Almacenes Éxito S.A. (EXITO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. Welcome, and thank you for joining us today to go over Grupo Exito's Second Quarter and First Semester Results. My name is Laura Botero, Investor Relations Director. Today, we have a dynamic agenda, starting with words from our CEO, Mr. Carlos Calleja, who will share his vision, talk about the listing process and give us some operational and financial insights. Next, our CFO, Fernando Carbajal, will dive into financial performance for the second quarter and first half of the year. And finally, we'll wrap up with conclusions and Q&A session. Let's begin. Thank you all for being here.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. It's an honor to share the results of the second quarter of 2025. At Grupo Exito, we firmly believe in the transformative potential of Colombia and Latin America as a whole. Our purpose is clear and unwavering to unlock that potential by supporting the development of individuals, families and communities in every country we operate. At Grupo Exito, our conviction is simple yet powerful, "Strive to be better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we are today." This principle is embedded in our DNA. It's not just a phrase, it's the engine that drives us forward. The results we're presenting today reflect that deep-rooted commitment to continuous progress. We are proud to announce that we have closed the most successful first semester and best second quarter of the last decade for Grupo Exito. This achievement not only surpasses the results of Q2 last year and Q1 of this year, but underscores the progress of a profound transformation; one fueled by discipline, long-term vision and an unshakable drive to build a stronger, more efficient and more resilient company. We are building a dynamic interconnected ecosystem where every business unit contributes to the value we provide. Grupo Exito is no longer just a retailer. It's an evolving platform that seamlessly integrates brands, channels, shopping centers, financial services and meaningful relationships with millions of customers. In the first half of this year, we've made determined progress in executing our strategic priorities across our key markets. In Colombia, we continue to strengthen Exito and Carulla as our 2 flagship brands with the highest potential. Since the beginning of the brand unification project, we have transformed 40 stores, 14 of which took place this year. Over the next 3 years, we plan to renovate more than 100 additional locations. We've bolstered operational discipline, reducing spending by 6% in this quarter compared to Q2 of 2024. At the same time, we've refined our commercial strategy, expanding our product offering by over 30%, introducing highly effective saving tools such as Thematic days and ImPRECIOnantes are unbeatable prices and elevating the customer experience across all touch points. Omnichannel sales continue to gain momentum, now accounting for 14% of total revenue. We're also optimizing traffic monetization through complementary businesses like Puntos Colombia, Tuya Mobile Services and Exito Media. Meanwhile, Viva Malls reinforces our leadership in the country shopping center landscape. Over the past 18 months, we embarked on a profound transformation in Colombia, refocusing our operations with disciplined precision and a clear emphasis on efficiency and profitability. The results speak for themselves. Recent quarters have shown sustained improvements in performance, a healthy recovery in cash flow and a stronger, more resilient operating base. In Uruguay, we are reinforcing our long-term market leadership through an integrated strategy focused on assortment expansion in priority categories, delivering compelling savings opportunities under our dynamic high-low pricing model and investing in store remodels to enhance the customer experience. We are also preparing for targeted expansion into secondary cities with high growth potential, ensuring our footprint evolves in line with market opportunities. This strategic agenda is complemented by strong customer engagement as demonstrated by the latest addition of the Wine Fair, which delivered 15% sales growth and broad campaigns across fresh and packaged categories that continue to strengthen brand loyalty. Omnichannel remains a growth engine. Orders increased by more than 60% and billing through our [ Geant ] channel surged 80% in Q2, with fast delivery under 1 hour now firmly established as a differentiator in the market. Though the Argentinian market remains challenging, our team is responding with commitment and discipline, addressing the real needs of families and executing a strategy centered on resilience. We are restructuring operations, refinancing debt and evaluating stabilization pathways for the retail business. At the same time, our real estate division continues to generate positive results, making a meaningful contribution to group income. These actions reflect our determination to stabilize operations and preserve profitability in one of the most complex macroeconomic environments in the region. One of the key highlights this quarter was the successful delisting of our ADRs in New York and BDRs in Brazil, a strategic move executed in record time. This operation strengthened liquidity and increased our free float in Colombia's equity market, rising from 2.6% before the process to 13.2% today. As anticipated, this evolution has contributed to improved price formation. Should this momentum continue, it may open doors for inclusion in major stock indices. Though such inclusion is ultimately subject to external evaluations, our intention is clear. We aim to position Grupo Exito as a more visible, attractive and influential company within Colombia's capital market. This milestone is completely aligned with our long-term vision and disciplined approach. At our core, we are building a Grupo Exito that delivers enduring value, drives positive transformation and uplifts the lives of our customers. The disciplined execution of our strategy is translating into powerful results. In Q2, consolidated revenues rose 5.8% year-over-year, excluding FX, with same-store sales up 6.8%. Operational EBITDA grew 32.8% with an 8.7% margin, up 195 bps from last year. This performance was supported by a stronger commercial platform, closing the quarter with 592 stores and 36 strategic additions over the past year. Over 8,500 suppliers contribute daily to our operation, reinforcing value creation across the supply chain. As the engine of our operations, Colombia generated approximately 76% of total revenues in Q2. The country posted revenue growth of 6.8%, same-store sales growth of 8.2% and a robust 50.8% increase in operational EBITDA, with the margin rising to 8.8%, a 257-basis point improvement over Q2 of last year. This strong quarterly performance laid the groundwork for Colombia's solid semester. Cumulatively, EBITDA for the first half grew 41%, while margins expanded by 186 basis points, reaffirming Colombia's role as the group's main driver of margin recovery and cash generation. Uruguay continues to solidify its position as a pillar of stable profitability within the group. In Q2, revenue grew 4.4%, excluding currency effects, while same-store sales increased 5.1%. Operational EBITDA increased 10.4%, achieving a quarterly margin of 11.9%, the highest among all countries with a 64-basis point improvement year-over-year. These results driven by a mature, well-managed operation and consistent cost discipline contributed significantly to the semester's strong performance. As a result, Uruguay closed the first semester with a robust EBITDA margin of 13.1%, reaffirming its strategic role as a high-yield asset within the group's portfolio. Further financial and operational details on Argentina will be shared by our CFO, Fernando Carbajal, later in this presentation. As the country navigates a complex macroeconomic environment, we remain focused on executing our strategy with determination. Our strong performance across business units and geographies contributed to a solid semester for Grupo Exito. For the first half of 2025, net income reached approximately COP 240 billion, decisively reversing last year's loss and confirming a structural turnaround in profitability. In Q2, net income totaled COP 146.9 billion, up from a loss of COP 18.7 billion in 2024. This result was driven by sustained operational improvement across our core markets, efficiencies and financial costs and the positive contribution of Tuya. Recurring EBITDA reached COP 452.2 billion, growing by 32% year-over-year and showing continued quarter-over-quarter momentum, a reflection of our consistent execution. These results confirm our strategy is working. But beyond the numbers, what validates our path forward is the ability to build businesses with a sustainable and resilient growth that generate a positive impact in the communities we serve. Here, I'm going to pass it over to Fernando, our CFO.

