Good morning, everyone. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the earnings conference call to discuss the results of the third quarter 2026 of GPA. If you need translation services, just click on the interpretation button through the globe icon at the bottom of the screen and choose your preferred language. We point out that information contained in this presentation and any statements that may be made during this video conference regarding business prospects, projections, and operational and financial goals of GPA constitute beliefs and assumptions of the company's management, as well as information currently available. Forward-looking statements are no guarantee of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur.
Investors should understand that general economic conditions, market conditions, and other operating factors could affect GPA future results and could lead to results that differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. We have with us today GPA CEO Alexandre Santoro and CFO Pedro Albuquerque. I will turn the call to Alexandre Santoro for him to start the presentation.
Thank you, Ana Clara. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to discuss GPA's third quarter results. This quarter was very important for the company. We made progress in improving profitability of our operations with better margins and lower expenses. In October, we had the approval of the out-of-court recovery, which is a mark in our financial recovery. The measures adopted have been producing effects. They start being shown on the results. Sales are under pressure, and they are our main challenge at the operational viewpoint.
We have an important opportunity to recover and accelerate our growth. To that purpose, we have to improve our execution, commercial and operational, and maintain the discipline in the management so that this growth can be translated into cash generation. On slide four, it's important to see which are the main pillars that provide direction to our front. First is resolving structural liabilities. Second pillar is streamlining the company, and the third is restoring sales while ensuring profitability and cash generation. Starting with the first part of the slide, which are the structural liabilities, our initial priority, for obvious reasons, is the financial debt and the capacity of our business. It's absolutely relevant, and it's directly connected with our liquidity. The approval of the out-of-court reorganization was a very important step in this direction.
This effort of solving the structural liabilities also cover tax liabilities, labor liabilities, contractual, and also arbitration issues. These obligations have accumulated over many years. Each require a specific solution, and we have a very well-defined plan to reduce their impact on the company and also move the focus to what is more important, our daily activities. The second front is the streamlining and gain of efficiency of GPA. Along the years, the size changed, the profile changed, and our structure needed to align with this reality. We are reviewing processes, contracts, investments with a lot of discipline in the allocation of our resources. This simplification also touches upon services that we provide in the stores. Along the years, we have added, at the supermarket operation, a number of activities such as cafe, rotisserie, pizzas, sushi, among others.
These are services that may add value, of course, but they need to make sense to the public of each unit at a volume that can sustain a very good reputation, control of losses, and profitability. We are evaluating this kind of offer at individual stores. To provide examples, it makes sense to have a fish market with the proper service or self-service with fresh fish, or even offer of frozen fish may be better for local areas. The same for ready food. There is a flow, for example, at lunchtime, which is very strong, that would be justified to have this kind of operation. There are other parts that ask for a simpler offer. So it is a specific case by each person and how we are going to handle the return.
We can increase the complexity and the costs and expenses, but not necessarily improve the experience. We want to concentrate what makes a difference in each store with a simple operation which can be consistent and productive. Another important example is in the logistics. We are redesigning the network to increase productivity, improve services to stores. In technology, we have also simplified the systems and reviewed contracts and investments as part of the transformation plan that will last up to 2028. In stores, another important point to mention is that this agenda includes simpler management structure with greater team autonomy, technical training, especially regarding perishables. We are reinforcing special competencies, especially perishables, as I said, bakery and fruits.
This translates into better conservation of products, more quality in the services provided, simplify the operation, prepare what we have as part of the same thing, gain productivity, and provide a purchase experience which is more consistent. This leads us to the third pillar, the third front, which is to recover sales with profitability. We need to bring in more clients, we need to resume some points, bring back some clients, and having a value proposition which can be clear for each brand. At Pão de Açúcar, the focus is clearly on quality, perishables, services, and shopping experience. At Extra, we need to reinforce price and perceived value, and proximity, convenience, and an appropriate product assortment. One of the main initiatives that I would like to mention is the repositioning of Extra with the revival of the slogan, "Cheaper, cheaper Extra." We started this initiative in Rio de Janeiro.
