Tigre, known for its tradition in the construction sector, is about to turn 85 years old in 2025 with more than 5,000 employees and a presence in more than 30 countries.
Despite being associated with the pipes and fittings business, the company has greatly expanded its area of activity into agribusiness. The company provides solutions for irrigation, a very strong sector in Brazil with great growth potential, as only around 8% of the country’s plantable area is irrigated, which represents an opportunity to increase productivity.
Luiz Felipe Dau, CEO of the company, completed one year at the helm of the business in October. “Today, Tigre is much more than pipes and connections. We are present in the sanitation, agro and many other sectors”, he stated in an exclusive interview with InfoMoney.
The conversation took place after the awards ceremony The Most Valuable Brands in Brazil, carried out by InfoMoney in partnership with the TM20Branding. At the time, .
In the InfoMoney Interview, Dau took stock of his first year and spoke about plans for the future. Check out excerpts from the conversation below:
InfoMoney: Tigre is a company over 80 years old, which is still largely associated with tubes and connections, but Tigre is already much bigger than that. I would like you to give an overview of what the company is like today.
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Dau: Tigre is much more than pipes and connections today. We are very present in the sanitation sector, not only with pipes and connections, but with effluent treatment plants. Tigre is also a tool for painting, including brushes, rollers, brushes, and is also the leader in this market, as well as in electrical equipment for civil construction.
Tigre is a company that operates in several different segments, including irrigation. In Brazil, we provide solutions for agriculture. In the United States, we provide irrigation solutions for gardening, very common in American homes, and for golf courses. Tigre is much more than Brazil. We are in the United States with three units and in Latin America, we are present with operations in five countries: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Peru and Bolivia. As a brand and products, we are in more than 30 countries, 5,000 employees and a huge passion for the brand.
InfoMoney: How did tariffs in the United States, for example, impact the company’s business in any way?
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Dau: Directly, we were not impacted, because we produce for the country we are in. Indirectly, yes, especially in the United States. With tariff discussions, the cost of building a house in the United States became higher. With the higher cost, the market shrinks a little more. Indirectly, we are impacted by a more retracted market there, but in Brazil and Latin America there was no significant impact for us.
InfoMoney: What other numbers can the company open for billing and revenue?
Dau: Looking at the first half of this year versus In the first half of last year, we grew revenue by around 9%, even in a depressed market. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for non-recurring items) also grew 10%. Today, Brazil accounts for 66% of our global revenue, while 33% comes from Latin America and the United States.
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InfoMoney: What are the growth avenues that Tigre sees today?
Dau: First, sanitation. With the Sanitation Framework, which brought the universalization of effluent and sewage treatment to Brazil by 2033, this is an important avenue for growth. Today, around 45% of the Brazilian population does not have sewage or treated effluents. It is a very important social and environmental issue. Infrastructure works will require pipes and connections and effluent treatment stations.
The second aspect is irrigation. Today, around 8% of Brazil’s plantable area is irrigated. There is an opportunity for growth in irrigation and productivity for Brazil to be a source of food for the entire world.
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Tigre is a construction brand and sees important opportunities in retail, in capillarity and in construction companies, working even closer, with the technical capacity that Tigre has. And without forgetting the United States, where we have three plants. It’s a huge market that has seen some contraction, but we see the market for single-family and multi-family homes growing.
Therefore, our avenues are: sanitation, irrigation, civil construction and the United States. Our big challenge will be how to prioritize.
InfoMoney: How can we not lose focus with these very different growth fronts?
Dau: It is always necessary to keep in mind, with a team, prioritization and a very clear execution discipline. This for me is fundamental. It’s how we prioritize the initiatives with the most impact in each of these segments and focus on delivering them with excellence. It means looking at each segment, prioritizing, focusing on excellence, with what we call an ownership attitude.