Thank you, Carlos, and good morning, everyone. It's our pleasure to be here with you today. Following Carlos' highlights, I look forward to walking you through our financial performance that reflect the hard work and commitment of our team across the region. As previously stated, our core objective is to drive consistent positive progress across several dimensions, starting with a strategic clarity following with operational excellence across our stores and business units and culminated in strong financial results. In Q2 2025, we delivered solid performance across all key financial indicators, improvement from Q1 results in closing the first half of the year with our highest net profit in the past decade. Net revenue grew by 5.8% year-over-year in Q2, excluding ForEx effects, outpacing inflation and gaining market share in both Colombia and Uruguay in same-store sales. For the first half of the year, revenue rose by 4.7%, also excluding ForEx effects. Gross margin remained stable at 25.6% in Q2, supported by the healthy balance between top line growth and sustainable profitability. The accumulated margin for the first half of the year also reached 25.6%, representing 29 bps increase compared to the same period last year. We continue executing our regional efficient plan, which resulted in 212 bps reduction in Q2 2025 expenses versus the same period last year. For the first half, we achieved 135 bps, improved our cost and expenses margin. As a result, EBITDA margin improved by 195 bps, reaching 8.7% margin in the second quarter of 2025, which leads an improvement of 154 bps in accumulated EBITDA margin results. Finally, the company also continued to optimize its financial structure, improving its debt position and benefit from 2 years stronger performance. This led to a net result margin of 2.8% up to 390 bps from Q2 2024 and above the 1.7% recorded in Q1. The first half closed with 2.3% net result margin. This consistent performance is lying the foundation for transforming Grupo Exito in high-end performing business. Breaking down the 5.8% net revenue growth, the main contributors were: 5.2% of the growth came from Colombian operation, driven by the solid performance of the food segment, the uplift in the performing and nonfood category due to a double-digit and big ticket item and stable performance in other revenues; 0.9% of the growth was driven by our Uruguayan operation, where net revenue in local currency increased by 4.4% overall and 5.1% in same-store sales, reflecting a mature stable consistent performance business. On the other hand, the Argentinian operation shows a negative contribution of 0.2%, reflecting a challenging performance in the Retail segment. We remain focused on identifying the most effective operational model to address the current challenge and to deliver the appropriate solution for all Argentinian customers within a profitable structure. The strong sales performance in Colombia confirmed that our strategy focus on strengthening the current store portfolio in refining our commercial strategy is delivering positive results. In Q2 2025, sales in Colombia grew by 6.9%, driven by a solid 5.3% increase in food segment and 11.3% growth in nonfood, continuing the positive trend for Q1 and the omnichannel share that reached 13.9%, showing a sustainable growth. By brand, same-store sales grew 10.6% in Exito and 8.4% in Carulla. Also, our local segment decreased 4.9%, mainly by our B2B, where we are fine-tuning our strategy. Same-store sales grew by 8.2% overall. To summarize, our Colombian strategy is built on 3 clear pillars: simplification, saving orienting initiative and portfolio expansion, all focused on enhancing the customer experience. First, under the simplification pillar, we began a gradual banner unification process under the Exito and Carulla brands. So far, 14 stores have undergone this transformation, achieving 6.8% increase in sales post conversion. We plan to extend this rollout to additional 10 to 16 stores by the end of the year. Second, our saving strategy. We launched several initiatives to deliver greater value to our customers, including dias tematicos offering a special discount, for example, liquor on Friday, fruits and vegetables on Tuesdays and meat on Wednesday. inSUPERables, a portfolio nearly 1 dozen SKU from top national and international brands with the promise of having the best price in every city, achieved 13.6% sales growth versus the same period last year. The new impression strategy, which offer the best price on SKU for a limited time across the sales channel. Finally, under our portfolio expansion, we are working to offer the best assortment for our clients. Under this strategy, we increased the number of SKUs per store by over 30% on average after the successful national deployment, the new assortment now represents 6% of the sales of consumer goods. [ Previously ] mentioning Grupo Exito operate a diversified ecosystem and our complementary businesses also delivered outstanding results. On real estate business operating more than 807,000 square meters of GLA across shopping malls in commercial galleries grew by 12.6% with a high occupation level around 98%. Viva Malls with an EBITDA margin of 78% improved to 257 bps compared to Q2 2024. Our financial service business, Tuya, showed a significant improvement, delivering positive results in the first half of the year. Tuya contribution reached approximately COP 20 billion and positive income to Grupo Exito, an improvement of COP 71 billion compared to the loss record in the same period last year. Puntos Colombia, our loyalty coalition and the leading loyalty brand in Colombia according to Kantar, reached 8.3 million customers with over 6,000 alliance brands. More than 55% of the redemption occurred within Exito store, underscoring the strong contribution and strategic value this business brings to Grupo Exito. In Colombia, net revenue for the quarter hit COP 4 trillion, growing 6.8%. Meanwhile, recurring EBITDA reached COP 348 billion, growing 51% with a margin of 8.8% of net revenue. This strong performance was driven by 3 key factors. The first one, sales growth, confirming that the company is in the right direction after focusing its effort on [ stating ] our existing footprint, winning 60 basis points on same store sales market share year-to-date. Gross profit up 22.6%, gaining plus 59 bps, driven