Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I would like to welcome you to SMU's second quarter 2026 results conference call on the 12th August, 2026. At this time, all participant lines are in listen-only mode. The format of the call today will be a presentation by the management, followed by a question and answer session. Without further ado, I would now like to pass the line to Ms. Carolyn McKenzie, Head of Investor Relations at SMU. Please go ahead, ma'am.
Thank you very much. Thanks everyone for joining us today. I am here with our CFO, Arturo Silva. As usual, we are going to start today's presentation with a few slides describing some of our business highlights, and then we will go to the financial results for the H1 and second quarter of 2026. After that, Arturo will be happy to take any questions. You can send questions by chat or raise your hand and we can unmute you. An audio recording of this call will be available on our website later today. As usual, please note that we may be making forward-looking statements today. As always, please remember to take a look at the caution regarding forward-looking statements on slide number two of our presentation. Moving on to slide three.
Our strategic plan for 2026 - 2028 is structured around three key pillars: growth with value for the customer, technology assets, and efficiency and productivity. Our sustainable culture serves as a supportive base to implement our strategy. On the next few slides, we will go over the progress so far. On slide number four, we have our store openings. The 2026 - 2028 plan includes a total of 60 new stores in three years, with 16 openings planned for this year. To date, we have opened seven of those stores, including three in the second quarter. By format, in the first quarter, we opened two Unimarc and two Maxi Ahorro, and in the second quarter, we opened an additional Unimarc, as well as two Super 10 stores.
The strong performance that we have seen from our new store openings from our previous three-year plan makes us optimistic about the outlook for these recent openings, as well as the other stores we have in the pipeline. On slide five, we have an update on the performance of our low-cost formats, Alvi and Super 10. Last year, we made the decision to enhance coverage and scale by converting 100% of our Mi City 10 stores into either Alvi or Super 10. This decision was made and fully executed in 2025. 100% of the stores were converted, and this mostly took place during the third and fourth quarters. We are very confident that Alvi and Super 10 will allow us to compete more effectively than Mi City 10, so the growth potential is much higher.
But we know from past experience that remodeling stores produces a temporary negative impact on sales, and that is what happened with the stores we converted, as you can see on the graph on the slide. Sales for Alvi and Super 10 were down 11.5% in the third quarter of last year and 8.3% in the fourth quarter. However, we have been improving quarter-over-quarter. Sales were only down 0.6% in the first quarter, and in the second quarter, we have positive revenue growth. Following the change in banner, we have been working to attract new customers, taking advantage of our increased geographic coverage and scale to use more mass communication strategies in order to build brand awareness. On the slide, we have a couple of examples of those campaigns. As we build up our customer base, sales volumes will continue to grow.
In particular, one of the clear findings we have seen in Alvi during the H1 of the year is consistent growth in the number of B2B customers at the converted stores, which means these stores are reaching their target audience. On slide six, another part of growth with value for the customer is expanding our omnichannel coverage, reaching our customers not only through our physical stores, but also through our online sales channels. This year, we have made a big push to expand coverage, adding 200 new locations, which contributed to the 15% growth in online sales in the H1. This was driven by an increase of 15% in the number of transactions on our unimarc.cl and alvi.cl platforms, and we also saw growth from Last Mile.
Another initiative within the plan is to grow private label penetration, as these products contribute to our competitiveness and profitability and also help us to offer a differentiated and attractive assortment to our customers. In the second quarter, we reached private label penetration of 14% of sales, driven by strong performance at Unimarc. In line with the goals of differentiation and profitability, we have had particularly strong growth in the national brand equivalent segment, which are higher margin products than the opening price point products. Finally, we have also been growing our supplier base using the trading company we acquired at the end of 2024 to strengthen our global sourcing, reducing intermediation costs and achieving savings that help us compete better.
On slide eight, we have the next initiative, which is focused on relevant assortments, where we aim to ensure that we are offering products that are highly relevant for each of the segments and sophistication levels that we serve at our different formats. We recently added over 50 products from Fruna, a well-known supplier of sweets and snacks, to our assortments at all three formats in Chile. On the slide, we have images from Super 10 as an example. This is a great way for us to quickly enhance our selection of sweets in the opening price point segment, offering a well-known and valued product to our customers. On slide nine, we have more examples of ways that we are working to make sure we are offering the right products to meet our customers' needs, in this case specifically for Alvi.
