon, reinforcing a long-term vision for growth.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Operator]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for waiting. Welcome to Natura &Co's Q2 2024 Earnings Conference.

If you need simultaneous translation, please note that the service is available. To access it, please click the globe-shaped icon labeled Interpretation at the bottom side of your screen and select your preferred language between Portuguese and English. If you're listening to the conference in English, you can also silence the original audio in Portuguese by clicking Mute Original Audio.

Joining us today are Natura &Co's CEO, Fabio Barbosa; and Guilherme Castellan, Natura &Co's CFO. Joao Paulo Ferreira, Executive Director for Latin America, will be joining us for the question-and-answer session. The slide deck we will be referring to during this presentation is available for download at the company's investor relations website.

I will now turn over to Mr. Fabio Barbosa. Please, sir, you may proceed.

[Fabio Barbosa, executive]

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'll start by addressing yesterday's announcement from Avon Products, Inc., API which is filing for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the U.S. courts to address its debt and pre-existing liabilities. API is a non-operational holding company for Avon in the United States. Natura &Co is API's largest creditor and supporting the company's decision to file for Chapter 11, committing to one, provide $43 million in debtor and possession financing, which is a type of financing specifically for companies in Chapter 11, so they can continue to operate. Two, we've made a $125 million offer to acquire Avon's operations outside the United States through a court-supervised auction process. For this offer, Natura &Co intends to use its existing credits against API as consideration.

With this announcement, naturally, the studies for potential separation between Natura and Avon brands are logically suspended until the Chapter 11 process has been completed. I'd like to emphasize that Natura continues to believe in the potential of the Avon brand and its values. As you've seen in the release and Guilherme will discuss in more detail, the Natura brand is growing rapidly and the Avon brand is already showing concrete signs of a turnaround in terms of revenue, especially in Brazil. Additionally, the Spanish-speaking countries that have implemented Wave 2 are driving profitability for Natura &Co LatAm. We're excited about the positive signs from our operations, which are arriving on the timelines that we had planned for. This solidity has enabled Natura Cosmeticos to issue a green bond of BRL 1.3 billion this quarter, maturing in 4 years.

I will now hand over to Guilherme, who will present our earnings, and then I'll come back for my final remarks and Q&A.

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

[Interpreted] Home and Style category continued to have a negative impact with strong impact year-over-year by minus 20% in the Hispanic region and minus 42% in Brazil. This decline is directly connected to the planned optimization strategy of our portfolio and the reduction in commercial incentives.

Now, let's talk about the profitability of Natura &Co LatAm. The second quarter of 2024 is the sixth consecutive increase of our adjusted EBITDA. We've ended the quarter with BRL 650 billion in adjusted EBITDA with 110 basis points up at the margin. This is being leveraged especially by Spanish-speaking countries where Wave 2 has already been introduced. The combination of a wider gross margin combined with efficiencies because of the increased brands has allowed for improvements in marketing and strategic growth, including innovation and digital initiatives.

On this next slide, we'll talk about Avon International, whose development has been low, including a decrease by 6% in Beauty and even sharper decrease by 27% in Home and Style. This performance largely reflects the weaker execution in sales promotions, as we've mentioned since Q4 '23, and the decrease in representatives has also had a significant impact. When we look at the margin, we see not only the deleveraging in margin, but also the impacts of The Body Shop in our figures. And important to remember that because of yesterday's announcement, we expect Avon International's operations outside the United States not to be impacted by API's Chapter 11 filing.

I will now turn it back to Fabio for his final remarks and the next steps.

[Fabio Barbosa, executive]

Well, to conclude, our message for today, I'd like to ratify 4 things. First, our commitment to the triple bottom line strategy remains strong. Two, we are confident that the path of streamlining that we've announced in mid-2022 is an important leverage to continue to unlock value for all our stakeholders in the short-term. Three, when we look into the future, we're still focused on meeting our strategic priorities, which has allowed us to increase investments to boost sustainable growth in our revenues. And four, our agenda includes a healthy, diversified channel with innovations focused on the consumer with strong admired brands.

Thank you. And now let's go to your questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Danniela Eiger with XP.

