Good day, and welcome to Jerónimo Martins first half results 2022 conference call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Miss Ana Luísa Virgínia, Chief Financial Officer of Jerónimo Martins Group. Please go ahead, madam.
Thank you, Nadia. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining this call. As a reminder, and as usual, on our corporate website, a set of materials is available, including the release, a slide presentation, and a fact sheet, adding a bit of color on our activities in the quarter. Starting with some words on the context. Throughout these first six months of 2022, we have operated under increasing inflation in the three countries. In Poland, despite the further decrease in consumer confidence after the war outbreak, food demand continued to record solid growth. The government's measures to reduce the impact of inflation on households, combined with an increased consumer base due to the Ukrainian refugees fluxes, supported the positive dynamic in the sector.
In Portugal and in Colombia, where the economies are more sensitive to the worsening macroeconomic context, the increasing pressure caused by rising prices are already visible in consumer behavior. Trading down, increased private label share on total sales, and volumes reductions. Cost inflation rose sharply throughout Q2, with the war intensifying the pre-existing trends derived from disruptions in global supply chains and inducing an energetic crisis without precedent in the last 20 years. In this very challenging context, our banners kept a strong commitment to price competitiveness and were able to implement effective measures to limit the impact of rising prices on the consumer's purchasing power, thus assuring their preference. Sales were up 20% or 21.7% at constant exchange rates to reach EUR 11.9 billion.
EBITDA grew 19.1% or 21.2% at constant exchange rates to reach EUR 851 million. Cash generation was robust at EUR 97 million, and the strength of the balance sheet is clearly demonstrated by the net cash position, excluding capitalized operating lease liabilities of EUR 593 million. This amount already reflects the dividend payments of EUR 493 million done in May. The remarkable performance of our banners, coupled with our good financial health, gives us confidence to continue to push forward in a context that remains highly uncertain. Despite the extra pressures on all fronts felt by our operations, the group also registered significant progress in its corporate responsibility pillars.
Fight against deforestation, sustainable food production, and alternative sources of energy continue to be high priorities in our banners' agendas for this year. Looking now at the financial delivery. Our first half P&L shows the sales-driven performance, as does the P&L for Q2. My comments will, however, focus on Q2 delivery as trends around inflation and consumer context have been changing since April. Our decisions to stand by our consumers, further investing in prices and offering them saving opportunities, protected volume growth and maintained our strong sales momentum. In Q2, sales went up by 24.5%, 26.2% at constant exchange rates to reach EUR 6.4 billion in the quarter.
The decline in gross margin from 21.6% to 20.8% in Q2 reflects the price investment that drove strong growth in sales, enabling us to offset rising cost inflation, particularly in the prices of electricity and fuel. All in all, EBITDA in the quarter grew 22%, + 24.5% at constant exchange rates, and the respective margin was at 7.5% compared with 7.7% in Q2 2021. Net financial costs were at EUR 40 million and included a loss of EUR 3 million in the quarter related to currency impacts on euro-denominated lease agreements in Poland that in Q2 2021 had generated a profit of EUR 9 million. Other profits and losses totaled EUR 12 million and included, among others, indemnities and increased provisions for different contingencies.
Cash flow at EUR 97 million reflected our strong operational and sales performance that resulted in EBITDA growth and a solid working capital inflow. This compensated for higher CapEx payments versus the same period last year. The robustness of our balance sheet at the end of June guarantees our capacity to continue investing to develop and defend our businesses. With all models delivering well and a healthy financial condition supporting us, we are keeping our capital expenditure program as planned, capturing the opportunities in the markets where we operate and enhancing the quality of our stores and logistics.
