Jeronimo Martins Pe

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Geronimo Martin's first half 2025 results webcast and conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be the question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star 1 1 on your telephone keypad. You will hear an automatic message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw a question, please press star 1 1 again. Please be advised that this conference has been recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to our speaker today, Ana Luisa Virginia. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Nadia. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining this call dedicated to our first half results. As usual, in our corporate website, you can find the results release, a slide presentation, and a fact sheet for the period. As anticipated, in the first six months of 2025, we faced a challenging operating context that combined muted food consumption, low basket inflation, and rising wages. Despite the increase in salaries across the countries where we operate, families have in general kept cautious spending habits and a clear preference for value opportunities, particularly in what food is concerned. Against this backdrop, market competitive dynamics continue to be intense. Prioritizing sales growth, we maintained our focus on providing the best prices and the best saving opportunities, which enabled us to retain consumer preference, increase the top line, and gain further share. This sales growth, coupled with stricter cost management and additional productivity measures, more than offset margin pressure. In the period, we also registered good progress in our CapEx program, which is our first priority for capital allocation. And notably, despite the ambitious target set, if excluding IFRS 16, the group maintained a cash position of €213 million at the end of June after the payment of €371 million in dividends to its shareholders. Looking now at the P&Ls, I'm going to focus on the six months' figures rather than the individual quarters, as the timing of Easter this year skewed performance in Q1 and Q2 and doesn't allow for a fair reading. I would like to flag a couple of things here. On sales, all banners delivered well, driving the group's top line to grow by 6.7% or 6% at constant exchange rates. A DTA was supported by sales growth and a balanced management of gross margin, costs, and productivity. All in all, EBITDA grew 10.3%, or 9% at constant exchange rates, and EBITDA margin was 21 basis points up versus the same period in 2024, reaching 6.6%. The execution of the ambitious investment program is reflected in the evolution of both depreciation and net financial costs, as the latter also includes the interest expense of capitalized leases. And finally, a word on the other profit and losses heading. That includes indemnities, write-offs and provisions, as well as the allocation of €40 million from the 2024 results to the Jerónimo Martins Foundation. Cash flow for the period was an outflow of €157 million. This reflects the normal seasonality of the business, as the first months of each year are strongly impacted by supplier payments following the peak Christmas season, To confirm, Q2 cash flow was positive. I would like to make two additional comments. The first one regarding paid income tax, which in H1-25 was substantially lower than in H1-24. This is because in Poland, advanced tax payments are usually based on results from two years prior, with adjustments made after closing the fiscal year. This implied higher cash outflow in 2024, having in mind the strong results of 2022 and 2023. The second comment is on working capital flows, which reflect mainly the healthier growth dynamics of 2025 compared with 2024. The group ended the quarter with a strong financial position and a positive cash position of €213 million. Consistent with our long-term vision of sustainable growth, and as I said earlier, the primary capital priority is executing our investment program, which focuses on expanding operations and guaranteeing the quality of the infrastructure. In the first six months of 2025, our van combined opened 196 stores and remodeled 71 locations. I highlight here the launch of the Biedronka operation in Slovakia, with one DC and six stores open so far, and a successful integration in ARA until the end of the period of 58 stores formally operated by cost-subsidio that are a great match to our expansion strategy. Looking now into the details of the performance, I will start with sales. All banners delivered solid sales performance that resulted in €1 billion more being added to the group's total revenue over six months. Consolidated sales grew by 6.7%, 6% at constant exchange rates, to reach 17.4 billion euros, including a life-for-life of 1.6% and a contribution from expansion. Amid a refrained consumer backdrop and strong competition, Diadronka maintained its price leadership in Poland, delivering on its 30-year promise to the Polish families. In addition to its relentless promotional dynamic, the banner continues to work on the quality of its offer, with its perishables and private label assortments standing out, and on