by a healthy balance between sales growth and sustainable profit margin and the disciplined approach to expenses reduction. Uruguay continued to deliver a consistent strong performance across both commercially and financial dimension. On the commercial side, several successful initiatives implemented in Colombia are now being deployed in Uruguay, such as the increase of the product assortment and saving levers like [Foreign Language]. Meanwhile, we are maintaining the traditional commercial activities that keep us in contact with our clients. On the financial side, result was driven by food category growing 5% in local currency. nonfood category with a slight decline of 2.7%, mainly by nonrecurring base effects. And last one, omnichannel growing 8.1% with a share of 3.2% of retail sales. Despite the positive results, the company remains focused in identifying improving opportunities through cost control and expenditure efficiencies and the closing of 3 convenience and underperforming stores. In Uruguay, net revenue for the second quarter landed at COP 1 trillion, growing 3.9%. Recurring EBITDA grew around 10% with a margin of 11.9% of the net revenue. Net revenues in local currency grew 4.4% with a same-store growth of the 5.1% in local currency. Fresh markets grew 6%. Gross profit margin rose to 36.4%, thanks to tighter linkage cost and control level. Expenses improved by 74 bps due to the implementation of cost control action plan. Finally, Uruguay EBITDA margin improved by 64 bps versus Q2 2024 and continue the most profitable business unit for Grupo Exito. Our operation in Argentina is going through a challenging period, which we are addressing with a determination, a clear focus on streamlining the retail operation while preserving the real estate contribution. As part of this strategy, 7 stores were optimized in the first half of the year to improve the retail space efficiency for -- under performing wholesale stores were closed during Q2 2025. We also implement key actions to reduce expenses, logistic costs, [ its linkage level and rest ] our debt to reduce the financial costs. The real estate business unit where the company operates 14 shopping centers continued to deliver resilient results, supported by a healthy collection rate and stable occupancy level around 95%. This slide shows Argentina financial results, which despite the efforts in real estate business expense reduction continued to reflect a negative EBITDA. Net revenue for the quarter reached COP 215 billion, decreasing 39%, while recurring EBITDA was negative at around COP 15 billion. Net revenues in local currency decreased 4.2% with a 5.7% decrease in same-store retail sales, while the real estate business remained resilient, growing 67% in local currency. Gross profit decreased by 10%, excluding ForEx effect during Q2 2025, 190 bps below versus Q2 2024, reflecting a lower consumption trend and price investment. Expenses grew below inflation in local currency during the quarter, driven by the successful execution efficiency initiative. As a result, EBITDA margin for Q2 2025 stood at negative 6.1%. Year-to-date, Argentina reflects a 20% decline in net revenue, a 135 bps contraction in gross profit margin despite of 10% reduction in expenses, ending in EBITDA margin negative 4.2%, below to the first half of the last year. At consolidated level, after reviewing the main driver of each country result, we can summarize in the following points. Q2 2025 highlights. Net revenue grew 5.8% when excluding ForEx effect in same-store sales grew 6.8%. Gross profit and expenses efficiencies dropped a total 195 bps, improving in EBITDA margin, reaching 8.7% of the net revenue, the best second quarter EBITDA margin in the last decade. Net results around COP 147 billion compared to the negative result in the same period last year. This turnaround was driven by improved operational performance, lower financial costs and the positive contribution from Tuya and Colombia, resulting in a net margin of 2.8%, up 319 bps versus Q2 2024. When excluding certain nonrecurring items primarily related to provision reversal and tax benefit, the adjusted net result decreased by 28 basis points, finishing at 2.5%. First half 2025 highlights. Net revenue grew 4.7% when excluding ForEx effect. Gross profit and expense and efficiency dropped 135 bps, improving in EBITDA margin, reaching 7.8% of the net revenue. Net results around COP 214 billion, marking COP 297 billion improvement versus the loss posted in the same period last year, resulting in a net margin of 2.3%. Nonrecurring items accounted for 32 basis points of the net result margin, resulting in adjusted net result of 1.9%. In terms of net financial performance, the company maintained at stable levels. Cash position closed at COP 0.8 trillion, supported by the improved operational result. Gross debt remained in line with the same period of last year. Additionally, there was a 9% reduction compared to Q3 2024 when the company recorded its highest debt level last year. The company continues to strike a healthy balance between investment and leverage to optimize financial costs. As a result of that, net financial debt remained stable with a net debt-EBITDA ratio of 0.9x, reflecting a strong operational performance and efficient cash generation during the second quarter of 2025. To conclude, let me summarize the key message. Solid performance in Colombia with a strong top line growth, significant EBITDA expansion and improved profitability driven by commercial focus, cost efficiency, real estate and other businesses contribution. We are building a solid path to profitability in the Colombian retail business, consistent growth in profitability in Uruguay, supported by the successful implementation of commercial initiatives. Challenging environment in Argentina, where efforts to streamline operations and reduce costs are still running, while the real estate business remained resilient despite ongoing macroeconomic pressures. We are actively developing new avenue for growth and reinvesting margin improvement back into the business, growth and capabilities. Our continued focus on margin expansion and disciplined cost control is driving sustained profitability. And finally, the strong first half results keep us on track to deliver our full year plan, both profit and loss and cash. [Foreign Language] Carlos, over to you.