The CapEx was at EUR 318 million in the first six months of 2022, half of it invested, not surprisingly, in our biggest business, Biedronka. We are on track to deliver the targets in openings and remodels planned for all banners this year, and we are also investing to reinforce our logistic infrastructure in Colombia. Moving now into the detail of the performance, I will start with the top line, which remains our number one priority. The strength of the performance is clearly reflected in the solid incremental sales delivered by all banners that drove group like-for-like in the six months to reach 17.5%. Even if rising inflation was also a non-negligible driver of our performance in all markets, our companies didn't fail to accomplish volume growth and market share increases.
Biedronka continued to guarantee the quality of its offer while strengthening its commercial assertiveness and containing price increases. The banner's shelf inflation maintained a gap of more than 2 percentage points below the country's inflation. This contributed decisively to market share reinforcement. The strategic focus on price competitiveness allowed Biedronka to accelerate its growth in Q2, capturing the benefits of a positive food market dynamic in Poland, which included a larger consumer base due to the Ukrainian refugees' influx and the positive seasonal effect of Easter. In H1 2022, sales grew by 21.3% in local currency, including a like-for-like of 17.5%. In euros, sales were at EUR 8.3 billion, 18.7% ahead of the first six months of 2021.
On track to execute its investment program, Biedronka opened 40 new stores, closed seven, and remodeled 127 locations in the period. Also in Poland, Hebe recovered strongly against the first half of the previous year, which was impacted by restrictions in the context of the pandemic. Sales grew by 34.7% in local currency, including a like-for-like of 26.9%. Despite changes in consumer behavior following the lifting of all restrictions on the normal activity of stores and shopping centers, we continue to see a good development of our e-commerce operation, which represented 14.6% of total sales. Pingo Doce is leveraging its unique value proposition in perishables and food solutions and combining these strengths with a generation of relevant saving opportunities for the families in Portugal.
Confirming the mounting pressure on consumers' disposable income, we continue to see signs of trading down and the weight of private brand increased compared with the same period of the previous year. All in all, the quality of the offer and dynamic commercial actions drove sales to grow 8.5% and reach EUR 2.1 billion, with like-for-like excluding fuel at 6.5%. Recheio entered 2022 with a strong model and is now in good shape to take active part in the HoReCa recovery, boosted by tourism take-off. As a reminder, I want to flag that the restrictions over both HoReCa and touristic activity still impacted the first half of 2021. Sales of our wholesale banner grew by 28.9% to reach EUR 513 million in the first six months of this year. Finally, Colombia.
Ara delivered an outstanding first half of the year, building on the very strong momentum created in the last two years. In an extremely fragile consumer environment, Ara stood by its promise of low prices and consistently invested to continue gaining consumer presence. As a result, top -line in local currency grew 70.1%, including like-for-like at 44.3%, basket inflation being also a feature of the performance. The banner opened 57 stores in the quarter, having closed one location. Group EBITDA reached EUR 851 million, 19.1% up on H1 2021. This corresponds to a 21.2% increase at constant exchange rates. All business areas actively contributed to the group's EBITDA performance.
EBITDA margin for the group in the first half of the year was at 7.2%, in line with the same period in the previous year. The strong cost inflation was offset by sales growing ahead of food inflation, together with a strong EBITDA margin improvement at both Ara and Recheio. At Biedronka, margin pressure reflects price investments coupled with significant cost inflation. Both price investment and cost inflation were intensified in the second quarter of the year. One word on cost inflation, to flag that prices of energy and fuel are escalating, particularly in Poland and Portugal, despite having been fully hedged in Portugal until the end of June. We entered the year with robust and efficient models operating with strong sales momentum. In the light of mounting food inflation, we invested in price and stood by our promise of quality and value for money.
The determination and competence of our teams led all banners to preserve the good sales momentum and to mitigate the pressure of cost inflation on profitability. All in all, H1 sales and profits grew strongly, and we ended the period with enhanced market positions. We are conscious that generalized price increases, amplified by the war and coupled with interest rate hikes, will significantly impact consumer behavior to an extent that it's still difficult to predict. Despite this uncertainty and the extra challenges brought by the rising cost inflation, the performance we have been able to deliver so far reinforces our confidence in the ability of our banners to continue investing in competitiveness while dealing with much increased cost pressure through sales performance and operational efficiency. The outlook provided at the time of our 2021 results release is therefore confirmed. Thank you for your attention.
