Good morning, and welcome everyone to FEMSA fourth quarter 2021 financial results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the presentation, there will be a question- and- answer session. During this conference call, management may discuss certain forward-looking statements concerning FEMSA's future performance and should be considered as good faith estimates made by the company. These forward-looking statements reflect management expectations and are based upon currently available data. Actual results are subject to future events and uncertainties, which can materially impact the company's actual performance. At this time, I will now turn the conference over to Juan Fonseca, FEMSA's Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to FEMSA's fourth quarter 2021 results conference call. Today, we have Daniel Rodríguez Cofré, FEMSA's Chief Executive Officer, Paco Camacho, our Chief Corporate Officer, and Eugenio Garza, our CFO. As always, we are also joined by Jorge Collazo, who heads Coke FEMSA's Investor Relations sector. The plan for today is to have Daniel comment on some higher-level strategic topics, and then Paco will talk about the evolution of our governance profile and certain changes that FEMSA is proposing for the upcoming shareholders meeting, in line with feedback we have received from investors. That should enhance our board's accountability, composition, and function. Next, Eugenio will walk us through the numbers, followed by Q&A. The call will probably be a bit longer than usual, but hopefully it'll prove to be a good use of your time.
With that, let me turn it over to Daniel.
Thank you, Juan, and good morning, everyone. Let me begin by thanking and recognizing Eduardo Padilla once again. We all know that he was instrumental in leading the effort that turned OXXO into the powerhouse it is today, creating enormous value for FEMSA and its stakeholders, and setting the foundation for compelling growth avenues going forward. We're also familiar with Eduardo's self-adopted role as FEMSA's Chief Culture Officer, focusing on the development of a positive culture of trust and agile collaboration that has enabled our broad organization and over hundreds of thousands of colleagues to pull together towards a common purpose. Now, allow me to make a quick recap of how I see FEMSA in terms of its potential for long-term growth and value creation.
At Coca-Cola FEMSA, we have in place a new long-term relationship model with our partner, The Coca-Cola Company, that significantly increased system alignment and created compelling opportunities for future consistent growth. In our health division, we acquired a large minority stake from our former partner in Chile, allowing FEMSA Comercio to finally integrate our operations across the four countries where we operate. With Heineken, we reach agreements to extend Coca-Cola FEMSA's distribution partnership in Brazil, while we navigated the gradual opening of our OXXO stores in Mexico to sell other beer brands in addition to the Heineken portfolio. Finally, we have made significant inroads developing our business in the United States with our investment in Jetro Restaurant Depot and the creation of Envoy Solutions, our specialized distribution platform.
As I begin the journey as FEMSA CEO and take a close look at our company, I truly believe every one of FEMSA's operations are in great shape. We have faced and overcome challenges big and small, including, of course, navigating the COVID pandemic. I would like to talk a little bit about where we are today in our core business units, and then discuss some of the opportunities we see going forward. Starting with the Proximity Division, in 2021, we surpassed the 20,000 store milestone, and importantly, we believe there is potential to add 10,000 more stores in Mexico over the next decade. At the same time, our South American operations are getting into high growth year, including our joint venture in Brazil. In a few years, it is entirely possible that OXXO International could be generating unique growth figures comparable to those in Mexico.
Today, as consumers gradually return to their normal activities and habits, our value proposition is as relevant as ever, and our comparable sales are now above pre-pandemic levels. This, combined with a leaner cost structure and improving commercial income activity, is driving structural profitability gains. This means that OXXO and Proximity Retail, more broadly, will continue to be a key engine for FEMSA's long-term growth. We're also looking at other Proximity formats with different characteristics suitable for different consumer environments. We are always looking to grow not just in number of units, but in profitability and returns. Beyond physical format, as you are aware, we are in the early stages of developing our digital strategy. Spin by OXXO, our digital wallet, and OXXO Premia, our loyalty program, are off to a very promising start, and we have big aspirations to become relevant players in Mexico's digital ecosystem.
These digital opportunities are so important and relevant to our long-term strategy that we have created a business unit focused on their pursuit and development. This dedicated unit reports directly to me. While we are on the subject of digital, let me give you an update on the regulatory front for Spin. We have now received from the regulator the authorization with certain conditions. We are in the process of addressing these conditions, and the Spin brand is operating under this authorization. This is a very positive development, and we will keep you posted of any incremental news. On the broader topic of our digital strategy, we are deploying the necessary resources, including in terms of organizational structure and talent. While it is a tight market, we have managed to attract key industry hires for our Spin and Premia platforms, and the effort is ongoing.
We're also interacting with potential partners that could contribute their expertise or resources at different levels through commercial or equity structures, with a view to maximize value creation. While there is a natural focus on developing the ecosystem and pursuing the opportunity in Mexico, everything we learn and develop here will serve us well in other markets and other parts of our operation, such as the health division. Moving on to the health division, we are now able to transfer best practices across territories, and we're growing rapidly in Colombia, Mexico, and Ecuador, leveraging the scale and execution-driven results of the core Chilean operation. Beyond commercial and operational improvement that should allow us to gradually narrow the margin gap relative to Chile, we're also growing our digital offerings across the platform in terms of e-commerce, loyalty, and other related opportunities.
On the expansion front, we are focused on consolidating and growing our current operations, but we remain vigilant for inorganic opportunities. Organizationally, we have evolved and simplified our structure a bit to better reflect the evolution of our business units and to allow me to be closer to the operations. Therefore, Proximity, Digital, and Health divisions now report to me, allowing us to remove a corporate layer at FEMSA Comercio. This means we will not have a CEO of the retail businesses, but rather the retail businesses will be closer to the FEMSA leadership team. Moving on, our logistics and distribution operations are growing rapidly, driven by our successful acquisition strategy in the United States that is allowing us to execute our game plan faster than expected.
We are well on our way to achieving our objective of creating a national platform, and we are already capturing meaningful synergies from our enhanced scale and from cross-selling opportunities across territories. We have added almost $1 billion in revenue through 12 acquisitions in the past 14 months. There is significant integration and further synergy capture work ahead of us, but there are also a few important markets in the U.S. where we still need to strengthen our presence. This is a business that is very attractive and one that is already delivering solid returns, with potential to increase margins over time. We are committed to continue playing a relevant role in the consolidation of these markets. For its part, Coca-Cola FEMSA keeps focused on profitable growth, both organic and through targeted acquisition, such as the recently announced transaction with CVI in Brazil.
