Self-service stores reduce their debt in the third quarter of 2022

Chedraui y soriana, two of the four self-service chains listed on the Mexican stock exchange (BMV) reduced their debt by 10,444 million pesos in the third quarter of the year thanks to the restructuring of their businesses, which boosted their profitability.

The chain that had a greater reduction of its debt was Chedraui, whose obligations went from 20,330 million pesos to 14,214 million pesos, that is, a reduction of 30 percent. The entire debt is in dollars and belongs to its Smart and Final, Fiesta and El Super stores, so it has a natural hedge in that currency.

soriana achieved a restructuring that allowed it to discount 23.84% of its total obligations to 13,829 million pesos. 53% of his debt is with banks and his main creditor is Scotiabankwhich lent him 3,500 million pesos.

Walmart Mexico (Walmex) y The eating they have no debt. Walmex assures that “it is a company without costly debt. Nor does it carry out operations with derivatives, ”they wrote on their page.

La Comer eliminated all its debt in 2015, with the advance payment of a loan contracted in November 2012 for 1,500 million pesos. Since then, it has not acquired any other type of financial obligation.

Marisol Huerta, consumer sector analyst at Banco Ve Por Más (BX+), explained that each of the self-service companies followed different strategies to reduce their debt.

The expert added that this debt reduction helped Chedraui y soriana to have significant growth in its profitability, despite an increase in costs and high inflation.

The four chains presented year-on-year growth between 10% and 63.7% in net profit for the third quarter of 2022. Together, they achieved profits of 15,019 million pesos, a result above analyst estimates.

The chain that had the greatest increase in its utility was Chedraui (63.73%), while the least grew was Walmex (9.99%). soriana and The eating their profit grew by 23.03 and 10.49%, respectively.

In terms of volume, the highest profit was achieved by Walmex (12,153 million pesos), followed by Chedraui (1,467 million pesos), Soriana (967 million pesos) and even the last La Comer (431.9 million pesos).

Marcela Muñóz, consumer sector analyst at Vector Casa de Bolsa, explained that the growth in profitability despite the increase in costs was due to “the recovery in the real estate sector, as well as efficiencies in terms of logistics, and handling of perishables.” .

Marisol Huerta added that the real estate sector of self-service chains usually complements the retail sales business, since the rental of commercial premises attracts a greater traffic of buyers to their establishments.

For his part, Carlos Hermosillo, an independent analyst, assured that the increase in the profitability of the companies was achieved thanks to the operating leverage of the companies. He added that the results were supported by changes in the sales mix, prioritizing smaller or lower ticket products that do not imply a lower gross margin.

“Negotiations with suppliers have been very intense, and in some cases have been quite effective,” the analyst said.

The sales of the four companies also had significant growth in the July-September 2022 period, thanks to a higher sales ticket (higher prices) and the recovery of traffic in physical stores.

The largest year-over-year increase in revenue was obtained by Chedraui (23.41%), followed by The eating (13.88%), Walmex (12.41%) y soriana (7.86%).

After the publication of the reports, the actions of the self-service chains advanced on the BMV; Chedraui (21.32%), Soriana (13.57%), Walmex (7.66%) and Comer (0.89%).

Walmex It has 2,804 stores in Mexican territory and 873 branches throughout Central America.

Chedraui has 342 branches in Mexican territory, divided into the following business segments: 203 stores Chedraui67 super chedraui stores, 64 supercito stores and 8 super che stores, according to figures from its latest quarterly report.

In the United States, it has a presence in the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas with 377 branches.

Soriana Group It owns 800 establishments, distributed in the following formats: 369 Hiper units, 127 Super units, 163 Mercado units, 105 Express units and 36 City Club units.

La Comer is the self-service chain with the fewest establishments, just 78 as of September 30.

termometro.economico@eleconomista.mx

kg