Operator, I am now ready to take questions.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. This will take a few moments. Now we're going to take our first question. Please stand by. The first question comes from the line of William Woods from Bernstein. Please ask your question. Your line is open.
Good morning. A couple of questions. The first one just on Portuguese like-for-likes, they're obviously below headline inflation. Would you be able to just explain some of the drivers behind this? Is this lower volumes, more promotions or perhaps under-inflating versus the headline inflation? The second one was just on store openings. Are you happy that they're on track? Should we still expect it to be Q4 weighted? The final one was just on uses of cash for FY 2022. Should we expect Romanian expansion to come back or perhaps another special dividend? Thank you very much.
Hi, William. On Portugal, inflation, unfortunately, for Portugal is also kicking in. Inflation has been a driver of the performance. Of course, in the quarter you also have, let's say, a more benign comparable, when you compare with last year, and that has to be taken into account, as well as the Easter effect, that affected this year more the second quarter. I would say that basically you have the impact of Easter, the benign comparable, and then of course, for us, the most important, the fact that despite being affecting already consumer behavior, the fact that our banners and in this case, the retail banner, Pingo Doce, being very competitive and offering saving opportunities is also being able to grow.
I would say that more than volumes that have been more or less stable, these are the main drivers of the performance, if you consider the quarter sales. On store openings, I think that we are on track for now. We don't see reasons, considering the strength of our balance sheet and the performance as we have it, to somehow decelerate our CapEx program. It's true that usually most of the openings take place on the second half of the year, and it's going to happen the same this year. We are, with all banners, doing our opening and our remodeling program, to really make sure that the stores are in shape to serve the consumers.
As for the use of cash, it's true that we have a strong balance sheet, but we also are aware that we are highly leveraged from the operational point of view. This is also a defensive move from our part to maintain our position of cash. As you know, we had an exceptional payout this year and paid 100% of our net earnings pre- IFRS 16. A decision of any extraordinary dividends going forward will be from the board. At this time, we cannot exclude it, but we cannot also advance anything on that. Regarding any possible or other expansion, for now, we are mainly focusing on the CapEx progression of our current businesses.
We are even trying to accelerate further in Colombia, and that's why we will push forward also for the logistics as we seize the opportunity to accelerate growth in the country.
Excellent. Thank you.
Thank you, William.
Thank you. Now we are going to take our next question. Please stand by. The next question comes from the line of José Rito from CaixaBank. Please ask your question. Your line is open.
Yes. Hi, good morning, to all. On Poland, three questions. The first one in terms of the number of refugees, if you can provide any insight just to understand how much was the extension of the addressable market this quarter. We have been seeing some data, but we don't have, let's say, accurate numbers. If you can provide a little bit more detail on this, it will be helpful. The second question on the trading down, any sign of this being accelerating or if this remains a contained effect, at this point? The third question on Biedronka, if the company should anticipate some of the wage increases expected to 2023 already, in September or October this year. Thank you.
Hi, José. Good morning. As to the number of refugees, as you know, there was an influx very relevant in the beginning of the war. Meanwhile, some have gone to other countries, and probably the majority even have gone back to Ukraine. Currently we don't know exactly what is the total number of refugees. We estimate probably 1 million persons in this moment, mainly women and children. There is certainly an impact that we cannot completely or have a total clear estimate.
What we think is that the impact is mainly on the increase that we had on the sales of commodities, which of course help sales, but also pressure the margins as these are the categories that have a lower margin. As to the trading downs, I think that currently in Poland, there is a contained effect. It's true that the numbers in June of the retail progression signal that this may be a short-term thing that we have to beware for the future.
