Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Alsea's third quarter 2023 earnings video conference. My name is Nicolás Espinosa from Alsea's IR team, and today, our Chief Executive Officer, Armando Torrado, and our Chief Financial Officer, Rafael Contreras, will be presenting the quarter results. Now, I would like to hand it over to Armando for his initial remarks. Please, Armando, go ahead.
Gracias. Thank you, Nicolás. Good morning. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our third quarter 2023 earnings video conference. I'm pleased to present Alsea latest financial results, provide insights into regional and brand performance, and discuss the main highlights for the quarter. Overall, we delivered strong sales performance across all the company's brands this quarter, and it's clear that our commercial strategies, product innovations, and our digital strategy has again, solid results. Especially, we reported an 8.8% year-over-year increase in total sales, reaching MXN 18.6 billion pre-IFRS, or an 18.5% increase when excluding the impact of peso appreciation. Same-store sales also saw a substantial 17.3% year-over-year increase, reflecting continued customer loyalty across all regions and brands.
EBITDA pre-IFRS grew by an impressive 24.6%, totaling MXN 2.6 billion for the quarter, with a 14% margin, way above our guidance. Post-IFRS, EBITDA grew by a still strong 13% to MXN 3.5 billion for the quarter, with a margin of 20.2%. We served over 12.1 million orders by home delivery in the quarter, amounting to MXN 3 billion in sales. Home delivery sales accounted now for 16.1% of our total sales. Regarding our brands, Starbucks reported an impressive year-over-year same-store sales growth of 24.9%. In Mexico, same-store sales increased 26.5% year-over-year. Europe, 13.1%, and South America reached 35.7%, and excluding Argentina, 6.8%.
Domino's Pizza posted a solid sales in Mexico and Spain with an increase of 8.1% and 3%, respectively. We are pleased to see that our range of commercial strategies are effective and contribute to boost our total sales in the pizza sector. Regarding Burger King, in Mexico, we had another overall successful quarter. With sales increase of 9.6%, we are focused here on expanding the national rollout of our digital kiosks, which have proven to increase the average ticket by a double-digit number. Our global restaurant business, excluding Vips Mexico, also reported a solid quarter, with same-store sales of 8.8%. Regarding Vips Mexico, it continues with a strong same-store sales performance, reporting an 11.3% year-over-year increase with guests of 9.5%. Regarding Vips, it's been improving in-store experience and product diversifying.
We remain very focused on the products and experience with our customers. We started the first overall celebration with a remarkable... That will be a remarkable year. Vips, next year, will have 60 years in Mexico. We'll celebrate their 60 years in Mexico, and we will have several events to celebrate with guests and our Vipster members along this year. In Vips Mexico, we increased the brand profitability based on remodeled stores. During this year, we are remodeling 30 units, reaching 177 stores remodeled of a total of 238. With this improvement, we have increased the average weekly unit sales in 15% compared to the same-store sales before remodeling. Going further with the strategy of Vips Mexico, we are working on major improvements.
For example, in cost as a percentage of sales, we decreased 100 basis points and items of menu efficiency, we are focused on best-selling products as part of the strategy. We took out 17 items regarding to perform this food cost in the brand. We will continue developing strategies in order to to make our guests have the best experience possible. Continuing our global business, regarding our organic expansion strategy, we have opened 30 corporate restaurants and 25 franchisees. As always, focuses on the on the most profitable ones and the high growth opportunities. Additionally, we have placed a special emphasis on the drive-thru format in Starbucks Mexico, with a total of 185 drive-thru units in the country, which has shown a 30% increase in sales comparing to the standard format.
In line with our digital transformation strategy, our loyalty sales grew 28.7% versus last year, reaching MXN 3.5 billion at the end of Q3 of 2023. This represent 19% of share of the total sales. Regarding Starbucks Reward program, Stars for Everyone, that was launched in Spain, France, and Portugal. In last quarter, we had more than 280,000 new members that joined our programs. That it's also happened with a 10% in tender in average. In the Starbucks Mexico Rewards tender, the Starbucks Mexico Rewards tender has 28% now, and we expect it to grow the tender also in Europe in these levels. Regarding ESG, during the third quarter of 2023, we continued to sponsor significant environment and social initiatives in line with objectives of our ESG model.