[Danniela Eiger, analyst]

My first question has to do with the filing for Chapter 11. I just wanted to understand whether you have any indication in terms of the timing of that file. Do we have a deadline for its acceptance, especially in its eventual conclusion? And Fabio, you also mentioned that the operations outside the United States will probably not be impacted. But do you -- are things still going business as usual until you get to the auction and then it might stay with you or be dismissed? So I just wanted to understand the timing and the dynamics of everything. And maybe more in the medium-term, how will things look like considering that your step toward corporate streamlining? When do you expect you'll be able to share a medium-term strategic planning? And for us to understand, how will the corporate structure looks like after the filing for Chapter 11?

And then a question for Joao Paulo. You talked about the logistic integration in LatAm and that, that should happen now along the second half of the year. I know this has been postponed because of its complexity, but it also concerns me because we're close to Q4. So I just wanted to understand where your head is at when it comes to timing, considering that it's already mid-August, and we know that you're working with risk mitigation for the end of the year. That's what I have.

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

Dan, it's great to have you joining us on our call again. Thank you for your questions. I'll start by addressing your first question with regards to timing. API is subjected to the regular process in the United States. This is a fairly common process in the United States, and if you look at previous filings, there's a specific course that's followed. And it's difficult to predict the deadlines. There are times when it takes a long time, and sometimes it takes a very short time. So there is a wide range when it comes to timing. But we believe that in our case, it might take a few months.

Keeping in mind that API has voluntarily filed for Chapter 11, and also all the information may be found on the API website and our IR department will be able to help you find all the information and navigate all of that. But this is information that has been requested by API, by Avon. So to your point, it's obviously, difficult for us to establish a specific timeline, but Avon is confident that this will be a less -- not as complex a process as it might have been.

And you're right in what he said, as Fabio mentioned, the strategy of streamlining the corporate structure that we made back in 2022 took place before a number of things happened. So we started, obviously sharply focused on deleveraging the company as a result of selling Aesop and all the work that we did at the time, and also because we wanted to streamline our operations overseas. So we sold The Body Shop last year, and at the end of this year, as you may remember, we also announced we would be delisting the ADRs and also the process of studying to split Avon International and Avon LatAm.

So it's important to stress this voluntary filing for Chapter 11 by API puts this study on hold. But obviously, depending on the outcome of this process, the company still sees merit in a potential split between Avon International and Avon LatAm. We really believe in the Avon brand, which is why we are financing it for purchases of assets outside of the United States. We just continue to believe that there are not significant synergies, and obviously, there are different stories between the 2 business units, Avon International and Avon LatAm.

Obviously, the outcome of that will depend on the Chapter 11 process, which is overseen by the U.S. courts. We have offered a bid for those assets, and obviously, if our bid is the largest in the process, we will be reacquiring the operational assets of Avon International. But this is a basic Chapter 11 chapter that's overseen by the court. So obviously there may be a scenario where other companies come in and make their offers for those assets as well.

So now, going to your last point about our logistics in Brazil, I'll turn over to Joao, who is better suited to comment on that, and obviously, the solutions for Q3 and Q4 that you mentioned as well.

[João Paulo Brotto Ferreira, executive]

Danny, this is Joao Paulo. I hope you're all enjoying our mom and baby lines. The changes that we make here obviously require a quarantine around our celebratory dates, especially Christmas, which for us starts in mid-October. So with all those logistic changes in Brazil, with a few changes in our internal systems, especially in Mexico, which we've planned for the second half of the year are likely to take place before our Christmas campaigns. Otherwise, they'll be pushed forward. But everything is on track to have them take place still this year.

[Danniela Eiger, analyst]

That was perfect. And yes, we've been using your products. They're the best.

[Operator]

Moving forward. Our next question comes from Joao Soares with Citi.

[Joao Pedro Soares, analyst]

Well, the first thing I'd like to ask just following up on the Chapter 11 issue. Guilherme, when we look at other cases, when we're looking at the Johnson's case, there have been a few attempts in this sense, the U.S. courts may refuse and they may refuse the request. So I just wanted to understand what the next step would be. Or in other words, do you need your Chapter 11 to go through in order to go ahead? And if that doesn't pan out, what would be the alternative?

And on another note, I just wanted to talk about your working capital this quarter. And we understand there's been a mixed effect on the more productive consultants with a longer receivables deadline. I just wanted to understand the company's cash moving forward, expecting this mix to also grow. How do you see that for the future? What would be a sustainable mix for Natura? What's the cycle -- what does the cycle looks like? What can you share with us in terms of that?