For now, in the current numbers, it doesn't reflect, and we don't see still the same pattern as we see, for instance, in Portugal and in Colombia, where the trade-down and the transfer to lower-price product within the same category or to substitute products that are less expensive is already a reality. On Biedronka and wage increases. We don't exclude to have to review wages. This has been, of course, a challenge for all the banners, but particularly in Biedronka. The fact that the labor market is very difficult, not only for the retail business, but also for the retail business. This may mean, of course, to consider any new reviews.
For the moment, we don't have a clear view if we are going to do it in the second half or as usual, in the first half, in the beginning of the year.
Thank you, Ana. Thank you.
Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. Please stand by. The next question comes to the line of Rob Joyce from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Hey, good morning. Thanks very much for taking the questions. I got three. First one, just slight change in your comments on margin, implying that you definitely expect further margin sort of compression in the second half. I'm just wondering, you know, if we just focus on Poland, I guess you had 34-35 basis points of margin pressure in that second quarter. I think consensus had that escalating to 50, 60, 70 basis points around that region in the second half. Is that about the right number you're thinking as you see things there sort of up to that sort of 50-60 basis points pressure in the second half on the margin in Poland? Second question is just on food inflation as you see it.
Are you seeing any signs that this is starting to roll over in Poland, or are you still seeing that food inflation continuing to accelerate? The final one, just if you could remind us, you know, in terms of trade down when you talk about that, is that a big margin impact, or do we predominantly see that just in the top line, and the margin is broadly neutral effect? Thank you.
Thank you, Rob. Regarding margins, as you are aware, there is a quite significant number of moving parts here. It starts with sales mix, of course, and probably linked to your third question. The fact that people trade down, it has an impact on sales and particularly on margins. It's as of course, if you sell more of the lower margin products, which are the commodities or the products that have more or less value added, of course, this has an impact on your margins in percent. But this to say that, more than or, of course, this will depend in Poland on the consumer behavior.
The fact is that we are seeing new or additional sources of pressure on debts, and that comes particularly from the cost increases that does not only affect directly our companies, and particularly in this case, Biedronka, but also the families.
If you see the energy prices going up and coming into winter, if this is going further up, and, of course, the mortgages that are being revised, and you have a lot of people still with floating rates, this will probably means that there is a tendency for people to start being aware that they have to spare or to save money in food. This being said, of course, Biedronka is the best position to get also new clients, and we think that this is happening besides the refugees. This on the positive. On the negative is this big question mark on how costs are progressing. You have all sorts of different forecasts on inflation.
The way we see it is that the pressure, or at least we are being prepared for the pressure to continue. This starts, of course, with the cost of goods sold. As you probably are aware, even if the commodity prices have been a little bit more stable now in the last month, or it seems so, the fact that you have a dry season for certain of the products that will affect the prices, and then you have all the costs that will be incorporated in the production. There is a delay in some of the costs that will affect the food prices still, in our opinion.
In my opinion and in our opinion here at Jerónimo Martins, we think that the pressure on costs will continue, starting with the cost of goods sold, but also and particularly relevant, the energy costs, and even more relevant, the transport. Because of course, as we are fighting and we are increasing volume significantly in Poland, transport costs tend to increase more with the price increases in fuel. This is why at this point, I think that we cannot commit because we have tailwinds, but we have a lot of headwinds that can affect the margins at the EBITDA levels. On food inflation, as I said, we don't think that we saw the end of it. It's true that it seems that the comparable is a little bit.
It was already on the high end last year. The way that things are progressing, considering all factors, we think that we didn't see the end of it, unfortunately in Poland, but also in the other countries, in Portugal and Colombia.
Okay. Thank you, Ana. Just to be clear, though, in terms of the second half margin, I mean, is the base case then much more pressure than the second quarter? Or are you working hard to sort of maintain that sort of margin pressure versus that sort of 9.1%? Is that what we're looking at for the second half? Or do you think the pressure gets a lot worse within the next just in your base case.