In our fight against food waste, we expanded our partnership by placing new brands, new brands, on the Too Good To Go app in Alsea Europe. This app allow us to maximize product sales during the final hours of a store's operations to prevent waste. Through this partnership, we have sold over 66,000 food packages this year, while avoiding 174 tons of CO2 emissions. In a collaborative effort with the Planet Water Foundation, Alsea South America has provided clean and safe drinking water to the community of Cáqueza in Bogotá, Colombia, through our new water tower. This completes the two existing towers provided by Alsea in Puebla and Veracruz, Mexico, and establishes a first of its kind in South America.
The Éxito Foundation has honored Alsea Foundation with a Child Nutrition Award in the business category, recognizing our dedication to the protection and promotion of food security and child nutrition in Colombia. In line with our commitment to inclusion and accessibility, we have begun the country-wide introduction of braille menus for the blind and visually impaired of all the Mexican brands. We anticipate that completion initiative will be ready in early 2024. I am very pleased with our year-to-date results. The effective execution of our commercial strategies and our commitment to innovation, supported by a solid consumption moment, has paid off, with all the main regions and brands performing well. I remain optimistic about the company's outlook with our brand's strong position in the marketplace, our logistical, operation, and financial strengths, and as a decisive competitive advantage.
Of course, our team, with more than 76,000 team members across 12 countries, providing their excellence day in and day out. Now, I will hand over to Rafael, so we can give you more details, overview of our brands, regions, results, and a balance sheet items. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Armando. Good morning, everyone. As Armando mentioned, all the Alsea team members are pleased with Alsea's performance, as quarterly sales increased 8.8% on a prior IFRS basis, year- over year, driven by a positive trend in all regions. Costs were down 20 basis points versus last year, and EBITDA for IFRS was up 24.6% to MXN 2.6 billion. In Mexico, sales were up 17.8% to MXN 9.9 billion, and Adjusted EBITDA was up 20.7% for IFRS to MXN 2.2 billion. This improvement was driven by robust consumption trends and effective expenses management. Also, the growth in sales helped us improve our operating leverage, and the appreciation of the Mexican peso helped us cut costs by 40 basis points for sales.
In Europe, sales increased by 3.7% to MXN 5.6 billion, or by 14.1% in euro terms. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 46.8% for IFRS to MXN 884 million, and in euros, by 62.3%. This sales boost was mainly attributed to the successful execution of promotional and effective television advertising and product innovation. The stabilization of energy costs and the decrease in some raw material costs has also contributed positively to our results, while the summer seasons also helped bring double-digit growth in the cafeteria and casual dining segments.
South America sales decreased 6.1% to MXN 3 billion, mainly impacted by a strong devaluation in the Argentine peso, with same-store sales increase of 41.4% and Adjusted EBITDA for IFRS increasing 0.5% to MXN 613 million. Our net income for IFRS for the third quarter increased 60.5% to MXN 4,540 million year-over-year, driven by the increase in sales and EBITDA.
In the third quarter of the year, we posted a pre-IFRS earnings per share of MXN 2.8, including IFRS earnings per share rose to MXN 2.5 with an increase of 31.4% year-over-year. In terms of, our investments, the total CapEx year to date amounted to MXN 3 billion. We allocate 30% of this amount to maintenance, and 50% to store openings and remodeling, and the rest of the 20% for IT and other strategic projects. In the last twelve months, we made amortization payments of MXN 1,026 million. Our pre-IFRS gross debt decreased MXN 1.3 billion year-over-year, closing at MXN 26.5 billion at the end of the quarter. This reduction in debt corresponds mainly to the devaluation of the euro against the Mexican peso and debt amortization during the period.
During this quarter, we refinanced the euro banking loans of EUR 229 million, ending in 2026, with a forward condition of extending for two more years the amortizations of the credit after the Eurobond refinance. Our pre-IFRS 16 gross debt to EBITDA ratio at the end of the quarter was 2.6 times, and EBITDA to interest paid at 3.6 times. The debt structure at the end of the quarter was 92 long term, with 64% in MXN and 36% in EUR. So we can go now to the Q&A session. Thank you.
