Odontoprev SA

BOVESPA:ODPV3

Earnings Call Analysis

Odontoprev 2Q '24 Earnings Call Highlights

In 2Q '24, Odontoprev added 138,000 new members, driven by corporate and SME segments, with Bradesco Dental making up half of the 8.8 million members. Net income grew by an annual average of 15% since 2019, reaching BRL 122 million this quarter. Quarterly dividends amounted to BRL 85 million with a total payout of 100%. The EBITDA margin rose to 30%, benefiting from increased efficiency in SME and individual plans. The company forecasts continued high payouts, approaching 100%, and reduced investment needs moving forward, ensuring robust dividend distribution.

Growth and Membership Expansion

In Q2 of 2024, Odontoprev reported a robust addition of 138,000 new members, primarily driven by corporate segments and small to medium enterprises (SMEs). The Bradesco Dental brand remains a standout performer, now accounting for half of Odontoprev's total portfolio of approximately 8.8 million members. This is indicative of a growing market for dental plans in Brazil, which has seen an increase in membership from 4% in 2006 to 16.5% of the population today.

Financial Performance Highlights

The company achieved a net income of BRL 122 million for the quarter, translating to an annualized net income of BRL 528 million, marking a consistent average annual growth of 15% since 2019. The return on equity also improved, rising from 37% to 39%. Additionally, Odontoprev's adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 30%, significantly outpacing the historical average of 25% and providing a competitive edge over peers.

Strong Dividends and Share Buyback

Odontoprev announced a substantial dividend payout of BRL 85 million for the quarter, along with interest on own capital of BRL 22 million. This, combined with a share buyback program that totals BRL 122 million, reflects a strong commitment to returning wealth to shareholders, with a payout ratio reaching 100% of the quarter's profits. The company maintains a historical payout ratio exceeding 90%, providing reassurance for continued investor returns.

Cost Management and Optimized Ratios

The company has effectively stabilized its dental claims ratio at a low level of 40%, a decline from previous years. This is attributed to the increasing share of SME and individual products, which have lower claims ratios compared to traditional corporate plans. Additionally, general and administrative (G&A) expenses are projected to decline further as recent technology investments mature, enhancing productivity and efficiency.

Market Position and Competitive Advantages

Odontoprev's business model is exclusively dental, underscoring its focus on a niche market with a proprietary technology platform. With government bonds making up 80% of its investment portfolio, Odontoprev minimizes volatility and ensures stability in financial revenues. The company aims to leverage its competitive positioning in a rational pricing environment, as evidenced by recent gains in the corporate segment facilitated by better market conditions.

Future Outlook and Strategic Initiatives

Looking ahead, Odontoprev projects that the corporate segment will continue to experience growth driven by new contracts and an increase in employee participants. The long-term strategy emphasizes increasing the average ticket size within its diverse range of products, especially in SMEs and individual segments where premium pricing can foster higher margins. The management remains optimistic about achieving a dental care ratio close to 26-27% in the individual plans in the long run, suggesting a future uptick in financial performance.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Stella Hong, executive]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for holding. Welcome to the Odontoprev conference call to discuss the earnings of 2Q '24. I'm Stella Hong, IR Supervisor.

Today, we have with us Mr. Rodrigo Bacellar, our CEO; and Jose Roberto Pacheco, CFO and our IR Officer. This webcast is being recorded and streamed on the Internet. The link is available on the company IR website at [ odontoprev.com.br/ir ], where the respective presentation is also available or on the company YouTube channel. This video conference has simultaneous translation. To activate, click on the interpretation button on the globe icon at the bottom right of your screen and choose your preferred language, Portuguese or English. You may also click on mute original audio.

Next, we'll start the Q&A session. To enter the queue, your name and company must be included via the Q&A button at the bottom of the screen. The questions will be answered in the order they are received. And when announced, a pop-up to unmute your microphone will appear on the screen. We suggest that your questions be asked all at once. It's important to note that submitting questions is only allowed for participants on the webcast platform. The aforementioned instructions are also available in the chat as well as the presentation of this webcast.

Before proceeding, let us mention that statements made during the call relating to the Odontoprev business perspectives, projections, operating and financial goals are based on the beliefs and assumptions of company management and on information currently available to Odontoprev.

Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance as they involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions as they relate to future events and therefore, depend on circumstances that may or may not occur. Investors and analysts should understand that overall conditions, industry conditions and other operating factors could also affect Odontoprev's future results and therefore, could lead to results that materially differ from those expressed in such forward-looking statements.

Now I'll turn the conference over to Jose Roberto Pacheco to begin his presentation. Pacheco, you may begin.

[Jose Robert Pacheco, executive]

Hello. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our Odontoprev video conference, so we can talk about the quarter results and first half of the year. I'd like to thank everyone for your presence and trust. And I will begin with the highlights for the period.

So first of all, the net addition of 138,000 new members with a highlight to the corporate segments and SMEs. Bradesco Dental, once again, the most sold brand, already accounts for half of the total portfolio of 8.8 million members. It's the product with the highest ticket and lowest cost of service. The dental claims ratio was lower, with an annual level of 80% -- or excuse me, 40%, that's stable and predictable since 2020, given the growing share of SME and individual products through the bank distribution.

The net income presents an annual average growth of 15% per year since 2019 with a return over equity that went from 37% to 39%. We'd also like to inform that the quarterly dividends of BRL 85 million added to interest on own capital have already announced. And the share buyback program that was already announced led to a total of BRL 122 million and a payout of 100% over the quarter's profit.

So beginning the presentation on Slide #3, we can see the sector data. At the end of the 6-month period, the dental plan industry recorded 33.5 million members according to the National Health Agency, ANS, with a growth in the decade of 13.4 million new customers regardless of the economic cycle or creation of new formal jobs.

The share of dental plans in Brazilian population, which is worth noting, is fourfold greater since 2006, the year of our IPO, going from 4% to the current 16.5%. The Odontoprev business model, as you know, is exclusively dental, with a proprietary technological platform that attests the quality of services provider in an electronic manner of their oral health and for these members in all states of the country.

On our next slide, #4, the Odontoprev net revenue in corporate contracts totaled BRL 1.2 billion in the last 12 months ending June. And on the other hand, SMEs and individual plans achieved BRL 911 million, a level which is much higher compared to our peers as we have demonstrated in the image.

On our next slide, #5, we'd like to highlight the execution of the long-term strategy of the innovation of value, where we see that if the corporate segment revenues rose 3% per year since 2014 with low barrier to entry and strong competition, on the other hand, the revenue of the SMEs and individual plans, noncorporate segments grew 13% per year in the past decade, already accounting for 43% of the total consolidated revenue with inelasticity in a favorable price in the distribution and bank channels through a pioneer movement of Odontoprev, which is very hard to be replicated by the competition.

On the next slide, #6, we present the pricing strategy according to the risk profile of the portfolio, which, for similar levels of average cost per member, the SME and individual plans have a premium of 100% in the average ticket, resulting in higher returns.

On the next slide, #7, we can see the different levels of cost of services per segment of customers. And the dental care ratio of SME and individual plans has remained under 30% compared to the traditional levels of 50% in the corporate segment.

As of the next slide, we will show you the recent evolution of the average ticket compared to the cost of services of the company. On Slide #8, initially, we have the market inflation levels measured by the IPCA in Brazil or the CPI and domestic inflation, which is 19% since 2014.

And on the next slide, given our robust protocol, segmentation of the network and high-quality standards compared -- in addition to our proprietary platform has resulted in a controlled inflation, which is 19% since 2014, lower than the inflation, which is measured by the domestic inflation in the same period.

To conclude on Slide 10, we have the year-to-date growth of the average ticket of Odontoprev, 30% in the same period, with the continuous improvement of the product mix supported by the higher efficiency of the bank channels in distribution.

In the past decade, as we can see on Slide 11, the segment of SME and individual plans recorded an average growth of 16% per year, and its contribution margin -- achieving BRL 538 million in the past 12 months, which represents a contribution margin of 60%. And the management of our total business portfolio more than doubled this year, going from 25% in the past to current 51% as we can see on Slide #12.

We believe that the movement of diversification is once again a competitive -- clear competitive advantage for the company and reinforces the strategy of value innovation with sustainable returns, which is much higher than what we can see in supplementary health care, even when compared to companies in Europe, the U.S. or even Asia.

On our next slide, #13, we have bad debt, which is 1.9% in the quarter and 2% LTM. The level is lower than the historical record of the past years, mainly resulting from the higher share of the bank channels in the noncorporate segment portfolio.