the standards of its infrastructure, having opened 81 new stores, 72 net additions, and remodeled 34. All in all, sales grew by 7.1% to 12.4 billion euros, or 5% in local currency, and our main banner kept increasing its market share. Like for like was of 0.9%, against the outstanding volume growth delivered in H1-24. In Q2, the like-for-like stood at a solid 5.3%, also supported by Easter. Hebe operates in a context that turned more price competitive, driving the banner to register substantial deflation in the baskets. Sales increased by 9.4%, or 7.3% in local currency, to reach 297 million euros. Over the period, Nine habit stores were opened in Poland, six net additions, and one in Czech Republic. Driven by the consistent execution of its well-recognized promotional campaigns and the conversion of its stores to the all-about-foods concept, Pingdós grew sales by 5.7% to 2.5 billion euros, and like-for-like, excluding fuel, was of 3.9%. In the six months, our supermarket banner opened three stores and 24 additional locations were converted to the all-about food concept. RCEI, that continues to operate in a challenging context, is investing to perform and has done well in the period, particularly in the ORECA segment, where the quality and assertiveness of its offer stands out. It is worth mentioning, with respect to the comps, that a year ago, the ORECA sector started showing signs of slowdown. Against this backdrop that has been felt since then, Recheio managed to increase its client base and to grow sales by 1.9% to €657 million, with Like for Like standing at 1.6%. In Colombia, ARA remains committed to its promotional agenda on top of its everyday low prices. The banner is successfully building its presence in the neighborhoods, gaining consumer preference and outperforming the markets. Sales grew by 7%, or 15.6%, in local currency to reach 1.5 billion euros. Like-to-like was at 5.3%. Expansion is a strategic priority, and in the six months, Ada opened 96 new stores, of which 58 are part of a group of 70 locations formerly operated by call-subsidians. By the end of July, all these locations were already operating under the ARA banner. I highlight here that together with store expansion, ARA opened one new distribution center in the beginning of the year. Consolidated EBITDA grew by 10.3% or 9% at constant exchange rates to reach 1.1 billion euros. Overall, businesses delivered solid sales growth and ensured cost efficiency and higher productivity to compensate for the cost inflation. As we started 2025, we knew we would face margin pressure from the combination of persisting low basket inflation with salary hikes. Adding to this, we anticipated a sluggish consumer context, driving more intense competition, which proved to be the case in the first six months of the year. Facing tough conditions while firmly committed to price competitiveness, all our banners increased their focus on efficiency and productivity. Following this strategy, we delivered strongly, and group EBTA margin was at 6.6%, up from the 6.4% registered in H1-24. At Biadonka, EBTA margin was slightly up in the six months, driven by cost control and efficiency gains, and also benefiting from easier gross margin comps through the first four months of the year. due to the campaigns executed in 2024. At Hebe, price investment and a low like-for-like, impacted by strong basket deflation, significantly pressured the VK margin in the half-year. In recent months, the company refocused its commercial strategy and tightened cost discipline, having been able to recover part of its margin. An effective promotional strategy drove sales growth, which together with reinforced productivity measures, protected the BTA margin. RCEI, that in the same period as 2024, was heavily impacted by the deterioration of the ORECA segments, benefited this year from the mixed comp, which coupled with sales growth, allowed for a BTA margin to recover in the period. Finally, in Colombia, ARA benefited from sound sales growth, and from the work done in 2024 to recover margin using a mixed effect. We expected a challenging first half. As such, we took necessary steps to keep growing and protect profitability, having succeeded despite the tough comps. We also maintained our long-term focus by consistently executing our investment program, expanding our market, expanding our market presence and enhancing our networks through remodeling initiatives and investment in logistics. Our market positionings were reinforced and we closed the period with a solid balance sheet. All things considered, we are proud of the work done by the teams in H1 2025. Looking ahead, we continue to see a highly uncertain context and subdue food consumption. Therefore, We will keep our strategy of pushing for price competitiveness while working to protect margins from the pressure of higher personal costs and intense competition. All in all, we confirmed the outlook for 2025 provided in March with a minor revision to the Biadronka's remodeling plan, which was reduced to 100 stores. As a result, CapEx is now anticipated to be slightly above 1 billion euros. Thank you for your attention. Operator, I am now ready to take questions.