We will now start the Q&A session. If you have any questions, please press the Question button in the browser. Please make sure you are not in full screen mode to see the button. The first question is from Mr. Rodrigo Alcantara from UBS. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Hi, Armando, Rafa, nice to see you there. So, well, on, I was on, on Vips, maybe, Armando, if you can explain us better, I mean, how impressive the reduction that you have achieved there on the cost side. If you can comment us there, how you have achieved that, and is it fair to think about that as a function of the remodelings, therefore, you know, as the high remodelings, the high profitability of Vips, would that be the correct read? And the second one would be, on Starbucks, right? I mean, impressed to keep seeing Mexico same for sales of such digits.
So just curious, if you can comment on this quarter, which commercial initiatives gave you this uplift in sales, right? To understand what drove this. And for next year, which, you know, commercial strategies could give you the next uplift for sales, right? I mean, in the context of, you know, we know how the baking store program was an uplift for you guys, right? Then the drive-throughs. Maybe you can give us an example of other uplifts that are helping you to maintain such impressive momentum at, on Starbucks. Those would be my two questions. Thank you very much.
Okay. Gracias, Rodrigo. Well, there are actually three questions. Let me, let me answer you a little bit of three ones.
Five.
First of all, the Vips, no? I mean, like as I told you, when I saw you, we are very focused in that brand. I think that brand... Actually, yesterday, the head of Vips, Jaime Vázquez, just gave an update to the board, to the board, a 20-minute update about where we stand and how we've been doing these impressive numbers, no? And we've been working very highly with our distribution center, with our all our vendors, in order to keep the very food cost. As you said, we put 17 items back. We just focus in the items that are really represent 80% of the sales. Since the beginning of the year, we try to not upper the, not increase the price of the Menú del Día.
That is really the focus in that business. 20% of our sales side, but the menu of the day, that is really the anchor of the brand. That's what makes the traffic, and then we uplifting, uplift with suggesting sales for every customer. Now, we've been in TV. The brand wasn't in TV the last three years. We've been in national TV for promotions. Just September was the best season ever. We sold 280,000 Chiles en Nogada for one week, making a 2-for-1, just making convenience for the consumer. So I think the brand is just having a great momentum now. The next weeks, ten more weeks to come, things are look very well, too. Not only in the costs, but only in the labor cost.
So, I mean, we still have momentum to go. In 2019, I have the numbers very fresh right now, but we had a 20% EBITDA store-level for that unit. We are in 17% now, so we have 300 basis point more to go. And I think we can achieve that. That remodeling of the stores have been a great achievement. It's given us a return on investment of about 15%-20%. I also have good news for next quarter, but with the... There's gonna be some stores that are gonna be franchised already for third parties. Stores that are not performing well, or stores that are really very far from us, from the way we operate.
So that also will uplift the margin in that Vips in Mexico. As you know, Vips, Spain, it also performed very well. So I'm excited about that. Regarding Starbucks, I mean, we are capitalizing on the drive-through openings that we told you. All the openings that we've been having in Mexico are above expectation, above seasonal package. No, that drive-through is 30% higher volumes. So that, and with better margins, paying rents of 4%-5%, the brand has around 8% or 9% average. So all the drive-thrus that we open, yes, we see the rent and economics are fantastic.
We do have innovation still with the highest brand tone, as you know, the pumpkin latte, that also worked 20 years in the States, it goes 10 years, 10 years here in Mexico. We had increase of the pumpkin latte of 22% higher than the third quarter of 2022. Also, we've been having a good momentum with the so- with with August, still the summer. There is a food increase of 31%, a higher ticket, and that higher ticket is not driving by price, it's driving by a an increase in second items. So we are great there. Cold drinks right now represent 48% of our mix, no? So that has a very a better ticket average.
Right.
So, I think we are working also in IT, no? Regarding speed of service. We are measuring all the speed of service that we do in the drive-throughs in all stores. We are putting better POS system, new POS systems, better communication systems, changing the credit card tools to gain in very better momentum. And that also comes again with a job, with a rotation on turnover with our partners, no? We have a record 39.5 turnover in that unit, no? So that makes a very solid experience with our partners. Regarding the next year, I mean, I'm agree with you. We have very big top, top things to go, to go next year.
