Hi, everyone. Good afternoon. Hope you're all doing well. It's a pleasure to speak to you today to present our Q3 results. Besides myself and the investor relations team at Sonae, today we have on the call Rui Almeida from Sonae MC, Paulo Simões from Worten, Miguel Moreira from Sonae Fashion, Luís Mota Duarte from Sonae Sierra, and Cristina Novais from Sonae Investment Management. As usual, they will be able to provide more color and detail on some topics related to their individual businesses. This was another challenging quarter in a very unusual year, but I am happy to say that overall it was a good, solid quarter for Sonae.
It was a good quarter due to the ability of our teams to quickly adapt and innovate, but also due to the unique customer intimacy of our businesses, which enables us to design the best future-proof value propositions to respond to market needs. All of our businesses, even the ones that continue to be the most affected by the pandemic, showed a very resilient behavior during Q3. This naturally gives us a lot of confidence to face the coming months, which, as you know, will continue to be challenging. As usual, I will now cover the performance of each of our main business units, and then I will wrap up with our consolidated results and also a brief outlook.
Starting with retail and starting with Sonae MC, Sonae MC maintained a very strong performance, and continued to gain market share in Portugal, while sustaining reference levels of profitability. This was despite the increased costs driven by COVID-19. In Q3, total turnover increased 7.4% year-on-year and 4.8% like-for-like. This growth was clearly above the market, and, according to our estimates, it resulted in a 60 basis point increase in market share year-on-year. All food retail formats have solid like-for-like growth levels, and e-commerce sales continue to show very strong growth, about 60% year-on-year. This online performance was underpinned by a rapid scale-up of our delivery capacity and also by the development of new delivery options for customers. Continent continues to be the clear leader in Portugal, not only offline but also o-online.
Non-food formats already showed some signs of recovery, with particularly positive performances of MaxMat, Wells, ZOO, and Note. This performance was driven by several factors, of which I would like to highlight the quality of our store network and online offerings, the readiness and grit of our people, and also the importance of the continent loyalty program, which continued to offer new benefits and functionalities which are increasingly digital and personalized. All in all, in the first nine months of the year, Sonae MC's turnover grew by 10% year-on-year to EUR 3.8 billion, and like-for-like sales growth surpassed 7%. Regarding profitability, underlying EBITDA reached EUR 374 million in the first nine months of the year after the significant improvement in Q3, where we saw a growth of 11.2% year-on-year to EUR 148 million.
Essentially, the top-line growth more than offset the additional COVID-related costs in the quarter, and this resulted in a 40 basis points increase in margin, allowing for the maintenance of a 9.9% underlying EBITDA margin in the first nine months of the year, which is obviously a sound recovery after the intense pressure felt in Q2. Sonae MC continues to follow a very disciplined approach to cash flow management, namely by improving cost efficiency in several fronts, by rationalizing capital expenditures without compromising its growth plan, and also by optimizing working capital management and executing selected real estate asset sales. In total, Sonae MC's net debt decreased over EUR 100 million year-on-year, with the company improving its leverage and gearing rates. Moving on to Worten, this was another very good quarter for Worten, both in terms of top-line and also profitability.
Turnover growth reinforced the trend that we saw in Q2, and we reached 8.5% year-on-year growth in Q3 and more than 10% in like-for-like terms. This allowed for an improvement of the year-to-date performance, to 4.3% growth year-on-year to EUR 775 million, with a like-for-like growth of 6.6%. In terms of profitability, underlying EBITDA presented an important increase in Q3, an extra EUR 6.5 million versus last year, resulting also in an improvement of over EUR 11 million in the first nine months of 2020. In Portugal, the results were particularly strong. Worten continued to gain market share, and according to our data, this was the first quarter ever that our online market share surpassed our offline share.