In an environment where further system consolidation is always possible, Coca-Cola FEMSA enjoys ample cash generation and a strong balance sheet that support not just a healthy dividend stream, but its own growth optionality. Operationally, Coke continues advancing in its own digital and omni-channel initiatives. Its Juntos+ platform continues to make progress in Brazil and Mexico, with a fast-growing number of customers now enabled to place orders digitally, and the percentage of digital orders reaching new heights. Following the increased system alignment with The Coca-Cola Company, we are finding more ways to maximize the productivity of Coke FEMSA's distribution platform through load-sharing pilot tests on our own fleet, as well as through the new Nutresa business. Now, let me talk a little about some higher-level strategic considerations.
As you know, FEMSA has evolved over time as we have developed certain key capabilities to allow us to pursue business verticals that share certain characteristics. We participate in mass-market mainstream industries by providing highly scalable products and services. We develop high levels of capillarity, allowing us to reach and serve our customers through frequent interactions, and we rely on effective operations and processes, enable efficient logistics and distribution capabilities. All of our business units require and benefit from these key capabilities. However, our operations are at different points in their development curve. They have different capital requirements and different growth rates and potential. Therefore, when it comes to FEMSA's capital allocation and deployment, we will privilege those operations that have the best opportunity to generate a positive spread between their return on capital and their cost of capital, obviously adjusted for risk.
Lately, this has meant driving the growth of our retail platform, as well as our recent investment in the United States. We are convinced this is the right approach, and therefore, you should expect us to continue deploying our capital along those verticals. Finally, let's talk about our two large minority investments, Heineken and Jetro Restaurant Depot. Regarding Heineken, we have obtained very good financial return from this investment since 2010, and we have nothing but respect for Heineken. It is a well-managed, well-diversified company, and we continue to be, as we have said in the past, happy holders of their shares. However, we are constantly benchmarking this investment against potential alternative investments like those we have recently made in the United States.
We have funded such investment in the past with proceeds from a partial divesture of our Heineken stake, and we may do that again in the future. That brings me to Jetro Restaurant Depot. This is primarily a strategic investment. Over time, it is a retail business to which we would like to increase our exposure. As you know, there is also the potential to explore and eventually bring their cash and carry model to Mexico. JRD is very compelling from a financial standpoint, and we are happy holders of their shares as well. Let me close with the following. There are many moving parts in FEMSA, and right now all of them are moving in the right direction. We truly believe the future is bright and full of promise.
Our company is always evolving as we direct our resources towards the opportunities that we believe present the most compelling long-term value creation, potential, and we are moving as fast as we can. I am fortunate to lead such an extraordinary team, more than 320,000 strong and the best in the business. Attracting and developing the best people is a keystone of any business that aims to thrive in the long term. It is a high priority for us. Together, I have no doubt that we will achieve great results and write a few more pages in the long history of our remarkable company. While we do that, I look forward to engaging with you frequently in the months and years ahead. Now, let me turn it over to Paco.
Thank you, Daniel, and hello, everyone. I want to talk a little bit about what we have been doing on the corporate governance front, particularly with regards to the structure and functioning of our Board of Directors. As you might be aware, we circulated a press release a few days ago detailing several relevant changes aimed at increasing the accountability and independent oversight of our board. Our first objective is enhancing the board's accountability, and to that end, our shareholders will be able to vote on directors individually rather than as a slate for the first time this year. We believe we are among the first Mexican companies to do this, and hopefully this will become a trend. Second, we want to increase the influence of our independent directors. Back in 2018, our board had 21 directors. By 2021, we had reduced the number to 18 directors.
In 2022, we are reducing it further by one or two directors, and we are making the commitment of reaching a final target between 14 and 15 directors next year. Importantly, at least 40% of those directors will be independent when we achieve our target. Third, we are increasing the oversight role of independent directors in key committees. The Audit and Corporate Practices Committees will continue to be composed solely of independent directors, and beginning this year, the Corporate Practices Committee will also evaluate and nominate candidates for independent directors and ensure the entire board is composed of directors with the skill, experience, and capability required to provide effective oversight. For its part, our Planning and Finance Committee will add operational oversight to its review and will be renamed as the Operations and Strategy Committee.
Composed of a majority of independent directors, this committee will oversee transformational initiatives, further increasing the involvement and time commitment of directors on operational matters and complementing the role of senior management. Beyond 2022, we have also set three governance priorities. First, we will continue enhancing our board's scope and effectiveness by balancing institutional knowledge with fresh perspective by adding new independent directors. We will add incremental expertise on relevant new business areas such as digital and e-commerce, and we will further enhance the board's gender diversity beyond our current level of 22%, and seek backgrounds in alignment with FEMSA's focus on commitment to and leadership in ESG matters important to our success. Second, we will ensure board focus and responsiveness by adopting limits on the outside commitments of directors.
Third, we will bolster outreach to shareholders to gather their input as we continue to enhance our governance. On a related topic, and before turning the call over to Eugenio, let me elaborate a little on the subject of ESG. Beyond the evolution of our board to better address this need, we have established an internal ESG board to focus, drive, and continuously assess our commitment and performance according to our ESG framework. As you know, we have put our money where our mouth is. We have issued sustainability-linked bonds with ambitious targets that will become more expensive if we fail to reach our objectives on important metrics like the use of renewable energy or the elimination of operational waste to landfill within certain time frames. ESG now permeates every aspect of our company, and we are eager to be part of the solution.
With that, let me turn it over to Eugenio.
Thank you, Paco, and good morning to everyone on the line. As we have done in the past several quarters, we will provide fourth quarter 2019 comparisons where we consider this to be helpful as the 2020 comparison base reflects the impact of the pandemic and does not always tell the full story. Starting with FEMSA's consolidated quarterly numbers, total revenues during the fourth quarter increased 16.3% while income from operations increased 18% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. When we compare against the fourth quarter of 2019, total revenues increased 14.6% while income from operations increased 14%.
FEMSA's net income increased significantly and reached MXN 10 billion, reflecting higher income from operations, a non-cash FX gain related to FEMSA's U.S. dollar-denominated cash position, a decrease in net interest expense, and an increase in our participation in associates results, which mainly reflect the improved results of our investment in Heineken. Moving on to discuss our operations, beginning with FEMSA's Proximity Division. We opened 434 net new OXXO stores during the fourth quarter to reach 865 net openings for the year, reflecting a strong push by the team to close 2021 with strong momentum. OXXO same-store sales were up 12.5% for the fourth quarter, driven by an increase of 10.4% in average customer ticket against 2020. When compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, same-store sales increased 4.4%.