But I think we have the SDS. SDS will be installed next year, Bundle 2. That will give us a lot, a better loyalty performance, for Stars for Everyone. We are working there in the loyalty. We are already having an implementation of our food program for next year. Looks, there look very good with Europastry and other vendors who are working with some, improvements in food that are gonna be great. And also in beverage, as you know, with Starbucks Corporation, there's some, new products that are coming next year. So I, I see the future with clear skies, and hopefully we can still gain in this momentum of, of, of, of, of increasing of, of, of orders. That is, that is important, no?
I see. I see. Very, very complete answer. Thank you very much, Armando. Nice to see you guys again.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question. Our next question is from Ulises Argote from J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Thanks so much for the space for questions here. So just a quick one and a follow-up maybe to trends that we heard from you guys at the start of the year. So you mentioned in the Investor Day that you were kind of looking to consolidate the portfolio a little bit, maybe sell some of the brands that were underperforming or that were not at the core of the strategy. So just wanted to get an update from you guys as to where we stand there, if there's anything on deck that we could be expecting. Thank you.
I mean, you saw this year, we do the Mexican concept that we already pull out of our company. We don't operate more the CPK; also is out. We did also the Mexican. We did also Ole Mole is out, and we are in advanced conversations with the TGI Fridays , 11, 12 stores that we have in Spain. We also are doing the looking for some of c asual dining in Latin America, where we only have seven restaurants in Chile, to disincorporate for the group. But that's what we are focusing. We're gonna still focus in that and just focusing in the brands that really are core and making us a better return of investment in the portfolio.
Okay. No, that's super clear. And then the other question that I had was regarding the European operations. You have that option of coming with Bain Capital for, I think it's October of 2024. So just wanted to get, like, an update on where we stand there, and what can we expect? And how that fits in the overall capital allocation strategy. Maybe if discussions on dividends are still present for 2024, given this potential cash that you will need to be spending on this.
Oh, yes. In terms of the call option that we have with Bain, it's in October 2024. We would like to go for it and buy back that 10.5% of Alsea, of Alsea Europe. As I mentioned previously, the amount, it's around EUR 110 million. And we will need some bank credit to pay that amount. And in terms of dividends, yes, we would like also to go back and pay some dividends next year. The amount, we will see in the annual meeting that we will have. But yes, we would like to go back to the same amount that we used to pay in terms of dividends next year.
Okay, perfect. Thank you very much. Super clear. Gracias.
Thank you very much for your question. Our next question is from Mr. Alvaro Garcia from BTG Pactual. Please go ahead.
Hi, John. Thanks for, thanks for the space for questions. A couple on my end, Rafa. The first one is a housekeeping item on the ARS 85 million peso impact from Argentina.
Oh, yeah.
How many quarters does that provision sort of reflect?
Yeah, in terms, in terms of Argentina, this is a new tax that it's mentioned, Argentine tax. It's 25% of all the services and 7.5% of all the, the product. And it's when you buy the US dollars to pay that, that product or that service. We made a provision because in Argentina, we couldn't pay some royalties on some products because we, we can't pay US dollars as easy as some years ago. So we provisioned that amount for all the 10 months of, in average, of royalties that we, that we own to, to Starbucks and, and Burger King.
For this year?
It's, it's for this year. It's a one-timer because all the royalties that we have that debt. But we will have to pay this 25% every time that we have to pay some US dollars-
Yeah.
- in Argentina.
Awesome. Great. And then,
We are still waiting, you know, as you know, in two weeks, we will have the second round of elections, and then the 10th of December, we have on December, the new president coming. We will see what will be the economic package for the country regarding taxes, regarding everything that goes away. So we will have more clear our path for next year in order to see what is gonna be the effects of all these impacts in taxes.
Awesome. That makes a lot of sense. And then just one on Mexico, on Domino's. You know, I was just wondering if you can maybe provide an update on competition versus Little Caesars and the outlook into the next year for Domino's in Mexico. Thank you.
Oh, yeah. Regarding Domino's, I think as I told you, we did a good evolution in sales regarding the carryout business, the counter business, no? That's where we are gaining some share. Just to tell you, we did about four points regarding sales from last quarter. In last quarter, the last year, 3Q of 2022, we did a 35.5% in carryout sales. In this quarter, we do almost 39%. So we are just fighting there with a carryout business, doing an incredible number there. In same stores, we had also an effect of same store sales regarding some other promotion that we did last year. But we are implementing some other good, I mean, good promotions.
