Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Falabella Earnings call. I'm Gigi, your coordinator for today's session. Participants are currently in listen-only mode. Present with us are Alejandro González, CEO; Juan Pablo Harrison, interim CFO; Benoit De Grave, CTO; Alejandro Arze, CEO of Home Improvement. First, Mr. Juan Pablo Harrison, interim CFO, will provide a summary of the consolidated results for the first quarter of 2024. Following his presentation, we'll open the floor for questions. If you would like to participate in this part of the call, please press star followed by one one at any time during the conference. If you need assistance at any time during the call, please press star followed by one one, and a coordinator will be happy to assist you. Now we'll start with the conference with Mr. Juan Pablo Harrison.
Thank you, Gigi. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Falabella's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. I would like to remind you that during this presentation, management may make forward-looking statements relating to our company: its results, operation, expenses, strategy, potential restructurings, and other matters alike. This will be characterized by the use of terms such as plan, pretend, expect, anticipate, estimate, hope, and seek. Such statements are based on assumptions and expectations of future events that are uncertain and contain risks. Therefore, and for further information on this matter, I kindly refer you to the disclaimer on forward-looking statements that is displayed on the screen. Also, the numbers presented during the call will be according to IFRS rules expressing U.S. dollars and rounded to millions. Therefore, certain small differences may arise with the published financial statements.
I will start the call by going over some key operational highlights of our physical digital ecosystem and its capabilities. Let us begin reviewing from slide three onwards. Regarding the retailers and malls business, we continue to see sequential improvement in revenues in our retailers, with our consolidated top line also positively impacted by the depreciation of the Chilean peso against the other currencies of the region. The consolidated revenues of Falabella Retail reached $ 691 million in the quarter, whereas margins improved due to better inventory levels. In home improvement, consolidated revenues reached $ 1.4 billion, an increase of 7% during the quarter. We opened two Sodimac stores, one in Chile and the other one in Colombia. Supermarkets revenues increased 9%, reaching $ 567 million. Non-food categories continue their downward trend in sales participation, in line with the value proposition adjustments.
Mallplaza's revenue reached $116 million due to higher occupation and USD indexation. We would like to highlight the opening of its fifth mall in Colombia, in the city of Cali. This mall has 67,000 meters of GLA and the presence of stores such as Sodimac, Zara, H&M, and Decathlon, and the new IKEA store that was opened yesterday being the second IKEA store in that country. Regarding our e-commerce, we now have over 20,000 sellers with sales in the region for the last 12 months, and over 45% of online sales are delivered to customers through the click-and-collect option. During the first quarter, online GMV remained flat year-over-year, while our 3P online sales grew 9% year-over-year, representing 25% of total online GMV. Overall, our e-commerce platform achieved $2.4 billion in GMV during the last 12 months.
On the banking side, solid progress has been made in digitalization, strengthening our value proposition. Our CMR cards continue to be the most valued credit card in Chile, over 65% over consumer credit sales, and roughly 40% of total card openings were made 100% digitally. Our loan portfolio increased 1% year-over-year, reaching $6.5 billion. We continue to see sequential improvements in risk levels as a result of more restrictive origination policies and improvements in collection processes. Despite a subdued consumption scenario, purchases using our credit and debit cards increased by 12% year-over-year. Regarding our loyalty program, we have successfully reached over 19 million participants, fostering enduring relations with our clients and driving up transactions levels, spending, and customer retention. From a consolidated point of view, we continue to strengthen our financial position.
In first place, our cash position has increased 81% year-over-year in line with better performance of the EBITDA and better management of our balances in the business. Secondly, our inventory levels are returning to normal levels, registering a decrease of 11% year-over-year, improving the margins in our retailers. Thirdly, SG&A expenses increased only 1% year-over-year as a consequence of the efforts that our teams made last year in the execution of our operational leverage plan. Highlight that it would be a 6% decrease at a constant FX. Regarding our revenues, the consolidated revenues increased 4%, explained by a positive effect from the depreciation of the Chilean peso against the other currencies of the region and by lower levels of sales decreases in the main retailers.