We reviewed prices on more than 2,000 items, and we strengthened categories that are relevant to consumers. This work is being implemented and still needs to be translated into consistent sales results. It is important to mention that it is just not offering lower prices. This has been aligned with the support of our suppliers, making adjustments to the brands and even packages to the public. Another important front is the regionalization that complements this effort. We have purchasing scale, and we have to give greater attention to the characters of each market. We are giving more autonomy to the local team, expanding network, and tailoring product assortment to customer preferences. This work needs to be translated into a more relevant work and a better execution in the stores. We see the result of this, the result. There are many actions still to be implemented.
And clearly, we need to recover sales of the company, and that includes improvements of some existing stores. We have the best commercial areas, but not all units deliver a good experience according to the location. That would include things such as the facade, the lighting, the layout, and even equipment, the refrigeration equipment, and even the execution. We are very attentive to all those needs. We have a plan to improve all the network along the years with renovations, some conversions. At this moment, we are looking at this, and we have some important integrations in some stores. Our priority will always be to invest in our existing network. We are not going to focus on expansion in the next years, except for some exceptions. This is not our focus. Our focus is to look at the return for the company, considering the capital and ROI prioritization.
We are improving the network. Moving on to slide five, we can see a summary. We have been mentioning a lot about the out-of-court restructuring plan, and this is a summary of what has been done so far. There is a large concentration of investments in the short term, and now that we have a new debt profile that would reduce this pressure in the short term, we have more predictability in managing our cash. On a pro forma basis, net debt decreases from BRL 3.8 billion -BRL 1.2 billion. As a result, leverage falls from 3.7 x- 1.2 x, and the average maturity of the debt increases from 2.1 - 6.4 years. Projected financial disbursement through 2028 decreased from BRL 5.2 billion -BRL 400 million.
We have steps to be completed in this process of the out-of-court restructuring that includes the emission of new bonds and the recognition of the respective accounting effects related to this restructuring. The last slide, speaking about the quarter specifically, this is slide six, we can see that revenue was BRL 4.6 billion, down 6.5% when compared to the same period of last year. When we look at same-store sales, we can see a decline of 1.4%. This performance reflects both a challenging consumer environment and also some decisions we made to scale back operations and less profitable channels. Along the process, we also had an important improvement in the going back to the levels. After the third quarter. The demand of each program in terms of profitability, we can see on the slide the results have been very important, showing the evolution.
Net income had a nominal growth of, even with a lower growth, the gross margin reaches 30.7%, an increase of 3.1 percentage points, supported by the improvements in the product mix, the prioritization of more profitable operations, and improvements in the execution. This leads to the Adjusted EBITDA of BRL 482 million, a growth of approximately 17% year-on-year. The margin was 11.7% with a 2.7 percentage points increase. That really shows the expenses that were reduced with this new simplified structure. We made progress in profitability. We are aware of the challenges that we have ahead of us, and we have clarity of our priorities. We are going to continue with this work, with a focus in the execution and the recovery of sales and cash generation. I will now turn the floor over to Pedro Albuquerque, our CFO, who will provide details on the quarter's financial performance.
Thank you, Santoro, and good morning to everyone. To continue the presentation, I would like to delve deeper into our financial performance and initiatives. As announced in November 2025, we established an efficiency plan focused on reducing costs, expenses, and investments while reinforcing rigor in capital allocation and the use of the company's resources. In the first nine months of 2026, we realized BRL 360 million in efficiencies, which is equivalent to 88% of the projections set for the year. These gains came primarily from streamlining the administrative structure, optimizing routing, logistics frequency, reducing freight costs, and operational optimization. In CapEx, we invested BRL 226 million in the first nine months of the year, a decrease of 65% compared to 2025. This performance primarily reflects greater selectivity in technology investments and the discontinuation of the store opening plans.