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

Joao, how are you? Thank you for your question. Well, about your first point, of course, we're not here to talk about cases involving other companies, and I'll also not go into public information that's available about those cases. Obviously, we know a little bit about what went on, but we understand as well that every case is different. And we understand that Avon's case was again Avon filing for Chapter 11 with their non-operational assets in the United States.

Talking to Avon, we believe that this is not a complex case, and it's important to remember that Avon has not operated in the United States since 2016. And remember that API was a company that was a publicly-traded company in the U.S. market and it was acquired by Natura &Co Holding back in 2020 via an exchange of assets. So this is a non-operational separate entity in the United States. So obviously, Natura acquired the company in 2020, but we never operated Avon in the United States. There the company stopped or suspended its operations back in 2016. So this is a separate company -- a separate cosmetics company within the holding. And we know that, that company has its liabilities and its legacy liabilities, as you mentioned.

So I will not go into comparisons here, but by talking to the guys from Avon and after hearing them, we believe that this is a complex that's -- a case that's not as complex as other cases we have in the market. That being said, Joao, as I said in my answer to Danny's question, this will be a process that will be overseen by the U.S. courts. So we are committed to Avon. We believe in Avon's turnaround. We are very pleased about the work that Joao and his team have developed here in Latin America. We're seeing results come in, and Joao will be able to say more about that, but we're seeing Avon Brazil with flat results this quarter coming back with very substantial results, especially in make-up and skin care products as well.

So we believe there's great potential for the brand, especially outside the United States and outside Latin America. This is why, again, I repeat, we are jumping in this process with a large offer using our debt credits, and we continue to believe in the brand, but I'll say it again, we still believe in the merits of a split. We still believe that it makes sense to continue to study splitting the 2 brands. But I'll keep all the rest on hold, Joao, because right now we're focused on finishing this process. And once we come out on the other side, regardless of the outcome, we will be announcing to the market what our strategy will be moving forward, because naturally, that will depend on the outcome of that transaction. But again, I'd like to stress that we do believe in the brand, which is why we're involved and why we're supporting this process.

Now, I'll let Joao talk more about the capital structure, and then I'll come back and talk about the Group's cash position.

[João Paulo Brotto Ferreira, executive]

So a little bit more about our working capital here in Latin America. Well, there are 2 important aspects, inventory and credit. In inventory, we decided to advance the inventory participation for 2 reasons. In Mexico, because of the container handling crisis, we had to get ahead of ourselves and actually double some of our efforts to be able to circumvent these handling restrictions.

In Brazil, we have some shifts in plants, which is why we decided to shuffle some of our inventory around. And because of the current economic situation, we are now completely rebalancing the traffic of available assets, and even the consumer spending mix has also changed. So all of that is in the process of going back to normal, going back to its previous standards.

Now, as for credit, the excellent quality of our credit instruments with Natura &Co Pay have led us to invest in credit extensions with outstanding returns and very low delinquency rates. And we still have not had the opportunity to collect on that additional credit that we've offered. So that explains a little bit of what we're doing here internally.

Would you like to complement on that, Guilherme?

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

No. I just wanted to finish things off that saying that since 2022, we've been talking about the cash conversion, and improving our margins are a priority for us. And there's a big difference between consuming your working capital in an unplanned way and doing that in a planned way. And just as Joao said, this was a planned investment. We've been doing that because of the positive indications we've had with Pay and also the positive market conditions and also the great returns that we're seeing. So again, just to reinforce that, working capital and cash conversion are still a great priority for the Group, and naturally, our incentives are also in line with that.

[Operator]

[Foreign Language]

[Ruben Couto, analyst]

[Foreign Language]

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

[Interpreted] So we're very confident in that trend. We're seeing gains in market share, especially with the Natura brand. As you well said, we have a very strong innovations plan. If you're looking at our consultants' work, you've obviously, said cycle 13 and 14, and important categories such as hair coming in right now with great figures. And as I said, this is a very healthy channel. Delinquency rates are extremely low, very high activity levels, and we've been particularly successful in our celebratory dates, and we have a few very important ones coming up in the second half of the year. So we're very confident in that trend.

Consumer spending is steady from a macroeconomic standpoint, and we're seeing the Avon brand picking up steadily. So were it not for the suspension of services in Rio Grande do Sul. We would be seeing Avon CFT going up in Q2. So all of that compounds notorious performance, which gives us bright prospects for the second half of the year.