One of Alvi's key customer segments within the B2B space is hotels, restaurants, and catering businesses. We've been expanding our assortment of specialty products targeting specific food service businesses, as shown on the top part of the slide. Another recent innovation at Alvi was the addition of impulse products at checkout, which means that customers can not only stock up on the products they need for their businesses, they can also buy something to drink for their drive back. Competitive pricing is another essential part of offering value to our customers, which is why our promotional strategy is a key driver for our results. Customers have reacted very favorably to our low, lower campaigns, which leverage our multi-format strategy by covering similar product categories across banners while remaining faithful to the marketing and pricing strategies that are specific to each format.
We continue to run high-low promotions for specific high-impact categories, especially fresh products. On slide 11, we have the second pillar of our plan, technology assets. Here, we're highlighting two of the main initiatives within this pillar, cloud-first and new technologies. We kicked off our journey to migrate our IT infrastructure to Google Cloud. We've successfully established secure connectivity across our systems and already migrated the first 10% of our servers. Transitioning to the cloud grants us greater flexibility and modernizes our technological foundation. This empowers our retail operations to rapidly develop or integrate business solutions. With respect to new technologies, we are working to make the most of our new AI platform, Gemini Enterprise, by rolling out training programs to increase productivity at the individual level, and we are also analyzing potential optimizations at the macro process level.
On slide 12, the third pillar of our plan is efficiency and productivity. A disciplined approach to expenses is part of our culture, and that is something that is evident in the numbers, as we will see in a few more slides. We have efficiency and productivity initiatives throughout our operations, including supply chain, stores, and back office, as well as energy efficiency. The implementation of different technologies has contributed to productivity gains throughout our operations.
These include self-checkouts, self-service scales, digital shelf management technologies, and a digital treasury system in our stores, as well as other technologies in the supply chain and back office, allowing us to optimize our organizational structure, carrying out two restructuring plans in 2025, one in the first quarter and one in the fourth quarter, as well as three additional plans this year, one in January, one in June, and one in July, generating savings on personnel expenses going forward. On the slide, you can see that our sales per full-time equivalent, which is an indicator we use to measure productivity. Increased 6.8% in the H1 of the year. Regarding efficiency in the supply chain, we are leveraging our distribution network using our largest regional Distribution Centers to serve all formats in Chile.
Previously, Alvi was only supplied out of Santiago, but now we've made adjustments that allow us to take advantage of our Concepción, Coquimbo, and Puerto Montt DCs to help supply Alvi's growing footprint of stores. In the face of rising fuel prices, maximizing efficiency and distribution costs has become even more important, and we have made efficiency gains in our truck utilization, as well as optimizing transportation routes, making sure we're minimizing distances and using the most efficient mode of transportation. We have also been receiving more products from suppliers at our regional Distribution Centers instead of receiving products in Santiago and then having to ship them across the country, which also helps reduce transportation costs.
In addition, we have also been working to optimize energy costs, migrating qualifying stores to lower unregulated electricity rates, and also using new technology to automate and control the main sources of energy consumption at our stores, refrigeration, lighting, and air conditioning. Going on to the numbers. On slide 13, we have revenue, which grew 2.1% in the H1, and similarly, 2.2% in the second quarter. Revenue growth was driven by Unimarc, which was up 2.3% in the half and 1.9% in the second quarter. We also continued to see sequential improvements in Alvi and Super 10, as I mentioned earlier in the presentation. Gross margin was down slightly 10 basis points in the H1 and 40 basis points in the second quarter. We're still at the 32% level, which is where we expect to be this year.
The decrease is because of the change in the format mix, and especially because of the 15 stores we converted from Mayorista 10 to Alvi. Alvi has a different economic model than Mayorista 10. As a wholesale club, Alvi has lower margins, which is what we are seeing reflected here at the consolidated level. But it also has a lighter cost structure and higher sales volumes. So at the EBITDA level, a store that has reached maturity in sales will more than make up for the lower gross margin. At the bottom of the slide, we have gross profit, which increased 1.9% in the half and 0.9% in the second quarter, even despite the lower gross margin. The key going forward is stronger top-line growth. On slide number 14, we have a double click on revenue performance by format and how that has evolved over the past three quarters.
At the top left of the slide, we have the same second quarter revenue and gross margin graph that we had on the previous slide. Revenue was up 2.2%. Thanks to the sequential improvement in Super 10 and Alvi, we had growth in all of our business segments this quarter. Unimarc 1.9%, Peru almost 20%, and Alvi plus Super 10 were up 0.4%, and that was following a decrease of 8.3% in the fourth quarter and 0.6% in the first quarter of this year. This improvement isn't only attributable to the converted stores. We also have an important contribution from new store openings, but quarter over quarter, there's significant improvement in the converted stores. You can see this in the same store figures, which have also shown a sequential improvement going from -9.1% in the fourth quarter to -5.8% in the first quarter and -4.7% in the second quarter.