We believe that the CapEx for 2026 is closer to BRL 300 million, the lower end of our guidance range. Still on this topic, I would like to highlight the progress made in GPA's technological transformation. Historically, the company has developed a complex structure with legacy systems and high maintenance costs. We are reviewing this architecture in collaboration with strategic partners, seeking solutions that are simpler, more efficient, and better suited to the business needs. We expect to complete this modernization cycle over the next two years, and by the end of this process, we estimated the total expenditure, including CapEx and OpEx, will be reduced by two-thirds from the level we encountered when we took over management. As part of this transformation, we expect to capture approximately BRL 70 million by the end of 2026, with accelerated savings in the following years.
More than just cost reduction, we are building a technological infrastructure to provide better support to stores, greater operational agility, and superior experience to our customers. We are also reviewing indirect suppliers. Following the implementation of policies and also approval committees, we renegotiated approximately 65% of the company's indirect spending. This effort involved reviewing commercial terms, streamlining processes, covering operational services such as waste collection, third-party contracts, printing costs, and technology infrastructure. Another major contribution to cost reduction relates to the workforce structure, especially in the headquarters. Based on the end of last year, there has been a 20% reduction in the corporate workforce. Although it's never an easy decision, it was absolutely necessary because the environment remains challenging, and we remain committed to structural cost reduction. Efficiency also means being creative in generating revenue.
That was one of the goals behind the creation of Corretora GPA, which will centralize the company's insurance contracts, allowing us to capture a portion of the commissions from new insurance policies while also providing a higher quality service to the various operational services. Speaking of insurance, I would like to highlight on this next slide the work that the company has been doing regarding the write-off of the guaranteed insurance and bank guarantees. This not only reduces the company's exposure but also lowers financial expenses. At the end of the second quarter of 2026, that totaled BRL 13.2 billion, and between July and October, we were already able to reduce that amount by approximately BRL 1.6 billion. That's an estimated annual savings of BRL 18 million. For 2027, we expect to make further progress in reducing another BRL 2.5 billion in guarantees.
Related to policy agreement, with the potential to generate additional savings of approximately 25 million. Slide 10 shows the quarter's financial performance. We saw growth in gross profits, both in nominal terms and the margin, despite the 6.5% decline in gross revenue. Another highlight was the performance of SG&A, which not only mitigated the effects of inflation, but also a nominal reduction of approximately BRL 70 million. The combination of profitability initiatives with the stricter expense management was directly reflected in the Adjusted EBITDA. During this quarter, this metric grew by 16.9%, an increase of BRL 70 million year-over-year, a margin of 11.7%, and an expansion of 2.7 percentage points. On slide 11, we see the net income from third quarter of 2026. On the left, we have the results from continuing operations with total net loss of BRL 220 million.
On the same basis of comparison, we see a 20.3% improvement. On the right, we have the consolidated results impacted by non-recurring effects in both periods. We also have the positive effects of receivables in the third quarter of 2025. We recognize a provision against an asset related to Casas Bahia Group. So, excluding these effects of analyzing the periods on a comparable basis, the consolidated net loss improved by 32.8%. It is important to note that the impacts of the out-of-court recovery on earnings will be reflected on the fourth quarter of 2026, since the court's approval occurred after the end of the third quarter. So, a reduction of debt, also the effect of the positive financial results will be reflected on the next quarter.
Now, on slide 12, we present the year-to-date performance of 2026, and similar to what we saw, is that despite the decline in revenue, we record a nominal growth in gross profit and a significant reduction of BRL 126 million in SG&A. Even considering inflation for the period, cost and expense discipline, combined with improved profitability, contributed to a 12% increase in Adjusted EBITDA, whose margin reached 10.9%. In net income from continuing operation, excluding non-recurring effect, the net loss totaled BRL 756 million and 11.1% improvement compared to the same period of last year. In my last slide, I'd like to discuss the evolution of net debt over the past 12 months. We generated in this period BRL 683 million in operating cash flow, driven by two factors. On one hand, we saw growth in this pre-IFRS 16 Adjusted EBITDA, reflecting the profitability and efficiency initiatives I mentioned.