Rob, as you can imagine, of course, the company will do its best to also preserve margins. As we said, we want to remain as competitive as possible, and this may mean, of course, not only to be affected by the trade down impact on margins and on gross margins particularly, that is already visible even at the consolidated level. Also, it may mean that to invest in prices, that this will put further pressure on the margin. As I said, the first priority will be to stay competitive and to make sure that we are the choice of the consumer, because this is the best way to protect our cash EBITDA.
Yeah. All understood. Understood. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rob. Now we're going to take our next question. Please stand by. The next question comes from the line of João Pinto from JB Capital. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. The first one on gross margin. On the gross margin decline of 80 basis points at the group level, is this a good proxy for Biedronka's gross margin decline? And, do you think this decline is a good proxy for the second half, or is there any specific effects in the quarters like mix during the Easter that won't happen in the second half? My second question on EBITDA. Do you think that you'll be able to deliver EBITDA growth in Poland on an absolute basis in the second half of the year? And, finally, a follow-up on José's question. Do you have any estimate for the positive impact that refugees had during the second quarter on volume growth? Many thanks.
Thank you, João. As I mentioned, I don't think that at this point we can take any of the progression as a proxy. It's that the context is quite challenging. I'm aware that the performance and we cannot exclude that the performance is remarkable from our teams. We know the business, and we are conscious that this kind of growth that we had in the top line, if it was not for the current circumstances, would have an operational leverage much more visible than it really has. The numbers hide and a question which is quite for us, at least, we tend to be quite cautious, which is the cost progressions.
As I mentioned, when answering to Rob, I think that we have to be quite cautious when seeing the progression of costs. The best way, of course, is to protect our sales and to make sure that we are the choice of the consumer to be able to continue fighting to dilute the costs. This will be a challenge, we don't hide. What we think, and I mentioned that in our early calls, I think that with the current progression, we still estimate a growth in absolute terms. What we think is, of course, that in turn, in percentage, which is what we mentioned in the outlook, this will be pressured.
We are estimating that this will continue to grow, as I mentioned, we are growing more of the categories that have lower margins. This is going to be also a source of pressure on our margins. In absolute terms, we continue to believe that we are going to deliver. The comparison is more challenging for the team. On the estimates of the revenues, as I mentioned, as currently with the influx of refugees coming in and coming out, it's very difficult to have a clear number. We think that is not the bulk of the impact that we have and the growth that we have.
At this point, I cannot give you an exact number because it would not be a totally accurate one.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Thank you, João. Now we're going to take our next question. Please stand by. The next question comes from the line of Andrew Gwynn from Exane BNP Paribas. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Hey, good morning. Two questions, if I can. Firstly, could we just talk a little bit more about the sequential improvement in Poland in Q2 versus Q1? Obviously, food inflation picked up, but the volume story seems to be very good. Maybe slotting into that where the market share performance was. Secondly, you mentioned Portugal, you've got the end of the energy hedge coming to an end or already happened in June. Is there anything else like that to have in mind for the rest of the group, mindful if there's any sort of energy hedges within Poland, for instance? Thank you very much.
Thank you, Andrew. On Biedronka sales, as you mentioned, you have several different effects. One is inflation, of course, and we don't hide. As I mentioned, in my introduction, Biedronka manages to have an internal inflation that is below the country's inflation. We are really containing prices and maintaining competitiveness. The other one is volume growth. We have grown volumes in the second quarter versus the same period last year. Of course, we have the Easter effects. That is probably 1.5 percentage points according to our own numbers, despite having had a very good performance last year in Easter, which was quite extraordinary last year.
From the numbers that we had until May, Biedronka continued to grow market share slightly below 1 percentage point. On the hedge on energy, Portugal was fully hedged, so we had a long-term contract with an energy company. Going forward, we are not totally hedged, so we are partially hedged in Portugal and not hedged in Poland. Energy will, first of all, in Portugal, start to have a bigger impact, which, because until now, I think that we can consider a saving. For the second half, it's going to pressure also our costs.