In gross profit expansion, we have a gross profit expansion of 20% year-over-year due to improvement of the banking business of 49%, highlighting Banco Falabella in Chile operation that improves 38%, mainly thanks to lower cost of risk. Department stores increased 33%, mainly attributed to Chile, which increased 38% followed by the improvement in Peru by 25%, driven by lower level of promotions due to reduced inventory levels. And lastly, supermarkets in Peru increased 24%, while Mallplaza grew 15%. The SG&A containment, mainly impacted by the depreciation of the Chilean peso, is offset by lower personal expenses, the optimization of our marketing loyalty activity, and the reduction of expenses in logistics activities, which as a whole decreased 4%. Considering all these factors, we achieve an EBITDA growth of 2.3x year-over-year, reaching $302 million.
Finally, we have closed the quarter with a net profit of $ 60 million, which compares favorably to the net loss of $ 55 million that we had in the first quarter of 2023. As far as our financial position, we have decreased 5% of our net financial debt and reached a 5.7x net financial debt EBITDA ratio, which compares to a ratio of 6.5x of the last quarter, reflecting a strong recovery in Falabella's profitability. We would like to highlight that we have no relevant maturities during 2024. Now, I would like to leave with you, Alejandro Arze, Home Improvement CEO.
Thank you, Juan Pablo. This quarter, we generated over $ 1.5 billion in revenues with an increase of 7%. If you see the chart, we can see the big impact COVID had on our businesses.
In the Home Improvement business, we have two big consumption opportunities, either a new construction or a renovation, which typically are countercyclical. In the pandemic, both grew. You can see in the charts how sales went from $4.2 billion-$5.6 billion, that it's more than 35%. Now, post-pandemic, we are facing a slowdown in both segments. The new construction business is highly affected by the high interest rates we are experiencing. The renovation side, families built more projects than usual during the pandemic due to more disposable income and spending more time at home. Both effects are affecting ourselves now. This past quarter, we reached nearly two million active customers and observed lower levels of decline in sales in the main markets, mainly driven by retail and pro customers, which is a critical segment in Sodimac's strategy.
For our professional segment, we have rolled out a robust strategy to fulfill and support their particular needs, including the Círculo Especialista, which is a benefit program that now reaches 1.9 million clients, making a 5% increase in sales compared with in customers compared with the fourth quarter in 2023. In terms of private labels, they play a key role in Sodimac's strategy. They allow us to differentiate from competitors. We have a better overall margin, and they also help us to negotiate better with our suppliers. With our private labels, we are able to introduce innovative solutions tailored to customers and their demands, achieving notable market penetration in specific categories. Today, private labels account for over 30% of Sodimac sales. And what is very interesting also is that we have a range of private labels that serve both segments, the final customers and professionals.
In terms of inventory, I would like to highlight that we have managed to reduce our inventories in all of our markets. This slide shows the decrease in local currency in over three major markets, all around 20% lower than the first quarter last year. Finally, I would like to talk a little bit of our strategy and focus on four main points. The first one is increased sales and contribution by customer segments through product innovation and the enhancement of our digital customer experience. Second, and very, very important, consolidate our value position for the pro customer through initiatives such as our loyalty program that I just talked a little bit before. Continue to grow in Mexico, focusing on CapEx efficiency and increasing sales per square meter. And finally, improve efficiency in the major countries by optimizing the working capital and increasing the asset profitability. Now, Alejandro González.
Good morning, everyone. In our last earnings call, we acknowledged the challenges anticipated for 2024. However, we express confidence that our customer-focused strategic plan, supported by our robust retailer units and brand, our extensive network of stores and malls, and the capabilities of our ecosystem would significantly enhance Falabella's performance. The results we presented this week they show a significant stride towards overcoming these challenges and serve as a powerful motivation for us to persist in our efforts. I would like to highlight that these efforts in operational leverage are continuing to yield results, reflecting improved margins due to better inventory management and a more agile operation. Additionally, I want to emphasize the progress in terms of risk-cost, a result of more effective origination policy and improvements in collections.
Undoubtedly, we must continue to tackle the challenge of building a simpler and more agile operation, which remains an ongoing effort at Falabella. Looking ahead, I believe we must reinforce our efforts to increase sales. We need not to only anticipate but also exceed our customers' expectations. We're certainly making strides in this direction. The level of sales decline in our retailers continues to decrease, but without a doubt, we need to aim for more. It's essential that we consistently deliver the finest shopping experience, ensuring that our products reach our customers where and when they want them, surpassing their expectations in the process. Our stores remain a crucial differentiator in our value proposition, and we must continue to innovate in this area. Additionally, shortening our purchasing cycles is key, allowing us to make decisions with more accurate and timely information.