On the other hand, we had cash outflow of BRL 506 million in working capital related to cost inventory due to one-time payments to suppliers during the out-of-court recovery process. This effect can also be seen in the chart on the right, showing 11-day deterioration in the average payment term. But we have already recorded a five-day improvement compared to the previous quarter, reflecting the progress we've made in commercial relations with our suppliers and adjusting our policy for indirect suppliers, as related and reported in the call of the second quarter. It also worth highlighting that our investments totaled BRL 341 million over the past 12 months, which reinforces our trajectory to end 2026 with a CapEx of around BRL 300 million. Finally, we ended the third quarter of 2026 with a net debt of BRL 3.8 billion.
And considering the effects of the approval of the out-of-court restructuring, our net debt on a pro forma basis should be close to BRL 1.3 billion. That is the key milestone for strengthening our balance sheet and building a more sustainable capital structure. With the approval of the out-of-court restructuring plan, we are shifting our focus to addressing our company's other structural liabilities while continuing to pursue our agenda of efficiencies. Our priority is to translate this new financial structure into greater execution capacity, sustainable sales recovery, and cash generation. Now, let's move to the Q&A session.
We will now open the Q&A session. We would like to remind you that to ask questions, you must click on the icon Q&A at the bottom of the screen and write your question to get in line. When your name is called, accept the prompt and unmute your microphone and ask your question. Let's move on to our first question. Wellington Santana with Bank of America. Wellington, we are going to open your line so that you can ask your question. Wellington, please go ahead.
[Non-English content ] Good morning, everyone. Can you hear me? [Non-English content] Okay, perfect. Thank you very much for taking our question. We have two on my side. Could you provide some color on what the growth was affected with negotiations with suppliers, availabilities, and stocks?
The performance was a bit below what was expected in terms of ticket and volume. Along those lines, I would like to have more information in relation to the supplier negotiation after you approved the out-of-court negotiation plan. What can we expect in terms of a normalized working capital? This would be very important for us.
Wellington, thank you very much for the question. We mentioned this in the third quarter, of course. It was a big challenge along this process. The out-of-court restructuring did not change a bit in terms of our relationship with the supplier. The lines were very clear in relation to non-operational topics. It is just natural that there was a concern by some suppliers, especially in the second quarter. We felt some disruptions impacting, and there were some products that are made, for example, is a very good example.
We had a general problem in relation to milk, but everybody had to face the problem, considering we were facing the RJ. The best way for us to separate what was the impact is what we saw in practice. We lost some level of share in São Paulo, for example. That shows that the macro scenario is tough for everyone. This is a fact. Other companies and our competitors who are also disclosing their results, which show that. We see that the trend is not of growth, but this is more related to the macro scenario. We had some problems coming from this concern related to the out-of-court restructuring, and this was felt by some suppliers. I will ask Pedro to ask the second question when he talks about the perspectives of the working capital. There is a concern about format and region.
You have Extra, you have Proximity, you have São Paulo capital, you have the seaside in Rio de Janeiro, Midwest, and the Northeast of Brazil. So evermore, we need to have a more refined plan, and this is why we talk about regionalization, and we need to have people who are in the local area and understand the market. To imagine this level of discussion during the out-of-court recovery, there was a concern by our team of not having any disruption in the store, then having to make a plan with the participation of some suppliers. We have all the cards in our hands in this sense, because I was involved directly with out-of-court recovery and also with our commercial director.
We have been having meetings with our suppliers nearly every day in order to resume this plan and to have clarity in the positioning of each format and each local, each region. There is a lot to be captured. Of course, we have to execute this plan in a very perfect way. I cannot say that there was no impact by the out-of-court, but the out-of-court recovery plan is not to blame for everything.