On our next slide, #14, as a result of what we've presented so far, the EBITDA adjusted margin went from the historical average of 25% up to 2019 to the current level of 30% since 2020, which is a level that's much higher than the industry or even our peers.

On the next slide, #15, we show that the higher share of noncorporate segment's lower dental care ratio and higher contribution margin justifies the lower consolidated dental care ratio in the past years compared to historical levels. Consequently, the average consolidated dental care ratio of 46% from 2006 to 2019 has become stable at a new level of 40% since 2020.

On our next slide, #16, we can show the evolution of the investment portfolio and the highest financial revenues from the company represented by long-term government bonds with post-fixed interest rates in 80% of the instruments and the remaining 20% in prefix, therefore, not really related to the short-term interest. The new instruments are accounted for in the curve, minimizing the volatility of the consolidated portfolio and will be kept until maturity. The company does not use derivatives. That's worth noting.

On the next slide, #17, we present the net income of BRL 122 million in the quarter, achieving BRL 528 million in 12 months with an average annual growth of 15% in the past 5 years.

On the next slide, #18, the annual level of CapEx reflects the investments in the company's digital investments, which has been maturing since last year and even now in 2024. So LTM, the investments in technology have already represented a reduction of BRL 95 million observed in 2023 to BRL 83 million in the past 12 months, which ended in June. The lower caps moving forward is yet another reason for a strong distribution of dividends to Odontoprev shareholders.

On our next slide, #19, we present the evolution of net cash, which ended the period at BRL 1.2 billion and 0 debt.

On the next slide, #20, during the meeting yesterday, the Board of Directors approved the distribution of quarterly dividends of BRL 85 million, which added to interest on own capital, which was already declared at BRL 22 million and the share buyback of BRL 15 million, total a payout of 100% of net income in the period.

On the next slide, #21, we present the evolution of these shares in treasury, which at the end of the quarter already exceeded 5 million shares with an adjusted average cost at BRL 11.12.

On our last slide, #22, we have the globalized share position of the company with over 30 countries. Those are our initial comments.

Thank you for your attention. Now we're going to move on to the Q&A session.

[Stella Hong, executive]

Now we'll begin the Q&A session. To include your name in the queue, click on the Q&A icon at the bottom of the screen. When you hear your name, a pop-up will come up to open your mic. Please ask your questions all at once.

First of all, Artur Alves from Morgan Stanley. Artur, go ahead.

[Artur do Amaral Alves, analyst]

I have 2 on our side, real quick about price. First of all, the competitive dynamic of price adjustments and the portfolio listing, could you give us some more flavor on that? We see that has been limiting your growth?

And second, SME bank channel. It's also been affecting prices in general. So how do you view -- have access to that? Is it just a share? Can you price it higher? Or would that affect capturing more?

[Jose Robert Pacheco, executive]

Good morning, Artur. Thank you for your question. That's a very important question. Odontoprev has been delivering a new mix in the past years of the products, increasing the average ticket and maintaining its reference as the benchmark of the industry. It's consolidated with a clear differential compared to our peers. And in some cases, the ticket in the past decade is far from the companies. And the SME give a premium of 50% and the individual plans have a different premium of 50% over the level for SME plans. So the average ticket of the plans for SMEs and individual plans are double, BRL 34, compared to the BRL 17 on average in the corporate segment.

We also present the cost structure for the company, where the cost doesn't change much even though there's a risk profile in -- the risk profile is higher in SMEs than in corporate plans and especially in individual plans, the risk profile is even higher given the diverse selection and risk of cancellation and default. The company has pursued a conservative strategy in pricing with a lot of discipline and rationally the entire business segment so we can have higher and growing margins according to the diversification that takes place.

We just reported 30% EBITDA margin, and that's very intuitive. The margin for SMEs is higher to that and the margin of the individual plans, including and especially in the bank channels, is still the #1 for the company. So it's a conservative strategy, yes. We aim at generating value and not necessarily volume, which has enabled the company to have a return level that's record compared to the past path -- in the past 5 years since our IPO in 2006.

So that's the beauty of value innovation, products that are rationally priced, and we have the exclusive distribution channel in the banks and also SMEs and as private and individual plans can be even further explored. We're the pioneers in this type of strategy, and we don't see the competition with a [ strategic ] direction in the same sense, which makes us very excited about the upcoming periods.

Rodrigo, would you like to comment on that?