On the right-hand side of the graph, we have this evolution, but in terms of what these formats are contributing in actual money rather than percentages. Each graph shows how revenue changed year-over-year, starting with the fourth quarter of last year, then the first quarter, and then the second quarter. In all three periods, Unimarc was leading growth, and Peru has also been growing. In the Alvi plus Super 10 segment, revenue was CLP 18 billion lower in the fourth quarter. We made significant progress in the first quarter with only a CLP 1 billion decrease, and now in the second quarter, we have a positive number. We expect this trend to continue as the converted stores continue to mature. On slide 15, we have operating expenses, which once again increased less than inflation, even with significant pressure from fuel costs.
In the H1 of the year, operating expenses increased 1.2% but fell 20 basis points as a percentage of revenue. Most of that increase came from distribution costs, which were up 12%. Other expenses only increased 0.4%, even though we're operating more stores and face higher labor costs related to minimum wage, inflation adjustments, and pension reform. In fact, personnel expenses, which is the most significant line item in our operating expenses, decreased in the H1 of the year. As I mentioned, the very low growth in expenses is taking place when we are operating more stores than last year. If we exclude the effect of net store openings, expenses would be lower in nominal terms by 1.3%. In the second quarter, we have essentially the same situation.
Expenses grew only 1.9%, with a 20% increase in distribution costs and only 0.7% growth in other operating expenses, including flat personnel expenses. If we exclude net store openings, we would also have a decrease in nominal terms. In the quarter, we also have a slight decrease in operating expenses as a percentage of revenue. On slide number 16, we have EBITDA explained in many, many graphs. We will go from left to right. At the top left, we have EBITDA for the H1, which grew 3.9% with a 10 basis point expansion in EBITDA margin. At the bottom left, we have EBITDA for the second quarter, which was down 2.3% and with EBITDA margin decreasing 33 basis points. Why do we have EBITDA growing in the half but falling in the quarter? The graphs in the middle show the breakdown.
In both quarters, gross profit is higher, but in the H1 it's 1.9% higher, whereas in the H2 it's only 0.9% higher, and that is a result of the lower gross margin, as I described before. Operating expenses are very much under control, and we are comfortable with the 32% gross margin. What we need to grow EBITDA in coming quarters is more revenue growth, and that is the trend that we're seeing. The graphs on the right just reinforce this message. The lower gross margin isn't a problem per se. It just needs to be coupled with more top-line growth to get the operating leverage we need to grow EBITDA and EBITDA margins. On slide 17, we have non-operating income, where we've had some significant extraordinary items this year, specifically related to restructuring costs and asset sales. We've had restructuring plans in 2025 and 2026.
On the graph, we're just showing the difference. Restructuring costs were about CLP 5 billion higher in the H1 of 2026 than in the H1 of 2025. In the second quarter, we didn't have restructuring costs last year, but this year we did have CLP 1.2 billion from an optimization plan that we implemented in June. These are costs that lead to future savings in personnel expenses. We also had asset sales in both periods from the sale of stores or land that we owned or purchase options for stores that we leased. None of this affects operations or future development because we signed long-term rental contracts in all of these cases, but it is a financial optimization. in 2025, we had more gains on asset sales than in 2026.
The difference in the half is about CLP 11 billion, and in the quarter it's CLP 10 billion, because most of the 2025 sales took place in the second quarter. Net interest expense is up mainly because of lower financial income as we have a more normalized cash balance this year. Last year, we had a significant surplus in anticipation of a bond maturity. Finally, in the second quarter, there is a significantly higher loss on index liabilities from inflation adjustments to our US-denominated debt. So both in the quarter and the half, we have a non-operating loss that is about CLP 21 billion higher than in the previous year, and most of that is explained by higher restructuring costs and lower gains on asset sales. On slide 18, we have net income, which was down 91% in both the half and the quarter.
In the H1, net income was lower by CLP 17.5 billion, which is essentially due to the non-operating results I described on the previous slide. There was also a decrease in operating results because of higher depreciation, and these effects were offset by the income tax benefit. The situation in the second quarter is similar, but there is a higher income tax benefit, mainly due to inflation adjustments to our tax loss carryforward. On the next slide, we have our financial ratios. Net financial liabilities to EBITDA and net financial debt to adjusted EBITDA are both up compared to last quarter. This is mostly because we had increases to financial debt and financial liabilities from a bond placement in May, and these increases were not entirely offset by increases in cash due to temporary variations in working capital that affected the ending cash balance.
