Q2 2025: The Real Figures Behind Light, Simpar, and Aço Verde’s Tough Quarter
In Brazil, Q2 2025 financial results from three large companies—Light, Simpar, and Aço Verde do Brasil—show how inflation
In Brazil, Q2 2025 financial results from three large companies—Light, Simpar, and Aço Verde do Brasil—show how inflation, debt, and market shifts are hitting some of the country’s key business sectors.
Light supplies electricity, Simpar owns logistics and rental companies, and Aço Verde makes steel. This breakdown, based on official filings, sorts through the numbers and reveals what’s really happening to these major firms.
Light: The Power Utility Facing Deep Change
Light, which generates and distributes electricity in Brazil, is under court-supervised restructuring. The company posted a net loss of R$51 million (about $9 million) for Q2 2025.
Revenue for the quarter was R$3.1 billion ($544 million), falling 10% from last year. This drop comes as more businesses leave regulated contracts for cheaper, flexible energy deals.
Expenses grew: Light’s adjusted EBITDA—a key cash profit metric—dropped sharply to R$203 million ($36 million), down 67%. Their gross margin fell 37% to R$617 million ($108 million).
Light’s finances did get a lift from better debt terms. Their financial losses dropped to R$65 million ($11 million), down from R$457 million ($80 million) last year, due to successful debt renegotiations.
Net debt stands at R$4.3 billion ($754 million), nearly halved from a year earlier. The real story: Light acts to survive in a tough market, but falling revenue and rising costs threaten its recovery as it tries to modernize and defend its market against new competitors.
Simpar: Logistics and Rentals Struggling with Debt Costs
Simpar owns truck rental, car rental, and logistics businesses. The group posted a net loss of R$36 million ($6 million), reversing a profit of R$185 million ($32 million) last year.
Brazil’s higher interest rates drove up Simpar’s financing costs, even as its operating businesses performed well. The average effective rate jumped from 10.6% to 14.7%. This hurt because Simpar’s net debt climbed to fund new vehicles and logistics investments.
Still, Simpar’s operations grew: adjusted EBITDA hit a record R$3 billion ($526 million), up 12%. Movida (car rentals) revenue jumped 18%; JSL (logistics) rose 10%; Vamos (trucks) rose 5%. Service revenues as a whole climbed nearly 7%.
The company now holds R$3.6 billion ($632 million) in cash and has pushed out most of its debt repayments to beyond 2031. Net debt dropped 10% to R$3 billion ($526 million).
Simpar proves its core businesses remain strong, but the cost of borrowing and capital outlay has turned growth into short-term losses, forcing careful control going forward.
Aço Verde do Brasil: Steelmaker Squeezed by Lower Prices
Aço Verde, a leading steel producer, swung from a R$24 million ($4 million) profit last year to a R$1 million ($0.2 million) loss this quarter. Falling steel prices drove total revenue down 8.6% to R$359 million ($63 million).
The company’s adjusted EBITDA dropped 9% to R$83 million ($15 million), and steel sales fell 5% to just under 90,000 tons. Higher financial expenses also weighed on results.
Aço Verde’s main challenge: It faces a global steel market downturn and rising local costs at the same time, making rapid recovery unlikely.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
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