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Good day and welcome to the Geronimo Martins Full Year 2023 Results Conference Call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Annalisa Virginia, Chief Financial Officer of Geronimo Martins Group. Please go ahead, Madam.

Thank you, Sandra. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining this call. Before I invite you to go through the Geronimo Martins 2023 Full Year Results, I will give the floor to our chairman and CEO, Mr. Pedro Soares dos Santos. Mr. Pedro Santos, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Ana. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Before I give the floor to Ana Luisa, let me take a couple of minutes to share with you how I feel about 2023 performance and also how I see the months ahead. As you may remember, in the last couple of years, my remarks regarding the operational environment have been very consistent with the words like uncertainty, pressure, and inflation clearly setting the tone. It was against the persistently challenging backdrops in the three countries where we operate that once again we delivered what I consider a remarkable set of results. In 2023, we surpassed two very meaningful milestones. The 30 billion euros in sales, with a relevant help from inflation, and the 2 billion euros in EBITDA. These indicators alone, when put into perspective, allow us to tell a story of growth driven by a clear priorities, firm execution, efficiency and profitability. In fact, since 2019, we have been living through a very demanding and risky times. A pandemic, a long lasting war in the neighbors countries to our most important market, inflation rate at the peak and the more recent war in Gaza. This tragic conflict in the Middle East is raising tensions, namely in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, further impacting international trade. Between 2019 and 2023, we opened more than 1,750 stores, mostly in Poland and Colombia, and added more than 13 billion of euros to our consolidated sales, while decreasing by around 40% our carbon footprint in relative terms per each 1,000 euros of sales. During this period, we also invested above 4 billion euros in our business, of which, not surprising, most of them, most of heft in the . And we also doubled the net profits attributable to Geronimo Martins. In the five years period, the accumulated net profits surpassed 2.5 billion euros. Many things have changed in the last five years, some even dramatically. But our business priorities remain the same, to always put sales first to keep customs with us and to protect volume as a means also to preserve, as a means also to preserve profitability. In the period, Biedronka grew sales by over 80%, reinforcing its role as the group main growth engine and became Poland's biggest employer. All our banners, irrespectively, of the market they are operating in committed themselves to reinforce price leadership and market share. Under many sources of simulated pressure, our teams kept focused and worked hard to deliver impressive sales growth year on year. This was true also in 2023. Inflation did help sales on one hand, but also further push costs up, namely personal and grants. When looking at the last five years, we see both inconsistent trends of cost increase and price investment pressuring the EBITDA market. Since the end of 2023, a dangerous combination of persistent cost inflation and rapid decrease of food inflation has present itself. Our main food retail business are already operating with the flesh in their baskets, which makes comparatives with the previous year even tougher. We also experienced an increase of competition, particularly in Poland, and of the fight for volumes and market, particularly in Poland and for the volumes and market. We share again. Yes, and we share. This necessary means more cost and therefore further pressure on margin, as we will not put our price leadership at risk. We will also not compromise on the remuneration package of our people. In 2023, all our companies increase salaries, and we invest nearly 360 million euros in bonus and their incentives, and also in social responsibility. and well-being measure targets at our employees. In January of 2024, our biggest companies rose their minimum salaries again, and we also have nearly 100 million euros more in bonuses, payments to our operational teams in the three countries with regard to 2021. It was mentioned that in the last five years, we have invested more 1.1 billion euros in bonus pay to our employees to acknowledge their contribution and sense of community. We will also keep investing in the expansion and quality of our network, including the development of the logistics infrastructure in the three countries. And we are enthusiastic about internationalization to Slovakia and the perspective of the first stores opening by the end of the year. We expect nothing to be easier for us in 2024, and we are prepared to keep working very hard to grow , reinforce our competitive position, and meet our goals. We expect further cost discipline from our teams and sacrifice of all our known essential expenses. At the same time, we will keep the strategic investment in our business and our people, and to guarantee that real progress is made in the sustainability-related targets we set for ourselves. Thank you very much. Ana Luisa, now it's your time.