In September, we did a Domino's Pizza Domino's Mania, all types of pizza, MXN 189, and we did an increase of sales of 29% versus the last one that we did in June, no? We increased orders 6.5 times compared to June. And actually, the 9th of this month, we're gonna do again this kind of promotion. So I think that the business is performing very strong. Also, helping, of course, by a solid consumption moment that is in this region in Mexico. You know, the minimum wage increase also is helping. There's, you know, this new profit-sharing scenario that is also in the pockets of the consumer.
And also, I think all these things are helping us to reach better sales and in not only Starbucks, also in Domino's, and I will say in the casual business and also in Vips, no?
Great. Thank you, Armando. Thank you, Rafa.
Gracias.
Thank you very much for your question. Our next question is from Mr. Alan Alanis from Banco Santander. Please go ahead.
I think you're on mute. Okay. Yep. No.
No, we can't hear you yet.
Nope.
No.
No.
Next one.
No, we can, we can hear you.
So, sorry, Alan, we can hear you, but if you're okay, we're gonna take another question right now, and we can try again. If you want to set your audio settings?
Or email.
Or you can send us by email, and we'll be glad to answer it right now.
Our next question is from Mr. Ben Theurer from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. Does that work?
Yes.
Yeah. Yes.
Ah, fantastic. I was really scared because Alan couldn't get through. Anyway, it's a twofold question. So, obviously, one thing I wanted to understand is: How do you see Alsea going forward from a capital allocation perspective? Where do you think investment needs to be done? Is it more towards still opening stores to get the penetration higher in certain areas? Is it, on the other hand, investment into loyalty programs on some of the other banners, aside from what is very strong already with, obviously, Domino's and Starbucks? Where do you think the balance is going to be from a capital allocation perspective, tech versus store or online versus offline, if you want to call it that way? That would be my first question.
Going forward, what we are seeing is that we are going to still growing organically. And as as we mentioned, we we can open 200, 220 new units, mainly Starbucks and Domino's Pizza. 75% of that amount or that number will be in the Starbucks and Domino's, because the market holding capacity that we have and the opportunity that we have in different geographies, that will be around 40% of the total CapEx of the year. In terms of the total CapEx, it's gonna be around 6%-7% of the or in terms of percentage of sales. So 40% will be openings. Then, we're gonna still put a lot of view in terms of maintenance and remodeling.
So another, I would say another 35%-40% will be that part, and the other 20% will be in terms of IT and strategic projects. Next year, as Armando mentioned, we're gonna implement SDS, Starbucks Digital Solution in Mexico and South America. The total amount of that investment will be around MXN 300 million, and we're still investing, no? In Olo, we're gonna end the Olo Mexico—in Mexico, we're gonna implement the U.S. cloud app for Domino's Pizza. And well, and we are still with some investment in all the digital parts.
Yeah, and I think the digital-
The digital guys.
The digital, all the digital concept doesn't need really a big amount, because it's only a CapEx regarding the hardware, no? All those venues and all the product, the software, everything is just made in the U.S. And actually, yesterday we had a call with the Starbucks USA. They are the ones that are investing completely in the platform, no? We are just implementing the platform, same in the U.S., you know, we are paying... Actually, you will see that number in the OpEx. You will see in the CapEx, we pay a monthly fee per brand, per store, and that will give us the whole updates and the new versions of the whole platform, digital inbound and outbound, no?
I will say, these also platforms are created for better efficient, administrative efficiency in the manager side, no? Inventories, what is scheduling for people, what is opening and closing the store, be ready to put a better order to our commissary. So all that comes together, so we can dedicate more time to the customer and less to the administrative part of the business.
Okay, perfect. And then just one quick follow-up on Europe. Just wanted to understand how you feel about the consumer in Europe in particular. Do you see any down trading trends, anything to just be aware of? Because obviously, the geopolitical situation and some of the inflation in Europe, still very elevated, and maybe the consumers aren't that used to high inflation for longer, in contrast to Latin America. So just wanted to get your view from off the ground.
Well, actually, we had a very solid number in the quarter, because the summer for us was a lot better than the past two or three. I mean, we remain... August, August was a very solid number. Still, the first two weeks of this September was solid. Now, we -- actually, I have the numbers for inflation, and inflation right now in Europe for us, in our internal, I'll say, number is 6.2%, and it will go down to 2.5% by December, rolling twelve months, no? I wanna talk about raw materials in all the company. We are already doing a budget ahead for 2024, and we are looking.