In Poland, we continue, as I said, energy has increased quite significantly as a percentage of sales as because it's doubled the cost. Of course, with the growth that we had in sales, we were able to dilute that. The way that we see it is that fuel is also important, and so transport costs are already visible in Portugal and in Poland, and it will continue to be as we continue to grow sales also. This will be another, as I mentioned, another extra source of pressure for our cost structure.
Okay. Clear on the cost. Just on the market share gains, please. I'm being lazy. Can you just remind me where you were in Q1? I'm not sure if that's. I think it's loosely about the same as Q1.
Yes, it is more or less in line with the progression in Q1.
Okay. Very clear. Have a very good performance. Thank you very much. Have a good summer.
Thank you, Andrew. Now we're going to take our next question. Please stand by. The next question comes from the line of Xavier Le Mené from Bank of America. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Yes. Thank you. Two if I may. The first one, can you potentially update on Ara? Where is your market share today, and how much, you know, market share gains you had in Q2? Can you also tell us a bit about the brand recognition and well, you know, how good or better Ara is today? And potentially, what are you expecting in terms of openings from 2023 onward? That's the first question. The second one, just on Pingo Doce , can you tell us, you know, how you see Q2? Do you think you're back to normal on footfall and traffic is back to normal, or do you think you still have, you know, room for improvements going forward?
Xavier, just to clarify, the last question was on Pingo Doce, right?
That's correct.
Okay, thanks. So on Ara, we don't disclose still the market share of Ara because we don't think that there is a reliable number to be disclosed. Nonetheless, if we consider the market's progression in Colombia, I have no doubt that Ara is gaining significant market share in the regions where it operates. This is quite visible, as I mentioned, because the country, in fact, the retail market has been contracting, and considering the increase in inflation even in real terms. For our business, I would say that this is the format and our particular brand is the one that is gaining more share, probably together with the other discounters.
As for brand recognition, I think that it's been increasing definitely. This is visible not only, of course, on the fact that we sell more, but we have much more traffic in our stores. The sales per day per store has increasing significantly, even with this kind of inflation. Volumes are up. This is something that is quite significant, and it comes from the fact that people are recognizing now that Ara is providing a really savings opportunity. It's a good store with limited assortment but the best, with the best prices, despite having a very good shopping environment, contrary to probably other kinds of formats. As for the openings, in 2023 going forward.
The idea, Xavier, is to accelerate, as I mentioned. We are further investing in logistics because we want to surpass the 200 openings for the next years going forward. On Pingo Doce, if we saw the end of the recovery in terms of traffic, I don't think so. I think that, of course, is difficult to say because currently we are increasing the number of tickets compared with the average tickets. But that has also to do with the comparable and with the pandemic effects in the prior years. This being said, I think that Pingo Doce has still the possibility to grow and the fact of betting in saving opportunities and in price will be paramount to recover.
One thing that we are seeing is, this is important for us, is the recovery of our takeaway and meal solutions category. Meaning that people are going back and buying even the prepared food, which is a differentiation factor in Pingo Doce. We think that this will continue also to increase in the next quarters.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Xavier.
Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. Please stand by. The next question comes from the line of Cédric Lecasble from Stifel. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Yes. Good morning, team. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two follow-ups. The first one on the negotiations with the suppliers. You said that one of the moving parts was the cost of goods and the production costs, and that you would probably see it rise in percentage terms in H2 versus H1. What's the kind of frequency of your negotiations with suppliers, depending on the categories, and how often do you reconsider prices? What could be the potential impact on gross margin as this production rise in costs? That's question number one. The second one is very factual. Could you remind us of your market shares in Poland, Biedronka and Portugal, Pingo Doce? Thank you very much.