[Ruben Couto, analyst]

And just to confirm, is there any prospect with regards to price in the second half of the year? Or has most of the adjustment been concluded by now?

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

Well, we can conduct occasional adjustments in our categories according to market conditions. So there's always something going on in that sense, but nothing major is about to happen when it comes to adjustments. Just a few one-offs.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Joseph Giordano with J.P. Morgan.

[Joseph Giordano, analyst]

Good morning, everyone. Fabio, Guilherme, Joao Paulo, thank you for taking my question. I'm going to focus on the operational aspect in LatAm. I wanted to look into the gross margin a little bit. If we look at the last year, we've had some positive surprises in Q3, a mix of channels with fragrances with a wider margin. But we're seeing profitability going up a little bit higher than we expected. So I just wanted to hear from you, what would be the mix effect, maybe focusing on these products that you mentioned? You said that Avon is doing very well, especially in make-up. I also believe it's doing well in fragrances and other related products. So I just wanted to understand what the more rationalized mix in both portfolios has done to contribute to your margins in your portfolio, and what should we expect moving forward?

And my second question has more to do with the [ fee ] rate. You mentioned your safety inventory levels. And I understand that even with this increase, we're seeing a rate that's lower than expected. So if you could share those figures, that would be great.

And lastly, looking at your expenses, I understand that there's more to rationalize. We saw that there was a one-off here in the Natura brand where there was a bit more marketing campaigns. I just wanted to understand what would be the normalized expectation when it comes to LatAm.

[João Paulo Brotto Ferreira, executive]

Well, I'll start with your last point. Structurally, what you're seeing in LatAm is additional investments in marketing, selling optimizations and logistics optimizations. And this is because of the integration of Wave 2, roughly speaking, of course. In logistics, there are still a few things to do. We're still realizing a few synergies that there are things to recoup there, but we also want to invest more on our brands. So these are the major shifts we're seeing right now.

From a gross margin standpoint, yes, there's a mixed effect across geographies. Keep in mind that geographies, where we have already integrated Wave 2, provided us with profitability gains even in the gross margin because we accelerate our portfolio optimization and also offer more promotional sales. And there are places where that hasn't happened yet, notably Argentina and Mexico, where we plan to have those changes next year. But there's a favorable geography mix and there's a category mix that's also favorable because we've cut off the long tail in Avon, where profitability was low.

And I'd also like to highlight home and style. This sharp drop in business volumes in home and style is because of our choice to reduce our profitability and the cash generation in that category. So because we still haven't concluded all of these integrations across all the geographies we operate in, and we still have a major innovation pipeline coming in, there still are opportunities moving forward, and we expect to see huge leaps, just as we've seen before. So there might be some volatility in our gross margin, but there's also still room for optimization.

And lastly, the fee rate in Hispana, that's very much normalized, but in Brazil, it's still a bit worse than it was -- a bit better than it was at the turn of the year, and worse than our historic levels, which is where we expect to be when we end the year.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Irma Sgarz with Goldman Sachs.

[Irma Sgarz, analyst]

With regard to Wave 2 in Mexico, I just wanted to hear a little bit more of what you said earlier, saying that you will take it step-by-step. So if you could share some of the lessons that you've learned and also maybe the timeline for this process to implement Wave 2, and how should we be thinking about it? Of course, there are many unknowns, but based on what you've learned with your implementation and other geographies, and I know that Mexico is a slightly different market because of the structure of its commercial environment. That's something that has to be respected. So if you could please talk about that.

And on another note, if you could please talk a little bit about the debts and liabilities that you have with entities that are not connected with Natura &Co, and Avon? And can -- if you have any alternative to the Chapter 11, if that doesn't go through. I know that that's the base case, but in case that doesn't work, do you have any alternative?

[Fabio Barbosa, executive]

Irma, I'll talk a little bit about your first question and then Gui takes your next one. Because of the importance and relative weight of Mexico, and what we've learned with Wave 2 in other countries, we've decided to have a phased-out implementation, sort of preventing a big bang. And that will be based on changes in commercial rules in Natura and Avon seeking for convergence -- seeking convergence and looking at elements such as our systems and finally our logistics.

