Afya Limited (NASDAQ:AFYA) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Renata Couto: Yeah. If I can complement, Lukas, as Virgílio said, we expand the number of units that we had during the pandemic and 2022 was the first year to ramp up these units. And 2023 comes with the same trend to mature these units and we can expect to outgrow this market that, Virgílio mentioned, that’s around 20%. And just coming back to Fred’s question, that as we said, is one of the reasons that we see stability in margins as we have a different mix of Continuing Education and Digital Services growing more in topline than the Undergrad Services.

Virgílio Gibbon: Yeah. This is also important. Remember that as we launched seven new campuses, they are maturing. So the density of students per campus is still low. We have a lot of opportunity. So as semester-over-semester we are going to have more students. We have more fixed costs that will be diluted. And as you can see on our financial statement, we have gross margin improvements on Continuing Education and also in Digital Services 2022 over 2021 but — and we expect to have the same dynamic for this next year. The questions on margin is that, the mix effect will be different because we have a high growth business in on Digital and also on Continuing Education.

Unidentified Analyst: Very clear. Thank you, Virgílio, Luis and Renata.

Virgílio Gibbon: Thanks, Lukas.

Renata Couto: Our next question comes from Lucca Marquezini from Itau.

Lucca Marquezini: Good evening, Virgílio and Luis, Renata. Thank you for taking our question. Just a quick follow-up on the Mais Médicos topic. So assuming a new program that should bring additional medical seats to the industry, how do you believe this should impact the company’s ability to readjust tickets in the medical school business going forward, not only for 2023, but especially in the long run? Thank you.

Virgílio Gibbon: Hi, Lucca. This is a difficult question here. But based on what happened on Mais Médicos school, Mais Médicos stories and also what they are at least aiming to do with these new announcements, they try to incentivate more physicians in North and Northeast area, in an area that they want to prioritize as critical of physician for inhabitants. I think that we will release maybe 1 time or 2 times bigger than the last portion that was in 2018, maybe 8,000, 10,000 seats. But I don’t think this will change the balance between supply and demand. I think it could be more small adjustments in some areas, and I think at least on our expectations here, we have fully commitment and good expectation that we will keep continuing to have 100% of occupancy and best at least inflation to our tuition for the following years.

Renata Couto: Yeah. In using the space here, just remember that we are increasing prices — the average price for 2023, 7.5% and with the maturation effect that could increase one other percentage point.

Lucca Marquezini: That’s very clear. Thanks, guys.

Renata Couto: And also just remember, if you want to ask question, please just raise your hand. Our next question comes from Pedro Caravina from Credit Suisse. Pedro, you may go.