I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Adolfo Fritz, Gruma's Investor Relations Officer, who will present earnings results, and then we will open the call for the question- and- answer session, where Mr. Raúl Cavazos, Gruma's Chief Financial Officer, and team will be available to answer any additional questions. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Fritz, IRO. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. Good morning and welcome to our second quarter 2026 conference call. We are pleased to be here and thankful for the opportunity to share our results with you. With me today, as always, are Mr. Raúl Cavazos Morales, Gruma's CFO, and Rogelio Sánchez Martínez, Gruma's Corporate Finance VP. To start, we will take a few minutes to share the fundamentals and results for the quarter, and then we will open it up to any questions you may have. During the second quarter, performance was very solid and promising in our tortilla business at subsidiaries outside of the U.S. In Asia and Oceania, we significantly benefited from the revamped activity in Malaysia, a stellar performance in China with an improving operating leverage combined with greater retail concentration in Australia.
In Europe, our operation has exceeded our initial expectations with a wide acceptance of value-added products as we continue to grow our retail distribution footprint throughout the continent. However, in the U.S., our main subsidiary, the overall trend we have been seeing in the tortilla category continued, primarily spurred by price sensitivity and weak consumer sentiment. It was mainly felt at the food service channel, which was the main driver of volume contractions during past quarters. We are estimating, however, that the volume runoff rate in this channel will stabilize by the third quarter so that we may see results on a more even comparative base once this happens. Additionally, it will allow the market to see with more clarity the evolution in the retail market, which has remained considerably more resilient after the strategy we are implementing.
In the corn flour market in Mexico, the core operation remains as stable as always, although experiencing mild volatility from sales to the government during the period, while the solid footing and innovation has positioned Central America as our second-most profitable subsidiary. With these fundamentals in place, volumes contracted by 1% due to factors in the food service channel in the U.S. we just mentioned. However, sales increased by 3%, supported by net sales growth in Europe, Asia, and Oceania, and Central America, in addition to the relative strengthening of the Mexican peso against the U.S. dollar. As a result, EBITDA contracted 5%, also reflecting the effects of these dynamics. In our balance sheet, we increased our indebtedness levels up to 1.5x in terms of Net Debt/EBITDA due to the seasonality of the summer harvest in Mexico.
Therefore, most of the additional debt incurred was in short-term debt, some of which will be paid off in the future with the cash we have available. Continuing with our debt profile, during the quarter, we refinanced the peso-denominated note in the amount of $250 million by extending and increasing the amount of existing revolver facilities. The total of these two revolver facilities is $425 million and will be maturing in 2031. In the U.S., we continue to navigate a challenging operating environment shaped by weak consumer sentiment and uncertainty in the broader economic outlook. These conditions have affected our commercial channels in different ways and to varying degrees. In the food service channel, customers have returned, which is encouraging.
We've renewed contracts at lower volumes due to ongoing market uncertainty, which is closely linked to both consumer sentiment and current expected inflation levels, which is impacting household purchasing behavior. As we communicated before, and as I mentioned earlier, we expect this runoff rate to stabilize as we complete the cycle of anticipated client adjustments. Once this process is behind us, we believe year-over-year comparisons should become more balanced and easier to evaluate. At the same time, the same price sensitivity consumer behavior has driven stronger demand for private label production, which has reshaped the competitive landscape since 2025 and the first half of this year. In response, we've been executing the strategy we outlined at the beginning of the year, designed specifically to address this more value-oriented market environment.
While we had a strong month during the quarter, volatility reemerged in June, underscoring that the market has not yet fully normalized. That said, our strategy remains on track, and as we continue to execute, our objective is to build greater stability over the coming months. As a matter of fact, we can already see this happening. On a sequential basis, net sales were flat, while volumes grew by 1.3%, so it's just a matter of keeping ourselves disciplined and on track with our current strategy. Importantly, because most of the recent volume pressure has been concentrated in food service channel, we believe the third quarter will be a key transition period. As execution of our strategy overlaps with the end of the expected runoff, we should begin to see the foundation for more positive results going forward.