[Rodrigo Bacellar, executive]

Good morning, Artur. Yes, Pacheco mentioned a critical work rationally priced. He mentioned that 3 or 4 times. When we see that for SMEs, that's the data that's consolidated. And of the SMEs in our world, which is split into 3 levels, we have one that goes from 3 to 29 members, the other 30 to 99 and for [ 100 to 199 ]. So for each range, you'll have a different rationale, and that's what Pacheco was talking about.

And to have a dental care ratio of 28.9% in SME, which is extremely under control, you can imagine that we're practicing different prices in these 3 different ranges. And they also have different behaviors. So if you consider an SME with 150 members, which is still an SME, it behaves in terms of claims and use like a corporate. So here, you see the consolidated information. And therefore, rationally, we're managing these 3 different ranges in a very careful manner, as Pacheco mentioned. Just wanted to call your attention to that as well.

[Stella Hong, executive]

Our next question is from Felipe Amancio, Itau BBA. Felipe, go ahead.

[Felipe Amancio, analyst]

I have 2. My first one is Bradesco -- about Bradesco Dental. I'd like to understand if you see any triggers -- additional triggers to increase Bradesco Dental proportionally. Do you see any levers that haven't been used yet to continue? Or should we see Bradesco Dental adding to the result as we had already observed today?

And my second question is about sales expenses that did grow in this quarter. And the result, you have an effect of higher commercial activities in Mexico, but we also see that increase in the SME segment a little and a bit in the individual segment. Can you give us a little bit more flavor in that line? That would be great.

[Jose Robert Pacheco, executive]

Good morning, Felipe. In fact, the Bradesco Dental brand is already the star in the company's portfolio. It accounts for exactly 50% of the total of [ 8.8 billion ] clients. In fact, the Bradesco Dental brand, and you can see that based on the numbers in the past years, added over 1 million customers in the past 5 years. So the potential is expressive.

I don't even have to mention that the level of distribution that could be explored not just in compensation overall, but when -- the bank and insurance platform or digital channels of the company overall. So we're really excited about working together with Bradesco and being pioneers and taking these Bradesco Dental to the smaller clients, SMEs and even individual plans.

There's no other company in the market with the same opportunity. As you've been following in the past 10 years, the company has been working on new products and new ways of working within the distribution of bancassurance and that is innovative, that is pioneer work. There's nothing like it in the market. We're far from the potential that we believe in. It's very expressive given that the product has an appealing ticket and many means of distribution in person or digital with the strategic partner, which is the company controller.

And then you're talking about the sales expenses. In fact, in the past quarters, it's been mainly connected to the SME plans that have a cost of acquisition and sales expenses higher than corporate. And given the higher share of the bank channel, which already accounts for 85% of the SME portfolio and accounts for the main net adds of the new contracts, is becoming increasingly more significant. And that cost is definitely lower than the individual plans, and there the cost of acquisition is higher.

So we've seen recent campaigns, having these awards, which is fair, and we expect the level of the sales expenses for SMEs to be at 16%, 17%, which is what we have observed. We shouldn't see any more volatility in that figure.

[Rodrigo Bacellar, executive]

May I add, Felipe? You asked about Bradesco Dental. And to your point about SMEs, as a coincidence, the strategy that Bradesco has been commenting and using is about the branches and companies and that a differentiated unique service that they will offer to companies that have revenues up to BRL 50 million. And that's also our segment for SMEs. So like Pacheco mentioned, there's always an expectation of growing more. It's good to know that, that type of customer will receive more attention on their side. So maybe we can benefit from that as well because we always want more without a doubt.

[Stella Hong, executive]

Next question is from Renan Prata from Citi.

[Renan Prata, analyst]

Real quick, I'd like to explore the individual segments. So we see that dental care ratio is 22%, very low. And you've already signaled that, that should go up to 26%, 27% in the long term. I'd like to understand what would be a driver for the individual to go to a higher dental care ratio? Would it be priced? Do you think the cost is going to increase? I'd like to understand a bit of that equation.

And also in individual plans, I'd like to understand sales. Are you still losing members? Is that going to change in short, medium term? What are you thinking about that?

[Jose Robert Pacheco, executive]

Good morning, Renan, and thank you for your question. The individual plans portfolio for the company is also the more expressive in that segment, approximately 1 million members, basically represented by 2 portfolios, the traditional, which is represented by department stores, which has 60% of the total, and the other 40% are individual plans, and those are already banked.