Thank you so much, dear participants. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star 1 1 on your telephone keypad and wait for a name to be announced. To withdraw a question, please press star 1 1 again. We will take a few moments. And now we're going to take our first question. And it comes from William Woods from Bernstein. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Excuse me, William. Hello.

Hi, can you hear me okay? Yes, we can hear you now. Thank you. Perfect. Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. I'd like to focus on Poland, if that's okay. And the tone of your commentary in the release is obviously quite conservative. And last time we spoke, you seemed slightly more cautiously optimistic. Would you say that things are getting better or worse in Poland at the moment? And then the second one is obviously the number of promotions in the Polish market seem to have come down quite a lot in terms of the multibuy and things like that. Are you seeing any softening of that competitive environment? And is it more about passing on inflation versus promotional intensity at the moment? Thanks.

I will. So it's true that we tend to be very conservative, but it's also true that the environment continues to be very uncertain and volatile. And we have, and that, of course, translates also in the dynamics. As you've probably seen, the food retail markets continues to be quite muted in terms of at least In constant terms, it hasn't grown much in Poland. I think that we cannot say that the promotions have softened. What we have, I would say, as a positive, at least for the operations overall, is we are no longer operating in deflation. That is, as I mentioned last year, the worst positioning to be in because, of course, You work more, you have more costs trying to drive volumes, and some of the times you cannot compensate for that. The fact that we are now operating through with low basket inflation, because, of course, we have to consider that our sales are without VAT, and you know that the inflation for the consumer also accounts for VAT, and we have, since April last year, the return of the VAT on the essential products, and it's only made now the annual in April this year. So we know that we have to even be more promotional and really be very aggressive in the first half of 2024 versus what happened this year because of that situation. So it's not a question of passing inflation because we maintain our competitiveness. It's really all the dynamic of the market that, of course, tends to be slightly easier when we are not operating in deflation, particularly considering that we have and we continue to have inflation at the cost level. So, I would say that we are not really seeing a pickup. So, if it's better or worse, I think it's relatively stable, but at the moment, what we don't see is really a trade-up or a lot of, let's say, drivers contributing to sales in the market overview. This being said, I think that's what Viadronka did, considering all the circumstances, and I'm talking not just the comparable, but of course, even some of our peers and other players mentioned, It's true that Q2 has several different factors. It's not just the positive of Easter. It's also a worse weather that, of course, affects some of the main categories in Viajonca. But all in all, I think that in relative terms, Viajonca performed very well. Five years growing more than 1.2 on average in market share, it continues to deliver market share growth. And I think this is really important. a terrific and remarkable performance done by our teams in Poland.

Excellent. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Will. Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. And it comes from Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Hi, good morning. Thanks very much for taking the questions. I might go with three. First one, just in beer drunker, just could you give us the inflation and the volume split of that like for like and also just give us the market share increase that you just referenced? That'd be great. Second one is just looking into the back half of this year, given the comps get a bit harder and Is 5% like-for-like that you did in 2Q, is that kind of achievable in the back half of the year, or does that look a challenge given all the challenges you just laid out? And then finally, just in terms of the margin trajectory, is it fair to say that the gross margin was kind of flat in Biodronka in the second quarter, and is that the sort of right way to look at it into the second half of the year as well? Thank you.

