Good morning, everyone. My name is Sophia. I will be your conference operator. Welcome to Tiendas 3B first quarter 2026 conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. There will be a question [audio distortion]. Instructions will be given at that time. Please ensure that your full name is displayed correctly on Zoom. If not, please take a moment to edit your display name. Please note that this call is for investors and analysts only. Questions from the media will not be taken, nor should the call be reported on. Any forward-looking statements made during this conference call are based on information that is currently available to us. Today, we are joined by Tiendas 3B Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Hatoum, and Chief Financial Officer, Eduardo Pizzuto. I will now turn the call over to Anthony. Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. I will begin with a review of our operating results for the quarter, and will be followed by our CFO, Eduardo Pizzuto, who will provide an overview of our financial performance. We will conclude with a Q&A session to answer the questions you may have. We delivered another quarter of excellent performance and started the year with a strong momentum. Let me briefly highlight a few key results from the quarter. We opened 123 net new stores in this quarter for a total of 3,469 stores, bringing the LTM net store openings to 580. As of the end of this quarter, we had 20 distribution centers up and running.
Our same-store sales growth grew 16% versus the first quarter of 2025. Revenues in the first quarter of 2026 increased by 33% year-over-year to MXN 23 billion. Again, in this first quarter, reported EBITDA was MXN 554 million. If we exclude non-cash share-based compensation, EBITDA increased by 39% to reach MXN 1.3 billion. Finally, for the first three months of 2026, cash flow generated from operating activity reached MXN 2 billion or a 64% increase year-over-year.
Let's take a look at operational performance. When we look at store openings, as we mentioned before, we opened 123 net new stores in the first quarter. For the last 12 months, we opened 580 net new stores. That's a 20% growth compared to the number of stores that we reported in March of 2025. Our expansion strategy remains consistent. We continue to densify existing regions while gradually expanding into new ones.
Revenue growth remains strong. We continue to be one of the fastest-growing retailers globally. Total revenue in the first quarter reached MXN 23 billion, an increase of 33% year-over-year. We've seen very strong same-store sales growth of 16%. This same-store sales growth is driven in large part by the ongoing improvement in our value proposition to customers and also stronger brand recognition of the brand 3B that we see every day getting stronger and stronger. When we compare our same-store sales performance with ANTAD, the gap remains notable. What we're seeing is a gap of more than 14 percentage points, and that despite operating with very low internal inflation. I will now pass the microphone to Eduardo.
Thank you, Anthony. Good morning, everyone. Sales expenses as a percentage of revenue increased by 5 basis points to 10.3% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026. Most of the expense lines showed operating leverage with a slight increase, mainly driven by utilities, permitting, and a higher D&A. Admin expenses, excluding share-based payment, remain unchanged. In the first quarter of 2026, we continue our investments in new regions and additional talent to support our growth. Separately, first quarter of 2025 include a one-time expense of MXN 54 million related to the secondary follow-on. With respect to share-based payment expense, these charges are non-cash and already reflected in our fully diluted share count. Additional details are available in the appendix of this earnings release, where we also provide projections for this non-cash expense.
EBITDA for the first quarter of 2026, excluding non-cash share-based payment expense, increased 39% to MXN 1.3 billion, primarily driven by strong sales growth. The adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 22 basis points year-over-year. As you know, we don't drive to an EBITDA. It will continue to increase over time, driven by the work we continue to do. Our business model generates significant negative working capital, which in turn supports strong operating cash flow. In the first quarter of 2026, adjusted negative working capital reached MXN 9.4 billion compared to MXN 6.5 billion in 2025, excluding IPO proceeds. This represents approximately 11.3% of total LTM revenue, also excluding IPO proceeds. Our accelerated growth continues to be self-funded. I will now turn the call back over to Anthony for some final remarks.
This is a very strong start to a 2026 that looks very promising. We operate a high-growth business model that is resilient and that does very well across economic cycles. It is a business that offers very attractive unit economics, generates cash and becomes more competitive as it scales. The market potential is enormous, and the runway for opening stores very long. I am excited and remain confident about the future of 3B. Thank you for joining us today. We will start the Q&A session. Please go ahead, operator.
Thank you. We will now conduct a Q&A session with Anthony Hatoum and Eduardo Pizzuto. If you would like to ask a question, please press the Raise Your Hand button located at the bottom of the screen. We remind you that all lines have been placed on mute. When it is your turn to ask a question, you will be given permission to speak. You will then be able to unmute yourself and ask your question. Our first question comes from the line of Héctor Maya. Please state your company name and ask your question.