Thank you, Cédric. Starting with the last one. On market shares, Biedronka is ahead of 28%. In here in Poland, we are quite confident on the numbers that are disclosed because we have information or the service provider that we have has information from all players. In Portugal, we have to do our estimates because not all players provide their sales, so it's very hard to. We don't have a quite reliable source of market share. Nonetheless, from our internal estimates, we also grew market share in Pingo Doce. Pingo Doce is recovering market share. As for the negotiation with suppliers, of course, in the current context, usually you have annual negotiations with suppliers.
In the current context, of course, we expect to have probably new rounds of negotiations. On top of that, you have negotiations that are done to, of course, make sure that you have special campaigns or that you have to introduce even new products. And of course, this kind of dynamic will depend also if the suppliers and some of our suppliers want really to increase their volumes also. I think that they will further invest in price as we are doing it. But this depends a lot on the kind of dynamic that we want to imprint. We may have revisions of prices or negotiations of gains that are done weekly or monthly.
May I just ask for the absolute number for market share in Portugal at Pingo Doce?
Cédric, I would prefer not to give it. As I said, we don't have a proper base, a reliable base in terms of market share. We think it may be near 20%, but we are not sure.
Okay, fine. Fair enough.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
Be near 20%, but we are not sure.
Okay, fine. Fair enough.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Cédric. Now we're going to take our next question. Please stand by. Our next question comes from the line of Arthur Amaro from Caixa BI. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just a quick follow-up on the previous questions regarding the market share in Portugal, if it's possible. Pingo Doce's market share is roughly around 20%. Can you just disclose more or less the figure of the market share gain since the beginning of the year? Just to have an idea. The second question is related with the EBITDA margin loss in Poland. Apparently the 40 basis points decrease is related with price investment and cost inflation. If it's possible, again, to give more or less an idea of how much of the loss was related to price investment and how much of the loss was related with cost inflation. That's it from my side. Thanks for taking the questions once again.
Good morning, Arthur. As I mentioned, for Pingo Doce share, we don't have reliable figures because not all players provide the number of sales. What I said is that we think that it may be near 20%, but these are our own internal estimates. Of course, we have to do a disclaimer on that. As for EBITDA margin loss, or the reduction in percentage terms for Biedronka, this of course has to do mainly with price investments, because of course, we are being able to dilute the costs, but because we are increasing quite significant sales. So we are growing more than 20% in total sales in Biedronka.
Costs are also growing more or less there. The dilution, I would say that if we want to look just at the percentage, would come mainly from the margin investments.
Price investment. Okay. Just a follow-up again, sorry. Apparently this 20%, which is your own estimate, how much have you gained since the beginning of the year? 1%? Something like that? Or it's too much? Again, according to your own internal estimates.
Okay, Arthur. According to our estimates, we've gained market share, but I would prefer not to disclose that.
Okay. Point taken. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Arthur. Now we're going to take our next question. Please continue to stand by. The next question comes from the line of Michal Potyra from UBS. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Morning, Ana Luísa. Morning, everyone. Actually, most of my questions have already been answered, so just two, if I may. The first one is about regulatory risks. I wanted to ask if you see any risks of windfall taxes in Poland or any other additional regulation which could impact your business in the near future. That's the first one. The second question is about next year outlook. Would you share any early thoughts on 2023, on when we could see an inflection point in terms of margin progression? I know it's a difficult one, but any color would be appreciated. Thank you.
Thank you, Michał. On the regulatory, of course, I would say that the current context, you are seeing more regulation coming in, even from all the directives that have to be transposed by the European Union and by the different member states. We think that there will be further regulation. Particularly, considering the current context, I will be totally honest, I think that there is a systemic effect of everything that is happening. The energy crisis, the inflation, the disruptions in the global supply chains. I think that this will pressure the governments to give further stimulus in some cases and to support the economies.