Thank you, Rob. So in terms of volume, then I will speak about, of course, the first half. Because as I said, there are a lot of different drivers influencing sales. And I think it's not fair to look, even with the calendar effect, I think we should not really look quarter on quarter, but really on the year-to-date. So on volumes, it was slightly sloppish. And, of course, then you have a different – you have the inflation but also some mixed effects. So last year, as we invested a lot on certain categories, you also managed to have some effect on sales coming from the mix. On the like-for-like for H2 compared with H1, Of course, I think that it's going to be very challenging on the volumes. It will continue to be, definitely. But I would say that it's slightly less challenging than in first half. But, of course, again, we will have to take into consideration a lot of factors. So, one, of course, is the consumer. And, again, the pickup and the willingness to increase or not their food spending. The other one is we have to flag that it's true that other factors also affect life-to-life, and one of the, as I mentioned, is even the weather that in July has turned better than in June and May. Apparently, Poland is not having really a summertime, and that influences most of the categories that are not just like-to-like driven. They are also margin-driven. And so I think, all in all, I expect to have a better like-to-like. And I know that the teams will do all their best to deliver the like-to-like than the one posted in H1. But I would say that a 5% like-to-like in Q2 that had the impact of Easter, I think it's – It's really very, very challenging. So it's on, let's say, on the more optimistic side, which I think it's not really the normalized growth. On the margin trajectory, again, I would refrain from trying to compare Q1 and Q2. You have really a lot of factors influencing not only sales, but also gross margin and cost. For instance, we made some reviews on the remuneration in Q2 that are some updates that take place in Q2 that, of course, affect also the cost. This, of course, was somehow compensated by the increase in productivity. For H2, we have to take into consideration that this, again, will depend on how sales will progress, but also on the mix will progress because that will happen. So I don't think that on gross margin, Viajonca will have a lot of drivers to increase it. I think it will maintain competitiveness. We don't see a softening in the markets as was asked by William. I think that our players continue to be quite intense because of the same circumstances, high cost inflation, with low or with inflation not really being a main driver of sales, really leads the market to be quite competitive. So it's true that, as I said, deflation would be even worse. Low inflation is not the worst scenario and backdrop for us. But this being said, I think it continues to be not a given that although usually sales in the second half are higher than in the first half, that we will not have also our challenges in margin and on the cost side, of course, because we are doing, of course, all that we can to compensate for a 9% increase in salaries as a proxy for Viadonca. And, of course, as I said, the team will do its best to also protect profitability, but we won't lose it or we won't that to happen at the expense of competitiveness and relevance for the market.

Thank you. And just the market share, just an idea of what the increase in market share was in the period?

So for the year currently is 0.2 percentage points to, yes, cumulative to May. So we don't have still the June numbers, but cumulative to May was an increase of 0.2 percentage points.

Thank you.

No, thank you, Rob.

Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. And the question comes line of Jose Rito from CaixaBank. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Yes, good morning to all. So I have three questions on Poland. So the first one, you mentioned that in May, June, there were some weather effects. that had an effect on some categories. Do you have any potential impact on the like-for-like because of these potential effects? The second question is related to the fact, well, in H1, like-for-like was 0.9, and margins were intact by around 10 basis points. Given that the life-for-life is expected to be stronger in the second half of the year, could you assume that the ten basis points, Marching Uplift versus last year, could be a floor? And finally, if you are seeing any signs of potentially trading up in the market in Poland? Thank you.

Thank you, José. I'm sorry, but of course we do not disclose. We analyze it quite and monitor quite closely, but we do not disclose the like-for-like per category. That would be information that is quite relevant for us. But to let you know, of course, this is an effect that is, in related terms, affects all the players. So we have to just take into consideration that, of course, in absolute terms, it influences ourselves, and that's why we are flagging it, because usually We look also from a relative point of view, but as growth is now quite more challenging, of course, every aspect may affect, and that's why we are flagging it. Usually, we don't hire or give an excuse because the bad weather is for all the players and not just for us. This being said, it's true that the way that we are seeing at least for the month of July, it also influences and, of course, it will influence the life-to-life at least of those categories. On the BTA margin, considering the life-to-life of 0.9% and a growth that we expect in principle on the life-to-life for the second half, what I think is that, of course, again, when we are talking about such a material contribution to our consolidated from Viadronka and minor bids in our EBITDA margins is important. Of course, you know that most of the time our main driver for profitability is sales growth and not really on the margin part. And that's why I flag. So, I consider that a slavish margin is a good performance. plus 10 bits, more than 10 bits is, of course, maybe important, but overall, the most important for us is not really losing any competitiveness. So we know that we have, let's say, some easier comps in the second half, but we also have to take into consideration that we will continue to be pressured on the cost side, and we will not... refrain from doing what we have to do even with, because of course, labor is currently the one that is pressuring more. But we know that we need our colleagues in the stores to really also deliver on the sale part. And if so, we will not refrain from doing even the collections or pay the bonuses that we have to if they meet their targets and really deliver the sales. So this, to be said, that we will try, of course, to get a quite stable margin for the future at least, but it will not be, or any increase will not be at the expense of competitiveness or at the expense of being unfair to our colleagues. In terms of trading up, I would say that, as I mentioned, we don't really see any pickup in food consumption. There is a pickup in consumption, but in certain durable goods, in entertainment, in traveling, and not really on food. I think that's at least we are not seeing. Of course, part of that is probably the dynamics also of the market. The fact that everybody is really pushing for sales, it means that the market is quite competitive. and maybe sometimes when there is a slight trade-up, there is not much margin to really promote, let's say, the more value-added products when you are in a very competitive dynamic on the market.