The U.S. operation closed the quarter with volumes contracting 3% and sales also contracting by a similar amount in line with volumes. EBITDA contracted by 15% in the second quarter, although higher freight and overall distribution costs had an impact on the quarter. The main driver for this change was the volume performance stemming from the food service channel. In Mexico, as has historically been the case, the core operation remained stable with demand from both retail and industrial clients. We did experience some temporary volatility on the back of slower activity in the government programs in addition to a change in mix relative to a year ago, which is gradually improving from what we saw in the first quarter of 2026. As such, volumes remained flat in 2Q 2026, while sales contracted marginally.
EBITDA and EBIT saw an improvement of 1%, EBITDA margin rose to 10.9%, up 20 basis points from last year. In Europe, we continue to expand distribution with retailers across the continent and with the sale of value-add products where we're seeing growing demand. As you already know, the corn milling business in this subsidiary is highly volatile, given fluctuating demand and dynamics in this market that change quarter-over-quarter. During the second quarter of the year, this business experienced lower volume than a year ago and thus hindered the solid performance at the tortilla business in the subsidiary. Volumes were flat during the quarter, despite mid-single-digit growth of the tortilla business on the back of the dynamics I mentioned.
Sales grew by 5%, which speaks to the rich mix that is being sold today and the efforts being carried out at the retail channel in the subsidiary. Moreover, the same mix for EBITDA growth of 17% year-over-year, reaching an EBITDA margin of 14.8%. Central America also continues with excellent news, with the only constraint being capacity, as we've communicated previously. Currently, we're increasing utilization rates and are addressing this challenge with the construction of our new mill in Guatemala, which will help us with the increasing demand we're seeing for Gruma's innovative and high-quality products. We're also contemplating building a new mill for next year, assuming demand remains at its current high level.
It is because of these products and our team's excellent commercial efforts that we've been able to expand efficiently across the entire region that this subsidiary serves, with volumes and sales rising 3% and 7% respectively. In turn, this yielded EBITDA growth of 12% and an EBITDA margin of 19%, positioning the subsidiary a strong profitability center for Gruma going forward. In Asia and Oceania, the operation also yielded great results. Malaysia recovered from a year ago, and both Australia and China are operating at optimal levels. More specifically, Australia has successfully carried out more aggressive commercial efforts in the retail space, while China is now benefiting from a new facility in Foshan, which has improved our operational leverage there. Volumes grew by 4%, while sales expanded by 15%.
The growth in sales, coupled with our disciplined approach on costs, allowed for a significant 47% rise in EBITDA, with the region delivering an EBITDA margin of 16.2%. In light of these results in the current market environment, we believe it is appropriate to revisit the guidance we provided at the beginning of the year and adjust it accordingly. We now see a low single-digit volume and revenue decline of the U.S. subsidiary. Given the strategic actions we're taking to accelerate growth in standard and private label products in the United States, particularly in response to current economic conditions, we're also revising our EBITDA margin guidance downward by approximately 200 basis points. Therefore, our guidance for our consolidated results will also be adjusted proportionally to a fractional decline in revenue and volume and an EBITDA margin contraction of approximately 160 basis points.
Given that our principal subsidiary continues to operate in an uncertain and rapidly evolving economic environment, we remain focused on adapting our commercial strategy in the U.S. while executing it with discipline. Our priority is to support a stable volume growth and further strengthen our competitive position. We believe the actions we're taking today will make the business structurally stronger once the current economic cycle normalizes. Supported by the continued strong performance of our smaller subsidiaries, we're confident the company will be well-positioned to achieve new levels of financial performance over the long- term. With that, I'd like to open up the call for questions, please. Operator, can you help us with that, please? Thank you.
We'll now be conducting a question- and- answer session. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. You may press star two if you'd like to withdraw your question from the queue. Participants using speaker equipment, you may need to lift the handset before making your selection. One moment, please, while we call for questions. Thank you. Our first question is from Henrique Morello with Morgan Stanley.
Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for the space for questions. Adolfo, maybe a follow-up and diving deeper on the U.S. trends that you mentioned regarding the channels. Breaking down by channels, if you could provide just a bit more color on what you're seeing in terms of food service and retail, and perhaps if you're seeing any encouraging signs in food service already in June or in early July that make you think that things are stabilizing, or if it's more a matter of comps in the food service side. How are you seeing retail competition and retail performance as well? Talking more specifically about retail, if you could break down as well how is your private label portfolio performing versus your branded part of the portfolio, and how is your head or the company's head around the mix between the two in the retail segment?
That would be very helpful as well. Thank you.
Thank you for your question, Henrique. The first part, in terms of the food service channel overall, the stabilization we're talking about is more an end of a cycle. In other words, the comparative basis will be similar year-over-year. As I mentioned just a minute ago, everyone that we expected to come back after the adjustments we did has come back, but they've come back wanting contracts for lower volume amounts. That has been the case every quarter since this started happening. If you remember, it all started with an inflation situation taking place almost a year and a half ago, or almost two years ago, and that spiraled into what is happening today with everything that's going on in the world, where the consumer is just extremely anxious. That's led them to ask for lower volumes, and that's where we're at.
That's why we feel that during the third Q, we'll be able to have a more stable base. That doesn't mean that it will be an inflection point of growth, specifically for the food service channel in specific. In terms of retail, competitive landscape has slowed down. We haven't seen competitors in the landscape as aggressive as they were before. Right now it's just a matter of being subject to all these outside forces that are not in our control, which is just how the consumer is feeling relative to everything else that's happening around them. We believe that the actions we're taking are as a response to this effect, and it is something that we're monitoring very closely. As I mentioned a minute ago also, we're pleased to see that on a sequential basis, that inflection point happened during the quarter.
We need to see if this is in fact a trend going forward and that will evolve into further improvement. So far, the strategy worked. We know that on a year-over-year comparison basis, we still have work to do, but the overall trend seems evolving positively. We're very pleased with that given the context that we're operating under. In terms of private label portfolio, right now it's growing probably at around 7%. It is something that we've seen before. We've been accelerating growth in that space, as you know. We've been seeing also a lot more restraint from the Hispanic community, as we've talked about also, in being as proactive buying at retail spaces. That's also been a challenge for us. I would say that that which encompasses standard tortilla overall has been the primary factor behind what we're seeing in retail.
In retail right now, probably we were accustomed to grow at around mid-single- digits, even high single digits. Right now we're probably growing, we're flattish even in retail. While in food service, that's where all the contractions are taking place. In food service, the contractions are in double- digits. That is what is overshadowing what's happening in retail. In retail specific, that flat behavior that I was talking about earlier is more of a result of the standard tortilla, AKA Hispanic products not being sold as sufficiently as they were before. That's the picture I can give you. Again, in spite of everything that we're seeing in the economy in the U.S., I think inflection point on a sequential basis is good news.
That's super clear, Adolfo. Thank you very much for those answers.
No, thank you for the question.
Our next question is from Ben Theurer with Barclays.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just staying on the topic a little bit, would also like to understand to a degree, obviously, with that and the margin guidance being a little bit more softer in the U.S. business, can we talk about the cost side of the equation? One, obviously there is raw material cost, but then there's a second piece around just energy, transportation, et cetera. You've flagged these higher marketing and higher distribution expenses already in the second quarter. As we look into the second half, first of all, how should we think about the raw material input cost outlook? Second, beyond that, what are your expectations right now as it relates to these distribution costs that have gone up, but also the marketing costs? How much makes sense spending versus not spending?
What's the balance here, and how should we think about the go-forward trajectory on those three items? Thank you.
Thank you, Ben. I would say that overall, the one challenge that every company, every sector will have is the inflation specifically related to oil derivatives overall. Going forward, it is something that we have accounted for in the guidance, fortunately. Obviously, to a certain degree, if oil shoots up to $150 per barrel, obviously that's just not being contemplated at this point. Certainly, margin is being contemplated with high fuel prices. These prices are surcharges over the freight rates that we normally pay. The variability that you will see during the second half and maybe going forward, depending on how long this lasts, will be on the SG&A front. We'll have to see how much inflation that creates, and that would be there and also probably on the packaging front as well, in terms of within COGS.