None of this progress would be possible without the trust of our customers and the unwavering commitment of our teams, partners and suppliers. Thanks to them, we are seeing unmistakable signals that we are moving in the right direction. We have shown that it's possible to reverse trends, build profitability with purpose and achieve impactful results when vision, execution and conviction come together. To our shareholders and investors, thank you for believing in this company and its people. Your decision to invest in Grupo Exito is one we deeply respect, and we are committed to creating value for every shareholder regardless of their stake. To the millions who choose us every day for shopping, for services, for moments that shape their lives, thank you for your loyalty. We strive to earn that trust in every store, in every interaction and in every offering. To our collaborators who bring passion and purpose to their work. Your commitment powers our mission. Thank you. We know there's much still to do, and that energizes us. Grupo Exito will remain a vital force for regional development, a trusted ally to our communities and a source of hope and optimism for those who believe in progress built together. 2025 is not merely a better year for the company. It marks the start of a new era for the group, an era of renewed leadership, measurable impact and growth that transcends financial improvement. We are laying the foundation for a future where success is measured not only by results, but by the value we generate for people, for communities and for the region because we believe that true leadership is not just about advancing, it's about inspiring, transforming and leading a lasting legacy for future generations to build on. [Foreign Language] We are all part of this journey. That is the essence of what drives us forward, empowering people and communities throughout Latin America.

