HETA3: quote, dividends and indicators for Hercules

Hercules S.A. is a Brazilian publicly held company with a long track record in the tableware and kitchenware sector, with shares traded on B3 under the tickers HETA3 and HETA4. Its origins date back to 1936, when Hercules Ltda. was incorporated, considered the first Brazilian manufacturer of stainless steel cutlery, at a time when the market was dominated by alpaca cutlery, nickel-plated pieces and imported products. In 1947, the company became a publicly held corporation and adopted the name Hercules S.A. – Fábrica de Talheres, moving its manufacturing facilities to a larger premises, signaling an expansion in production. In 1968, the company was registered with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), consolidating its status as a securities issuer. Over the following decades, the company expanded its industrial capacity and product line, becoming the South American leader in cutlery production in the 1970s and diversifying its portfolio to include serving sets and other tableware.

Hercules’s corporate trajectory also includes stakes in other companies in the sector. In 1983, the company took over the controlling interest in Zivi S.A. – Cutelaria, with a majority stake in common shares, strengthening its presence in the cutlery and cutting products chain. Later, in 2003, with the merger of Zivi S.A. into Eberle S.A., Hercules ceased to directly control this company and started to hold an interest in Mundial S.A. – Produtos de Consumo, with a stake in its total capital. From 2004 onward, the company pivoted its business model, redirecting its strategies and temporarily discontinuing its own production process in order to focus its activities on brand licensing. This change marked the transition from an essentially industrial company to an organization focused on the management and exploitation of intangible assets, especially the Hercules brand, historically recognized in the household and professional utilities segment.

Hercules’s corporate purpose covers the manufacturing, commercialization and licensing of cutlery and other tableware for domestic use, including the import and export of products, raw materials and equipment, as well as equity interests in other companies. In practice, since 2004 operations have been focused exclusively on licensing the brand for cutlery and tableware for domestic and professional use, without maintaining its own industrial facilities. The company operates in a single business segment, based on granting third-party licensees the right to use the Hercules brand, while they handle production, import, distribution and commercialization of the products. This business model generates royalty revenue, reduces the need for physical operating assets and shifts the focus to brand management, licensing agreements and the relationship with the main commercial partner.

In terms of products and target segments, Hercules operates mainly through its Food Service Division, which encompasses a line of utensils aimed at both professional and domestic cooking. Licensed items include pots, knives, cutlery, serving sets and various kitchen utensils, used in hotels, restaurants and homes. The products are manufactured abroad, in plants located in Asian countries, approved and supervised by the company. The industrial process involves the use of stainless steels in different specifications, aluminum, thermoplastic polymers and silicone, going through stages such as forging, injection or stamping, heat treatment, grinding, polishing and injection finishing before final packaging. Although Hercules does not manufacture directly, it maintains control over quality standards and technical specifications with the manufacturers, which is part of its positioning in the household and professional utilities market.

The distribution structure for Hercules-branded products is based on a single exclusive licensee in Brazil. Mundial Distribuidora de Produtos de Consumo Ltda. holds the exclusive right to use the brand and is responsible for sales throughout the country, serving retail chains, distributors and other clients. All of the company’s revenue comes from this licensing agreement with Mundial Distribuidora, and there are no other clients that individually represent a relevant share of net revenue. Products are also sold abroad by companies related to the licensee’s group, with a presence in Latin America through Mundial Uruguai and in Europe through Mund Europe, based in Portugal, although Hercules does not record revenue from abroad in its results, since its remuneration is concentrated on brand licensing for the Brazilian market. In 2025, total net revenue was R$ 4.722 million, fully attributed to the Food Service segment, with net income of R$ 943 thousand, reflecting the lean and concentrated nature of the business model.

In the tableware utilities market, the Hercules brand traditionally operates in the institutional and household segment, with a presence in hotels, restaurants and homes. The company estimates it has around 5% market share in this niche in Brazil, in a competitive environment marked by the strong influx of imported products, often with a similar appearance and heterogeneous quality levels. Intensified competition from private labels of large retail chains and specialized distributors pressures margins and challenges traditional brands. In this context, Hercules’s strategy is based on the historical strength of its brand and the perception of quality built over decades, while the licensee seeks to maintain capillarity through broad coverage of sales channels. The sector does not show extreme seasonality, although there is higher demand at year-end in the household market and variations associated with holiday periods in the institutional segment.

From the supply and procurement standpoint, the main materials used in the manufacturing of licensed products are stainless steels, aluminum, thermoplastic polymers and silicone, purchased abroad, where the suppliers are located. Relationships with these manufacturers are long term and subject to Hercules’s approval and technical oversight. Although the company seeks to work with a limited number of suppliers, based on qualification criteria, there is no formal dependence on a single supplier, since it relies on an international base of industrial commodity suppliers. The prices of these inputs track the volatility of global markets and exchange rate fluctuations, as they are pegged to the US dollar, which can affect product costs and indirectly the licensee’s commercial terms in the Brazilian market. However, such cost swings are absorbed within the production and commercial chain, as Hercules operates at the brand licensing end, with no direct exposure to input imports.

Regarding the regulatory environment, Hercules does not operate in a sector considered regulated or subject to specific authorizations from sectoral agencies in order to conduct its activities. As a company focused on brand licensing, it does not have its own industrial plant or activities with material environmental and social impacts, according to its operational description. For this reason, the company indicates that certain regulatory obligations typical of industrial companies do not apply directly to its operations. The business structure is based on licensing and distribution agreements that define brand usage, royalty rights and the licensee’s responsibilities for producing, importing and commercializing products, keeping Hercules as a manager of intangible assets and a capital market participant through its HETA3 and HETA4 shares on B3.

In the environmental, social and governance (ESG) field, Hercules states that, at present, it does not publish a specific report on the topic, does not adopt a formal materiality matrix, ESG key performance indicators or follow standards such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the TCFD recommendations for climate risk disclosure. This stance is internally justified by the company’s size and the nature of its activities, centered on brand licensing, without its own operational chain, without a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and without industrial or logistics structures that generate significant emissions. Even so, the company claims to conduct its business with a focus on ethics and good governance, maintaining transparency regarding its business model, revenue sources and licensing agreement structure, aspects that are relevant to understanding its role as an equity issuer in the Brazilian market.