Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB de CV (FMX) 2014 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome everyone to FEMSA's fourth-quarter and full-year 2014 financial results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Today's conference is being recorded. After the presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session.

During this conference call, management may discuss certain forward-looking statements concerning FEMSA's future performance and should be considered a good faith estimate made by the Company.

These forward-looking statements reflect management expectations and are based upon currently available data. Actual results are subject to future events and uncertainties, which can materially impact the Company's actual performance.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference call over to Javier Astaburuaga, FEMSA's CFO. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you. Thank you and good morning everyone. Welcome to FEMSA's fourth-quarter and full-year 2014 results conference call. Juan Fonseca and Roland Karig are also with us today, and we also have Daniel Rodriguez Cofre with us this morning.

As you know, Daniel will be taking over the Chief of Staff and CFO position on April 1st and I will transition to Head of our Corporate Development Efforts at that time.

As we normally do during the call, we will focus on the consolidated figures for FEMSA and on FEMSA Comercio's results since many of you probably had the chance to participate in Coca-Cola FEMSA's conference call yesterday.

As you have also likely had the chance to go over our detailed results, we will take the opportunity to focus on the highlights and main trends in our business.

However, before we start, I would like to comment briefly on an important decision made by Coca-Cola FEMSA regarding the exchange rate at which it translates the results of its operations in Venezuela.

As you know, we are now using the previously denominated SICAD II rate of 50 bolivars per US dollar to translate the fourth-quarter and full-year 2014 numbers into Mexican pesos, compared to an exchange rate of only 6.30 bolivars per dollar used for the comparable period of 2013.

Previously, we have been unable to adopt SICAD II based on our dialogues with our external auditors, but we have provided additional information in our filings with the regulators using a higher exchange rate to help the market understand what the impact might be if or when we adopted SICAD II or any other exchange rate.

Given the current operating conditions in Venezuela, we are now in a position to adopt this higher exchange rate for our quarterly results. This view brings our numbers more in line with economic reality. However, the negative effect on our reported result is significant in the quarter.

We believe the market was already applying certain adjustments to the Venezuelan numbers and therefore this has not come as a major surprise to anyone.

We expect a similar dynamic when we report of coming quarters, although the impact should be lower given that we started using the SICAD rate in the first quarter of 2014, which was already above 10 bolivars per dollar since then. So the gap will be slightly less dramatic.

Moving on, every year the February conference call provides us with an opportunity to discuss with you not only the results of the fourth quarter and full year, but also share some perspective on the full-year trends and performance and talk a little about the expectations for the new year coming.

At FEMSA Comercio, the fourth quarter marked a continuation of the moderately improving top line trends that we saw throughout all 2014. As the challenging year progressed, there was a slight uptick in the comparable sales figures at OXXO quarter by quarter.

However, at Coco-Cola FEMSA the recovery in Mexico has been less consistent, with the growth in transactions and solid profitability being the bright spots in what is still a soft consumer environment.

Beyond Mexico, Brazil delivered [impressive] organic growth and improved margins, and we had a good performance in most markets during the period. All in all, we closed a challenging year on a solid note we think.

Looking at the full year, in spite of the tough operating conditions we reached some important milestones. At FEMSA Comercio, we set a new benchmark for the opening of new stores, reaching 1,132 net new OXXO units for the year, in addition to now 90 new drugstore, brining our total store to 12,853 OXXOs and 605 drugstores as of the end of 2014.

We also announced the acquisition of Farmacon, another strong regional drugstore chain in Northwestern Mexico that will allow us to keep gaining scale and advance in our strategy once the transaction closes.

At Coca-Cola FEMSA, we made great progress in the integration of our recent acquisitions in Mexico and Brazil and we completed our new state-of-the-art bottling plant in Itabirito in the state of Minas Gerais, and this new plant is already allowing us to serve this key territory much better, with a broader portfolio and much higher efficiency as well.

In terms of the macroeconomic environment in our largest markets, in Mexico we continued to see encouraging data point on several variables such as remittances and industrial production. Yet the consumer is only showing very moderate and gradual signs of recovery, and as you know, GDP growth expectations for the year continued to be trimmed down driven in large part by the current oil price environment and still sluggish internal demand.