Okay, thank you, Ana.

Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question, and it comes to Lan O'Frederick Wilde from Jefferies. If your line is open, please ask your question.

Good morning, Ana Luisa. Thank you for taking my questions. Three, if I may. First of all, just returning back to that beer drunker basket inflation point. It obviously accelerated quite a lot in Q2. If I look at the industry data, it seems that some of those improvements in inflation have now stopped. So can I ask, has your basket inflation in beer drunker now reached a sort of stable level? Second, on free cash flow, there are obviously lots of moving parts and one-offs as you are identifying in your remarks. Could you help us understand and model perhaps those free cash flow dynamics in half two? And then finally, turning very briefly away from Poland, you also had a quite surprising level of improvement in the ARRA margin. How much of that was driven by the integration of Colta Sotidio? Forgive my Spanish pronunciation there. Could you give us an idea of what the margin was X integration and how to think about it again for half two?

Thank you. Thank you, Fred. And you pronounced cost of feed you very well. So no worries. On the Diabonka basket inflation, so we are talking in H1 of around 2%. So this is the level that we think that it's more or less what we were more or less expecting. But again, the most important for us is really to maintain competitiveness. And this, of course, as I said, this is 2% in net terms. So we are not talking about gross sales, not taking into consideration the fact that, of course, for the country inflation, you also have the effect of VAT. And on the free cash flow, I would say that for H1, so the dynamics this year, You have, first of all, of course, the fact that you are, again, growing sales in absolute terms in a much, let's say, strong growth, so above the 5% for the group. That brings a dynamic not only in terms of, of course, helping to dilute the cost inflation, but also, as you know, on the working capital front. And this is, I think it's quite visible already, taking out the effect of the calendar that took place between the Q1 and Q2. On accumulated terms, I think it's already visible, a positive contribution from, or at least not positive, but less negative from the fact that a slowdown in growth really has a negative impact also on the working capital. This being said, there was also a big effort from our teams all over, and particularly in Pindos, but also in, or particularly in Viadronca, but also in Pindos, Recheio and Ara, to really reframe any cash outflow that would not be necessary. And that's why I mentioned even the tax payment that was quite significant last year compared with the corporate income tax of the year because of this delay on what is considered unpaid, and our team, our financial team in Poland this year managed to basically start doing advance payments based on their real income, considering the correction on the results that took place last year, instead of being paying on the prior two-year net earnings, which would be 2023, As you know, when inflation was peaked and there was also this peak in the earnings, particularly of Biedronka. For H2, so we are assuming that we know that we are investing quite significantly, so we have our CapEx payments to take into consideration. We have already paid our dividends, so in principle, all things maintained and not having any slow down in sales, what we assume, on the contrary, what we assume is that we will have a positive contribution at least from the working capital. And that dynamic, of course, will help with the cash flow. But as you know, we will continue to invest, and so we have to take into consideration also the CapEx heading affecting our cash flow. On the improvement of ARRA, in fact, this started, as you probably noticed, last year. So, it was made a huge effort and a terrific work by our commercial teams to really rebuild the margin and adjust the mix to protect the profitability in the country without hampering the competitiveness. And so we are still seeing versus last year in this first half a progression on the gross margin compared with last year. So this was done throughout the year. Of course, it will take a little bit more – it will be a little bit more challenging on the second half. But this being said, the contribution of the new stores, and particularly of cold-subsidio, which are good stores, located in neighborhoods with high income, which we expect also to contribute, of course, positively. This was very marginal in the first half. So we'll have two effects, in fact, this and the rest. So we expect the company to continue to progress and to deliver a good EDTA margin, despite the challenges, of course, of the market. But the fact is that, overall, the economy at least in terms of consumption is even better than in Poland in terms of food consumption. So it's true that what we are assuming is that the work done in Biala will also give its fruits for the second half.