Gross margin increased 150 basis points to reach 46.1%, reflecting a recovery in commercial income from promotional programs. Income from operations and operating margin increased significantly compared to the same period of 2020, reflecting improved operating leverage and strict expense discipline. Relative to the fourth quarter of 2019, operating income increased 15% while operating margin increased 30 basis points. These are encouraging numbers that highlight OXXO's resilience in an environment that remains still below pre-COVID levels in terms of customer mobility. Regarding our digital initiative, let me give you a quick update. In the recent months, we made very good progress on the regulatory front, as Daniel mentioned, and Spin by OXXO continues to grow at a rapid pace. As of last week, we had 1.6 million registered users on the platform.
On the loyalty front, things are moving even faster, and as of the same date, we had more than 4 million registered users on our OXXO Premia platform, which of course will play an important role in driving customer engagement and generating actionable data. These are still very, very early days, but we are generally pleased with the trends we are seeing. Moving on to FEMSA's health division. During the fourth quarter, we expanded our drugstore count by 112 net additions to reach a total of 3,652 units across our territories at the end of December and 284 total net new stores for the full year. Revenues increased 7.3% while same-store sales increased an average of 5.7%.
On a currency neutral basis, revenues grew 14.3% and same-store sales increased 10.3% as we continue to see good momentum across our operations. Gross margin remained flat in the quarter, reflecting channel and product mix headwinds, mainly in our operations in South America. Operating margin expanded 10 basis points, reflecting improved operating leverage. Moving on to OXXO Gas, revenues increased 30.2% and same-station sales grew 23.3% relative to the fourth quarter of 2020. During this quarter, gross margin was 14.1%, while operating margin remained flat against 2020, reflecting tight expense control that offset operating deleverage driven by the still recovering mobility. Regarding our logistics and distribution business, revenues increased sequentially, reflecting positive dynamics overall.
Having said that, in the U.S., we continue to see different speeds of recovery at certain categories, such as facility supplies, which are still lagging their historical pace, while others, such as packaging and food service, have recovered a lot more quickly. On the logistics front, our operation again showed good trends across most of its Latin American markets. Finally, moving on to Coca-Cola FEMSA, volumes grew 5.4% over the last year and almost 7% over the 2019 benchmark, with most markets contributing to the positive results. Revenues increased 8.5% and gross profit grew 9.3% despite supply chain disruptions and cost pressures on certain raw materials. Operating income increased 7.6%, reflecting a one-time tax effect in Brazil.
All in all, Coke FEMSA showed the resilience of the business and their ability to deliver results in challenging environments. You can listen to the webcast of the quarterly call that took place last Friday. As you can see, we were able to close the year with good momentum across our platform, and this trend seems to be carrying over into 2022 as the world continues to gradually reopen. We are excited and bullish about FEMSA's opportunity set as we begin this new year. With that, we end the prepared remarks and can open the call up for your questions. Operator?
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment.
Again, press star one to ask a question. We'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone an opportunity to signal for questions. We'll go first to Bob Ford with Bank of America.
Hey, thank you and good morning, everybody, and thanks for taking my question. You know, Daniel, how does the creation-
One is Spin, which is really a fintech organization, and the second one is the loyalty program. In terms of Spin and in terms of resources, we have been very active, bringing expert people from the industry. We have a leader who reports directly to me, as I mentioned before. I would say that is making very good progress. I don't know, Juan, if we can show the numbers that we have today in terms of customers.
Certainly. I mean, we have more than 4 million on the loyalty side. We have 1.6 in Spin and about 60% or 60+ in terms of actives.
Yeah, I would say that is where we are. I mean, we have made a lot of progress and very fast over the last couple of months, and we are very positive about the future. Obviously, as I also mentioned during the call, we are looking for different level of potential partnerships at different levels because we strongly believe that could be an opportunity in terms of value creation. That, I would say, is the most relevant thing. In terms of the indicators, obviously, we are moving to the standards of the industry, and that is what, how we are tracking the business.
Internally, I would say that the fact that that division is reporting to me, I mean, the FEMSA leadership team is very close to them, and we are following, I mean, all the evolution in terms of performance and value creation on a monthly and sometimes on a quarterly basis. I don't know, Eugenio or Paco, if you would like to add anything else.
Yeah, just to be more specific on KPIs, I mean, internally, we are looking at these indicators, and going forward, we'll start to share some of this in the market. We are looking at the stickiness of the platform via the churn, the average revenue per user, customer acquisition costs and the likely metrics going forward. On the loyalty front, again, we are looking at the tender in our stores, the stickiness of the platform. That data is also being shared internally to see what kind of monetization opportunities exist going forward.
From a resources standpoint.
Got it. Sorry.
From a resources standpoint, sorry Bob, I think that it's important to mention that there is a consistent inflow of talent that is coming from relevant industries from outside that we are bringing into this project so that native talent helps us to develop further.
Just as a follow-up, how should we think about the evolution of the functionality and the use cases on both sides?
Well, I mean, Bob, what we are doing is obviously applying the same methodologies as the industry applies. With MVPs, I mean, agile teams, and I think that the product is evolving as we speak. I think the most relevant thing with Eugenio just mentioned, we are very close about the stickiness of our product, and that is something that we are improving, and we will continue to improve going forward. As I said, we are very positive about the product.
I think one.
Maybe one comment.
Thank you all very much.
One comment to add, Bob. It does look like adding customers. I mean, obviously, it's always a challenge, but the greater challenge is going to be keeping them engaged, right? I think, as you know, we are in an environment in Mexico where cash is still king, where there is a certain reluctance to embrace digital forms of payment. There's a learning curve. You know, we can add big numbers, as we already mentioned. You know, the additions per month are in the hundreds of thousands. In the case of Premia, we're almost probably almost adding a million per month. But we need to get people to really use the product and spend more time, and obviously offering them rewards is gonna be useful for that.
Just to remind everybody of the headwinds that we and every other player is facing in Mexico, which is this deeply entrenched cash culture. Which obviously for us, we benefit from the cash side of things, obviously. In terms of transitioning to digital, it is gonna take a while.
Yeah, maybe I think you made a very good comment, Juan, but let me try to connect that with the ability that we have today that we know exactly who is doing what, I mean, in terms of our customers. So we have much more powerful information, and that I'm sure it will help us how we can improve the product and to Juan's point, how we can try to evolve with the Mexican in terms of the cash, if you want, culture that still is very relevant in Mexico.
No, thank you very much.
Your next question comes from the line of Ricardo Alves with Morgan Stanley.
