Movida Participações S.A

What it is

Movida runs a car rental, fleet rental, and used-car sales business, and is the second-largest provider of car and fleet rental in Brazil by revenue and fleet size. Its average operating fleet in 2025 was about 227,000 vehicles, with a total fleet at year-end of 275,000.

It operates in two segments: Rent-a-Car (short-term, one-day-to-one-year rentals) and Fleet Management & Outsourcing, known as GTF, which handles long-term corporate fleet contracts. Recurring revenue — monthly and annual contracts rather than spot rentals — reached R$6.25 bn (US$1.2 bn) in 2025, up 51% from 2023, and now accounts for 73% of total gross revenue.

Who owns it

Simpar S.A. holds 59.4% of Movida’s shares, with the remaining 38.2% in free float and 2.3% held as treasury stock, as of April 2025. The Simpar group is itself controlled by the Simões family, which holds — directly and through the JSP holding — 59.04% of Simpar’s total shares.

Simpar controls its listed subsidiaries — JSL, Movida, and Vamos — by appointing three of the five board members at each. Brazil’s state development bank, BNDESPAR, took part in the 2026 capital raise with a commitment of up to R$375 m (US$73 mn), though capped at 10% of Movida’s share capital.

Who runs it

Gustavo Moscatelli has been CEO of Movida since May 2023, and also retains the role of Director of Investor Relations. He has been part of the Simpar group since 2017, previously serving as CFO of both Movida and the truck-leasing company Vamos.

CFO Pedro de Almeida, a former CEO of car-rental company Unidas, joined at the same time. His appointment as CFO has been read by analysts as a signal that Movida will push harder into the European market, where it already owns Drive on Holidays in Portugal.

The money, in plain words

Movida keeps about 2.5 cents of profit from every real of sales — a net profit margin of 2.45%, thin by any standard, but the car-rental business runs on fleet scale and debt, not fat margins. For every real of equity shareholders have put in, it earns roughly 13 cents a year — a return on equity of 12.87%, a solid recovery from the negative returns of 2023.

Revenue from operations grew 8.8% in 2025 (our calculation), and net income for the full year was R$318 m (US$62 mn), up 37.5% year-on-year.

The P/E ratio of 8.6× — meaning the market pays R$8.60 (US$2)for each real of annual profit — is low by international standards, which partly reflects the real risk here: Movida carries R$20.59 bn (US$4.0 bn) in net debt against R$2.97 bn (US$577 mn) of equity (our calculation), a leveraged structure typical in fleet-heavy businesses but sensitive to Brazil’s high interest rates. Net debt relative to annual operating profit (net debt/EBITDA) stood at 2.6× in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The dividend yield of 8.5% is unusually high, a function of the depressed share price more than outsized cash payouts.

What it is doing now

In March 2026, Movida approved a private capital increase of R$500 m (US$97 mn) to R$750 m (US$146 mn), issuing new shares at R$11.72 (US$2)each — a deliberate move to reduce its debt load. Its first-quarter 2026 net profit came in at R$125 m (US$24 mn), a 59% rise on the same period a year earlier.

A key financing transaction was struck with the International Finance Corporation — the World Bank’s private-sector arm — which structured a funding package specifically tied to renewing Movida’s fleet with lower-emission vehicles. In May 2026, the board also approved a share buyback programme covering up to 27.86 million shares, roughly 15% of the shares in public hands.

What to watch

• Debt reduction pace. With R$20.59 bn (US$4.0 bn) in net debt (our calculation), every move in Brazilian interest rates bites directly into profits — the key test is whether the 2026 capital raise and IFC deal durably extend maturities and cut borrowing costs.
• Used-car prices. The company faces headwinds selling used cars due to credit restrictions and high interest rates, which depresses resale volumes — and second-hand car sales are central to fleet renewal economics.
• Recurring revenue mix. The strategic shift toward predictable monthly and annual contracts is deliberate; whether GTF margins hold through the next rate cycle will determine if the recovery is structural or cyclical.
• Simpar group dynamics. Simpar appoints the majority of Movida’s board, so decisions at the holding level — capital allocation, cross-guarantees, potential restructurings — flow directly into Movida shareholders’ returns.

This is news, not investment advice.