But good news, just two or three items there in the sector, probably pizza and two others, but nothing that really scares regarding raw materials for the next months. Also, as you know, the average cost in Europe went down dramatically from 2022. It was almost 300 EUR/MW, now we're paying 107. So that was, they decreased a lot. You know, Europe has injected a lot of capital in new energy, so I think that is not gonna be an issue. And energy just is a cost that reflects in all the households of our consumers. So I think we don't see any headwinds or things that are going down.
We see a strong, solid, number to close the year, to close the next 2-10 weeks of sales that we will have, no?
Also, to complement Armando, when we see by format the participation and the ticket sales, we're noticing that the casual dining brands are even performing better than the QSR. So that gives the outlook that downgrading is not happening yet in Europe.
Okay, perfect. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question. Our next question is from Mr. Alan Alanis, from Banco Santander. Please go ahead.
Let's, let's try it now. Can you hear me now?
Yes.
Yeah, we can hear you.
Sorry about, sorry about that. My bad.
No worry.
Well, first of all, Armando, Rafa, Nico, congratulations for the results, and thanks for taking my questions. Very impressive. A couple of questions. The first one regarding labor costs in Mexico and Europe. Are you seeing any additional pressures on labor costs on the back of the very tight labor market that we're seeing in Mexico, and any change in the turnover of labor? And that's the first question. The second question is more strategic, as new CEO and the relationship with your, with your key partners, with Starbucks and with Domino's. I mean, you must be, like, the best operator of Starbucks and Domino's, or one of the best in the world. How do you see that evolution going forward? What are the opportunities and the challenges that it poses? And when do you have to renegotiate terms with your partners?
Javier between you and Rafa, regarding labor, of course, I mean, this year is gone. I think, Alan, this year, the numbers are there, things are not gonna change. There's no, no laws that are against us. But yes, again, January first of next year, we expect at least a 20% increase on the labor in the minimum wage. We are budgeting 22, 22%, MXN 30 million for Mexico every point. So we have it very clear. But we've been, with this deal or with this thing, the last four years of this administration, so we know how to handle. Only 30% of our,
Staff.
Staff earns minimum wage, because those ones are the Vips, the Vips, waiters and casual waiters, and some of the drivers of Domino's Pizza. So we know how to handle that, and I'm not, I'm not, I'm not scared about that. We cannot lose any margin, so we need to work in other details of a PNL in order to achieve. Yes, regarding the new law that is not passed yet, but it, there, there, it's been talking in the press regarding the 48 hours of work, regarding the 40, yeah. That is, that is gonna be done in April. No, if it passes by, we are aware of that. That is a, that is, that's, that's a strong impact, no?
We already operate with 40 hours in South America and some others in, in Europe, so we are used to a 40 hours schedule. It's nothing that is gonna be new for us. But yeah, that represent, like, 500 more,
Some MXN 700 million.
MXN 700 million. That is a big amount. We are watching all details. And there's other things that we are watching with all details regarding labor, to see how can we compensate that, but we cannot do in with regarding price. That is something that we cannot have to do it. Also, I mean, like my board said yesterday, that is gonna be affected in all the category, not only restaurants, hotels, everybody. That creates more disposable income for the people, and that has to produce something in sales. But yeah, we are aware of that situation. Regarding Europe, now, we had an increase of labor 8% last year. That was a big increase, but how we see the inflation next year, especially in Spain, we don't see an impact as the one that is in Mexico, no?
Regarding the best operator, I mean, I don't, I cannot, we cannot say we are the best operator, but there is some good friends there, or, every year, there is a convention.
An award.
The awards, they do an award for the best operators, and-
Mm-hmm.
Yes, this year we were awarded again in Spain and Mexico, in Domino's Pizza, for the best operator in our size. It's by size, you know, in our size. And in Starbucks they don't do that kind of awards, but the same, it's just three big operators they have, Alsea, Koreans. And regarding the momentum that we're having, the region we represent, Alsea represent 80, 80% of the region of Latin America.
Mm-hmm.