Hi, Anthony, Eduardo, [Joaquin]. Thank you very much for taking my questions, and congratulations on the results. We saw a key competitor implementing some adjustments, which they said led to better results in March. Particularly could you please comment if you have seen any kind of change or impact on your sales in March and April? Also just a quick clarification. From your press release and different filings, we have seen that the expiration of the lock-up period is coming in August 6th of this year. In your 20-F, we saw that it expires in July 8th. Just to double-check, when exactly does the lock-up expire, and how should investors think about it in terms of stock overhang? Thank you very much.
Hi, Hector. Good to hear from you. Yeah, it's just to be super clear, it's August 6th for the expiration of the lock-up. In terms of competition, you know as well as we do this is a very competitive market, always has been. Specifically, if we have seen anything different this quarter, the answer is no.
Understand. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Héctor, we will amend the 20-F for the just to be specific on the August 6th, just so you know.
Super. Yeah, it was a bit confusing, but thank you for the clarification. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Ruben. Please state your company name and ask your question.
Hi. Andrew Ruben from Morgan Stanley. One of the items you mentioned as one of the same store sales drivers was brand recognition that it continues to improve. I'm curious first how you measure and identify this? Second, we know it's a minimal marketing approach, so if you talk about brand building as you move into the newer regions and how you would kinda compare that brand recognition in your newer versus more dense markets ? That would be interesting. Thank you.
Hi, Andrew. Let me start with the latter part. You know, brand recognition is a little bit of an interesting beast in a sense. We measure it just to be very concrete. We do massive surveys every year. Roughly 15,000 customers and non-customers on a wide geographical area are polled and gives us a fairly good sense of what the 3B brand means to most people that are relevant to us. In terms of, you know, another factor that you want to take into account is because of our expansion strategy, which is stretching, by the time we get to a new region, we've already, you know, people already know us because we're not jumping to a completely new region. It's been a gradual stretching of the areas in which we operate.
There's, you know, that helps a lot in terms of, you know, coming into something new and people already know you. They might have already shopped with you in an existing store, et c. That, that goes a long way. In terms of, you know, what we spend, you're absolutely right. We're a minimal spend in terms of advertising, and it's mostly word of mouth and social media. You know, if you just go and Google 3B on the internet, you'll see that there is a slew of, you know, materials talking about 3B and 3B products, et c. A large part of it is not us. It's, you know, our customers posting about us, and that helps a lot.
Very helpful. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Bob Ford. Please state your company name and ask your question.
Hey, good morning, everybody. This is Bob over at Bank of America Corp. Anthony, how advanced are you in the process of building out the skill sets and the redundancy in your central administrative staff? I was wondering if you could also provide us a short update on the progress of the new ERP and maybe the window for your expected deployment. Lastly, you know, I'm really excited about your Irrepetibles, right? I was curious how they're evolving and maybe how you're thinking about merchandising in the second quarter, particularly when it comes to things like Mother's Day and the World Cup.
Great. Let me start with the latter one, as it's fresh in my mind. Irrepetibles are very important, and they add a lot of excitement to the shopping experience in our store because, as most of you know, they are products that change roughly every two week, and it's always like a treasure hunt and a wow effect that you find in these baskets. We've been able to sell in these baskets of Irrepetibles a lot of things. We've sold bicycles, we've sold white and brown goods. We've sold clothing, and we continue to do so, and it's a very exciting category for us. One that's shown tremendous potential and growth. Don't be surprised if you see this continuing to evolve and take more participation within 3B sales.
In terms of hiring and what's happening in central offices, as you know, we're very focused on increasing the density of talent, as we firmly believe that that's what drives everything at the end of the day. If you're gonna punch above your weight and if you're gonna move at the speeds at which we move, the key ingredient is talent. We will continue to invest in talent this year, and probably through 2027.
I mean, at some point it tapers off in relation to the total size of the company, but at this stage, consider that we're in growth mode, and I think it's an excellent investment that we're making here for the future. The deployment of the ERP is well underway, and I personally am very happy with the progress we're seeing. This is, as I mentioned in previous calls, a three-year project. I think we're halfway through now.
When you deploy, will you deploy in modules? Will there be some functionality introduced to the stores?-
Yeah, always-
...before the final completion?