The working capital variation in the H1 of this year was about CLP 41 billion, and this is a temporary effect, mainly explained by higher levels of inventory. This is because we've been implementing a strategy to increase purchase of merchandise in order to mitigate potential effects of higher oil prices that could eventually result in higher product costs. Inventory also went up as a result of an increase in purchases of imported products, which leads to higher inventory days, but also better pricing and payment conditions. Additionally, accounts payable were down CLP 33 billion compared to December, whereas accounts receivable were only down CLP 17 billion. These, again, are temporary effects that change from day to day. Excluding the working capital effect, net debt would be lower, and consequently, the ratios would also be lower.
For example, net financial liabilities to EBITDA will be 5.27 times instead of 5.46 times. The same is true of the ratio of net financial debt to equity on slide 20. Excluding the temporary working capital effect, the ratio would be 0.56 times in June instead of 0.61, although in any case, we are well below the limit. On slide 21, at the top of the slide, we have a summary of our cash flow for the H1. We started the year off with a cash balance of CLP 84 billion, and we generated operating cash of CLP 44 billion, which is less than our EBITDA for the same period, which was CLP 109 billion.
The reasons for that difference are the same working capital difference I described before, as well as severance payments as a result of the restructuring plans we carried out in January and June, but that will be recovered in the form of savings on personnel expenses over the course of the year. We also paid long-term incentives this year, which are provisioned over the three-year time horizon affecting EBITDA each quarter, but they only affect cash when they are paid. As I mentioned before, we issued a bond in May of this year. I have more details about that on the next slide, but the important thing here is to note the maturity profile below. The new bond matures in 2032, which is marked in pink, and is a year when we had practically no maturities. The new issuance fits nicely into our amortization schedule.
Going back to the cash flow above, the uses of cash for the past included net bank debt amortizations, lease payments, interest payments, CapEx, dividend payments, and share buybacks, ending that quarter with CLP 92.5 billion in cash. Regarding the share buybacks, we've completed the purchase of 1% of shares authorized by the board of directors, so we shouldn't have further share buybacks this year. In 2027, if the board authorizes further buybacks, we will be able to purchase another 1%. We still remain above our minimum cash level of around CLP 50 billion, and we also have extremely limited refinancing needs for the rest of this year, as you can see in the maturity profile. We have bank debt that tends to be revolving, and only about CLP 6 billion in bond maturities left this year. Finally, we'd like to mention a couple of recent events.
At the end of May, we issued bonds in the local market. The details of the transaction are on the slide, but I will read through them as part of this service. The placement amount was $2 million U.S. This bond has a bullet structure and matures in six years, in 2032, which as I showed before, fits very nicely into our maturity profile. The proceeds are for refinancing liabilities. The coupon rate for this bond is 2.9%, and we placed it at 3.35%, which was a spread of 110 basis points over the benchmark, and we had strong demand from institutional investors on this transaction. In addition, in July, we announced two restructuring plans, which are in addition to the plan that we implemented at the beginning of the year. The idea is the same.
Our efficiency initiatives have allowed us to improve productivity and help mitigate increases in operating expenses. We already saw the cost of the June plan in these second quarter financial statements, approximately CLP 1.2 billion. The July plan will be reflected in the third quarter, with a cost of approximately CLP 4.8 billion. These plans generate savings, so we will offset the cost during the H2 of this year and the first quarter of 2027. That is it for our presentation. Thank you so much for listening. If there are any questions, Arturo will be happy to take them now.
Thank you. We will now move to the question and answer section. If you would like to ask a question, please press star two on your phone. That is star two, and wait to be prompted. If you are dialed in via the web, you can type your question in the box provided or request to ask a voice question. Kind note that we will take voice questions first and then text questions. We will just wait a moment or two for the questions to come in. Our first question comes from Alonso Aramburu from BTG Pactual. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good afternoon. Thank you for the call. I wanted to ask two questions. One, you mentioned top-line growth was improving. Just curious what you meant, how that is evolving after the quarter. Also, looking at the H2 of the year. Your comps on gross margins are a little bit tougher or similar to this quarter's, and you mentioned 32% is what you expect. So we should expect then gross margin to contract a little bit in the H2 of the year? Thank you.
Hi, Alonso. First of all, about the top line in the Q3, sales improved in the H2 of June, and a trend that extended through July and into August.