Thank you for your attention. We are now ready to open the floor for questions.

[Operator Instructions] [Audio Gap] Nicolas, go ahead.

I had 2 actually. First, of course, in Colombia, impressive results, particularly on the expense side. Interesting to hear from you, Carlos, if you could think or maybe give a percentage in terms of turnaround, like where are you on the more general plan? Is it 50% done, 30% done? Very -- would be very interesting to hear your thoughts on that. And also again, on Colombia, this expense base that we suffered for the second quarter, do you think is the new normal for the company? Maybe you had some nonrecurrence there on the restructuring, also very interesting to hear your comments on that.

Nico, it's great to have you here. You're always you're always here with us, and we like that. So great, great to see you. Your question is a tough question in terms of asking us for a number because we tend to think about this as a continuous improvement, and that's sort of the mandate that we've placed on ourselves. What I can say is that we are seeing the fruits of our labor. The hard work that the team has been doing is bearing results, and we're seeing that. Percentage-wise, I don't want to answer, but what I would say is we're happy with what we're seeing, but there is still a long way to go. And as we look around and we look around the organization and we look around the businesses and we see what we're doing, we still see great opportunity to continue strengthening the company. So I would say our feeling right now is one of satisfaction that we are seeing the turnaround happen, but there's still a long way to go. And we think we can continue to improve day-over-day, month-over-month, year-over-year, the results of the company. And that's what we're working on doing for the employees, for the investors, for everyone. As you know, [ Grupo Calleja ] comes from a family business with an ownership mentality, where we've, modestly aside, achieved incredible results. And we're far from that still in terms of margins and everything. I don't want to talk about that right now. It's a different company, but we're accustomed to performing with excellence, and that's what we're striving to do. And we have the team in place here in Grupo Exito to do that. And I think what you guys are seeing right now is the beginning, as I said in our presentation, of a new era for the company. That will continue to improve. With regards to the cost base of the company. There's still opportunities. We see them every day. At the same time, I think that we've made progress in terms of bringing down the cost structure, but we're never satisfied. We're always looking for opportunities in all different aspects of the business. And as we grow the company, which is the idea -- as we grow the company going forward, we hope to also bring down costs relative to that growth. We're going to be very conscious in terms of how we ensure productivity within the organization. And I think we can grow, and that's why you've seen us grow on the platform of the same stores that we have in a way that, that creates more productivity and better margins and a lower relative cost. I don't know if that answers your question directly, but I think that's what I can say.