I don't rule out that the governments will have to find new taxes or new ways to also finance their own expenses. I wouldn't say that this will affect particularly the sector. I think it's going to be for the general economy, in fact. I think this comes from the context and not just in Poland. I think it's going to be everywhere. It's going to be another thing to add on the current context. As to 2023, currently the way that we see it's that it's going to continue to be very challenging.
I think that part of the effect that we are feeling, that the families are feeling and all the economy in general is feeling, will still have effects for next year. Our companies will have to be prepared to deal with extra sources of pressure. This is not something apparently. Currently we don't see, unfortunately, an end to the war. I think that its effects will continue for the future. This is connected also and connects not only to the, let's say, recovery of the supply chains and the balance between supply and demand, particularly on food, but also it has to do with the energy crisis. How it's going to reflect or not.
Thank you.
Thank you, Michal.
Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. Please stand by. The next question comes from the line of António Seladas , AS Independent Research. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Hi, good morning. Well, most of the questions were already answered. Just a small one in terms of Hebe's performance. Taking into consideration that the quarter was very strong in terms of sales and the economy is doing well, is still doing well, Hebe just reached breakeven in terms of EBITDA before IFRS. It still fits with your targets or not?
Hi, António. Any recovery, of course, is something that we want. We don't want our businesses to be loss-making of course. Because this is quite important not only to serve our shareholders, but all our other stakeholders. As for Hebe, the recovery in sales has part to do with the comparatives and the fact that we were having a lot of restrictions still in place in the first half of 2021, but also part has to do with all the work that has been done by the company, not only at the store level, but as an omni-channel approach to the market that is being also recognized by the consumers.
In this sense, I think that they are meeting their targets also.
Okay, thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Now we're going to take our next question. Please stand by. The next question comes from the line of Nick Coulter from Citi. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Hi, good morning. Two very quick questions, please. Firstly, could you comment on the inflation rate in Colombia, I guess for the market, and then where Ara is relative to the market, please. On Biedronka's price gap versus the market, has that widened, in the last quarter? Thank you.
Hi, Nick. Inflation in Colombia is more or less on the 23%. It has maintained versus the first quarter. In the case of Ara, our inflation is below that, around 3 percentage points. We are continuing to contain. We already have the best prices in the market. We have been trying to contain some of the increases that in some cases are quite significant, as you can imagine. With this kind of progressions, in terms of sales, the total margin should be progressing more than it is, basically because the company is heavily investing in prices and containing the price increases from the suppliers.
As to Biedronka's price gap, the way that we see it and the way that we measure it, even for the commodities has been increased versus the other players.
Are you investing or did you invest more in the second quarter, I guess, is the basic question. It feels like you might have given the volume performance.
For us, it's, as I mentioned, it is paramount to try to not only contain inflation, but to protect the volumes. Biedronka managed to increase volume 7%. This has to do of course with the fact that we've stayed more competitive and that some of the customers are now choosing Biedronka. Firstly, probably, they chose other players and they are now buying from Biedronka.
Okay, thanks so much.
Thank you, Nick. Now we're going to take our last question. Please stand by. The question comes from the line of Michał Majerski from Allianz. Your line is open. Please ask your question.
Hi. I have only one question. Could you tell me the reason why there is a lack of, for example, sugar in Biedronka in Poland? Do you have any problem with suppliers or maybe it's something totally different? Thank you.
Hi, Michał. I don't think that it may happen punctual or temporary shortages because of some constraints, but I don't think that there is really a lack of sugar in Biedronka currently.
Thank you, Michał. There are no further questions, and I would like now to hand the conference over to your speaker, Ana Luísa Virgínia, for closing remarks.
Thank you all for your questions and for attending this conference call. Our balanced market positions and the strong financial situation of the group allow us to stick to our long-term vision and to continue to build a profitable and sustainable business while living up to our social responsibility. This ability will be paramount on what we believe to be the verge of a new economic and geopolitical order that will likely reshape global supply chains and consumption patterns. Thank you once again .
That concludes our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect. Have a nice day.