We are obviously very pleased with these results, as they clearly show that the digital strategy implemented by the team, with a strong omnichannel approach, but also with distinctive online features, such as the range extension to the marketplace and also some innovative same-day delivery options, all these changes are really paying off. Online sales more than doubled in the first nine months, and offline sales also showed solid like-for-like growth, as, despite some pressure on footfall, conversion rates and the average tickets increased. In Spain, Worten continues to implement its transformation plan in mainland and closed three additional loss-making stores in Q3. We remain on track to reach our goals in that geography. Overall, I must say that this was another good and encouraging performance, particularly in Portugal and also particularly in our online offering and online sales. Moving on to Sonae Fashion.
Sonae Fashion, I would say that, showed a lot of agility to adapt to this challenging context. All the initiatives performed across all the banners, to maximize the revenue streams during and after the lockdown period, basically enabled a better-than-expected performance in Q3, and resulted in market share gains in the quarter, in a still very challenging environment. Performances across brands and categories were different, basically reflecting different price positionings, a higher or lower reliance on shopping centers, and also the demand, a demand for essential items. Overall, we saw a good recovery in revenues, driven by the online channel, which more than doubled sales year-on-year, and also by children's wear. Last but not least, MO, AdTech, and MAS, that boosted e-commerce and international sales and are a good example of the innovation ability of our teams in difficult circumstances.
All in all, Sonae Fashion registered an impressive like-for-like sales growth of 12% and only a 3% decrease of its turnover in Q3. At the end of the first nine months of 2020, Sonae Fashion's turnover had reached EUR 232 million, now only 17% below last year, and underlying EBITDA is already positive, with the performance in the quarter offsetting the negative impacts of the first six months. This sales performance has allowed us to reverse part of the stock provisions we had registered back in Q1. At ISRG, our sports retail division, the company's Q2, which runs from May to July, was marked by the reopening of all the stores across Siberia from mid-May onwards and by the focus on trying to recover from the lockdown impact.
With physical stores still facing some restrictions, total turnover posted a 7% decline in the quarter in spite of the impressive performance from the online operation, which showed three times growth versus the same period of last year. In terms of profitability, EBITDA followed the same trend, which means that the company's equity market contribution to Sonae's results was practically zero in the quarter. More recently, all brands have been doing much better, having already reached positive year-on-year evolutions in August and September. As for Sonae financial services, we saw also important signs of recovery in Q3, and I would say positive dynamics in the operational performance of the Universal Card. Credit production was already above historical figures, and the activity rates reached pre-pandemic values in September.
The number of new customer acquisitions also started to recover, with 9,000 new issuances in the quarter as we reached 900,000 customers already. At the same time, the Universal digital journey accelerated, and an important milestone was reached at the end of September, with the number of digital customers already surpassing 400,000, so more than 50% increase year-on-year. In terms of market share, Universal continues to be in the top three of the overall credit market in Portugal, with a 13.4% market share at the end of the first nine months, more than one percentage point above last year's figure. Overall, turnover stood at EUR 9 million in Q3, ending the first nine months with EUR 26 million, almost in line with last year's figure.
This slight drop in top-line in Q3 was compensated by significant cost savings, and Sonae Assets was able to post an underlying EBITDA of EUR 2.9 million in Q3, already an improvement year-on-year versus the first quarter of 2019. As for Sonae Sierra, as you know, shopping centers continue to be under significant pressure. In any case, after the lockdown in Q2, Q3 has showed generally positive operating trends, although still below pre-pandemic levels. Both tenants, sales, and footfall showed signs of recovery over the period, with September sales being 14% below 2019 levels and footfall 22% below last year. Occupancy rates in the European portfolio continue to be quite stable at above 96%.
Regarding results, direct result in Q3 was negative by EUR 3 million, reflecting the impact from the rental law introduced in Portugal and also agreements around discounts reached with tenants in the other geographies. Additionally, and given the uncertain market environment, Sonae Sierra conducted external valuations to its European assets in September, having recorded a EUR 9 million negative impact, leading net result in Q3 to a negative EUR 12 million. All in all, the first nine months of 2020 saw net result stand at minus EUR 20 million. Regarding NAV, Sonae Sierra ended Q3 with EUR 918 million, 3% down when compared to the end of H1, mainly reflecting the decline in asset valuations and also foreign exchange losses from its Brazilian and Colombian investments.