Nicolas, just to complement to Carlos, I think the Q2 expense is a good baseline in terms of modeling or simulate [ here to go or ] future scenario for Grupo Exito.

We have another question from Alonso.

Congratulations on a very strong result. Two questions from my end. First, if you can maybe talk us through maybe the next steps in Argentina. It looks you're cutting cost, but what's the end target there? Do you plan to continue to work on efficiencies? Is it -- do you need more scale? What are some of the plans there? And second, if maybe you can provide some color on the competitive environment in Colombia. What are you seeing from competitors? I understand that they continue to grow stores. Maybe some color on that to give us a sense of what's going on in Colombia?

Thank you, Alonso, for being here with us and for your interest. I'll probably go with the second question first, and then I can go to Argentina, if that's cool. Listen, what we're seeing in Colombia is that our strategy is working in terms of competitiveness. As you know, we've implemented a high-low strategy, which brings traffic to our stores through discounted and promotional sort of sales that we're doing. That's really gained traction. Yesterday, I was out visiting the stores, and it's incredible to see how each month, the penetration of those initiatives is growing. It's almost like a snowball effect. When you come in with a strategy that's different, this high-low strategy with these levers of savings, it takes time to position it in the market. But I think without a doubt, we're achieving that goal. And when I talk to the store managers, they're really excited. There's no one in the company on the store floor that thinks we're going in the wrong direction in terms of the strategy. The strategy is definitely working. The more assortment that allows us to differentiate ourselves with our competitors, the strength in fresh produce, strength in meat, all those products that allow us to differentiate us and the high-low, high-low strategy in terms of savings, it just fits so well with Latin American culture. People love to take advantage of a good sale and families move to stores. And like we say, they'll take their car off the track it was in to go to one of our stores to be able to take advantage of that savings, that promotion. And we're able to do it, too, in a very, very specific way where we can align it with liquidity in the market. As you know, Colombia, payments of salaries are done every 15 days. So you can use a high-low strategy to capture more value more efficiently without just blowing what I call your gun powder out, which is your margin in a manner that's not specific or targeted. So that's working well. And what we're seeing is that people are enjoying visiting our stores. They enjoy the aspirational experience, the value added. And we are gaining market share in that same-store sales platform throughout the semester. And we continue with our program to invest in our stores, to refurbish our stores to bring them up to that level of quality that really makes a difference as well. Like I said, there's a space in every country for that hard discount layer. We're not betting on that hard discount layer for our future. We're betting on a value proposition that's more aspirational and differentiated, but brings the savings but with more assortment, better service. And everywhere we've worked in our history, we've realized that, that's a space that always exists, that people want and that we love to do because we're passionate about serving in that space. So competitive landscape, I would say, is always intense, but we're really happy about what we're seeing, and we're definitely more convinced than ever that this strategy is going to work in Colombia. And if you look -- I don't want to talk about other players in the space. But if you look at other players who are in that space with us that, let's say, aren't the hard discounters, I would say we're overachieving, and we're definitely gaining market share. So we're psyched about that. We're very, very happy about that. Listen, with Argentina, this is what I can say. Our real estate business is a solid business. And we know we have good assets there. We have a lot of GLA there. We've got shopping centers that are generating a profit. The business that's losing money is the retail business. We've been working on bringing down costs for restructuring, we're refinancing. So we're doing everything we can to make that business as profitable as it can be or to minimize those losses. And we're analyzing consistently what decisions we have to make to ensure and create value for the company. That's what I would say. We're very clear that there's one business which is solid, and we know there's another business which is having a hard time. And we're thinking around that to try to see what are the best decisions for the company. And for the shareholders, for all the shareholders.

We have another...

I don't know if you guys want to add on that.

Yes. I would only add on the part of competitive that if we look at our 60 basis points gain in same stores in the first semester, clearly, we are within the key winners and of the traditional competitors, as Carlos said, overperforming. And we are becoming clearly the destination for full grocery shopping, and that's very important as a purpose. Because while others are offering a very limited assortment, we want our customers to be able to have all the grocery shopping with us.