So we have already begun to make changes in Natura, which have also helped Natura's great performance in Mexico recently. In the second half of the year, we will also be seeing some changes in our IT platforms, our consultants app for Natura, for example, and we've already made several changes on Avon, Mexico since the second half of last year, streamlining our commercial structure. And there are still some portfolios streamlining to be done, which we plan to do in the second half of the year, and we've also enabled a cross-selling work across these 2 brands with few SKUs, about 50 SKUs from one side to the other, which allows our Avon consultants to know more about the Natura brand and vice versa. There are other initiatives which are still to be introduced, but until we reach full integration, that shouldn't happen until the first half of next year. That's what we have. Guilherme?

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

Irma, how are you? Just to give you some direction and tell you where to find information, I think that will be easier for everyone. On PR Newswire's website, you'll have a link for Avon International's press releases, and they have a link for the epic website where you'll find essentially all the documents for the filing that are available for the market. These are the documents that have not been published by Avon or that have been published by Avon because of that filing.

So you had access to the API documents at SEC until a few months ago. Natura is API's largest financier, and a large share of those credits are part of the debt refinancing we've had since we acquired the company in 2020, and you've been monitoring all the work that we've done since then. So obviously, the website has some information about the other creditors as well, among which, again, I have to say Natura is the largest. But you also have information about [ insubordinate ] debt and senior debt. So you'll have all that information there on the website.

But Natura is API's greatest creditor. We've been supporting the company since 2020, helping it financially since that time. Not only helping it to finance its existing debt or its existing court-ordered payments, but also with our operational banks as well. I don't know if you remember, but by mid-2020, there was a cyberattack that took a heavy toll on their operations and consumed some of its cash and so on. So I think this goes to show how much Natura has invested in them, and we are now their greatest investor. And you -- all that information will be available on the website. Our IR department will be able to help you find everything that you may need.

[Operator]

Our next question will be asked in English from Andrew Ruben with Morgan Stanley.

[Andrew Ruben, analyst]

I was hoping you could talk more about the digital business. We see you launched a new platform. You mentioned some of the changes to commercial rules impact with the soft launch. I was hoping you could provide a bit more detail about what changed and how you're looking for the progression of digital from here.

[João Paulo Brotto Ferreira, executive]

Andrew, this is Joao Paulo speaking. I was asked to answer in Portuguese, so if you could bear with me. I hope the translation is working well. Well, we've been talking about how we have accelerated our omnichannel developments here in Latin America specifically. I'd like to highlight the sharp growth in retail, not only in the number of stores but also in same-store sales. We're seeing double-digit growth. So we're very happy about that. We're seeing great room for growth. And actually, last week, we announced the Avon brand would be coming into our specialized retail operation, which was a major step toward diversifying purchase opportunities and cross-selling.

On the other hand, our digital channel has been a great lever of that growth. But in order to move forward with that, there were 2 tasks that had been -- that have been completed now in the late first half of the year. First would be to replace the engine of our e-commerce. We've introduced sales force, which is one of the main e-commerce platforms in the world, one of the most sophisticated ones of that replacing the one we had before. And this allowed us to have some time to adjust our operations to that new platform.

In addition to that, we've changed a few rules for a few channels, price rules, for example, to allow those channels to really be optimized, and this was also done in Q2. And as an effect, they sort of pressured what we call [ CN commerce, ] which is our consultant's e-commerce. So these rules between prices and promotional sales are already working. The platform is working well, and we're seeing in Q3 an upturn in our digital operations here in the area with great top line and profitability performance. So that was because of this temporary stoppage in Q2 to make those adjustments. Thank you.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Bob Ford with Bank of America.

[Robert Ford, analyst]

How should we think about the health of Avon LatAm, and how do you think about it moving forward as maybe a more aspirational brand? And what do you expect in terms of the receivables that are their interest? If you could talk a little bit about that, please.

[João Paulo Brotto Ferreira, executive]

Bob, this is Joao speaking. To your point about the Avon brand, we have revisited the Avon brand's positioning with each of its categories, understanding what is the space or what are the spaces where it has the opportunity to grow its market share in each of its categories. This work is still or is already underway. In fact, last week, we announced our new marketing organization in the region where we're combining the strength of Natura and Avon categories, and also a dedicated brand management between Natura and Avon to ensure separate audiences -- separate target audiences for each brand and each category. This is a plan that's absolutely on track, and we'll continue to see it being expressed in terms of product development in an accelerated way starting in the second half of the year. And that's why we -- that's also why we shifted the commercial center for Avon to Cajamar. So we now have a combined distribution center.