Overall, and despite the challenging backdrop, the company has been able to work constructively with its tenants to maximize sales, sales across geographies and reach win-win agreements regarding rent. This has also been in close contact with relationship banks to ensure a solid liquidity level at both the asset and also at the corporate level. NOS, as you know, has already published its results, and the impact of the pandemic on operating and financial results was lower in Q3, although still relevant. Turnover decreased 6%, mostly driven by the cinemas and audiovisual segment, where revenue decreased 67% year-on-year due to the lack of blockbuster movies to exhibit and also to less intrinsic demand in the current context. The core telco segment was much more resilient and only fell 1% versus 8% in Q2.
Here, the drag on revenues came mainly from the roaming charges given the restrictions on international travel that still subsist. Operationally, RGUs continued to increase, 2.8% in Q3, reflecting total net adds of 125,000 in the quarter and positive evolutions across all business lines. At the EBITDA level, the cost control measures which were put in place allowed the margin to remain at practically the same level of last year, around 40%-46%. EBITDA minus CapEx was below last year but still above expectations given the lower level of CapEx versus what was originally planned. Net income in Q3 decreased 8% year-on-year to EUR 44 million, while in the first nine months, it is still impacted by the extraordinary provisions due to COVID-19. Two important deals were completed by NOS, two strategic important strategic milestones.
First, the agreement to sell North Tower into Cellnex, which resulted in a EUR 375 million cash-in upfront and also an additional expected EUR 175 million cash-in over the next six years. Already in Q4, the mobile network sharing agreement with Vodafone was also announced, which will enable faster, more efficient, and environmentally sustainable deployment and running of networks in Portugal. Finally, Sonae Investment Management had a very solid quarter with positive performances across controlled companies, especially in the cybersecurity portfolio. In Q3, Sonae IM's turnover grew by 11% year-on-year to EUR 89 million, recovering almost all of the revenues lost in the first semester. Underlying EBITDA, despite still in negative ground, also showed a solid improvement.
Regarding portfolio activity and on top of the follow-on investments, in some of its portfolio of companies, Sonae IM entered in Q3 in the shared capital of two new companies, one cybersecurity company and one early-stage venture. It received a gross capital distribution of EUR 21 million as a result of the redemption of participation units held in the AVP2 fund, which represents a value improvement of 37% when compared to the distribution occurred in 2018 and increases the cumulative return on Artemy Large Funds to 2.3 times cash-on-cash. Finally, already in Q4, Arctic Wolf, a leader in cybersecurity operations, announced it had raised $200 million in Series B funding at a valuation of $1.3 billion, and it became Sonae IM's second unicorn in the portfolio. This operation resulted in an equity-accounted capital gain of almost EUR 29 million already registered in Q3.
Overall, looking at consolidated results, Sonae's turnover in Q3 increased 6% year-on-year, the same growth level over the first six months, with the most important contributions coming from Sonae MC and Worten. In year-to-date terms, one-third of the top-line growth came from online sales, which more than doubled versus last year. Underlying EBITDA reached EUR 177 million in the quarter, a margin of 10%. In year-to-date terms, underlying EBITDA stood at EUR 406 million, already above last year. Consolidated net results in Q3 stood 2% above last year and reached EUR 51 million. In accumulated terms, the non-cash contingencies registered in Q1 and also Sonae Sierra's portfolio devaluations in the last couple of quarters, which both are directly, directly related to COVID-19, still mean that net income is in negative ground at the end of the nine months.
The group's capital structure remained solid, with net debt decreasing EUR 287 million in the last 12 months. This evolution was driven by the strong cash flow generation profile of Sonae's portfolio of businesses and also by a number of asset sales, namely the Theatre Prime transaction back in Q1, the sale and leaseback operations at Sonae MC, and also the NELR capital distribution at Sonae Investment Management. Therefore, even under this challenging context, we have been able to sustain our dividend policy, invest in our businesses, although with more prudence, and continue selective M&A activity such as the acquisition of the 7.4% stake in NOS back in August. Over the last nine months, we have already refinanced more than EUR 650 million in credit facilities, and we continue to have a low cost of debt and comfortable maturities.