That's perfect. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Dear participants, as a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. And now we're going to take our next question. And the question comes in the line of Matthew Clements from Barclays. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Sorry, I'm going to go back to the beer drunker margin, if that's okay. So you said in March that you expected margin contraction this year, though less than the 85 basis points last year. And you said that that contraction would be concentrated in the first half. By May, that tone had improved and discussion on the pool was more around the possibility of stable margins this year. Having now delivered 13 basis points in the first half, my first question is, what was the key driver of that outperformance relative to your expectations? And the second question is, given you expect better light growth in the second half, and I understand your need to signal your commitment to price competitiveness, but is there any reason why we shouldn't expect a more material margin expansion in the second half? Thank you.

Thank you, Matthew. True, because, of course, as you may, we also started our outlook saying that there would be a lot of elements of volatility in the markets. Not only the question of how the markets and the food retail markets would progress, but we have to take into consideration also all other drivers and even how the cost inflation would progress. be dealt with the companies. Of course, we knew that we would have to put in place the measures, but there is the limit, of course, to what we can do to compensate for a proxy of more than 9% labor increase in Poland. And so, in principle, if you have costs growing more than sales, you'll have, of course, a lower margin. And so, our assumption was how we will manage and what will happen in the top line, which does not depend just on us. It depends on the consumer and depends also on the other players and on the intensity of competition in the market. And so that's why we assume that there would still be pressure because all the cost inflation that we expected, there was the risk of not being able to compensate for that. It's true that compared with last year, the fact that, again, not working in deflation, but with inflation as a driver of sales, even if lowered, compared to the cost inflation, really helps with that. This being said, for the second half, as it's true, we expect, of course, in principle, And as I said, our teams will work to have a better like-for-like. And this, of course, may allow for a cost dilution if everything stays the same. But we have to take into consideration, of course, the comparable also in terms of margin that is a little bit more challenging for the second half. And in terms of cost, Again, we'll do our best, but it will not be without, of course, or forgetting that part of the contribution on sales growth will also come from our colleagues at the store level and in Biedronka. So this may also bring extra pressure for the cost parts. So I think it's possible to maintain – now I see as more probable – a flattish margin than before, definitely. But I wouldn't see the progression of the first half, you know, as really a given that now we are going to even improve more in second half.

Okay, that's good. Sorry, just to follow up on the first part of that question, that answer. So, are you saying that relative to your budget or your expectations at the beginning of the year, the market in the first half was more rational or less competitive, or was it more that the consumer was less subdued than you'd anticipated? Which would you say was the more key driver of outperformance relative to your conservative expectations?

I think that, in fact, what really helped compared with last year was, as I mentioned, the fact that you were not working in deflation. So it's true that If you are having some inflation, and, of course, it really helps at least. And as I said, it's an inflation, but it's not without losing any competitiveness. And so we had really a tough comparison versus last year. Sorry, an easier comp last year because, as you may remember, we had even a high single digits. in the first quarter.

Okay. Thank you very much.

No, thank you.

Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. And the question comes from the line of from JP Capital. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Excuse me, Louise. Your line is open. Please ask your question. Are you mute? Can you hear me?

Now, yes. Now, yes.