The region of Latin America is the one that's performing better-
Yes.
in terms of sales and everything, and this is just the momentum Alsea that has been having. So pleased to have them as a partner. Regarding terms, in 2025-
2025, we have the, Domino's Pizza-
Okay.
- contract.
Contract.
That we have to,
To renew?
- to renew.
Oh, sure.
But, every time that we renew, the only new commitment that we have is the number of openings that we have to do for the next years, no? That's the only change in terms of a new renewal of the contracts.
The next ones in Starbucks are in Mexico in February 2027-
Okay.
and then also Argentina and Chile, 2027.
Perfect. So they're far away. Congratulations. Amazing execution, guys. Really great results. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Alan.
Thank you very much for your question. Our next question is from Fernando Herrera from Compass Group. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Well, first of all, congrats on the results. I have a couple of questions related to the EBITDA margin. First one, in Mexico. In the EBITDA margin for Starbucks, we saw a contraction of 80 basis points. I think that's related to leases or something like that, so just want to be sure and want to know how to measure that impact, if there's some for the coming quarters. The second question is regarding to Europe. I mean, amazing result with the EBITDA margin expansion, related to the energy cost. But just want to know if there are some space left for the coming quarter, how much you are targeting on that front?
Okay, the first one, in terms of post IFRS 16, one of the main things is the variable part of the rents, no? Because of the increase in sales that we have, the variable rent increased also in terms of participation of sales. Last quarter was around 0.7 points, the participation of variable rent, and this quarter was 1.8. So because of around 50% of our contracts are variable, it depends on the increase in each store and the contract that we have in each store.
But, I will say that going forward, I will say that it will—it's, it's gonna be around 1.8% of sales, the part of the rent that stays as an expense, and we don't take out for to increase the EBITDA with this part of the rent. In terms of Europe, we have two things, no? Yes, we increased EBITDA for around 400 basis points.
One part is the, the cost, because, if you, if you see last quarter, we had an impact of 250 basis points in terms of cost versus prior quarter, and this quarter is almost, the same, the same cost as, as the same, as the cost that we had last year. So one part is cost, and the other part is energy, no? The average of, the cost of energy for the whole year to around EUR 100 per megawatt. And what we are seeing is that, we think that it's gonna be in the same average, 100.
In terms of EBITDA, we think that for the end of the year, for the last quarter, because we increased sales in December, it's gonna be a little bit higher than 10%, the total EBITDA, the EBITDA division.
Okay, perfect. Thanks, thanks for, for the call, guys, and congratulations. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question. Our next question is from Thiago Bortoluci from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats on the results. I have a follow-up on your cost inflation, right? Obviously, the dynamics really depends on each market we're looking at, but probably in Mexico, you are going for a year of a material improvement on COGS. In Europe, Armando already mentioned the easier comp in terms of energy, right? When we think about how this will flow into your P&L, would you say the strategy is to capture this environment through margins, or do you think there is a space eventually to invest part of this cash in to accelerate growth? That's the question. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Thiago. I mean, as Rafael mentioned, the company is ready to... I mean, what we feel comfortable, and we want to make sure it's an opening plan regarding 250-275 stores a year.
With store franchises, yeah.
With store franchises. I mean, of course, that store franchises will be on limitless. If we can open more franchises, more franchises, we always will do it. We will have an aggressive plan of Vips next year for that. We will make a record high in Domino's Pizza franchises open stores this year, so that is a good, a good reflection of the momentum of the business, P&L and return of investment, no? So I think that is not—we are not gonna put more. I mean, with openings, they're gonna be like that. We don't wanna pressure our operations. We wanna do a great, great and negotiations and site selection in order to not make, don't put some mistakes that we'll regret in order to. This is not a matter of speed.
Right now, the company, with all those openings that happened, it only represents 5%-6% of the sales channel. So at the end, if I open another 50, the number doesn't change much. So I am very focused more in the operation that we had. Same-store sales is the key of the company. Same-store sales is what creates the margin, and of course, because of the pressure of labor that we will have in Mexico, that I need to gain better negotiations with the raw materials in order to generate a good food cost. As you saw there, also, we are doing 16% of delivery. Without excluding Domino's, it's around 10% of delivery. That also has a commission for the aggregator.
We didn't have that commission two years ago. We just saw it right now in our P&L. We have great conditions anyway, but that is another, another increase that we didn't have some years ago, no? Este, I don't know what else, Rafael.