In terms of outlook, and as you all know, we are now witnessing a second wave of the pandemic. Our priority continues to be to do everything in our power to protect the health and safety of our people, customers, and partners while obviously continuing to serve our customers. We are confident that given our track record over the last few months and on, and also the dedication and enthusiasm of our people, we will continue to do well and comply with our mission of creating economic and social value. On this front, I would like to highlight that we recently decided to reinforce our commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2040, anticipating this target by 10 years. That is it for me, for now. Thank you for listening, and feel free to ask any questions to all of us. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad, and if you're joining us via the web, please use the flag icon. If you change your mind, please press star followed by two. Our first question comes from João Pinto from JB Capital. João, please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. The first one regarding the new restrictions in Portugal, namely the curfew from 1:00 P.M. implemented for the next two weekends. What do you plan to do, both in Sonae MC as well as other units? My second question on Sierra, regarding the NAV. We are getting closer to the next re-evaluation in December. Do you have any estimate on how much this NAV can decline in the next re-evaluation? My third question regarding Worten in Spain.
Can you update us on your plans for the operation in Spain? Can we expect news until the end of the year? Finally, if I can, regarding the plan to anticipate your carbon targets by 10 years, will this represent a relevant increase in CapEx in the short term? Thank you.
Thank you, João.
Let me start with a couple of these questions, and then I'll hand it over to Luis and Paulo to tackle the Theatre and Worten questions. Regarding the weekend restrictions in Portugal in terms of mobility, yes, it's true that in the next couple of weekends, the Portuguese government has enforced significant restrictions to the mobility of people in more than 120 municipalities in the country, including requiring people to stay home between 1:00 P.M. and 5:00 A.M. with very few exceptions.
These exceptions include work duties, provided that people have a formal certification, and also going out for essential products and services such as groceries and personal hygiene, pet care, and personal healthcare. I mean, Sonae will, as always, comply with the law, but also with the spirit of the law. We feel that it is our duty as an important player in the retail landscape in Portugal to act with the responsibility that we need to act with and set a positive example to help public authorities in their efforts to contain the virus spread. In practice, this is what we will do. Our food retail, parapharmacy, and pet care stores will remain open to serve our customers. We will not be changing our opening hours in the coming weekends, and we will be ready, as ever, to welcome customers in our stores.
As for our remaining physical retail concepts, in Portugal, we will be closing those stores at 1:00 P.M. during these two weekends. We will naturally continue to serve our customers through all of our online channels. As you know, we have implemented a number of faster, same-day delivery options across our banners, which we will reinforce during this period. Regarding the carbon target, carbon neutrality is something which is already embedded in the current business plans of our business. We are confident that we will be able to achieve this without the need to do further investments, namely to acquire carbon credits. This is currently the assumption.
We feel very comfortable that this commitment that we have will imply a lot of work and a lot of effort from our teams, but we believe that we can do this, complying with our current financial plans and not having any additional CapEx in the next few years. I will briefly touch upon the Worten question, and then I will let Paulo complement. As I said before, we have continued to work on our plan, our solution for Worten's presence in continental Spain, which ensures that this operation is not a loss-making operation beyond this year. We expect to announce this solution by the end of this year. Hopefully, we will be able to do that.
I will hand it over to Paulo to complement this point and also to Luis to comment on the Sonae Theatre and NAV question.
Okay. Thank you, João. Thank you, João, for your question also. As João just said, we are committed to unleashing positive operational profitability in 2021, and we are confident that we are on track to deliver this objective. From now up to the end of the year, we will continue to streamline our store base and the overall operation, and focus on online growth and continued digitalization of our business in that geography. We are confident that with these two actions, we will be able to reach our objective. That is the way we are planning to manage it to year-end.