...always it's gradual and modular, that's the way to do it, low risk, right? You deploy, you test, you expand it.
When it comes to changing functional POS systems or just the hardware at the point of the sale, how should we think about that time period?
Again, the deployment is planned to be gradual to minimize risks.
Understood. Thank you so much.
You will see it appear in one region, and then it'll be fine-tuned, refined, and then once it's, let's say, bulletproof, it gets deployed to the rest of the company.
Got it. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Alejandro Fuchs. Please state your company name and ask your question.
Thank you, operator. Alejandro Fuchs from Itaú BBA. Hello Anthony, Eduardo. Thank you for the space for questions. Congratulations on a very strong start of the year. I just have two brief ones. First one for Eduardo. I was wondering, Eduardo, if you maybe you could break down for us the same-store sales growth between traffic and ticket. We can get a little more color.
The second for Anthony. I wanted to see, Anthony, if maybe you could provide, you know, more details on how you're seeing these new stores performing, you know, in outside of the center of Mexico. How has been the relative performance this quarter between the different regions? If you can maybe elaborate a little bit more into differences, you know, in different parts of Mexico, that would be very interesting. Thank you.
Hi, Alejandro. It is 2/3 coming from volume, which is transactions and number of SKUs per ticket. One-third by average price per SKU. Just to be clear, the latter one is largely driven by a better mix, 'cause our internal inflation remains close to it's very low. Again, it's 2/3 from volume and 1/3 from the average price per SKU.
Hi, Alejandro. We have seen very consistent performance across the board in new stores, irrespective of geography. The reason we believe is because we are selling basic goods, and behavior in consumption when it comes to basic goods tends to be quite similar across the board. I mean, we all consume roughly the same amount of toilet paper, irrespective of where we live. You'll see that apply. It's been fairly consistent, I would say. It's no changes.
[Non-English content] Anthony and Eduardo.
Our next question comes from the line of Lorena Romanato. Please state your company name and ask your question.
Hi, everyone. This is Gabriela Leme from Goldman Sachs. I would like to explore a bit more the SG&A dynamics in the context of the minimum wage increase and the reduction in work week in Mexico. Is there any measures have been implemented to address this continuing increase in labor costs? We know that G&A also came roughly stable year-over-year with revenues, and we know there's a quite a variable component there as you accelerate expansion. How should we think about that trajectory during the course of the year? Thank you.
Hi, Gabriela. Multiple questions here, but I'll start with, you mentioned labor. Labor, yes, it's a component. What I would say is, as you saw in my presentation. For selling expenses, we saw leverage in most of line items, including labor. When we look at expenses, and this is the way we look at expenses as a percentage of revenue, this is something that continues to decrease. If we compare last year versus this year, labor did decrease as a percentage of revenue. The reason for that is twofold. One is because our sales continue to increase, and then the second one is we do a number of initiatives inside the store, and not only the store, but also at the distribution centers.
As we've mentioned before, we measure everything on hours worked, so we're always having initiatives to reduce the number of hours worked at the store level. Even with the increase in minimum wage, we were able to see leverage on the, on that line item. In terms of the reduction of hours worked, this is something that, yes, we have been testing and we have been considering. When it happens, it happens, which will happen next year. This is something really not a big concern on our side. We will continue to drive efficiencies at the store level to be able to cope with that-
Eventuality
...with that eventuality. In terms of overall SG&A for the year that you also asked, we don't really provide any type of guidance on SG&A. What we've said before is that in the long run you can expect that SG&A will continue to decrease as it will decrease as a percentage of revenue. For this year, G&A, we should expect that it's fairly stable as what you saw last year. As you heard Anthony, we will continue to increase our talent pool here in headquarters, and also because we're adding more distribution centers this year, that also has a portion of admin expenses.
Perfect. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Froylán Mendez. Please state your company name and ask your question.
Hello, Eduardo, Anthony. Thank you for taking my question. Froylan Mendez from JP Morgan. Eduardo, could you just give a little bit more granularity on the sources of gross margin expansion during the quarter? I know you mentioned commercial, this was mainly coming from commercial margin, but was it on improved terms, product mix or some operational efficiencies? Secondly, you mentioned those big surveys you do every year. I was wondering what have been the key findings from this year's survey, compared to last year's surveys, regarding changes in consumer habits, preferences, and how is this information influencing your strategic decisions at the store? Thank you so much.