I will say that, and this is not a thing of money in terms of the new openings, no? The bottleneck that we have is to find the right sites to open more than 200 new units and to have the right managers also to run these 200 new, 200 new units.
It's important, and I will tell you probably the next quarter, how well we're doing regarding our average weekly unit sales for the new units, no? You will say probably when we open store number 820 in Mexico, that average store is doing less than the first one that we opened, no? 20 years ago, and it's not the case, no? In the case of a Starbucks, it's amazing that the stores that we are opening now, they are above the average of our portfolio. So that is great, a good, a very good news for us, to still create it. And also, as I've been mentioned, drive-throughs takes longer. Drive-throughs for us takes around 12 months to complete, instead of 6 months, that is just a quarter of the rated unit.
That is also making us a little bit more, as I would say, more slowly in openings.
Also, you were mentioning the cost at the beginning, and what we are seeing here in Mexico, to give you an example, we have mozzarella cheese. We did that in stock until March 2024, and we did it cheaper, 12%, compared to the last year. So we see other raw materials, like the boxes of the pizza and other stuff, and other products going down. So we see a good outlook in terms of cost for Mexico.
That's clear. Thank you very much, guys. Once again, congrats on the numbers.
Thanks, Thiago.
Thank you very much for your question. Our next question is from Alvaro Garcia from BTG Pactual. Please go ahead.
I didn't have a question actually, but if you can comment... If you can... I guess I stayed in the room. My mistake, sorry about that. But if you can comment maybe on same-store sales, quarter-to-date, what you've seen through October, that'd be very helpful. Thanks again, and congrats again.
Yes, sir. Thanks.
Yeah, Alvaro, we have some numbers here to share. We did in the first weeks of October, we see that the same-store sales are growing on a more moderate pace. Just give me one second to give you more detail on the last week of October. In Mexico, looking at the numbers, I have a same-store sales growth of 13%. Then, if I go to South America, I have a growth of 64%, which inflation makes this number a little bit bigger than it's really. And then in Europe, I have a growth of 7% of same-store sales. That is, that's the last week of October. And then, if I look at the first week of October, it's pretty similar. Just give me one second. In Mexico, I have a same-store sales growth of 13%. No, sorry, 13%, sorry.
Then, in South America, I have 62%, and then in Europe, I have 12% of same-store sales growth. That's the trends how that we see until the first two weeks of October, if you not can see.
Sí. Great. Thank you very much, and congrats again.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question. Our next question is from Mr. Federico Galassi. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Congrats for the, for the, results. Quick questions, according to, for Mexico, how is the capacity of the COA? How much... With this whole CapEx plan that you are having in Mexico, is enough? Do you need to increase the new, the capacity, open new distribution centers, et cetera?
Good question. Yeah, nobody asked that question, but I do ask every quarter when these results are going in, and the momentum that we have in the orders that we having, and the plan of. We're gonna open just from here to December, 64 new stores in Mexico. So imagine the capacity of a distribution center and logistics strategy is important. Mexico, Mexico, we are, as you know, we have 5 distribution centers. The only one that, the big, the bigger one is Mexico City, and the capacity there is, we have a, it's from, it, it's complete to 80%. So we have an another 20% flexibility, open space to grow.
Nevertheless, we are now already looking for some to build. The project is rolling to build another facility in the state of Jalisco. We already are working with some third parties, real estate parties, to see if we can build next year another distribution center that will be ready in 2025. And we will give you more update in the next conference in September, regarding what that, what it will be, why and how, and what will be really the cost implementing this new distribution. Not only distribution, we also will do-
Production.
We are going to tell you a little bit more details of how the capacity is in distribution center by distribution center. When we open Guadalajara, how these things look. We also some. We're gonna do some manufacture in that facility. That is a little bit of what we are. But from now on, we are covered in the next 18 months.
Okay, great. Thanks.
Thank you very much for your question. That was the last question. I will now hand over to Mr. Armando Torrado for final comments.
Thank you, everybody. Thank you, everyone, that was connected today. Thanks for attending our quarterly video conference, and like always, if you have any further questions, please be in touch with our investor relations team. Thanks again. Have a great day, and we see you in February.
That's right.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Bye-bye.
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