Thanks, Paulo. Luis, do you want to take the Theatre question?
Sure.
Hello, João. In relation to our NAV forecast for the end of the year, I mean, as you know, given the current uncertainty around the COVID-19, given the volatility of the Brazilian currency, it's a very difficult exercise. Having said that, as a reference point, in June, we recorded a EUR 52 million depreciation in asset values, including a significant impact from FX. I would assume that for the end of the year, it would be conservative to assume a similar level. We would expect it to outperform, but it's a good reference point.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from António Seladas from AS Independent Research. Please go ahead, sir.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions, and congratulations for the figures. They're really strong. Three questions for me.
The first one, related with NAV or Sonae Sierra, if you can clarify if you are saying that by the end of the year, the NAV will adjust as it did by the end of the first half, or if, or adjust, and you do not understand well, and the current NAV will be kept. The first one, if you can clarify the prior question. The second one is related with ZOPT dissolution. If you can update us on the process. The last question is related with NOS, current stock price. The price is really under pressure, has been, has underperformed a lot. Sonae, as a holding company and very committed with NOS, should we expect, or why you are not increasing your stake on NOS, taking into consideration that your prior stakes were done at higher, higher, higher prices? Thank you very much.
Thank you, António. Let me start with the last couple of questions, and then I'll hand it over to Luís to come back to the topic of the Sierra NAV. Starting with the situation at ZOPT, at this stage, unfortunately, I do not have any further updates to give you. The key points of our previous announcement still stand, but we are still waiting for the judicial situation to be clarified before we terminate the JV and execute what we announced to the market back in August. We are confident that will happen in the coming weeks, but we are still at the same stage that we discussed in our last conference call. Regarding the NOS share price, yes, I agree that the share price is extremely low and depressed when compared to the company's intrinsic value.
I mean, we are currently happy with the level of economic, well, economic exposure that we have to the sector and to the company, given also the level of influence and control that we currently have and that we expect to have when we dissolve the partnership at ZOPT. Currently, we do not have any short-term plans to increase our shareholding in the business, although it's always an option for us in the future. As you know, after we execute what we announced, we can increase our stake to 50% without triggering a mandatory tender offering. We always have that option down the road, but currently, we are happy with the level of exposure that we have to the sector and to the company. Luis, do you want to take the NAV question?
Sure. With pleasure.
In terms of our NAV, what I, the first thing I have to say, though, is, I mean, we are much more than an NAV. We are much more than a, a portfolio of shopping centers. I would like to remind you all that we have a services platform which manages more than 150 properties. We have a fund business that manages EUR 3.5 billion of funds. We have an asset management business which manages significant external contracts. We have a development services business which provides services to third parties around architecture, engineering, etc. On top of that, we have a development platform which is the group of people that created the portfolio that we have today. None of that is really reflected in the NAV.
When you think of us, I think if you just apply the simple discount to NAV, you need to be fair, and you need to apply also value to the other business. Coming to your question around NAV, what I'm saying is that for the fourth quarter, a useful reference point is the second quarter. In the second quarter, we recorded a negative net result of EUR 56 million, of which EUR 52 million were from value reduction in investment properties. What I'm saying as well is that this figure included a significant impact from FX and from Brazil. That is even more difficult to forecast than any COVID-19 impacts. From a conservative basis, I would take the Q2 figure as a useful reference point, but I would be disappointed if we do not outperform.
Okay. Thank you very much. Very clear. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next question is from José Rito from CaixaBank. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi, good afternoon to all. I have a follow-up question on Worten. If you can give a little bit more details, how was the performance of Worten Spain in Q3? We saw a very strong performance with Worten as a whole for the quarter. If you can provide a little bit more visibility in Spain. Basically, what we are trying to understand is how can you assure that in 2021, you'll be at least at break-even? More important than that is that after 2021, the company is able to maintain this break-even figure, considering that this will be the first time since it started this operation. What are you seeing in these markets?