Thank you for the question and providing more color in relation to working capital, especially in the line of suppliers. We were expecting to have some improvements in the second quarter. Last call, we were expecting to having the approval of the out-of-court recovery plan. It was a bit delayed, and we saw a lot of evolution when we compare the second and third quarters.
Not necessarily we are not going to expect the terms that we expected in the fourth quarter of 2025, because in the past, the company made some on-off negotiations, and we prefer to have a more stable capital, a more broader negotiation. We expect this working capital negotiation to play out in the third quarter, but also along 2027 in a more sustainable way. This is what we are working for, working with our partners.
Okay, perfect. Thank you.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Alexandre Namioka with Morgan Stanley. Alexandre, please, your line is open.
Hello. Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for taking our questions. Two questions on our side. The first question is related to logistics. In the release, you mentioned that you expect to decrease by 50% the capacity of the distribution centers up to 2028.
I would like to understand how you see the operating expenses, in fact, especially related to the margin, the commercial margin specifically. How can we look at that, and what were the operating expenses expected from this reduction?
The second part, at least this quarter, the EBITDA margin was Adjusted. EBITDA margin was much higher than we were expecting. Revenue was a bit below, partially impacted by the effect of the out-of-court recovery plan execution. How do you believe that this EBITDA margin is sustainable in the long term. Thank you.
Thank you, Alexandre.
In terms of logistics, to make it clear, it is the opposite of what we are doing. We were doing this to be more efficient. Maybe it is not very clear, but what we have been doing is to reduce the area being used. We have an area which is double what we need, so there is a large level of idleness, and this is what we mean when we mention the 50% reduction. An example, I have a distribution center in Rio de Janeiro that would meet all my needs for São Paulo. Rio de Janeiro is much smaller. The operation and the number of stores and the volume is much smaller than São Paulo. We should lease this area because we have a fixed cost which is proportional to meet the needs of Rio de Janeiro. It does not make any sense to have this area.
These are old contracts that were signed a long time ago, and it is not very easy to make adjustments to the contract. As I said, there are some decisions that we have already mapped out, but we still need some time to execute them. We are moving towards a different way. We want to optimize in order to facilitate the service to the stores. It is just the opposite. We saw that there was an improvement in the service level, also a reduction in the level of stocks in general for the company. In São Paulo, we have several DCs. When we consolidate it in a single operation, everything is streamlined because one truck may be optimized. We are more efficient in terms of costs and time, personnel use, because otherwise you would have many sites and others to look at.
This measure is a way to rationalize the space that we have. Why do we do that? Just to make it clear. The company got ready. It has an infrastructure, a logistics infrastructure, which is different from the reality today. There were some supermarkets, hypermarkets in the agenda, and they demanded a high volume, and this is why we needed the larger distribution centers. I would like to give examples of the northeast of Brazil. There is one in Fortaleza and one in Recife. Considering the volume that I have in the northeastern region, it does not make sense anymore. When you go back some years and you had the hypermarket Extra, that would make sense back then. This is the kind of adjustment that we mean when we want to improve the level of stocks, level of service, and make it more efficient.
This is the reason why we made those decisions. Everything we do is to improve in the end, improve the service level in the stores. If we are going to put this into risk, we are not going to do it. I want it to be very clear, more than ever. I cannot talk about the past because I was not here, but since I have been here with the company, we have this clarity that we are here for a single objective. All those people who are at the headquarters are doing everything we can to improve whatever is in the field. Every project that we have in the company has this final objective. In relation to the margin, Alexandre, we do not provide any guidance in relation to margin, but we believe that we are reaching a level of margin which is appropriate, adequate.
There will be some impacts, and we will have to understand how everything will play out in 2027, depending on the tax reforms and extension of credit. But we believe we are reaching a level of margin which is appropriate. Having said that, I would say that there is more work for us to do so that we can bring in more efficiency in our costs and expenses.
