Other Operating (Expenses) / Income, net
Other operating expenses increased from R$31.1 million in 2017 to R$576.5 million in 2018, mainly due to the impairment of fixed assets and goodwill in the amount of R$547.7 million recorded in 2018, and otherone-time severance, restructuring and other expenses incurred in 2018.
Adjusted EBITDA and Net Result
As a result of decreased revenues, and increased costs and expenses largely driven by the impact of the R$547.7million impairment charges, our loss for 2018 was R$690.5 million compared to a profit of R$52.3 million in 2017.
Adjusted EBITDA in 2018 decreased by 33.7% from R$414.2 million in 2017 to R$274.5 million in 2018, primarily due to increased competition in bidding processes for public collection contracts and aggressive price discounting, a trend which further accelerated in the second quarter of 2018. The reduced prices for our collection services resulted in a 832 basis points deterioration in adjusted gross margins from 31.0% in 2017 to 22.7% in 2018. The lower gross margin, together with the decreasing revenues were the main reasons for the reduction in adjusted EBITDA in 2018.
As a result of the factors described above, the Adjusted Net Result from continuing operations decreased by R$742.8 million from a gain of R$52.3 million in 2017 to a loss of R$690.5 million in 2018.
Cash and Equivalents and Capital Allocation
Cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2018, were R$18.9 million, a decrease of R$65.8 million from the R$84.7 million at December 31, 2017. Negative cash flow in 2018 results primarily from R$168.9 million of cashflow from operating activities before tax payments; R$114.1 million of cash tax payments; and R$120.7 million of capital used in investment activities.
Tax Expense
In May 2017, Estre entered into the Brazilian tax regularization programs (known as PRT/PERT), tax amnesty plans offered by the federal government, which allowed, for a limit period, Brazilian companies to settle existing tax debts. The programs allowed the partial settlement of tax debts with the use of tax credits and/or the use of tax loss carry forwards, as well as the payment of the remaining balance in installments.
Towards the end of the first half of 2018, the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service announced the second and final round of the PRT/PERT program. In this phase, companies were asked to confirm, in detail, for each of their subsidiaries the tax debts they wanted to include in the program, how they wanted to pay such debts and how much (if any) credit from tax loss carryforwards they were able, and prepared, to use.
We took this opportunity offered by the second phase of the PRT/PERT programs to include some additional anticipated tax debts in the amount of R$46.6 million that we identified in the context of the internal evaluation process. This decision and other impacts associated with our expanded participation in the PRT program resulted in an increase of R$134.4 million in tax debt to be paid in up to nine years. This increase was partially offset by a R$54.0 million reduction in tax provisions, due to tax liabilities excluded from the PRT/PERT together, with approximately R$80.0 million in tax loss carryforwards used in connection with the programs.
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