We understand that electronics online has been quite strong in Portugal and Spain, and for that reason, this should have been helping. Going forward, what do you expect to change in Spain in order to maintain a profitability level in these markets? My second question relates to Sonae Investment Management, considering the recent good track record from this division, namely OutSystems, Arctic Wolf, and these being a potential source of high-end value within the group, my question is, why maintaining Sonae Com listed? Finally, on the online and considering the growth, the strong growth that we had this year, can you say if this has been margin-dilutive for the group as a whole, and how is this business margin in the case of Sonae NC? Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Jose.
Paulo, do you want to start with the Worten question?
Yes. Sure. Thank you, Ben, for the question. Regarding Spain, the performance overall was solid, I would say, because on a like-for-like basis, Spain was more or less flat versus last year. Of course, on a total turnover basis, we lost sales because we have been closing some stores. Looking at comparable stores, we were more or less flat. Solid performance, notwithstanding the context, which is very, very challenging, as you know. Regarding our reach profitability, the positive profitability in the region, as I told you before, I mean, we will continue to streamline the store base and the overall operation. Our plan is to continue to invest in online and guarantee that our online business grows and improves profitability.
That is our overall focus. I would not like to go into further details on this because we are continually monitoring the operation, and we take decisions regarding what to do next, looking at the most recent performance of the stores. We are looking constantly on how to streamline the operation, and we will, and we are on track on improving the profitability, as I commented before. We are very confident that, if we continue with the plan that we have, we will be able to reach positive profitability in 2021. I would leave it here.
Okay. Okay. Understood. Thank you. Okay.
Maybe I'll take the Sonae Com question now. I mean, we've obviously discussed this in the past.
I think I would say something, initially, which is, I mean, there is no reason for Sonae IM to be, as you said, a hidden pocket of value within the group, right? We give a lot of visibility on the NAV of the company. We give visibility on the investments that we have. It's become clearer in recent times that the track record, as you said, of investment management has been fundamentally a very strong one in terms of return on investment. We have showed a number of exits over the past few years that have proven to be quite successful and that have also proven the validity of the strategy that is being followed at Sonae IM in terms of actively managing a portfolio of investments.
I think there is no reason for it to be a hidden pocket of value. If it still is, maybe we need to do a better job in conveying the value of that portfolio. Going directly into your question of why we should maintain Sonae Com listed, again, we discussed this a number of times in the past. It is something that we have considered in the past, but we do not have any pressing reason to take Sonae Com private at this moment in time, also because it would entail probably a significant investment for us. We are obviously managing our liquidity at the current moment in time with a lot of prudence. Again, we do not have any pressing reason to think about that sort of operation at this moment in time.
I'm glad that you recognize the good track record that we've seen at Sonae IM, and we will make sure that we can say that, with a lot of clarity, in the coming weeks and months. In terms of the online, I will have a first stab at this, and then I will probably hand it over to others for comments. Overall, I mean, online this year has increased a lot for us. Online sales have increased a lot throughout all our formats and concepts. I think this shows the strong value propositions that we have in e-commerce and that consumers recognized. We have, I mean, in our main operations, we are clear leaders not only offline but also online. If you look at the channel economics by themselves, it's true that in some businesses, it is margin-dilutive.
We do not look at it like that. I think it's a bit narrow to look at beyond the e-commerce profitability on a standalone basis because what we look at is customer lifetime value. Most of our customers are omnichannel customers. They purchase with us online, offline, in a mixture of both channels. Ordering online and picking up in stores, going to stores, choosing their products, and ordering product at the store to be delivered at their homes. We really have a relationship that goes through several channels with each of our customers typically. We also have statistics that say that our customers who buy online with us typically are our most valuable customers.
If you take that into consideration, you will understand that the economics of a single customer that purchases with us online are much more interesting than serving that customer only offline. It is a complex issue. Obviously, we are trying to improve the economics of our online operations every year, and in some sectors, that is easier to achieve than in others. Overall, we are very happy with our online strategy, very happy with the overall economics that we see across the board in the different channels serving our customers. We will continue to invest in this space. I think you asked specifically a question, this question related to MC. I will let Rui complement on the MC angle as well.