Let me take that one, Froylan. How are you?
All good, Anthony. Thank you.
On the massive surveys, you know, they ask questions about, you know, where do you shop? How do you shop? Why do you shop? How do you make a decision? Where do you spend your money? What do you think of the brand? Do you know what it means? Et c, et c, et c. What we do see over time is an increasing brand recognition of the 3B brand and what it stands for. We also see shifts in decision-making. You know, who's your where do you shop first versus where do you shop second? I think all the tendencies favor 3B, and you see a very strong favorable tendency over the last five years. In terms of exactly influencing our decision, yes, it does, because there's definitely shifts in consumption patterns.
Some categories gain strength and some lose strength. You know, post-COVID and during COVID, anything related to pets saw strengthening and anything related to consumption of alcohol, a decreasing. You see those things and of course you adapt and you focus more on those that have more promise, and that's completely normal, and we do that on a continuous basis.
Froylan, in terms of your question on gross margin, yeah, we did mention that commercial margin on the increases. This is it's both on the two topics that you mentioned. It's, it's mix, it's efficiencies. I'll end up with saying that it continues to be volatile, right? This specific quarter, yes, it's both. It's mix and driven by efficiencies with our suppliers.
I mean, I'll add, Froylan, that, you know, it's no secret that as you scale, you are improving your purchasing power across the board. Not only ours, but, you know, whoever is supplying us with products also gains purchasing power. Gains efficiencies, and those translate partially into margin and partially go into price, and that basically drives a virtuous circle.
Perfect. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Our next question comes from the line of Antonio Hernández. Please state your company name and ask your question.
Hi. Good morning. Congrats on your results. It's Antonio Hernández from Actinver. Just a quick one regarding which categories were best performing during this quarter, and also regarding your recent pilots. Any findings that you have there? Thanks.
Yeah. On the Look, across the board, all categories have done extremely well this quarter, I would say, you know, if you look at some subcategories, we've seen a decrease in sweetened beverages, that's driven by a new tax on sweeteners that kicked in in January. But it was more than compensated for by the non-sweetened beverage subcategory. Net, net, you know, an increase across the board in all categories. What was your second question? Sorry.
Well, regarding, for example, the fridge, frozen, all these different, like new product categories, within the store, any new findings or how are these new categories, working out for you?
Well, they're doing extremely well. One thing to keep in mind is that we don't launch a new category unless it's been extensively tested, maybe obsessionally tested. By the time we do launch it, we're fairly certain that it's going to do extremely well. These, you know, these categories you just mentioned are extremely promising.
Okay. Perfect. Thanks a lot. Have a nice day.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Joe Thomas. Please state your company name and ask your question.
Good morning, Anthony and Eduardo. It's Joe Thomas here from HSBC. Just digging into that last question a little bit more. Could you talk about the fresh trial specifically, please? If there's any sort of sales uplift associated with that and what the opportunity is to extend that to or to retrofit existing stores for that. On a related topic, CapEx for the year, I'm just wondering if you could give some sort of update around that and how you expect it to be phased over the quarters. Thank you.
It's worth just stepping back and saying that, you know, at any point in time, there's about 60 different products, slash, new lines being tested in our stores in parallel, and some of them make the final cut, and then you see them deployed across the companies. In the case of fruits and vegetables in particular, you know, the results are promising. As, you know, the test has been running and been fine-tuned and refined-tuned, and we remain quite optimistic that it's a worthwhile category to have. In those test stores, yes, you know, it's no surprise then when you add fruits and vegetables, you do see an uplift in tickets. It's normal. We remain quite excited about this category.
Hey, Joe.
In terms of your second question was CapEx. I'm gonna let Eduardo answer.
Hi, Joe. on CapEx, what we disclosed in our 20-F, it's about MXN 5.2 billion, which that includes the number of stores that we guided, also includes additional distribution centers, and of course all the equipment around that, including trucks and cars, ec . We are today quite comfortable with that number and executing on that for the balance of the year.
Thanks a lot. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Alberto Rodriguez. Please state your company name and ask your question. Please unmute yourself to ask your question.
No question here. Thank you.
We have a follow-up question from Héctor Maya. Please ask your question.