We are also dedicated to fostering our relationships with the professional customers in Home Improvement segment, as Alejandro Arze recently highlighted. Furthermore, it's crucial that our credit card remains the top choice for our customers, helping them to simplify their lives. In essence, we're confronting numerous challenges that truly encapsulate the spirit of Falabella. In April, we announced the closing of the transaction with Mallplaza, which will allow us to consolidate our shopping center's operation in Peru. With this new structure, Mallplaza will become the largest shopping center operation in South America in terms of GLA. In addition, we have ongoing processes aimed at monetizing non-core assets. Although, as Juan Pablo explained, we currently maintain a solid financial position. This initiative makes strategic sense as they enhance our capital allocation framework, ensuring more effective use of our resources for long-term sustainability and growth.
With that, now, I will open the line to any questions that you may have.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready to open the lines up for your questions. If you wish to ask a question, please press star followed by one, one on your touch-tone telephone. If your question has been answered or you wish to withdraw your question, press star followed by one, one. Again, press star, one, one to ask a question. Please stand by for your first question. Your first question comes on the line of Andrew Ruben from Morgan Stanley.
Hi. Thanks very much for the question. It was helpful to get the extra color on the Home Improvement segment, maybe Alejandro, taking advantage of your being on the call. I'd be curious if you could help break down what you're seeing and your expectations when we talk about both the pro customer versus the consumer, and then the trends in new construction versus remodels. And then the second part would be, given that we seem to be in kind of a downturn or still pressure for consumption, how do you think about adjusting the expense base for home improvement to deal with currently lower sales, but also making sure you're positioned for any upturn? Color there would be very helpful. Thank you.
Certainly, I think we are still seeing a slow demand. I think that we're going to see a recovery first in the personal segment, then in the new construction segments. What you hear from the market is that we should see a decrease in interest rate. Probably we are seeing some now and probably on the second semester, specifically on mortgages. That will help to boost the new construction business. I think that will take more time than the personal business. As I mentioned before, during the pandemic, there were a lot of families that advanced their remodeling. That already passed almost two years since that. We are seeing more families coming to the stores and looking for bigger projects, but it still is not as big as we think.
In terms of sales, we think that we're going to see a better trend during the second semester compared with last year. Also in the e-commerce, we are seeing a recovery. Basically, we already started the isolation I don't know. It's not the right word. The separation of our web page from falabella.com. And we are seeing an increase on the sales on e-commerce. And then if we think on how do we adapt our expenses, we are constantly seeing how we reduce the SG&A. We are seeing some markets where the demand is harder than others, like Peru, for example. And we're definitely looking for new efforts on reducing SG&A.
Very helpful. Thank you.
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Nicolas Riva from Bank of America.
Thanks very much, Alejandro, for taking my questions. I have two questions. The first one on the Plaza transaction. If you can provide an update regarding the expected completion date for Plaza to raise the equity to pay for the shopping malls in Peru and for the transaction to be completed? That's my first question. Then the second question, we clearly saw the improvement in leverage this quarter with improvement in top-line and EBITDA, net leverage coming down to 5.7x, excluding the bank. And on a pro forma basis, assuming the Plaza transaction is completed in the terms disclosed, it would further reduce to 5.3x. My question is, in the context of the company still being rated BB+ by S&P and Fitch with a negative outlook, if you can disclose any targets for net leverage for the end of this year and next year, excluding the bank.
Thanks very much.
Thank you, Nicolas, for your question. I'll go first about the capital increase for Plaza transaction, and then Juan Pablo may take the second part about the net debt to EBITDA ratio and some interaction with the rating agencies. But basically, we're basically already working on this. There's, I would say, a regulatory compliance part that needs to be done. But I would say, timely, this is something that should be done during the next two to three months, give or take, assuming we have normal market conditions. But it's going to be assuming that we have demand, should be, I don't know, July or so. But the company is already working full team on this. And there's a full team already being engaged. So it should be something within normal time frame. And that's why I say, give or take, there's a 30-day preemptive rights period here in Chile.
Before that, I would say July, give or take. If it goes beyond that, it shouldn't be longer than September.