What's been happening in the past years is a change in the profile of the individual plans. 10 years ago, for instance, the portfolio was pretty much entirely focused to -- in distribution and department stores. Now you see a balance that we mentioned here.

First of all, the average ticket goes up; and second, the dental care ratio drops; and third, the retention remains. The NPV increases for banked customers. It's much higher than the NPV of the individual plans that come from department stores. So that means that there is an interesting change in the profitability of that segment.

To give you an example, back in 2019, 2020, we had a dental care ratio of 40% or more, and some sales processes were adjusted. And now the company, as you've seen, has a dental care ratio from 20% to 25%. So that is the current dental care ratio, and in the long term, should be higher than that, but definitely under 30% per year, which shows that the company is cautious in pricing with a higher risk customer. They have higher risk because they have adverse selection, there's a risk of cancellation, and finally, the risk of default.

So we are careful in pricing this type of market, and that's been reflecting in higher returns at the end of the day, even though the volume is pretty much stable. The volume of that portfolio doesn't -- hasn't had many changes in the past years. So that's the current strategy. It's a strategy that allows for a change in the mix. And we'll gradually count on new products and new opportunities, especially in distribution through the bank channel, but also the vision that we have in terms of individual plans.

[Stella Hong, executive]

Next question is from Samuel Alves from BTG Pactual. Samuel, go ahead.

[Samuel Alves, analyst]

I have 2 questions on our side. The first one is about the payout level. You mentioned the dividends for 2Q, and we consider complete compensation, share buyback and interest on own capital, we reach the payout. So what could we consider in the payout for the year? And with the risk-based model, could we consider more than 100% of the payout in 2024? Would management or the Board be willing to address that, the expectations?

And second, the G&A levels. We've seen an important reduction of the G&A cycle between 2020 and 2022. There was a significant drop in employees during that period. That's something that you highlighted a lot back then. The question is, do you have any additional plans for reduction? Is there any conversations, discussions in that sense in your strategic planning?

[Jose Robert Pacheco, executive]

Good morning, Samuel. Two excellent questions. I'll start off with the payout. In fact, we have 100% distribution in the second quarter. That's the level for the upcoming periods in 2024, as we've done 95% in 1Q. So the rate should be close to 100%, from 95% to 100%, which is definitely the benchmark in the industry.

When we look at a longer period, in the past 10 years, the company exceeds 90% distribution of its profits. So that's a very important reference for upcoming years. It's important for the market to expect or the investors to expect that Odontoprev will have a strong distribution of its bottom line in the quarters and definitely over the levels of 90% given the parameters that we have of risk-based capital that were recently established by the ANS regulator.

The other point, Samuel, is very interesting as well, which is about G&A, admin expenses. We're at the peak of an investment cycle of the company. We more than tripled the investments and mainly focused on technology. We went from a level of BRL 30 million, BRL 35 million to BRL 90 million, BRL 95 million. But as I mentioned in the initial comments, already has a drop.

So this year, we don't have the same need as the investment cycle as we had in the past. The projects are now in the maturity phase. So we're being constructive given the digital processes, robotization, that's continuous in the company. So for the G&A ratio as of 2025, that's a metric that's extremely important. That was a great question because it gives us some opportunity to mention that.

So we do expect a dilution of G&A, admin expenses as of next year as a result of these investment cycles becoming mature. Therefore, the synergies that are being collected and gains being collected in performance and productivity, so we're very positive working towards that.

Thank you for your question. So, in summary, very high payout on a quarterly basis. And second, the dilution of G&A for the upcoming periods, given the fact that these investments are becoming mature. Thank you, Samuel.

[Stella Hong, executive]

Next question is from Estela Strano from JPMorgan. Go ahead, Estela.

[Estela Strano, analyst]

As you mentioned in the beginning of the call, net adds is one of the big highlights for the quarter, especially in corporate. So my question is, why is that dynamics so strong in corporate and milder in SME and individual plans? Is there any seasonality in that or anything about the industry? And to add, what is the driver in corporate, looking at the upcoming quarters?

[Jose Robert Pacheco, executive]

Estela, that's an important aspect about competition in essence. That's the main reason for the recovery and the expressive numbers of the corporate segment. So we need to understand, first of all, the shareholder composition of the direct competitors, which is different than it was 2 or 3 years ago. And that has made it possible to have a more rational pricing of the market. And direct competition, increasing the demand and increasing the average ticket when it gets closer to the average ticket of the company, especially in the corporate market, we have direct conditions to compete and bring back even some customers. That has been what happened in 2023.