Hi again. Hi again. Héctor Maya, Scotiabank. Thank you again for the chance of another question. I recall that the penetration of private label last quarter was 58% of sales. Could you give us an update on what the level was this quarter? Also, is there a threshold at which the business starts structurally changing from what we have now with higher penetration? Would you say that everything remains the same if you operate at 60% of private label compared to 70% or 80% penetration? I mean, more than at the margin level, how would things change with suppliers, their scale, their relevance, and how do you think about development of new SKUs and how you arrange them at the store with a higher penetration? Thank you.
Hi, Hector. No, we don't, we update this number once a year, but you can imagine that the trend continues upwards. In terms of, you know, do I see a change of how we operate with more private label? The answer is no, not really. Here I will tell you, just take a look at Bimbo, who's been in this market way longer than we have. It's a little bit like a time machine that gives you a fairly good answer as to, you know, what things might look like a few years down the road. But immediately for us, there is absolutely no change if you go from 50% to 60% to 70%. No structural change. In terms of, you know, there was part of your question was how do things change with suppliers?
I would answer that by saying things change naturally as you get bigger. I mean, suddenly you're selling 30% more, you're buying 30% more. Everybody has to march in lockstep to sustain that growth. That has not stopped. For the last 10 years, it's been the case. It will continue to be so in terms of planning ahead of time and, you know, projecting growth and projecting, you know, procurement needs, et c, et c. As you know, we plan way ahead of time, and that has allowed us to sustain, you know, these growth rates above 30% now for over 12 years without any hiccups. You know, to be able to do that, you need to be very disciplined in terms of execution and in terms of planning, and I expect that to continue.
Excellent. [Foreign language], Anthony. Eduardo, thank you very much.
Our next question comes from the line of [Guli Arshad]. Please state your company name and ask your question. Please unmute yourself to ask your question.
Can you hear me now?
Yes, [Guli], please go ahead.
Yes. Anthony, congratulations on your usual strong results. I know that a strong IT department is one of the pillars of the BBB growth story. How are you incorporating AI mentality and processes inside the company? Is it relevant?
Yes. No, absolutely. Great to hear from you, [Guli]. To start with, you know, there was a question earlier on about, you know, SG&A and expenses, and I made a comment about our investment in talent, and a big chunk of that investment in talent is actually in IT. You know, with the firm belief that, you know, a lot of our future growth is driven by executing across the board, an IT strategy. You know, sometimes I joke internally that we're an IT company selling groceries.
Yes, there is a very strong component of artificial intelligence that's starting to take root in the company. Very similar to what's happening in many companies, you can see already the effects in terms of improved efficiency, and gains of time across the board. I think this tendency will continue and get stronger, especially as, you know, companies providing these tools start providing better and better tools. The speed at which we've seen improvements in these tools is absolutely staggering. Expect that, you know, this becomes part of normal life in 3B.
Very good. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Federico Galassi. Please state your company name and ask your question.
Hi, guys. Federico Galassi, Rohatyn Group. Hey, one question from my side is, in the last year and a half, the corporate business, if you want, for more information to the ADRs, the new counselor, et c, was of one of the teams that drag the margins. With taking out the operational side, do you believe that you have the structure necessary to growth in the next years? Thank you.
Sorry, Federico, let me see if I understood your question. You're asking that, you know, do you think we have built the right structure, centrally to sustain our growth rates going forward? Would that be your question or?
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Beyond the operational side. Now that that will continue-
Yeah
...we continue to grow, the new stores.
I mean, again, this belief and philosophy that we have of planning ahead of time, which has served us extremely well and explains how we can sustain such rapid growth rates over time and not have any hiccups, applies to everything. It applies to thinking about what the corporate structure centrally should be and what kind of talent needs you need and how many people you need in which areas, so that you can execute on your plans. Across the board, how do you raise the level of performance of the team in general?
That's been all planned for and not today. We're executing on it, and I think we're in very good shape to sustain future growth. I come back to this very strong belief we have that, you know, it's the team that makes the difference, right? Everybody knows how to sell groceries, and it's all a question of how well do you execute and how fast do you execute.
Perfect. Thank you so much, Anthony.
We have run out of time for further questions. I would now like to hand the call back over to Anthony Hatoum for his closing remarks.
Well, thank you, everybody, for participating and joining us today. I'd like to thank all our investors, current and future, for believing in us. I'd like to thank all the analysts who have joined us today for their continued coverage and their excellent questions. Thank you again, and we look forward to talking to you in the next earnings call.
Thank you. You may now disconnect.