Jeronimo Martins Pe (JRONF) Q1 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining this call to present our first quarter results. As a reminder, in our corporate website, you can find the results release, a slide presentation, and a fact sheet for the periods. The group delivered a good performance in the first quarter of 2026, with a 6.3% sales growth incorporating the effect of an earlier Easter season and a BTA rising by 8.4% year on year also benefiting from the operational leverage. These results were achieved despite persistent global geopolitical tensions and heightened economic uncertainty for both businesses and consumers. Against this backdrop, and with fuel costs on the rise, consumers stayed cautious about food spending, favoring low prices and promotions. In Poland, Biedronka started the year operating with basket deflation. In face of these constraints, all companies remain firmly committed to their strategic priorities, maintaining price competitiveness and executing effective promotions to guarantee consumer preference and trust. We close the period with a solid balance sheet that includes a positive cash position of 385 million euros when excluding lease capitalization. Looking now to our first quarter P&L, I share with you a couple of comments. The first relates to operational performance, noting that the increase in EBITDA was primarily driven by strong sales and strict cost management. Furthermore, the improvement in gross margin reflects the group's commitment to optimizing product mix across banners as well as leveraging scale advantages resulting from consistent expansion as seen in ARA. The second comment concerns the evolution of financial cost that significantly impacted net earnings growth in the quarter. A major driver of this was the year-on-year increase in...