We still see that in 2024. So the market that's more professional with fair pricing has, in fact, leveraged new opportunities in the corporate segment. And that's what is bringing in the recovery that wasn't small in the portfolio of over 6 million beneficiaries that we already have in the corporate segment.

So in essence, it's a segment that has strong competition. And when it becomes more rational, more educated, so to speak, that's great news. So we maintain the entire focus on what -- on this segment, that's still very relevant in our portfolio.

[Stella Hong, executive]

Next question is from Ricardo Boiati from Safra Bank. Go ahead, Ricardo.

[Ricardo Boiati, analyst]

My question is about net adds. So can you give us some more information in the contribution of expanding net adds in corporate or SME? So the increase of employees of these customers that already exist and what's coming from new sales in corporate and SME? So we can give -- have an idea about the contribution of each part. And also looking at the dynamic of the sales of new contracts, what's the trend that you see? Or is it still far -- does the company believe that's still far from the potential? Do you see any trends looking forward and expediting new sales?

The labor market has been helping. Can you give us some more flavor on that? That would help. And lastly, about cash management, considering the current macroeconomic scenario, when the company considers cash allocation, excess cash or investments that are maturing, would you be willing to be prefixed, post-fixed or inflation rates? What duration would make more sense in your opinion, longer curve or not? I think that's it on my side.

[Jose Robert Pacheco, executive]

Ricardo, about investment portfolio, today, we're at BRL 1.2 billion. So the main index for the financial investments of Odontoprev is the IPCA or the CPI or domestic inflation that gives us a cost. In the last decade, our internal inflation was half of that. So today, our premium is very close to 5% over the domestic inflation contracted for a duration of 5 to 6 years. So it's -- but we're focused on long-term government bonds, as we mentioned, and they will be taken to maturity. So that doesn't give us any volatility in the explanatory notes in the quarters, and it gives us predictability of the financial revenues of the company for the next 5 or 6 years. So that has to do with the financial instruments of the company and the priority that we give to government bonds.

About the net adds, you're talking about a very interesting aspect about the insurance contract, and different than other supplementary contracts, Odontoprev has a portfolio in corporate, where the person who pays the bill is the employee and not the company. So it's a very long contract. Even when they leave, they maintain and the company remain and the company gets new employees. So it's a significant net adds in the corporate segment in existing contracts when their new participants be that new employees or the ones that are accepting the dental plan for the first time.

As we've mentioned in previous calls, the growth in corporate is not because of the new employees only, but also with open enrollment, but also with more educated prices compared to the -- with the competition, we've had new relevant contracts and that happened in the past and now in 2024. So we have relevant growth and different in the industry new members in the corporate segment. So those are the factors behind corporate.

And finally, in SMEs, as you've seen, it's a strong portfolio, highly banked. 85% is already under the Bradesco Dental brand. Incremental sales have a significant share of the bank channel. And at the end of the day, accounts for a premium in the average ticket, lower dental care ratio, and a duration in that type of contract, which is very interesting. So the main competitive advantage in the credit risk and SMEs are the -- we have to highlight the efficiency of the bank channel in managing the risk of that portfolio. So that's a summary of the points that you mentioned.

[Stella Hong, executive]

Next question is from Emerson Vieira from Goldman Sachs.

[Emerson Vieira, analyst]

I have 2. First of all, the cost per member, we see a very positive trend in SME and individual plans, with annual drops in that variable per member per month. So what's the phase of maturation when we talk about network segmentation and mix? Because in SMEs, there's a component, which is the addition of new members in the portfolio of SME with up to 100 members and individual, it's segmentation. So I need to -- I'd like to understand when that line should become stable? That's my first question.

The second question, it's pretty much a follow-up on our colleague's questions. It's about capital allocation. So in 2Q, we saw robust cash generation, net cash at BRL 1.2 billion, almost 20% of the market cap. And considering that the payout should be greater than 90%, as Pacheco mentioned, and considering that the company has already achieved a CapEx peak in 2023, we would -- should we see -- we should see a gradual decrease of those levels. What would be options to generate value for investors, be it through changing the capital configuration or ordinary shares? What would be the options or common shares, excuse me, for cash or the capital structure, maybe something different? Those are my 2 questions.