Okay. Thanks, Alejandro.
Hello, Nicolas. Hello, Nicolas. Regarding the leverage question, we think that most of the improvements in the future will come from the improvement in non-banking EBITDA, which is growing significantly as of now. We think that this trend is going to maintain in the future. We foresee that for the end of the year, we expect to be around 4x in our leverage ratio.
Okay. 4x. One more question. On that estimate of 4x, which basically assumes a much further reduction in net leverage, are you assuming any additional asset sales besides the $300 million from the Plaza transaction?
Hi, Nicolas. Benoit here. So just to give you an update on that. So in addition to the $589 million transaction with Plaza that we announced in April, out of which $300 million will come from the capital increase, between the last earnings calls and this one, we went from $25 million to close to $100 million, with $50 million sales in land banks in Chile and a distribution center in Argentina. And on top of that, I can tell you that we have another $50 million made in land banks, which processes are in the final phase of the sale, and we'll be finalizing them in the coming weeks. So we are still deploying the plan that we announced.
Okay. Just one final question. So the number you are assuming for reduction in net leverage for 2024, including the $300 million from the Plaza transaction, how much would that be your projection, the reduction in leverage just coming from asset sales?
Nothing has changed, Nicolas, of what we announced before the plan. The point Benoit was trying to say is giving you an update, but we haven't changed the number of $800 million-$1 billion. That's still in place.
$1 billion. Okay. Okay.
Right. And just to make sure that we're on the same page, keep in mind that the most relevant reduction will come from an increase in EBITDA, which is where we are putting all the effort in the company, which is also something that we have to do in order to increase the performance of the company. But if I need to make this the 80/20, the Pareto percentage part, it would be the most relevant part, EBITDA increase. And the other part is going to be the, I would say, monetization of assets like the Plaza transaction, the $300 million capital increase that we mentioned, and the other transaction that Benoit was giving you an update.
Okay. Thanks very much, Alejandro and Benoit.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Irma Sgarz from Goldman Sachs.
Yes. Thanks for taking my question. Alejandro, again, congratulations for now the more formalized role of the CEO. I wanted to ask one question on the supermarket division where sales remain somewhat weak. And obviously, you pointed out the difference in performance between non-food and food. Can you just provide us a little bit of an update what you've been seeing so far into the second quarter and when you also look out to the back half of the year, how we should think about this division? And the other question is regarding, I think there's traditionally some e-commerce sort of commercial events or holidays where there's a lot of promotional spend in the coming quarters. And I wanted to ask just how you're preparing for that?
Obviously, there's a lot of focus on profitability, but that obviously has taken a toll on some of the growth on the e-commerce side. But just when you look beyond just sort of the first quarter and just sort of into the second quarter and rest of the year, how are you thinking about sort of balancing growth against profitability on the e-commerce side? That would be helpful. Thank you.
Hi, Irma. Benoit here. So on the supermarket, I'll take it. So improving the performance of Tottus, especially in Chile, has been one of the challenges of the last few years. We've made different changes in that business. First of all, we just appointed a new CEO of the business, Renato Giarola, coming from Brazil with a lot of experience on the supermarket industry. And obviously, one of his mandates is to adapt the strategy of Tottus. And some of the changes that have been already implemented in the last year and this first quarter have to do with the prioritization of some categories such as mainly food that have better margins and a higher rotation and giving, obviously, less relevance to our mix to non-food categories. So these are the main adjustments that we are doing currently in the supermarket division.
And regarding the second question on e-commerce, I can also take it. Yes, we are balancing profitability versus growth. What I can say is that our 3P sales are still growing. We grew 9% of 3P sales, excluding Mexico, in the first quarter. We are balancing profitably against growth. This has already been done in the first quarter, although the evolution of the strategy has been implemented recently in March. We are only two months into the new strategy. We are capturing some savings, important savings, and adapting the strategy to the commercial events of the next month is part of, obviously, the next phase of implementing that strategy.
Thank you.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star, one, one, on your touch-tone telephone. If your question has been answered or you wish to withdraw your question, please press star followed by one, one. Again, please press star, one, one to ask a question. Our next question comes from the line of Alonso Aramburu from BTG Pactual.