Hi, everyone. Good morning. Thanks for the call. Thanks for being available. A couple of questions. On OXXO, same store sales gross margins well above expectations as you highlighted in the initial remarks. Just a quick question on SG&A. Were there any major lines or anything that surprised you, I don't know, perhaps on the personnel expense side? We were a bit disappointed, just a bit on the SG&A line. Any thought that you could give on that would be helpful. Now, more important than that is still on the OXXO. How are you seeing mobility and overall your numbers throughout February? We're headed to March.
Just wanted to get your quick thoughts on the evolution on mobility and same store sales as we get, you know, eventually completely past this new wave. That's my first question on OXXO. Then the second question, moving down to Brazil. I mean, it seems that the JV is surprising to the upside. Just want an overall update on what you're thinking about Brazil in 2022. More broadly, this leads me to my broader question on growth outside of Mexico. Wanted to get your thoughts on how you're thinking about South America in terms of growth contribution.
You know, the growth contribution of the region is increasing a lot relative to Mexico as it pertains to the expansion of the company, as it pertains to your expansion in retail. Any thought that you have going forward on ex Mexico retail would be helpful. Thank you.
Sure. Thanks, Ricardo. I'll start with the SG&A question and then turn it over to Daniel for the Brazilian JV progress. On SG&A, really nothing specific to mention other than the fact that, as you saw, we had a big number in the fourth quarter in terms of new store openings. We had an unusually heavy fourth quarter. As you know, some of these expenses are not capitalized. They're put in directly to the SG&A. That's why probably you saw a little bit of a higher bump on the SG&A. Other than that, I think we continue to see, I mean, favorable deleveraging trends. As commercial income is coming back, that gross margin benefit is flowing through the bottom line in the way that we expected.
Nothing specific to mention on the fourth quarter on the SG&A front.
Maybe just before moving to Brazil, Ricardo, in terms of mobility, your other question in Mexico. Well, as we mentioned, we are starting to see a recovery. We are not there yet, I mean, completely in terms of mobility, but so far, I mean, a very positive trend in the fourth quarter. Then moving to Brazil, I mean, just a reminder to everyone, I mean, the JV that we have there with Raízen, which is a 50-50 JV, we have 3 different models operations. So one, we have the traditional franchise model with the Select brand inside the gas station.
Second, still inside the gas station with Shell Select brand, we offer to the dealers, if they like, that we will, I mean, take the store, and we will run as we normally do with an OXXO store here in Mexico. Third one is the OXXO deployment of stores outside of the gas station. I would say that we are very much aligned and even positive in terms of what we're above our original plan. The most important thing is that the best customer value proposition that is proven to be very successful in Brazil is OXXO. We are very positive about what we have seen so far in OXXO in Brazil. For this year, I mean, our plan is to open around 200 stores in 2022.
Obviously, I mean, that will help us to learn how we can keep that momentum or even increase going forward. That is where we are at this stage in Brazil, but very positive and very happy with the results that we have seen so far.
Appreciate the color. Thank you.
Thanks, Ricardo.
Your next question comes from the line of Benj Theurer from Barclays.
Yes, good morning, and thank you very much for taking my question. What I would like to understand a bit is in regards to the most recent performance in the Health Division. Could you elaborate a little bit on what the dynamics you've been seeing? I mean, obviously you had some very good results during COVID and maybe things are just normalizing. Where do you stand right now in both South America and Mexico? Particularly in Mexico, where do you stand in terms of like getting those operating efficiencies from having gone through the unification of processes, et cetera? That would be my question. Thank you.
Good. I mean, let me talk first about South America. I mean, in terms of South America, as we have mentioned, I mean, our core market and the most relevant in terms of contribution is the Chilean market. We are moving very fast in order to improve the capabilities both in Ecuador and Colombia. In that regard, in these two markets, based on the synergies that we are capturing from the commercial standpoint, we are able to speed up, I mean, our organic growth. That's what we are doing both in Ecuador and Colombia.
Particularly in the case of Ecuador, I think also it's relevant to mention that we are I mean, growing very fast as well with our franchise model, which is part of the, if you want, learnings that we are bringing from our core market in Chile to Ecuador. I mean, regarding Mexico. I mean, last year, we had made significant improvement in terms of the scale of our division. I mean, the fact that now we own 100% of the business really has helped us to do that much faster. That also is helping us to improve the speed in terms of the organic growth. We're always looking for opportunities.
In Mexico, we can see, for example, regional change, et cetera, in order that also by using M&A as an option, optionality, see if we can grow faster in this market. That I would say in a nutshell is where we are. I mean, in terms of the pandemic, I mean, as I think that was another question that you raised. I think definitely we got the benefit, I mean, at the beginning of the pandemic, but so far, we have been able to compensate, if you want, the reduction in those components of our value proposition.
The other ones, and the fact that, as I said, we have a much stronger commercial regional division that is helping really to be much more effective in terms of our value proposition in the markets that we are in and trying to be much more competitive in terms of price with our customers.
If I might add on to Daniel's comment, I think some of the positive dynamics you see on the margin front have to do with that additional scale and the way we're operating in Mexico by concentrating volume of key SKUs with less suppliers getting better terms. That has achieved, I mean, hundreds of basis points in margin improvement in Mexico that on top of the top line growth is really helping the deleveraging effort provide solid results to the bottom line.
Which is coming from Chile, right? I mean,
Yes.
Many of these practices come from the Chilean operation. I would just add in terms of segmentation or the type of formats that we operate for different reasons, you know, some of our markets have a mix of institutional sales. For example, Colombia has institutional and so does Chile. Mexico is basically retail. And even if you look at retail, you know, our drugstores in Mexico cater to a certain segment. They're small. They're deeper within the neighborhoods as opposed to Ecuador, where we have two different formats, Fybeca, which is a bigger box, maybe a little bit higher end. Then you have Sana Sana, which are smaller, kind of lower socioeconomic segment.
In Chile, you have Cruz Verde, which is also a big box that plays a little bit higher. I think we've had a lot of learnings in terms of what is the right value proposition, and can we have more than one in a given market? I think that's also proven to be very profitable.
Okay. Perfect. Thank you very much, all.
Thank you, Ben.
Your next question comes from the line of Alan Alanis with Santander.
Thank you so much. Thank you for taking the questions. Hey, Daniel, Paco, Eugenio, Juan. I feel that I'm gonna ask about an elephant in the room, but I think it'll be a benefit for everyone. You didn't mention the share price of FEMSA in any of the remarks, and the share price of FEMSA in dollars will have done nothing in 10 years, staying between whatever $70, $80 and $95. Well, A, how relevant is the share price in terms of all of the decisions that you're making? And specifically, I think the share price has done not much because of a lack of increase in earnings per share. And behind that is the capital deployment and the structure of FEMSA. And in this case, you're announcing the digital initiatives.