Far, at least for the second half of the year, we'll have to see how the year ends with everything that's happened geopolitically How inflation behaves in light of everything that's also taking place in terms of monetary policy in the U.S. I would say that for the second half, those two items are the ones that we're taking care of.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Our next question is from Renata Cabral with Citibank.
Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for taking my question. My question is related to the Mexican operation. The organic growth remaining below your long-term algorithm despite the stable pricings. I would like to ask if you could elaborate on whether demand weakened sequentially through the quarter or if trends were more to stabilize in the end of the quarter and the performances in different channels across Mexico as you gave some color related to the U.S. and just adding to that related to Mexico is about pricing and pricing has remained disciplined despite soft consumption. Do you still see room for pricing realization going forward? Or we should expect the revenue mix to become volume-driven? Thank you so much.
Sure, Renata, thank you so much for your question. In general terms, Mexico is stable. As you know, we're trying to be in line with the traditional method, there are no arbitrages in place. However, we've been protecting the prices that we give our products on over a substantial period of time, if I'm not mistaken, over the last 36 months or so. With everything that's taken place, we have adjusted prices slightly. However, the effect of that price increase, you won't see that until the next quarter and going forward. You didn't see that this quarter. It was just in line with the inflation that we're feeling at this point. We don't see maybe what you see in other companies or assets that you report on and you analyze. We haven't seen a pullback from the consumer.
What you're seeing there is just one is a change in mix and lower government programs that are in place each year. Whether it's for humanitarian purposes or others, there are certain government programs in place each year that add a little bit of volatility on the volume side and the mix also affects on this front. We did have, as we announced a quarter ago, relative to a year ago, we did have a slight change in mix in our industrial portion of the business. That mix has evolved positively, so it's returning back to where it was. On a comparative basis, year-over-year is still changed. We are estimating that by the third, even fourth quarter, we'll have the mix back in place and also we'll have some positive effect coming in from the price adjustments that we carried out.
Thank you so much. That's very helpful.
Thank you for your question, Renata.
Our next question is from Diego Serrano with HSBC.
Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. You gave a pretty good color on the food service business, and you pretty much answered my question, but just wanted to understand a bit more what's driving the weakness. Trying to get a sense if it's mostly weaker consumer sentiment or if you are still seeing any impact from immigration issues affecting the Hispanic consumer. Thank you.
It's really both. In food service, the Hispanic consumer effect is more in retail rather than food service. It has some effect in food service, obviously, for the same reasons that it's taken place in retail, but it's more weighted on retail. In food service, what we're seeing is just too much inflation relative to the purchasing power of the average consumer. The flow in all restaurants or QSRs in the U.S. is not as it used to be, and whoever goes or whoever is part of this flow will tell you that prices in the U.S. are way higher than what they used to be. The regular people are just taking lunchboxes to work now instead of heading out for a quick lunch outside of the office. For example, they're not dining out at the end of the day.
They're heading back home or having something at home with friends and family. The environment has changed the social dynamic from a maybe venue-oriented dynamics to at home dynamics when it comes to socializing with friends or families. That is something that We've been grappling with, not only us, but everybody else in the industry, just because overall flows are down, and that is obviously not good for anybody in the sector overall. That is what took place or what is taking place in the food service channel.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question is from Froylan Mendez with JPMorgan.
Hello, guys. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you. How are you, Froylan?
All good, Adolfo. Thank you so much for taking my question. Can you maybe help us make a simple bridge for the U.S. margin contraction this quarter? I want to understand what were the biggest drivers, if it was mix pricing or it was more on the gross margin side. Can you help us size the top two, three items in the contraction this quarter?
Sure. No problem. If you look at the gross margins themselves, there was an effect there, but it wasn't as drastic as an EBITDA margin or EBIT margin. The overall effect of what's happening is you have two points of pressure. One is the volumes at the food service channel, which obviously drive down revenues proportionally. Secondly, on the retail channel, you're producing more private label and more standard value-add products to have an answer to the sensitive consumer. In addition to that, we're also increasing shelf space in value-add and better-for-you products. In retail, you have a dynamic where, yes, you're producing more private label overall, trying to offset that with more better-for-you and value-add products. In reality, in the grand scheme of things, you will have more private label production to incentivize volume growth.