In Brazil, the concern continues to be the pace of growth, but on the positive side unemployment seems to be trending down. Beyond that, foreign exchange pressure across all markets owing to a strong dollar will continue to be in focus.

Moving on to our consolidated quarterly numbers and keeping in mind the comment on the Venezuela exchange rate, during the fourth quarter total revenues were almost flat and income from operations grew 1%.

For the fourth quarter, the line labeled participation in Heineken results represents the difference between FEMSA's implied 20% participation in Heineken's full-year net income and the figure we reported for the first nine months. Importantly, for the full year the line represents FEMSA's actual 20% participation in Heineken's net income derived from Heineken's full-year 2014 numbers reported approximately two weeks ago.

Net income for the quarter increased 26%, reflecting growth in FEMSA's participation in Heineken's net income and a lower expected tax rate.

In terms of our consolidated net debt position, it decreased slightly from MXN49 billion at the end of last year to now MXN47 billion at the end of 2014. Measured in dollars, we went from $3.8 billion in 2013 to now $2.9 billion.

That is a reduction of almost $1 billion, reflecting cash generation at our core operations and the fact that the dividend payment corresponding to 2014 was actually paid at the end of 2013, offsetting the negative effect of foreign exchange movements impacting Coca-Cola FEMSA's cash balance held in Venezuelan Bolivars.

In terms of dividends to be paid during 2015, we will be submitting to shareholders our proposal for an ordinary dividend payment of MXN7.35 billion, representing a full pass-through of the dividends we expect to receive from Heineken and Coca-Cola FEMSA in 2015, as well as a portion of the free cash flow generated by FEMSA Comercio in 2014.

This results in an increase of 10% of the amounts corresponding to 2014 and 2013, reflecting our commitment to increase cash returns to shareholders as the business continues growing.

We usually take the opportunity in our fourth conference call of the year to talk about expected levels of capital expenditures. Here are our comments.

For 2015, CapEx at Coca-Cola FEMSA should reach about $850 million; for FEMSA Comercio, we should deploy approximately $430 million, remaining with a stable range as a percentage of revenues. Adding an estimated $70 million for our logistics and refrigeration business, we will reach a consolidated total of approximately $1.35 billion in total CapEx for the Company.

Now moving on to disclose our operations and beginning with FEMSA Comercio. We opened 458 net new stores during the fourth quarter, slightly a little bit more than the last year fourth quarter, reaching 1,132 net stores openings in 2014, as we mentioned before.

During the fourth quarter, revenues increased 12%; same-store sales were up 3.3%, a slight improvement versus the trend of the first nine months of the year. And it was encouraging to see that average traffic was now positive and contributed 50 basis points to this growth, which has not been the case for a while.

Gross margin expanded 80 basis points, again driven mainly by an effective collaboration and execution with our key supplier partners as well as a more efficient use of promotion related marketing resources.

In terms of operating margin, this quarter FEMSA Comercio posted an uncharacteristic contraction of 60 basis points, and I would like to spend a few minutes on that.

As you may recall, in the fourth quarter of 2013 operating expenses grew below revenues as a result of a very tight containment and this drove the operating margin to expand 100 basis points, which now represents a very tough comparison, that to start with.

Beyond that, this quarter's contraction reflects the strong growth in new stores for the quarter; expenses related to the incorporation of Dona Tota; the strengthening of FEMSA Comercio's business and organizational structure as we prepare for the growth of new operations, particularly drug stores; and certain one-off charges, including those related to losses caused from Hurricane Odile that hit Baja California Sur a few months ago.

The main message here we believe is that most of the pressure on the margin comes from factors that are not structural or recurring.

For its part, Coca-Cola FEMSA had an operational solid quarter, with improving transaction trends and robust profitability in Mexico and Central America, complemented by very strong volume performance and improved margins in South America.

If you were unable to participate in the conference call yesterday, you can access a replay of the webcast for additional details on the results.

And before we talk a little bit about the outlook for 2015, we should also comment on the subject of OXXO gas service stations, which we mentioned in our press release. As we described in the press release, this is a business in which we have been participating for 20 years, providing services and assets through agreements with third parties that are on PEMEX franchises.