I think it would be good to hear how you're gonna monetize the digital initiatives in, not even in the near future, but in the longer term, what are the options? I guess the two concrete questions is the relevance of the share price in all of everything that you're doing and the acknowledgement of the situation of the share price. Second, how are you gonna monetize the digital initiatives in the future? Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you very much for your question, Alan. I mean, in terms of the stock performance or share price, I mean, as you know, a significant component of senior management's compensation and large portion of the majority shareholders assets are in the form of FEMSA shares. I mean, starting by myself, obviously, I'm very close and worried about the price of the stock. Of course, we take care about that, the stock performance. I think maybe the difference, and I acknowledge that we really manage our company from the long term. I'm fully aware that at this period, the market is not fully recognizing that potential. I'm aware of that.
Having said that, I mean, we are always evaluating alternatives that may optimize our corporate structure. For us, this is a dynamic exercise. It's something that, yes, we take care of it. We are analyzing on a permanent basis. But at the same time, we know that our main focus is how we can create value in the long term. That I would like to mention regarding the stock price. I mean, in terms of digital, definitely, I mean, we see that as a huge opportunity.
I mean, as we mentioned earlier, during the call, I mean, the combination that we have in terms of our capillarity across Mexico is showing us, as Juan said, before, that for us, acquiring customer is not the main challenge, even though that is a challenge, but it's not the main challenge. It's much more about how we make sure that we evolve as fast as we can the value proposition, that how we can take care in terms of the evolution of the cash culture in Mexico. In terms of how we monetize, I mean, that business definitely is something that it will come. I mean, I'm sure that it will come. At this stage, we are much more focused in trying to grow the business as much and fast as we can.
For that, we recognize two key components of that. One is the need of expert digital talent, which is something that we are bringing very fast on board. Second, we are permanently, and as we speak, assessing if there are opportunities to speed up and create more value by having partners at different level of the business. There is where we are at this stage.
Yeah, I would add also, in terms of the changes we're doing to attract this management, we are trying to adapt our standard compensation practices to bring digital talent into the organization to something that replicates the value creation opportunities that they would get at a startup. And again, this value can hopefully be monetized internally through more disclosure as we go forward in terms of the progress of the value creation of these digital initiatives, and also through both commercial and potentially equity partnerships that Daniel mentioned going forward. We do take that into consideration and hope that through all these mechanisms that value will be a lot more transparent to you guys as shareholders.
Super. Thank you so much, Daniel. Thank you, Eugenio. Best of luck to all. Thank you.
Thank you. Thanks a lot.
Your next question comes from the line of Álvaro García from BTG.
Good morning, Daniel, Paco, Eugenio, Juan. Thanks for the space. Two questions for me. The first one on average ticket at OXXO, up 10% year-over-year. I know you guys are very proactive on sort of passing price, but I was also wondering if you can comment on what you're seeing on sort of structurally higher average ticket coming out of the pandemic, and whether or not that's actually sticking or not from a mix standpoint. My second question on governance, congrats on the changes, particularly on the nomination front. Two questions sort of on tenure specifically. What should we expect as far as sort of the average tenure for independent board members?
Maybe if you could sort of comment on the weight that the Corporate Practices Committee has had historically, and how you might expect this to change going forward. Thank you very much.
Sure. First on average ticket, I mean, there is an inflation component to that, no doubt. We are trying to balance obviously the value proposition with increases that we're seeing on the supplier front. So far, I think that there's still a good chunk of the average customer ticket that has to do with changes that we believe will be permanent in terms of the average customer basket. I mean, we're seeing a lot more, I mean, hard liquor instead of beer. We're seeing more food consumed rather than just snacks.
Overall, we're comfortable that as traffic continues to grow in the store, that average ticket, at least for the customer that did change his habits, will stick and be a permanent accretion to the value proposition of the store.
Yeah, let me comment on that, Eugenio, because I think you're absolutely right. I would say that obviously, I mean, one of the things that we still, I mean, is evolving and will continue to evolve, is what would be the new reality at the office space. I think that is something that we are analyzing very closely. I mean, that could have a positive impact in terms of the traffic, particularly the traffic.
I mean, the combination of the type of consumption that we have with people that go out and particularly go to work at the office, that potentially on average, because it will change a little bit the mix of the size of the ticket, could reduce the ticket average, but it will be more than compensated by the better traffic. I think that's the only thing that I would like to add.
If I may, there is one additional thing, which is, the consumer has changed its habits. I think that one of the things that will definitely stick is the ability of the OXXO teams to adapt to that. They have very quickly adapted the portfolio. They have very quickly adapted to how the mobility affected, the consumer patterns. I think that you should expect the OXXO teams to continue doing that strongly moving forward.
On your question on governance, I mean, as you know, I mean, the Corporate Practices Committee and certain board members used to take care of the nomination. In any event, now we're making it official, and they're gonna be following established protocols based mostly on investor feedback, and looking at stuff such as tenure, experience, and trying to strike the right balance between the corporate history of the company and the experience in the decisions that have been made in the past, together with a fresh pair of eyes that can look at the evolving topics such as digital, ESG, and other topics.
Rather than at this point communicate kind of what these specific targets are with regards to tenure, composition, and skill matrix elements, I mean, that will be playing out across the next few months, and we'll communicate as need be. We are going to be looking at number one, making it explicit as to the kinds of considerations that we're making, and again, hopefully striking this right balance between institutional knowledge and history, and fresh additions to the skill set of the board.
Very helpful. Thanks for answering, too. Thank you.
Your next question comes from the line of Luis Willard from GBM.
Hi, guys. Good morning. Thanks for the space and congrats on the results, Daniel and team. I mean, I'm gonna go a bit off script with my question, Daniel. I hope you don't mind. If you think of your characteristics and your track record and your capabilities, how do you see them aligning with the strategic vision that you have for FEMSA? Where the company is standing in terms of its life cycle? That would be my question. Thank you.
Thank you, Luis. Well, I mean, definitely, I would say that in terms of the evolution, as I mentioned, during my comments, I think the business units are in a great shape. If you notice, I think there are maybe two or three key elements that I believe that my experience will contribute to that evolution. First is the international expansion. I mean, as you know, before I joined FEMSA, I had experience both working at Shell and then later working at Cencosud with a relevant expansion outside the core markets.
