Alsea seeks to reduce impact on energy costs

Alsea, the operator of restaurants and cafeterias and restaurants under brands such as Vips and Starbucks, seeks to close long-term agreements to reduce the impact on its operations due to the increase in gas and electricity prices in Europe, where there has been an increase in the cost of energy, as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“There has been a significant increase in the costs of gas and electricity and to date we are looking at alternatives in Europe to close some long-term agreement, to have an energy cost that does not have such a strong impact on business results,” said the director of administration and finances of the station, Rafael Contreras.

In a virtual conference on the occasion of his report for the third quarter of 2022, he reiterated that given the uncertainty that the price of these supplies registers today, they have decided to wait a little time to “have a better result and a long-term agreement that benefits the company.” They’re not just thinking short-term, he said.

He also assured that until now they have not faced a shortage of energy in said market.

For his part, the general director of Alsea, Armando Torrado, detailed in a conference with analysts that the cost of electricity rose by up to 580%, to 300 euros per megawatt-hour in the month of August and that the company is evaluating different types of contracts that mitigate the impact of the rise in energy prices.

Alsea Europe’s sales represented 31.0% of the company’s consolidated sales (equivalent to 5,435 million pesos in the third quarter of the year). It has operations in Spain, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg and has 913 corporate units and 547 sub-franchisee units.

Sales from the European region increased 12.5% ​​year-on-year. Excluding the effect of the exchange rate, the increase was 30.1 percent. This responded to the normalization of consumer trends in the region, said Armando Villaseñor, head of the investor relations area, in a conference with analysts.

More investments are coming

Rafael Conteras mentioned that for the remainder of this 2022 they still plan to make capital investments (Capex) for around 2,300 million pesos, for which they estimate to close with a total of 4,800 million pesos. Until the third quarter they have invested 2,500 million pesos, in all the geographies where it operates.

Regarding store openings, the person in charge of Alsea’s finances pointed out that for this last quarter they will open between 90 and 95 more units, to close the year with between 170 and 200 corporate openings.

He mentioned that throughout the year, they have opened 98 establishments in all geographies, mainly of the Starbucks and Domino’s Pizza brands.

Finally, he announced that they are working on their expansion plan for 2026, which they will announce during the first quarter of next year.

termometro.economico@eleconomista.mx