Thank you very much.
Our next question is from Nicolás Larrain with JP Morgan. Nicolás, please go ahead.
Good morning, and thank you for taking my question. I have two questions, actually. The first has to do with the gross margin. I am sorry if you answered that in the previous question, but can you help us on having the breakdown of factors? I was thinking how much of gross margin had to do with the ICMS-ST, and also how much comes from more profitable channels of the company. My second question has to do with the structure of the company. You talked a lot about logistics. Over time, the company has adjusted its size and structure to meet the new requests and demands in terms of sales. What are the areas in the company that will require adjustment?
Not just logistics, technology, any other areas that have not been mapped yet that could also bring more gains of productivity and also gains in margin to the company?
Thank you for your call, Nicolás.
For your question. If we are to break down the expansion of margins and divide it from gross profit, there are several factors to it, and they relate to similar effects, improvement in channels, improvement in operations, and a third of that would be the ICMS-ST impact you mentioned. There is an in-full pass-through related to EFTA, and there are also some impacts in terms of appropriation of credit of temporary tax that also affect the gross margin. These are the three main factors that contribute to it. As to the gain in productivity and cost reduction overall, I would like to reinforce what I mentioned to Alexandre. We have been doing that with discipline and clearly aware that we should not put our operations at risk. We are tackling structural problems that need to be adjusted. That relates to the administrative support at the headquarters.
I have already given some examples related to logistics. They are probably clear. That is also true for technology. Between logistics and technology, there are several initiatives that we would like to expedite, but if I move too fast, I might put the operations at risk, and this is why we are not doing that. Changing a system is not something simple to implement, but I can give you an idea of our plan. The company spent 2.5% of its revenue in technology in the past, and this does not mean that we are a leader in this area. That is not true. We have a long way to go, but still, the cost was high for lack of communication between the systems, for acquisitions, and so on and so forth. There is a lot yet to be done.
Everything is mapped out, but we are implementing these plans very carefully not to put the operations at risk. I also like to clarify a point about cost reduction. We talk a lot about structure, logistics, technology. Those are big areas. There is also another area that was not centralized in the past, which we call indirect purchasing. We mentioned that during the call. It is anything that I am not selling at the store, so consulting services, other types of services. There are many items that would be included in indirect purchasing. We changed the process in this area, we reinforced it. Any need, any new service that we need to hire goes through an approval committee. I am part of it, and we have meetings together, very low threshold of approval, minimum of BRL 40,000. Pretty much everything is analyzed at this committee.
We make decisions of not doing things in these meetings. It is not just about reducing the expenses. Sometimes we reduce the scope, sometimes we reduce the amount paid for a service, and oftentimes we simply decide not to do something. It is a combination of actions in indirect purchasing, then making changes to the structure, gains in logistics, plus technology improvements that accounts for most of the cost reduction we have already achieved. It is a combination of initiatives. I think it is important to highlight this point. We are being aware. We are aware that nothing that would compromise our sales will be done. There is another front that I also mentioned in the beginning of my presentation that we are working on, which is the simplification of activities at stores.
Sometimes we make changes in the layout and other initiatives, and we are implementing these actions to assess the size of these opportunities. We are very disciplined, and first we test this in some stores, then we measure its impact. This has to do with this type of service that I mentioned that sometimes does not make sense. Bringing a complexity of food service to a supermarket works in some stores, but not in all stores. We also see a potential gain here, but we have just started this plan, and for obvious reasons, we have decided to do this only now because it influences operations. That is an important source of activities in the upcoming months.
Nicolás, I would also like to say that next year, we expect next year to be a challenging year, so we need to work on things that are under our control. In this case, we need to focus on operational efficiency and be very selective about capital allocation. This is our commitment for 2027 too.
That was very clear. Thank you.
Our next question is from Vinícius Strano with UBS. Go ahead, Vinícius.