So far, I think particularly Brazil is a very nice proof that I mean trying to combine our knowledge, our skills then with the local knowledge of our partner in Brazil is proving to be a great element. Second, I would say also, I mean, the fact that we are exploring new avenues in the U.S., I think that I mean again, the team and that is really more to recognize Eduardo and the guys that are here around me in the table today that have done a great job in trying to move very fast in acquisition and really create a new vertical for FEMSA in an area that is very familiar to us.
I think that also is a positive thing. Then finally, on the digital space, and I would say, I mean, my experience before and I mean, if you are familiar with the business in Chile particularly, we had a very nice development in terms of the fintechs of this world. Also, which I think is very relevant, I mean, my knowledge around the loyalty programs, which is something that we have developed very successfully down in Chile and that we have brought to other markets in Latin America. That, I would say, are the three main elements.
Finally, I think the most important thing for me is how we ensure that we have the right talent going forward in order that we can achieve and continue building, I mean, the history of this great company.
Thank you, Daniel. That was quite insightful.
Your next question comes from the line of Rodrigo Alcantara with UBS.
Hi. Good afternoon, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two quick ones for you here. The first one on the digital front, you mentioned you're bringing talent to build a platform, right? We have seen you bringing people from Rappi, the appointment of José Antonio. So my question here would be how far do you think you are in terms of building this team on the digital platform? And also, if you would highlight any investment there that you had at FEMSA Ventures that could potentially serve as a partner for your digital platform. We know that you have a couple of investments there. That would be my first question. The second one very quickly, just to make sure I understand correctly.
The Heinekens, taking Heineken, traditionally dividends were passed through to invest to finance this investment, right? As payment, as dividend payment. Right now with the U.S., as you mentioned, it's fair to say that the dividends from Heineken will be used to fund US acquisitions. Is that correct? That would be my two questions. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Rodrigo. I mean, regarding the digital front and FEMSA Ventures, and then you guys can complement me. First on the digital front, obviously we have made a lot of progress, I mean, in terms of bringing talent from outside. I mean, people that are, if you want, expert, I mean, in the digital space. Having said that, we know that this world moves very fast, and that is something that we need to keep always in mind. We need to move even faster. That for me is it's like in three fronts o ne is how we make sure that we continue to improve the quality of our products. The value proposition, I mean, to Eugenio's point regarding stickiness.
Second, how we make sure that we have the right talent at the speed that we really need. That is a permanent, if you want, not a concern, but it's a permanent task that we're taking care of. Also I think it's important that we recognize that we need to change the way that we compensate this team. That is something that Eugenio already mentioned. The third one, which if you want, in some ways a combination of the two first that I just mentioned, is the fact that we are permanently assessing if there is an opportunity at different levels to have partners. That is why, I mean, we connect very well to your comment or question regarding FEMSA Ventures.
Because I mean, FEMSA Ventures, from a wider, if you want, perspective, our intention is that we can explore opportunities in FEMSA Ventures for investments that in some way can connect not only to the digital world in the future, but also that could be potentially relevant for our other business units. So that is what I would like to say regarding the digital. I don't know. I mean, maybe Eugenio, Paco, if you have any addition.
Them to do pilot testing, et cetera, to create value for themselves. We try to share best practices. Having said that, we do let the ventures kind of flourish on their own and follow their own value creation process as well. We again try to do no harm and try to benefit mutually throughout the agreements. I think that has been a great value proposition for the entrepreneurs as well as good learning outcomes for us that are helping us not only develop our own digital platforms, but also figure out kind of where how the landscape is evolving in each one of our countries.
The one thing I would like to add, Rodrigo, to your question on the FEMSA Ventures. The two teams are very close together, so meaning they talk a lot, they work together a lot in things in which the FEMSA Ventures that are outside looking into a lot of things, as you can imagine, they have learned a lot. These type of learnings, they talk to the digital team and they share this learning. Also, I mean, let's face it, they look into a lot of companies in which some of them we end up not investing, and some of them actually they end up not moving forward with their own project.
In that regard, there is a lot of talent there that is also available and eventually that is also to Daniel's point before, is something that we look into, as we try to get more talent into the digital efforts.
Finally, Rodrigo, to your question regarding Heineken dividends. Just wanna be clear, I mean, obviously, I mean, cash is fungible, but traditionally we've set our own dividends based on the cash flow of dividends that we get from Heineken, KOF, now Jetro, and to a certain extent, the cash flow provided by the Proximity Division. That has always been the case and will continue to be the case going forward. I think the comment that Daniel made earlier referred to three and a half years ago, you might recall, we sold off in a block trade about 5% of our original 20% holding in Heineken and used that capital to deploy into some of these newer verticals into the U.S. That's what he was referring to.
From a dividend perspective, again, it's still to be determined over the course of the next few weeks, but we would continue to follow the same mentality and recover hopefully the pre-pandemic levels of dividends this year.
It's basically a pass through?
Correct. Yes.
That's great. Interesting comments on the venture side. Thanks for the clarifications about Heineken. Thank you guys.
Thanks, Rodrigo.
Your next question comes from the line of Rodrigo Echagaray with Scotiabank.
Thanks, everyone. Good morning. I guess my comment is with regards to the changes in the corporate structure beyond the creation of FEMSA's digital division. Obviously, cash is king in Mexico today, but you know, I think there's obviously an acknowledgment that that may change over time and enhance the importance of speed and detail in general. I guess the question is how to make sure that you know, that you guys have addressed whatever challenges that you might face in the past in terms of having the right priorities, and KPIs and compensation for detail under the new structure?
Like what examples perhaps can you share, as to what's not necessarily working and what's the end result, or the potential end result of these changes in the corporate structure?
Well, I mean, let me make sure that I understand your question. When you refer to corporate structure, you refer to the leadership team that is reporting to me. I'm correct?
Correct, Daniel.
Yeah. That and obviously.
Yeah.
the creation of all time s peed.
Okay, fine. Well, I mean, as I mentioned, I mean, the fact that we have now eliminated one layer was the role that I had in the past, which is the CEO of FEMSA Comercio or the retail business unit, for me reflects two, if you want, key elements. First of all, I think it's the fact that, I mean, the businesses particularly, I would say the health division and now the digital area, they are growing very fast. They have evolved, and I think that now they are at the level that really should report directly to the FEMSA CEO. That for me is the first thing.
I think at the same time, because, I mean, all the retail businesses are the ones that in the past, and we see that there is a big opportunity going forward in terms of value creation. I think it's very important for me that I can keep very close to this business. In terms of the digital one, well, I mean, as Eugenio said, we are taking all the knowledge of the industry in order to evolve our compensation package for that team in order that we can make ourselves as attractive as we can. So far, to be honest with you, I think we have been very successful attracting talent.
