Rodrigo Pizzinatto : Good morning. I’m going to start with the second question about tax credits. We’ve defined a methodology of having annual analysis based on the forecast of profitability, which is very conservative. And it’s a five-year perspective. Based on this conservative forecast, we account for the extraterrestrials elements or not. We still have got a balance of about BRL 1 billion. And the amount that is brought to the courts is close to the total number of records. Now, concerning our first question, we are here sharing with you our earnings release, and I just focus everything on the sentence that I used. If you go back there, you will see how we think it, right? This was shared during my presentation.
Gabriel Barra: Thank you. One last point, and I apologize if I insist, but I want to understand more about trading. Could you explain how it has influenced the results of the fourth quarter? Did it have any more relevant impact that we should not consider to be present from now on? I don’t know if you can talk about that. If you can, that would be most helpful.
Leonardo Linden : This is Linden speaking. There was nothing extraordinary of trading in the fourth quarter. Good supply activity improves results, but this is part of field distribution businesses. There was nothing extraordinary. This is the work that we’ve been doing, the natural evolution of our supply, something that we’ve been discussing in our interactions. So it’s just life as it is. There was nothing extraordinary.
Gabriel Barra: Great. Thank you very much and congratulations on the excellent results.
Operator: The next question comes from Bruno Montanari, Morgan Stanley. Please unmute your microphone.
Bruno Montanari : Good morning. Thank you very much for taking the questions. I have one question and some follow-up. The first question, I guess, to Linden. I think everyone has just been focusing at Ipiranga to improve profitability of the business. And I recall you telling us all the points for attention, all of them being addressed. So now let me pick your brain. Looking in the mid and long-term of Ipiranga, what would be the next steps? What else can be done to improve further the results of the company from now on? Second question about tax credits as well. Can you give us some color about the cash effect of these recoveries during 2023? We can go back to the explanatory notes, which was BRL 900. Just to see whether you had really used that throughout the year.
And one last question for Ultracargo. There’s been a significant growth of CapEx for 2024. What can we expect for 2025-2026? Do you think there will be some years where you’ll be investing more than the average? Or should we expect that in 2025 you’ll be expecting at the same levels as you used to in previous years? Thank you.
Leonardo Linden : Well, Bruno, I’m going to be consistent with the pillars that we’ve been discussing for a while. We still see opportunities. And when we look back to the four pillars, as I’ve mentioned in previous occasions, in logistics and distribution, we anticipate is still a path to be taken to release some value. So improvement of processes, optimization of exchanges, optimization of our basic operations. I think there are a number of ongoing initiatives at Ipiranga, which are structural initiatives, and this is why they take longer than the others to be effectively reached and to reach the level that makes sense. Now, speaking of the other three pillars, competitiveness, supply, and brand. There is always room for improvement.
We have progressed significantly. We’ve caught up to the level that we needed, and they provided short-term results, but there is always room to evolve. We’ve seen a change to Ipiranga brand. There are other initiatives in place. We’ve been working qualitatively. If we look at the profile of sales and the volume of Ipiranga, the premium product in our sales mix has been increased. So I think there are a number of open fronts of action that can bring enhanced efficiency. Once again, logistics and distribution are the areas where we can see more room for improvement.
Rodrigo Pizzinatto : Bruno, let me answer your two other questions about the use of tax credits in 2023. We used close to BRL 800 million in the year. About the question of Ultracargo, just to give you some more information, Ultracargo expands based on long-term projects. In Brazil, there is a clear shortage of logistic infrastructure. And there, we can see the major potential of expansion in opening new markets, such as going, for example, more inland. As the projects become a reality, you know a Ultracargo terminal tends to be contracted right from its inception. Then we make investments and tell you. We will let you know as the projects become a reality in 2024. We have the expansions that I’ve already mentioned in my presentation that will be completed during the year. And the more the projects get mature and completed, we will let you know.
Bruno Montanari : Great. Thank you.
Operator: If there are no further questions, I would like to hand it back to Rodrigo Pizzinatto for his closing remarks.
Rodrigo Pizzinatto: Thank you all very much for your attention this morning and hope to see you all in May.
Operator: With that, we conclude our conference call. Thank you all very much for being part of that. Have a great day.