[Jose Robert Pacheco, executive]

Good morning, Emerson. So the message that we want to give in this quarter is a strong and regular distribution of results for shareholders. So managing the capital in a conservative way and in dividends because our payout according to the bylaws is 70%, which is double of the new market. And as we mentioned before, in the past 10 years, we've done the -- double that. So exceeding 90%, that's our priority.

The instruments are not restricted to just dividends. We also use interest on own capital and the share buyback. This is already the fourth program in the past years since 2021, and 10 million, we've already bought back 5 million. So the multiple channels is what we should expect from the company with the best allocation as possible in a recurring way, completely in line with the best interest of minority shareholders. That's our main message.

As you addressed, the lower cycle, lower needs for investments in the upcoming years, especially in technology, gives us even more comfort to have relevant distributions periodically for the company's shareholders.

Relating to the cost of services, I think it's important to mention the word deflation that hasn't been mentioned so far. So different than what happened, the medical -- in the health care sector, medical inflation exceeds the inflation and price indexes. Here, we've made it very clear in our figures that in the past 10 years, our internal inflation is much lower than the domestic inflation. It's predictable and gives us the possibility to maintain educated prices and result in resilient and predictable revenues.

So that's very important to understand the Odontoprev business model. The lower cost, the deflation that we mentioned, you brought in one of the points that's very decisive to understand that, which is network segmentation. So we have 27,000 dentists in the registered network across Brazil with different profiles -- in servicing the different types of client profiles, be it a big corporate account, an SME or an individual.

So that network segmentation is being supported in the past years by more demanding electronic tools, decreasing fraud that existed in 2019 and 2020. You remember, once again, the dental care ratio of individual plans over 40%, now it's a little over half of that level. And that wasn't free. That came through technological progress and state-of-art tools that the company has been developing so that we can have performance connected to high quality and high standards.

So we're very comfortable in maintaining the same cost structure. It's been 4 or 5 years at the 40% level of dental care ratio, and there's 50% in corporate and 30% of dental care ratio in the others. Let's say that if they were pretty much the same size, the average would be 40%, and that's a benchmark for the market.

That's it Emerson. The control of the details auditing over 20,000 dental treatments on a daily basis gives us a differential and return to shareholders, which you will not see the same in the market. That's a result of our business model. And you can see the return that, that brings. So a lot of work, and we're working in that direction. Those are my comments. Thank you.

[Rodrigo Bacellar, executive]

Pacheco, I'd like to add. Good morning, Emerson. Thank you for your question. I'd like to add to what Pacheco just explained. See, dental or the claim, excuse me, is a result of 3 factors: there's frequency, the number of procedures per patient and the cost of procedure. And that's the deflation that Pacheco showed on the chart. So when we see that the cost is going down, it's going down and frequency that we don't control, we want our customers to go to the dentist and use that. And given the obvious reasons after the pandemic, we see them coming back.

So BRL 218 million invested in technology and [ BRL 80 million ] for this year, what that has offered us is to attack 2 points. One already mentioned by Pacheco earlier, in one of the answers, which is the efficiency, so when they asked about SG&A. And the other is to attack the cost of fraud, abuse and controlling that and how the dentists spend.

So when we look at that factor, frequency, how many times the 8 million Emersons go to the dentists times the number of procedures that Emersons get and the times the cost of procedure. And frequency, we want everyone to go to see our quality and use it and the other ones, the cost of procedure and number of procedures in each mouth. That's where we can work strongly.

And we've been doing that since mid-2020, saying that, that new level of dental claim ratio close to 40% is there to stay because all the investments result in our ability to support our audit department in training, second opinion and all of that to control the 2 other factors, showing the charts that Pacheco showed about a cost that was much lower than the evolution of the ticket and the inflation according to domestic inflation.

To add, people only think of frequency. It is important. We want everyone to use their plans, and that has increased. Obviously, that's a good sign, but we are unbeatable in our ability to control the other 2 factors, the cost of procedure.

[Stella Hong, executive]

To ask questions, click on the icon -- Q&A icon, your name and company to enter the queue. We have no further questions. So the Q&A session is now over. Now I'd like to hand over to Pacheco for his final remarks.

[Jose Robert Pacheco, executive]

I would like to thank everyone for participating. Have a great day. See you next time. Thank you.