Showing growth higher than the previous two quarters, and till now in the first 45, 42 days in this quarter. For this reason, we are expecting dilute more fixed costs in this quarter, improving our EBITDA. The gross margin has performed well, remaining at the level of seen in Q1 and Q2 2026 in the level of 32%, as you mentioned. We expect to sustain this level of margin for the reminder of the year, reaching our EBITDA margin in our target for this year between 8% or 8.5%. Because in the first quarter, we reach this number or this range. In the second quarter, it is always our worst quarter.
But in the third quarter, the idea is to reach again between 8% and 8.5%, but in the Q4 compensate the reduction of our EBITDA margin in Q2, and reaching for the full year, this range, 8.5%. Regarding expenses, we anticipate continued low growth as a result of the restructuring plan implemented in November 2025, January of this year, and June and July of this year as well. Notably, we are operating with lower staffing levels despite having additional stores. This will be important also to give our, to reach this range of EBITDA margin in the rest of the year.
Thank you, Arturo. Do you think this improving sales performance, do you think you are gaining share or this is just the industry and consumption doing better?
The idea is to keep our market share. We are opening new stores, but our competitors as well. Therefore, our expectation is to keep our market share in the H2 of the year.
Okay. Who would you say is your toughest competitor?
Also, the idea is to keep our gross margin in the H2.
Okay. Yes. Around 32% you mentioned. Sorry, talking about competition. I mean is the environment still very competitive, and would you say Walmart is still the most aggressive?
Yeah. In fact, we anticipate our Club Unimarc promotion in June. That was the main issue to improve in the H2 of June and to keep this level of growth in July, August. Because Walmart also anticipate the campaign of meat products and meal. Therefore, the competitiveness is very tight. It is similar, and also with Tottus and Cencosud. We are expecting-
Great
this level of competitiveness in the H2.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you so much. Just a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star two on your phone and wait to be prompted. If you are dialing by the web, you can either type your question in the box provided or request to ask a voice question. Let's just wait a moment or two for more voice questions to come in. Seems like there are no more voice questions. Carolyn, I pass the line to you for the text questions.
Great. Thank you. Okay.
We have two questions from Alfredo.
Yes. The questions we have from Alfredo.
I will. The first question about the possible additional headcount reduction and effect in the productivity. In fact, we implemented an additional headcount reduction in June, July. The impact in June was not so relevant because the severance was only CLP 1 billion. But in the H1 of July, we implement additional reduction with important cost is CLP 5.5 billion additional, and with an important impact in our result. The idea is to recover this severance investment in the H2 of this year or into August until December and in the first quarter of 2027. In terms of what is the growth of sales to keep stable the relation or the ratio of expenses over sales is the idea is to keep the growth in sales at least inflation, even more to keep this ratio.
That is the idea, because always we have some pressure in terms of prices in the salaries, for the minimum salary, pension fund reform, and inflation. For this reason, we need to grow to offset at least this level to keep this ratio the same level. The second question is about working capital recover in the H2. The idea is to recover at least the additional inventory we have in June. That correspond to CLP 25 billion. Also could be possible to recover some money in terms of the payables, depending on the calendar of the close in December. The idea is to recover, of course, depend on the behavior of the sales, because it's necessary to dilute this additional inventory. But inventory purchasing very good condition. This inventory wrote or dilute really fast.
For this, our expectation is to recover this CLP 25 billion in the H2 of this year. Finally, about the net debt increase and the impact in dividend and buyback policy. The net debt reduction or increase, excuse me. The main reason was the cash reductions. Because the financial debt is not increasing, but the net indebtedness increased for this reason, for the lower cash. The reason was the working capital effect, and the idea is to recover this working capital in the H2, and therefore the net debt should be similar and the previous year in the H2 of this year. Independent of that, our buyback was complete in July, because the decision of the board was to purchase 1% of equity in the stock market. That is possible to purchase only 1% in 12 months in one year.
Any additional buyback will be after May 2027, if the board decide again to practice this program. Until now, until May, it's not possible that first we complete this decision of the board. Dividends, the idea is to keep this 75%, but it's not so relevant in the total. It's possible with our EBITDA improving in the next year, in the next quarter, excuse me to pay dividend and also to finance the CapEx without increase our indebtedness.
Thank you so much. Just a final reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star two on your phone and wait to be prompted. If you are dialed in by the web, you can either type your question in the box provided or request to ask a voice question. We'll just wait a moment or two for more questions to come in. I'm not seeing any more questions, so perhaps I can hand it back to the SMU team for the closing remarks.
Great. Thanks so much everybody for joining us today. Feel free to get in touch if you have any additional questions, and we hope you will join us next quarter. Have a nice day.
That concludes the call for today. We are now closing all the lines. Thank you, and have a nice day.