I mean, the market there is very competitive, but the fact that we have such a nice, if you want, footprint with our OXXO business. I think everyone in the digital industry recognize that is a great opportunity and they see the value in terms of how we can evolve the business. At the same time, which I think is more important, the guys that are joining us see how they can evolve and develop their career going forward. As I said, I'm very positive, but at the same time, let me be very clear that we're permanently analyzing if there are other ways, particularly regarding potential partnerships, to even grow faster in that industry.
Let me add, I mean, just to follow up on those comments. Number one, I think very importantly, we're no longer kind of trading off resources either on the OpEx level or on the CapEx level with the Proximity concept. So we're funding this separately, looking at it separately, and having kind of cost of capital and opportunity cost discussions separately. I think that clearly helps fund investments that on the other hand would probably not have been funded. That's number one.
Number two, I think more importantly, we're being a lot more agile in figuring out what we can do internally and what we cannot do internally, and being open to outsource certain elements of the development of the business, and being a lot quicker in that respect. I think those two elements added to one, what Daniel already mentioned, are helping us, I mean, get the traction that we're getting in the market.
Got it. Just maybe one follow-up. You obviously launched Spin without any partnership on the fintech side or on the tech side. You know, what I guess seems to be changing in that it sounds to me like you are now a little bit more open to seeking these partnerships around that division?
Yeah. I wouldn't say that we are more open. I mean, I think one of the very positive element of FEMSA is that we have a culture of partnership. So in that regard, I mean, I don't see any, if you want, difference regarding that. I think the only element that we are now focusing more than maybe we did in the past is the fact that we realize that with the speed that we are growing the business and with the environment that we see there outside, I think if we can bring someone or someones that can help us to do that and even in a faster and more, if you want, effective way, we're open to do so. We are analyzing that as we speak.
I mean, that is something that we already started last year. We're doing different, we are having different discussion with different people. Potentially we can end up with different, if you want, partnership models, which can be from like a commercial point of view, and can end up even to have a more, if you want, structural partnership that could also include equity. That is what we are analyzing at this stage.
Yeah, I would add, Rodrigo-
Got it.
I mean, if we think of just what Saldazo was, right? In terms of, you know, originating the accounts, partnering with Visa, which of course is something that we've done, and setting up peer-to-peer payments, that's something that's already happening. There are areas like, you know, analytics. That's something that we probably need some help in, getting kind of the state-of-the-art. We need to be smart about where a partner adds value and where they wouldn't. I think that kind of complements what Daniel was describing.
Great. Thanks a lot.
Thanks.
Your next question comes from the line of Thiago Bortoluci with Goldman Sachs.
Yes. Hey, Daniel and team. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking our questions. We have two questions exploring the theme of capital deployment. The first one is about logistics in the U.S., right? The business unit is ramping up well. You have added more assets to the platform, and according to your opening remarks, the understanding is that there's potentially more to come over the next months, right? Apart from the sequential acceleration on the P&L that we saw in the first quarter, how is this business unit performing in terms of ROIC, and what should we expect for the very short term, having in mind that potential new and organic activity should come from there going forward? This is the first one. The second one is on OXXO.
You were able to post a material acceleration in store openings in the first quarter, and you have been reiterating the structural space for higher penetration in Mexico going forward. I would just like to hear from you, what should we expect in terms of expansion in Mexico for 2022 for OXXO? These are the questions. Thank you very much.
Sure. If you want, I'll take the logistics question in the U.S. As you know, the entire strategy behind this is that we're looking at an industry structure that's an hourglass model, so a lot of different suppliers, a lot of different customers. Being at the center as a distributor allows you to, I mean, create a ton of value. As you create a national platform, get synergies and value capture from the scale. From that perspective, we bought our original two companies, as you know, in the spring of 2020. We bought a total of 13 companies so far. At this point, I can say a couple of things.
One, most of the companies that we bought, both originally as well as through the beginning parts of 2021 are already meeting their ROI targets, with the synergies and best practices that we have been able to deploy. From our internal perspective, we're already valuing on a DCF basis, based on the performance that we see so far, I mean, a valuation, I mean, well above what we originally paid for these assets. We're very, very happy about what we have achieved there so far and still feel that we have a long way to go in terms of capital deployment into that space at these kinds of quick paybacks and quick return on capital turnarounds.
We're happy to report that we think we made the right bet on this industry, and it's playing out according to plan so far.
Yeah. Let me take the second question. On the openings in Mexico, you know, if you remember last year, we made some adjustments in terms of raising the threshold for new locations in order to get approved for a new store. We are now requiring a higher score in our internal metrics because we don't want to find ourselves again in a situation where we need to close stores because they weren't good enough, which is something that happened in 2020. We made it tougher to kind of get approved for opening in Mexico. We've been building the pipeline with that criteria.
It was very good and encouraging even for us that we were able to do so well in the fourth quarter, as you said, you know, more than 400 stores. Going forward, I think we should think of a kind of an 800 number. It will start with an 8 probably. There's maybe a little bit of upside there, but let's think about 800 for Mexico for 2022. To Daniel's earlier comment, let's also think that outside of Mexico we're probably gonna be approaching 400, right? We're gonna have 200+ in Brazil, something like 150-160 in Chile and Colombia. We're almost gonna be kind of 2 to 1 Mexico versus international this year.
That ratio is gonna change quickly because Mexico is probably gonna stay there, maybe grow a little bit, but South America for sure is gonna accelerate. To the comments that Daniel made in the remarks, it's entirely possible that in a few years' time, we're gonna be opening similar numbers in Mexico and outside of Mexico. You know, complementing that comment, as you know, we've spoken about scale and the benefits of scale and what that does to your returns obviously, to your relationship with suppliers. As we're getting bigger in these other countries, obviously the profitability there begins to, you kind of supercharge and, it begins to be a story about margins catching up. Catching up is an aggressive thing because in Mexico, obviously we have 20,000 stores.
beginning to generate profits and beginning to narrow the gap, much in the way that we're seeing in the health division, where we're seeing the countries begin to narrow the gap vis-à-vis Chile, which is kind of OXXO in the health division is Cruz Verde in Chile. I hope that's helpful.
Thiago, before we let you go.
Thanks.
Just so you don't blame me for whittling away from the ROIC question on the logistics. For most of the early acquisitions, we are looking at ROICs in the low double digits, even, I mean, a year and a half into their acquisition. Just to give you a sense of how powerful this business model is.
No, that's great. That's great. If I may, just a quick follow on Juan's comments. Any material or structural difference in terms of unit economics in OXXO in Mexico and outside Mexico going forward we should have in mind when adding this to the models?