There's another thing that we all get really excited about, which is the Carulla project that we have going on, which you have all heard about, right? And I think when we mentioned that the first time, there was a lot of questions about whether that was viable. Could we make Carulla into a supermarket for all of Colombia, right? And I want to be very clear that there is a consensus within the organization, within the people in the stores that we are going in the right direction, and we're seeing it. So we're super, super psyched about that. We see how Carulla, which was a brand that was say positioned up here is landing across bigger part of the population, and we see it as a channel for growth internally within the organization in Colombia to become that supermarket. And that's sort of the format that Grupo Calleja is very good at in its home country in El Salvador, right? So that was, I think, a question mark out there. I want to tell everyone that we all think that it's the right decision, and we're very, very excited with what we're seeing.

We also have another question through the chat from Juan Camilo. What are your expectations for sales growth across the regions for 2025 and 2026? And what is the overall situation on commerce in each of the countries of operation and particularly Colombia?

Okay. Thank you, Juan Camilo. Let me answer the first question. As you know, we have a constraint in terms of to set or answer this question because we are a public company. So -- but I would like to say we are working very hard based on all the commercial strategy, all the financial proposal we have in terms of financial growth model to ensure we are keeping a good momentum in terms of sales growth, also in terms of market share. So in this moment, the plan for the company is to continue working very hard and to capitalize all the opportunity that we have in the market and continue with good momentum in terms of growth.

I'll just add the following. If we look at the second semester going forward, and I'll go back to last year, we had a year of transformation with nonrecurring expenses to restructure the company. And if you recall, we lost money, I think, the first 3 quarters and made it all back in the fourth quarter. What I want to say, for our business, the [Foreign Language] is, without a doubt, super important. And we've got the entire organization focused in making sure we end this year [Foreign Language]. That means full out and take advantage of what we know we can do. And we are super well positioned with our value proposition, with our product assortment, with our food and nonfood to really blow it out this Christmas season. And we are gung-ho and all aligned in that. And the other great thing that I can share with you guys is that I've spoken a lot over the last couple of months about how we're strengthening our platform. But these results that we're seeing are giving us the cash flow that is allowing us to plan our expansion. And we are beginning that project now. We want to start growing new stores next year. But to do that, we have to start working now. So we're all working on identifying locations. And just a small fun fact, hard discounters cover, I think, roughly close to, I don't know, more than 900 municipalities in Colombia. I don't even think we're in 300. So that gives you a sense of where we can go. And we're very clear about that. So we have years and years of future growth in Colombia. without a doubt.

There are several building blocks that we are working to identify to capitalize this growth opportunity. So...

I would add something, and it is that as we saw in the first quarter and last quarter of last year, most of the growth was done in big appliances in nonfood. Today, we are seeing that the growth is balanced across all the businesses, including textiles and including food and fresh products.

There is a second question, right?

Did that answer both your questions, Alonso? I think there was another one. Juan Camilo. [Foreign Language ]

What is the overall situation on commerce in each of the countries of operational and particularly Colombia?

Online commerce?

No. Commerce. Overall business context, we are already talking about Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay.

Okay. So I'll say this. Colombia is definitely much better off than it was a year ago, right, in terms of consumption. I think you're all seeing that in the numbers. There's an electoral year coming, but we see beyond that, and we don't see anything in the numbers and in the data, and we're a good thermometer of consumption in the country that makes us think that something is going to slow down because of an election in Colombia. We're driving through that. Uruguay, I think, is solid. It's always a solid sort of country for us. And the challenge, like I said, in terms of consumption is in Argentina. But at the same time, Argentina relative to sort of our total size is limited.

There are no more questions. So, okay. Thank you.

I just want to welcome Laura who's here. It's her first -- I don't know if we can zoom out and you guys can see her or she can come. Laura is the Head of Investor Relations here with us. She started, I would say, maybe 1.5 months ago, a little more maybe.

Yes.

And I wanted to give her a warm welcome and so that you all guys get to meet her, and I'm sure she'll be reaching out, and we're always available. [Foreign Language] as we say [Foreign Language] and thank you.

Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you so much for your attention, everyone, for joining us today. We appreciate your continued support with Grupo Exito. To conclude, we would like to invite you to watch a video that reaffirms our commitment with our shareholders.

And also I don't know if they can hear me, can they? That video that we did at the beginning that we were trying to innovate, try something new. So feedback, very welcome. If you guys thought it was good, thought it was interesting. We're trying to modernize the company, innovate. So great to have your feedback on that. Thank you, guys.

Thank you.