Good morning, and thank you for giving me the opportunity of asking a question. Could you comment on any estimate in terms of the impact of the 6x1 work schedule change and reduction in total working hours? As to cost, thinking of distribution costs and logistics costs, when the diesel subsidies will be reduced or even end, I would like to understand the impact on cost.
You have a CapEx close to BRL 300 million, and you believe that this is kind of a maintenance CapEx, maybe a recurring value. Do you think that this is going to be recurring for the future, or do you believe that as the company addresses the capital structure and its debt, this CapEx could go a little bit higher?
Let me answer your last question first. This CapEx involves maintenance, but also investments in some changes in technology, and part of the operational efficiencies relate to that, because as we bring new systems, of course, we need to provide maintenance, we need to make improvements. It is not that we stop doing improvements. No, we still make an improvement, sometimes in partnership with suppliers.
But we believe that this level of CapEx is appropriate for the network that we have today, and we are not ready to disclose our expectations for 2027, but I believe that this level is appropriate for a good operation to the current network we have. As to the end of the diesel subsidies, we haven't estimated the full impact of that. Of course, it has an impact on freight costs, but we are still monitoring these decisions, how long, when this is going to be done, also an impact from international prices. So, there have been some changes over the years. At first, we don't think that this will require any structural change at this point. And also, taking the first part of your questions and issues, we've been running pilot projects related to the 6x1 work schedule, moving that to 5x2 work schedule.
We've been doing that since April. We've been preparing for that over time. There is a higher number of stores that are already working under the 5x2 work schedule. So, what has been our focus? We do not want this change to have any impact on the store operation. It's not simple, but feasible, so we are working towards that. How can we do this? We believe that, well, we understood that there would be a change in the law, and of course, if it's the law, we need to abide by it and got prepared for it. So, we revisited our work schedule, and we realized that there was a very good opportunity.
I cannot say that about other companies, but in our company, we saw an opportunity to have more effective work schedules, considering flow and volume of stores according to the day of the week, according to the volume of each store. So, we addressed everything, not just the 5x2 work schedule, but we looked at it considering how can the new 5x2 work schedule can improve us, improve our management of the work schedule. We have thousands of workers, so it's a very complex issue. But what we want is to have our stores with appropriate staff when our consumers need. So, we want to improve the coverage of the store, as we call it.
We will keep focusing on that with this assumption that we do not want to have any impact, we do not want the staff to be bigger, but we realized that there was an opportunity of change. Having said that, this is not a simple process to be implemented, but we are ready and to be able to move all our stores to the 5x2 working schedule even before the deadline of the law. Also, we are still seeing that this can help us with the turnover issue. Our turnover is still very high, and of course, this has an impact on our business. We believe that in some cases, that will lead to some improvements, and now let's see in scale if this also translates into improvement. We believe there'll be also a reduction in our turnover rates.
It's challenging, of course, but considering what we are going through, we're taking this opportunity to review everything. During your questions and also during my presentation, as I mentioned, we are also reviewing the offerings of some services in stores. I might not need to have fresh fish being sold in every store. I need to think of the ideal structure to meet the needs of our customers by providing the right type of products. That will lead us to more balance and not affecting our bottom line. It really involves a lot of hard work, but we are working on this assumption. We do not want to have any impact in our operation.
With no further question, I pass the floor to Alexandre Santoro for the closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone, for attending the call. Thank you for the questions. This is the last slide. We are getting into a period which is very important for us, the most important period of the year. There are three points in the presentation, which is the new repositioning of Extra, the programming for Black Friday. There are many actions together with our suppliers. Obviously, we are getting prepared to December, Christmas. We are going to execute this calendar very well. We are going to do further activities, boosting sales, and provide more profitability to the business. We would also like to make an invitation for you to visit our stores, our digital channels, and see the changes that we have been making and provide us with the feedback. They are always welcome.
Thank you, everyone. Have a good day, everyone.