That additional increase of private label, in addition to the volumes that were lost in food service, are the drivers behind both volume decline, obviously revenue decline, which is in line with volume decline, and also margin decline. As you already know, private label has a substantially lower margin than other products in the market. That is the effect right there, what you're seeing. Everything that you're seeing margin-wise is just a reflection of the strategy that we're carrying out in order for us to cater to the sensitive consumer in the context that we're living under.
In that sense, Adolfo, how easy is it to go back to the previous mix, talking about just retail, because food service, I understand that it's more of a base reset. On the retail side, if at some point the consumer comes back, is it really feasible to think that the private label penetration will go lower? You'll produce less in private label and go more to the higher-end product? The stickiness of the consumer, once it tastes that the private label is good, et cetera, stays there. How feasible is it for us to understand how fast that could revert if the consumer comes back?
Without a question, the consumer will come back. The U.S. is an economy that is driven by branded products relative to other economies like Europe, it's a more private label-driven economy. If you see the market share in Europe of private label is around 31%. The private label market share in the U.S. has always been between 12% and 13%. It's fluctuated that way depending on the economic cycle that you find yourself on. For example, what was it, two years, three years ago, private label was as low as 11.9%, and right now it's gone up to 12.9%. It's never gone over 13%, historically speaking. The main point here is that it is a branded-driven economy in the sense that as soon as people have the purchasing power again and the visibility in the economy to go and buy branded products, they will.
The question is, when will that happen? Unfortunately for that, we do not have an answer. We know it's going to come back, but we don't know the exact timing, and that is why we're operating here very reactively based on what the consumer preferences are today. To answer your question broadly, yes, the mix will come back. We'll still be innovating. We'll still be selling better-for-you products. better-for-you has, in fact, not been affected by all of these dynamics taking place. It's slowed down, yes, but it's still a double-digit growth. The ones that have been affected in the retail channel are standard products, and those are the ones that have been traded down to private label. It is something that is bound to change as soon as the consumer has the means to do so.
Right now, it's a situation where the consumer is no longer valuing quality, but rather pricing. Whenever the consumer feels more confident, whenever the sentiment changes, and whenever there is more visibility in terms of the future of the economy of the U.S. and its future financial state, I would say that's when things will change back to where they were three years ago. So far, we're still under pressure.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Our next question is from Felipe Ucros with Scotiabank.
Thanks, operator. Adolfo, my questions were already answered. You just answered them in the last question, so I'll skip this one. Thank you. You know what? Maybe on the repurchases. I did notice that you accelerated repurchases a little bit this quarter. Is that a pace-
Yeah
that you hope to maintain throughout the rest of the year, or is it a one-off because you saw lower prices?
No, I think that the valuation of the stock overall is in the very low range of what we are expecting. As long as that is an attractive valuation for us to repurchase, we will still repurchase it. We have a very thorough program in place that will continue throughout the year and then beyond. As long as liquidity is not compromised for funds to invest in our stock, we'll still have that in place.
Very clear. Thanks for all the color you gave me in the last question. That answered the big question.
No.
Thank you.
Thank you, Felipe. Take care.
Our next question is from Alvaro Garcia with BTG.
Hi, Adolfo. Thanks for space for questions. In the release, you mentioned at one point that to build a healthier operating structure. I wonder if that means there might be some cost savings in place in the U.S., just given the contraction of the business we've seen this year. If there's any plans on the SG&A front to sort of reduce the size of your platform? Thank you.
Hey, Alvaro. Thank you for your question. No, it wasn't intended to mean that. What we mean by having a better structure is that if you look back at 2012, we've been more focused on price mix more than anything else. Then we went into a period where costs started being the next thing of focus in parallel to price mix. We haven't really taken care of the volume equation in the business, and what we want to see going forward is a business that does have price mix with the innovation and these better-for-you tortillas that we are producing as part of the wellness trend taking place. In addition to that, we do want to have some volume growth as well in the low to mid-single- digits.