Sorry. Yes. Sorry for that. Just on the margins and OPEX and gross margins, do you think it's fair to assume that you can achieve the same type of OPEX performance in the second half that you achieved in the first half? And also in terms of gross margin, is it fair to assume in the second half, the same gross margin that we are assuming for the first half? Thank you very much.

This is quite tricky because it's really, as I mentioned, it really depends on the dynamics. I think that as I mentioned, It's a fair assumption in the sense that you should not really assume that we will grow much the gross margin. As I mentioned, H2, in terms of comparison for ADA, which was the main contributor in terms of the progression of the margin, it becomes a little bit tougher because there was a progression of the gross margin throughout the year and a quite significant contribution in terms of margin, really. And as I said, all our banners are really making sure that they are competitive related to their peers and to the other players. This being said, of course, this will depend a lot on the overall consumer and client, in the case of Coucher, because it's true that we have a better mix that really protected profitability at the gross margin level, even on the other banners. So assuming the same gross margins, it's a possibility, but again, it will depend, the progression will depend on how the market will behave, not only in terms of consumer, but in terms of competition. On the OPEX and so on, the EDTA margins, again, we have, we are doing all our best, and it's true that on the positive, as a tailwind, some of the measures that we took in the first half will continue for the second, but we also have other pressure items in all the cost headings that we have to take into account. And namely, I mentioned some reviews of our remuneration take place in the second quarter, not in the beginning of the year. So, for cash tiers, usually we do the increases in January. But for the others, usually these take place in April, May. And that, of course, then it will pressure much more the second half.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Vish.

Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. Just give us a moment. And the question comes from the line of Antonio Saladas from AS Independent Research. Your line is open. Please ask your question.

Hi, good morning. The question is, again, related to this issue of margin. So, taking consideration your first and second quarter, and I know that you prefer to analyze the first half, nevertheless, when your sales growth improves above your operating expenditures, your ABTDA margin improves a lot. So, that is what That is your main issue now, right? Because OPEX operating costs are growing, well, staff costs about 9%, and you fear that do not form in line, and so that impacts your margin. So is that coming up? Is that your main issue? Just to confirm.

Antonio, of course. So we are highly leveraged from the operational side. Any growth, extra growth in sales, of course, helps to dilute the costs and to deliver a better BPA. But when it happens the other way around, when costs increase more than sales, of course, this puts an issue, of course, to our margin. So that is the question. So we continue, and of course, compared with last year, we continue to have a growth in the costs. And this is, let's say, common to all our banners. So we don't pay the minimum wage to our colleagues. We have a gap, quite significant gap in all countries, but we have it as a proxy. So we have to take into consideration. If you look at the minimum wage increases this year, we are talking about the high single digits in all geographies, in fact, including Poland with more than 9%, in Portugal more than 7%. And, of course, if you are increasing sales less than that, which is the case, we know that we have to compensate for that. And that is, of course, our main issue. But this doesn't mean that the fact that things are increasing or labor costs are increasing. Of course, we need to have people to work. We have to have motivated people to continue to strive to grow sales and to serve our clients and assure the presence of our clients that continue to choose our stores. And so this is a difficult balance, but we have to somehow manage, and that is challenging, yes. It's growing sales and putting in place measures or take decisions that somehow take a balanced approach and protect profitability also.

Thank you very much. I'm sorry to, well, just to do this, to ask you for this comment. Thank you very much.

No, no, nothing. Nothing to be sorry about, Antonio. Just a clarification. Of course. Thank you. Thank you.

Dear speakers, I don't have further questions for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ana Luisa Virginia for any closing remarks.

I conclude by saying that In these challenging times, we are reassured by our strong value propositions, competitive edge, and the competence and dedication of our teams. This combination is truly the base of our sustainable competitive strength. With several major investment projects set to be launched by year-end, we remain focused on meeting consumer needs, adjusting as necessary to uphold our promise of quality and price. Thank you for your questions and for attending this conference call. I wish you all a nice day. And if it is the case, a pleasant summer break. Thank you. This concludes today's conference call.

Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. Have a nice day.