Yes. Hi. Good morning. Thank you for the call. I wanted to ask about Banco Falabella. Can you comment about the profitability on each of the countries, how you see the credit cycle? We've seen improvement in Chile, especially, also lower provisions in some of the other markets. Do you think you've seen the worst in Colombia and improve as well, and you expect profitability to improve? Thank you.
Hi, Alonso. This is Raimundo. In terms of the bank, we continue to see improvement, as you mentioned, in the risk level as a result of a more restrictive origination policy and an improvement that we have made on the collection process. In terms of the NPLs, it reached 4.4 % during the last quarters. From here going onwards, we expect that the results should be higher than the one of the comps, the respective bump quarter. I would say in a more moderate way, mainly explained by two factors. First, we are seeing a stabilization of the cost of risk levels on the different banks. We are not expecting to continue to see the trends of declining in the cost of risk.
Secondly, I would say that we expect to continue to see some drops in the income generation as a result of the restrictive credit measures that we have taken that has taken our loan portfolio decrease in double digits in the case of Chile , and some pressures on the incomes that come from fees, particularly in the case of Chile, given the new interchange rates that were implemented last year. In terms of the loan book, what we are seeing for this year in the case of Chile, compared with 2023, the loan book should remain stable in real terms. In Colombia, we expect to continue seeing decline in loan book in line with the higher level of risk that we have been seeing on that market.
Thank you. Thank you for that. And if I can add one more question, just regarding consumption generally in the three and beyond markets, are you seeing any improvement in April if you compare to the first quarter? I mean, how are you seeing the trends of consumption generally?
Hi, Alonso. This is Alejandro. In general, what we are seeing is certainly the small reduction that we're seeing in the first quarter compared to what we saw last year. That trend is changing. That trend is stabilizing. And I think this applies mainly to Chile. Peru also relatively stable. And the same thing we're seeing in Colombia. In general, in department stores, supermarket, Benoit already mentioned, we saw a hard first quarter. But that's a trend that, given the changes that we're doing in the team and the strategy, we're already starting to see improvements in there. So I would say, in general, consumption is not going down. It's stabilizing.
In line with what Alejandro Arze was mentioning before, we are expecting better macro trends during the second half that should, in a way of saying, especially consumption sales of our format should, at the very least, have a more positive trend. But the one thing that I think you can set aside to what we've seen in the numbers is that the negative trend that we saw until third quarter of last year is certainly not the one that we're seeing today. Today, the mood is different. I would say this is not a period in which we're facing tailwinds. Certainly, we're not facing headwinds. So that's why, for us, it's so relevant to emphasize and focus the operational leverage plan that Juan Pablo was mentioning at the beginning of the call.
Because once we start seeing the winds getting into the bottom part of the plane, we're going to start seeing better results. But in the meantime, all reductions are basically going almost to zero. In some cases, we are starting to see some better trends, especially, I would say, apparel in Chile. But as I said before, this is something that's an ongoing concern that we have. And it's the one thing that we need to improve in order to fully comply the performance that we're expecting for this year.
Thank you.
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Felipe Ballevona from Santander.
Hi, everyone. I actually have two questions. The first one regarding the deal with Mallplaza. In particular, does this transaction have to be approved by the regulator? The above, considering that Mallplaza already operates the Mallplaza Peru shopping centers, so it could be perceived as an increase in consolidation once they begin operating the Open Plaza ones too or not? And my second question is regarding business trends. To be back on what you just mentioned, how did you see the different business units evolving throughout the quarter? And also considering the April data, I'm asking because the data for March indicated that retail sales in Chile lost some steam in a few categories such as durable goods or techno, electronics, decor, while construction materials worsened. So any color given by Alejandro would much be appreciated too. Those are my two questions. Thanks.
Thank you, Felipe.
I'm going to answer the first one because I got it right. But then the sound here, it didn't come so clear. So if you can let me go straightforward with the first one. We don't need any approval for this transaction, regulatory approval, by the way. Given that we already, as Falabella, we are the final controlling of the same operation. This is an aggregation in Mallplaza, but it's still something from a, I would say, control perspective within the same Falabella, I would say, control. And the second part, truly, we are discussing here. Like the noise, we didn't get very clear. So if we can repeat that, I would much appreciate that.
Yeah, sure. No problem. Sorry. There's a lot of background noise over here, so I apologize for that. But the second question was regarding business trends. Specifically, how did you see the different business units evolving throughout the quarter? And also considering the April data. In particular, I'm asking because the data for March indicates that retail sales in Chile worsened in a few categories such as durable goods and construction materials.