So looking at the spaces where Avon is expected to grow, we now have a new organization that's fully devoted to occupying these spaces. So you're about to see new product launches and communication growing moving forward. And I have to say, as we mentioned earlier, performance in the areas where we have already focused, notably make-up is doing really well with substantial growth so far. And we expect them to continue to be heroes here at Avon, and we're now beginning to do the same type of work for other categories, notably perfume and toiletries. Guilherme?

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

Bob, to your second question, I'd just like to make it clear that these investments in receivables will not necessarily come with interest embedded in the sums. It also involves the effect of promotional sales and credit to our consultants. But what Joao mentioned, which is very important to stress, is that this return will come from an increase that's substantial in sales and productivity.

So when we run our pilots and look at the returns, all of that makes us a lot more confident to make investments in Q2. So that has borne fruit, as Joao said, and we're seeing delinquency levels be very low. So because of the increase in our working capital in receivables, we are very pleased about this investment. And we believe this was important for us in Q2. But once again, we'll remain focused in cash conversion. When you look at the last 12 months, that's been a great focus for us, and the second half of the year, by definition, is a time when we generate a lot of cash.

[Robert Ford, analyst]

But this is sort of a bridge, right, in the shift in your plans. But how do you plan to manage that excess inventory in the near-term?

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

Well, there is no excess inventory for the channel, Bob. We are building our inventory in-house, but it is coming back to its regular levels already. There is no major crisis in terms of normalizing our inventories internally.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Pedro Tineo with Safra.

[Pedro Tineo, analyst]

I have a question that's more focused on Avon International. So if you could please talk a little bit more about your initiatives in the area to improve productivity, and if you could also talk a little bit about the narrower EBITDA margin because of the change in your operations, how could we expect that moving forward? And also if you could talk a little bit about the shutdown of unprofitable operations in other geographies, that would be great.

[Guilherme Strano Castellan, executive]

Pedro, This is Guilherme. Let's talk a little bit about the results for Avon International in Q2. We understand that, that might have been buried under other news that we've heard in the market. So as we said in Q1, what we saw was an expected result back then, and we were seeing the same trend. And looking back at what we've seen so far and obviously, the initiatives that our team has worked on in the first half of the year with Avon, we're seeing productivity in the channel going up, still hurting because of the loss of consultants, but with positive productivity, and also some of the initiatives that were part of the reorganization of the channel has -- have borne fruit.

So we're seeing promotional sales trends that had a major impact in the last 6 to 8 months, since Q4 of last year, actually, and we're now recovering from that right now. Obviously, that is affecting the channel's recovery, but there are some positive KPIs, even though we know that the turnaround is ongoing and also complex.

Now, about the geographic dynamics, here Avon's situation comes in. We decided to have laser focus on some specific places. We mentioned some time ago that we'll be focusing a lot of our efforts in about 12 countries -- 10 to 12 countries, but that would come in waves. And in the beginning, we would focus on countries like Romania and Turkey, where, by the way, we began to introduce some operational initiatives. And omnichannel operations in Turkey are already seeing some results, and in Q2, we're seeing some improvement in these countries, and we expect that to continue moving forward.

I think that the name of the game is resource allocation when it comes to Avon, focus on a small number of countries and as we said, trying to run a few commercial pilots that we can replicate in different countries, obviously not trying to do exactly the same way in 30 different countries where we know that won't work.

I think that's essentially it. I don't know if you had any other question, Pedro, but I think I answered the 2 that you had for us.

[Operator]

This concludes our question-and-answer session. Now, I'd like to turn over to the company for its final remarks.

[Fabio Barbosa, executive]

I'd like to thank everyone for participating. I think that we were able to shed light on some important issues in addition to the Chapter 11 news. And I'd like to stress that for 2 years we've been talking about, first of all, improve our agility and adjusting our financial results, and also to adjust our organizational structure, and that's what we've been doing. And we're seeing results from that. And the Avon International issue, as Guilherme has just stressed, still requires some cleaning and a lot of focus so that we can focus on the more promising countries and realize the potential that we see for the brand in those specific situations. That's what we've been doing, that's what we've been seeking, and we're seeing results come in.

I'd like to thank everyone. And naturally, as always, our IR department is available to answer anything, either about the company at large or the last few movements. So thank you very much.

[Operator]

Natura &Co's Q2 2024 earnings conference is concluded. The Investor Relations department is available to answer any outstanding question. Thank you for joining us and have a great day.

[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]