If you were to ask me what that picture would look like, what we call a better structure, would be to have revenues grow by mid to high single- digits, volumes grow by low to mid-single- digits, and have EBITDA grow by high single- digits. That would be the picture-perfect scenario for us, where the entire structure of our P&L really changes based on the strategy that we're trying to implement this year.
Great. Thank you. Just to clarify the new guidance on the U.S., you mentioned a 200 basis points contraction in EBITDA margin for the U.S. for this year. Is that right?
Yep. That is correct, yes.
All right. Awesome. Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Alvaro. Take care.
Our next question is from Regina Carrillo with GBM.
Hi, Adolfo. Good morning. I wanted to ask you about free cash flow generation and leverage. Could you maybe share with us your expectations for the second half of the year on working capital requirements and maybe what leverage do you expect towards the end of the year? Thanks.
Sure. Thank you for your question. The business is really, aside from the U.S. economy and the context that we just talked about, the business is really doing great financially and operationally. We're still producing a very healthy level of the free cash flows. The net debt EBITDA ratio increased this quarter just because of the seasonality of the summer harvest here in Mexico. That is bound to decrease, given that we already made the purchases that we needed. Working capital will be decreasing over time. We also had some receivables increase more than we necessarily needed to have them increase by. I think between the inventories and the receivables, those were the reasons why working capital increased so much.
Going forward, that is bound to decrease as we take care not only of the inventories because the summer season will be over, but also as those receivables start materializing. In terms of the leverage ratio itself, that is bound to decrease. As you know, our upper range for that ratio is where it's at right now, 1.5. As long as it's between 1.2 and 1.5, we feel very comfortable in that leverage range. It will eventually, to answer your question, by the end of the year, it will probably be 1.3, maybe, as we operate through the second half. That is our expectation, but there is nothing to be anxious about in terms of leverage or free cash flow generation or any of that sort of financial analysis.
Excellent. That is very clear. Thank you, Adolfo.
Thank you.
Our next question is from Fernando Olvera with Bank of America.
Hi, good morning. Thanks for the space for questions, Adolfo. The first one is related to the U.S. Maybe if you can share your thoughts about pricing. Given that costs are going up and consumer environment continues to be soft. My second question is related to the efficiencies that you highlighted in Mexico in the press release, that favor EBITDA margin expansion despite top-line weakness and the insurance gain from last year. Also, if you can comment to how sustainable are these efficiencies. Thank you.
Thank you for your question. In terms of pricing in the U.S. and inflationary pressures is something that we're taking day by day, really, as I mentioned. We do feel the guidance incorporates that, as I also mentioned, in terms of those two variables, the packaging and the freight and the fuel surcharge and the freights. On that front, I think we're covered. We need to see how much inflation rises in the future. That's why I pointed out about monetary policy being a factor also. That is just because we're selling food here. We want to be as conscious as we can with the consumer, obviously. When inflation starts hitting our P&L drastically, or when we see a possibility of that, we'll always see the possibility to reach a fair agreement of price adjustments. We'll have to wait and see, really.
I hate to answer it like that, we'll have to wait and see how it behaves. That's how we operate. In regards to your second question, since the third quarter of last year, as you know, we had some spikes in the corn prices because of the agreements that are reached with local farmers in Mexico. It's gone down. We've been able to have fair pricing dynamics. That being said, for the next harvest, right now, the corn prices increased, we need to set a pricing in place for our agreements for the next harvest. We're trying our best to maintain the good momentum that we have in the purchases that we make for corn.
We're constantly analyzing the corn market, we're hoping that the price will decrease, everything points out that the overall price of corn will keep increasing relative to all these news about the weather issues around the world because of the La Niña effect. As you know, we're very active on that front, we're very proactive on that front. We'll try to get the best pricing possible both here and in the U.S.
Okay. Thank you, Adolfo.
Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to hand the floor back over to Mr. Fritz for any closing comments.
Thank you so much, everyone, for being here with us. We look forward to seeing you and meeting you again in future market events. Take care and have a great day.
This concludes Gruma's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Thank you again for your participation. You may now disconnect.