I'll take the general answer, and then I'll pass into Alejandro Arze that can talk on construction. But in general, what we are saying, what we're seeing, I'm sorry, is that apparently, it's having a very strong performance. You're right. Durable goods is where we're seeing the main impact in terms of reduction. And that also is part of what you're seeing. You see the impact in margins also because we have a higher margin in apparels. And I think that's something that you can apply to all of the countries in which we are operating. But in trends that we're seeing for the future, I would say we do expect, especially in Chile, some macro improvements, especially related to inflation and interest rate. Inflation is already going down. Expectations for this year are in the range of 4%, which we consider normal.
The central bank has a range of 2%-4%, so that's within normal. We should start seeing reduction. I don't know if you're aware, but the central bank is expected to reduce in 50 basis points the interest rate. That should have a positive impact in consumption in general terms. But for the construction part, I will pass into the call to Alejandro Arze to give you more cover.
Felipe, I think that what we are seeing in construction is a little bit of what I said before. When I see the overall revenues of Chile, they decreased 5.7%. If I split that in different segments, construction materials decreased 9%, and the rest of the store, 4.5%. So we are seeing a lower movement on construction materials than in the final customer segments. And I think that I tried to explain that in what I said before, that we see that this segment of new constructions is going to take more time to recover than the people's segment.
Understood. Thank you very much, Alejandro.
Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Carolina Ratto from Itaú.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. So I have two questions. The first is related to the changes in accounting that we have seen in this quarter. I just would like to understand a little bit of details on this and how we can think about the future about marketplace expenses and P&L, if it will be all reflected in Falabella departments or business or how you will point out that? And the second question is coming mostly from home improvement as well. We have seen a strong reduction in inventory. And I just want to understand if this is the new norm for Home Improvement, or this is related to the fact that you are not looking enough to pick up demand in the near future? Thank you very much.
Hi, Carolina. Benoit here. So I'm going to take your first question. The evolution of the e-commerce strategy resulted in changes in the goods reporting starting in the first quarter, 2024. And this is impacting department stores, home improvement, supermarkets in Chile and Peru, as well as the other elimination and element segments. These adjustments, they do not have any effect on the consolidated level, and they seek to increase the accountability among the different business units. In simple, Falabella, Sodimac, and Tottus were considered as other sellers in falabella.com, okay? But today, with the change, now the retailers are fully responsible for their online channels, which means that they stop paying a take rate to falabella.com, and they are taking charge of the expenses directly, okay?
In summary, at the falabella.com level, the take rate will not be charged to the 1P businesses, while the expenses will be assigned some expenses such as, for example, home delivery and customer front experience are being charged and transferred directly to the different BUs based on the 1P e-commerce sales.
Carolina, this is Alejandro now for the inventory of Home Improvement. Basically, what we are seeing now in the numbers, it's our effort to get back to the inventory levels in terms of days of inventory that we had before the pandemic. During the pandemic, we had a logistics breakdown that made us increase the inventory a lot. During the last year, what we have been doing is a strong effort to reduce it and getting back to regular levels. It's not a trend of the industry that we see of a different strategy of inventory. It's basically going back to what should be the regular levels.
Oh, thank you. And on that, there is any room for further improvement in terms of inventory, or we are just looking at the numbers that should be okay in the future?
Hi, Carolina. This is Juan Pablo here. In general, regarding our working capital, as you can see in our financial statements, we have put a lot of efforts in optimizing Falabella's cash management. In terms of the inventories, we reduced significantly the levels of inventories across all of our three retail businesses, reaching a positive impact of close to $500 million during 2023. Looking ahead for the rest of the year, we foresee that these levels of inventory are sustainable. Probably, we see some space for slight reductions due to the shortening in our buying cycles, but specifically in our department store business. We started doing that during the second quarter of 2023, and we are continuing that during this year. So in the case of Sodimac, we are not seeing so much room for improvements in inventory levels during this year.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. At this time, we will now turn to Raimundo Monge for closing remarks.
We would like to thank everyone for joining us on our call. Our investor relations team will remain available for any follow-up questions you may have. Thank you, and have a nice day.
Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This concludes the presentation. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.