Thank you as well. Hi everyone. Hi [Vic].
I don't have anything to add to your comments. I totally agree. It is our strategy as well. We, as you said in the very beginning, we grew a lot in this quarter. We see the online business as being totally, but totally in an omnichannel approach to reach all consumers in Portugal. We are doing okay. It continues to be, that's the point that you were mentioning, Rodrigues, continues to be very, very marginal in our performance, in our portfolios. All the investment that we are doing in this segment is not as relevant as you may think. We are doing okay. It is very difficult to compete because we need to consider all the benefits that consumers and our customers are getting.
and in all the indicators that we are competing in our site, in our operation. We feel that we feel this should be considered in an omnichannel approach. We are totally okay with this situation.
Okay. Understood. I think that in the past, you referred that in some specific regions, you were getting close to be break-even. I remember that I think you mentioned this in Lisbon area. That's a really good point.
No, you're very good point. Then we continue. We are very, in fact, there are some months that we are doing okay, in terms of EBITDA figures. As a matter of fact, we are now reaching the point that we are fighting to be positive.
We feel that we are optimizing, as well said by Rodriguez, optimizing, being more efficient and searching for new solutions to become very profitable in this business.
Okay. Understood. Just to follow up, no need to do major investments on these online to make the business profitable, let's say that way. I know that as of today, it's around 3%, could be around 3% of sales, but if it goes to, I don't know, 10-15%, the impact would be different on the margin. That's why I'm asking this.
You are basically saying that the margins could be higher. For instance, we have all our operation in a different mode. We need to think, for instance, that all our business should be completely different.
This way, the point is that, as I said a while ago, as you well also mentioned, we are thinking online in an omnichannel approach. We need to combine the offline business with the online business as well. We are understanding that this business is totally complementary to our offline business. That's why we are fighting to get a very good operation in terms of online in order to complement the operation that we are feeling very comfortable with as well, which is the offline business. We are fighting to get all the value propositions combined in order to give the best value to our customers and all consumers.
Mm-hmm. Okay. Thank you.
Just to add a remark, I mean, we are very far today from having a 10% weight of online sales in total sales in good reason in Portugal. Very, very far.
Yeah. Yeah. No, I know. I know.
Even in some of the most advanced economies in the world, such as the U.K., the average weight is around 7-8%. In Portugal, it's way below that. It's still not, we're still not there.
No issue. Okay. Okay. Thank you.
As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you're joining us via the web, please use the flag icon. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, star followed by one on your telephone keypad.
If you're joining us via the web, please use the flag icon. We currently have no further questions from the participant lines. I'll hand back to Mr. João Dolores.
Thank you. I think we have a question that was sent via webcat. It's about Sonae IM. I will read it out. In the H1 financials, the investment in Arctic Wolf was valued at EUR 12.1 million. Today's press release says there is an almost EUR 29 million capital gain as per the most recent financing. Does that mean that Sonae investment in Arctic Wolf is worth about EUR 41 million? I think this one's for you, Cristina.
Yeah. Thank you. You can assume that is exactly that, the number, in September accounts. Please note that the round occurred in October.
As we published, we said that we participated in this financing, in this financing round. We made the following investment. In October, the value is a little bit higher than that. For September accounts, is that the figure? It is EUR 41 million.
Very well. Hope that is clear. I think we have no further questions. Is that right?
Yes. We currently have no further questions registered.
Thank you very much, everyone, for your questions. I hope this was useful to clarify our performance in Q3. As I said at the beginning, we are very pleased with the performance that we had in Q3 and also obviously motivated to save the rest of the year.
Given the context is going to be challenging, but we are confident that given what we've done up until now, we will continue to succeed in serving our customers and in producing solid results going forward. Thank you all for listening. We will speak to each other in the annual accounts in March now. Hope you all stay safe and healthy. Talk to you soon. Bye-bye.