Not really. I mean, we are seeing, as you know, different traffic and ticket patterns throughout the portfolio. Depending on whether it's a tourist area or an urban area or a residential area, we are seeing certain changes in terms of the traffic and ticket mix. But overall, we continue to see, I mean, very, very high marginal returns on capital, similar to the ones we've been seeing in the recent past.
Yeah. There's maybe a difference. I mean, if you just think about Chile, I would say from a value proposition standpoint, our stores in Chile are a little bit more convenience. I mean, if you think about the spectrum between convenience and just proximity in Mexico, I think in Chile you have slightly higher margins. The average ticket is higher in Chile than it is in Mexico at this point. Obviously, you know, you need to have certain critical mass. It begins to influence whether you have distribution centers and how you build up your supply chain and logistics. At the end of the day, you're using the playbook from Mexico.
You're just where Mexico was, you know, 30+ years ago, but with a lot of knowledge that you didn't have in Mexico 30 years ago.
That's very clear, Tim. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from the line of Sergio Matsumoto with Citi.
Yes, good morning. It's Sergio Matsumoto from Citi. Thank you for taking my question. My question is on Mexico OXXO, and specifically on the assortment and the store footprint strategy. You mentioned earlier in a response to one of the questions that the portfolio has adapted to the new consumption habits under the pandemic, and that makes a lot of sense. But I seem to recall that in the past, you know, you've mentioned repeatedly that when you saw the municipalities that reopened, that the traffic came back and that indicated that the business model was good and, you know, the portfolio was good, so it didn't really need to make too many changes. I'm just wondering if this might be a change in narrative on your part?
If so, if you could help us reconcile and provide some color on how we'd address the assortment and store footprint in Mexico in the new normal. Thanks.
Hey, Sergio, it's Juan. Yeah, I mean, we've made the comment repeatedly about, you know, in the very beginning of COVID, you know, when we all kind of locked ourselves up in our homes and people disappeared from the sidewalks, there were concerns, certainly, you know, outside of FEMSA, in market observers. But also inside in terms of, you know, will there be structural changes, right? Obviously, e-commerce was growing hand over fist. Some people would speculate, "Well, maybe, you know, people are never coming back to the streets," right?
Maybe e-commerce is gonna be so dominant that the spur-of-the-moment transaction is gonna lose relevance." Our comments when we talked about as people go back out and kind of resume their lives and their activities, they go back to the store and they buy what they've always bought. This has implications, for example, for mix, right? I mean, you saw a shift during COVID towards multi-serves. Would people come back and go back to buying a single serve of, you know, snacks or beverages? Our comments go to that, to basically saying, "Look, when people...
What we're seeing, we know when restrictions have come down, when the color code has gone to green, people go to the store and they buy their cup of coffee and their snacks and their tacos, like they were doing before COVID. We don't see a structural change. Yes, you know, Daniel mentioned a few minutes ago, probably we won't be opening many stores inside office buildings anytime soon. But by the same token, we are seeing higher revenue in stores that are in some residential areas because people are there during the week that didn't used to be there during the week.
Then the other comment, which has to do with, specifically, I would say spirits and the small supermarket replacement ticket, which we started talking about, you know, 18 months ago, those have remained, and I think Eugenio commented to that a few minutes ago. So we are seeing, you know, I guess a legacy of running out of beer for a couple of months in the middle of 2020. People discovered that OXXO has a great assortment of spirits at very good prices, and that seems to have remained. And then there's also that small supermarket replacement transaction for consumers that didn't realize that we either carried their favorite brands or that on a like for like basis, our prices were very similar to the supermarket. So that's how I don't think there's.
I don't think it's hard to reconcile. I don't know if I was clear. Was that helpful?
Yes, it is. It makes sense. If you could maybe kind of update us on what you just mentioned about fewer OXXOs at office buildings. That makes sense, too. What was the ratio in the past and, you know, what you expect to, you know, where you expect to be, you know, in the future? You know-
Yeah.
You don't have to provide any timeframe, just like in general.
If you remember, you know, we were talking a few years ago about niche locations. We talked about opening a few stores inside office buildings. We talked about opening stores inside manufacturing facilities. I remember talking about Honda, for example, where we had some stores that, you know, they didn't charge us any rent. Obviously, we've opened more of those in more places, stores in airports. These were always niche. This wasn't a big part of the numbers. Off the top of my head, I don't have a percentage, but it was single digits in terms of, you know, any given openings in any given year. This doesn't really move the needle. It's more of just, you know, reallocating to more traditional locations.
On that front, actually, we've made some further progress on segmentation. I think we've gotten better at going. You remember we used to have just one kind of store, then we went to three types of stores. Now we have six or seven kind of more finely segmented types of stores. I wouldn't say losing the office building or reducing that significantly, I don't really think it moves the needle very much.
I think that it's important to mention that this is a fluid situation, meaning as we come out of the pandemic, then clearly some decisions will be made by office buildings, by companies, et cetera, on how their hybrid or not working situation is gonna be. Then depending on that, then if everybody comes back to the offices, then evidently the opening of the stores close to office buildings will restart the same way it was before. I guess that's what is important, is to make sure that we keep our radar up and see how the situation evolves, and then we'll act accordingly. I think that that's what is important.
I think, Sergio, maybe the metric that can help you understand a little bit more is internally, we obviously have return thresholds on any capital investment that we have for new stores. Then we track according to the vintage, like January openings, February openings, we track how closely they are to the typical store maturity curve. When we reduced our openings from the low 1,300 to 800, that number moved up materially precisely by being a lot more judicious with regards to segmentation, with regards to where we put it, et cetera. Now we're up in the 80s and 90s percentage hit rate with regards to stores hitting their maturity in the early phases despite the pandemic.
I think we learned a lot across the process, and I think we'll continue to be judicious even as the changes in consumer patterns come up. I mean, only in February now I think we've seen a widespread coming back to school in the entire country. We are seeing it in the traffic numbers. We are seeing it just generally with regards to how long it takes us to get to the office. We'll continue to fine-tune this formula, assuring that expansion stays or the assertiveness of the expansion stays at these levels.
Great. Thanks. Thank you for the call.
Thank you, Sergio.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is all the time we have for questions today. I will now turn the conference back to Francisco Camacho for posing additional remarks.
Thank you everyone for attending the call, and thank you for your continued support to FEMSA and the team.
Have a great week. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to replay the webcast for this call, you may do so at FEMSA's Investor Relations website. This concludes our conference for today. Thank you for your participation, and have a nice day. All parties may now disconnect.