The difference is that now with the new regulatory framework resulting from the energy reform in Mexico, we are going to be able to own PEMEX franchises ourselves and we have therefore agreed to acquire 227 of them from these third parties. And we intend to grow this business going forward by leasing, acquiring or opening more gas stations in the future.

By providing above industry service, we have been able to build a strong brand, which, coupled with potential gains in scaling in what is a very pragmatic industry, contribute to make an attractive business case for us.

We want to stress that while this is a business with lower structural margins than the rest of FEMSA Comercio, it offers the potential for compelling returns, well in excess of its cost of capital and we are excited to pursue this additional growth avenue that fits well with our business platform and our operational skill sets.

Once we close the transaction, you will see the numbers being consolidated with FEMSA Comercio's, but we will also provide you with additional information to facilitate your understanding and monitoring of the business.

And finally, on a very long opening remarks, let me talk a little bit about our broad expectations for 2015. For FEMSA Comercio, we expect net OXXO openings to once again exceed 1,000 units. In terms of same-store sales growth, we are encouraged by the gradual trend from the end of last year and considering beyond the demanding comparable base.

We are more optimistic that through this year we could move closer to the mid single-digit range with traffic being less of a drag and perhaps coming in slightly positive at times, as the negative impact of the telephony category becomes less and less relevant and is gradually mitigated by the growth in the services category.

We also expect to open approximately 100 new drugstores in addition to the more than 200 that we are acquiring with Farmacon, and we already mentioned some incremental growth in the OXXO gas business in addition to the more than 200 PEMEX franchises that we already operate.

So while structurally OXXO operating margins still have potential for moderate expansion in the medium term, we need to factor in a little pressure from all this growth in lower margin but high return of businesses.

For Coca-Cola FEMSA, we expect moderately improving trends in Mexico even as the much awaited consumer recovery remains still elusive. In Brazil, we are optimistic about our improved return on portfolio that is now being enabled by the new plant in Minas Gerais, and we are generally constructive on the business plan for this year.

In fact we have optimistic business plans for most of Coca-Cola FEMSA's markets for 2015. However, the foreign exchange volatility we have been experiencing in the past few months has forced us to temper expectations a bit across markets.

So in sum, from the perspective of FEMSA, we see many opportunities to drive growth and we are cautiously optimistic about the year that begins. However, the macro in general and foreign exchange in particular will probably be in our conversations more than we would like throughout the year.

So there are many things within our control and we will keep making progress in those and working hard as we always try to do.

And basically with that, I now would like to open the call for your questions. Operator, please.

Thank you, sir. The question-and-answer session will begin at this time. (Operator Instructions)

Andrea Teixeira, JP Morgan.

Well, thank you for taking my question. Thanks for the remarks and well presented call. Just some more if you can elaborate out of your prepared remarks on the -- if I have just one question on the gas stations.

I understand that you are participating under the regulation of the business in Mexico and not only -- it seems not only the business of the convenient store is around the gas station, if there's also commitment of CapEx of running also the gas station itself. And that -- and how much you would be committing and how many do you expect to open over the next couple of years? Thank you.

Sure, Andrea. As you can imagine, I wouldn't like to give you really perspectives for opening of new gas stations going forward. What I can share is that we have been in the past through a combination of different models, as I described in the opening remarks, both building and opening or buying or leasing. We have been increasing the number of gas stations in the range of between 30 to 50 gas stations for the last four years-five years.

And I would say that as a reference number going forward, I think that things being equal will continue to be the trend.

But again, this is I would say a new environment. So we would like to expand maybe more aggressively than we have been able to do in the past. But it is very hard to really put numbers going forward for that.

The numbers that I shared with you in terms of the $430 million CapEx are assuming basically continuing the trend of opening new stores as well as continue the trend of building, acquiring or leasing gas stations going forward, also continuing with the trend that we have had in the past.

Thanks, Javier. And just on -- on the OXXO side it would be 1,000 every year. Is it still around that number?

Yes, you are right.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Alex Robarts, Citi.

Listen, in the remarks you talked about the margin pressure -- and this is more of a short-term question for OXXO. I'm just wondering, the expenses related to Dona Tota and pharma you say are mostly non-structural, non-recurring. But is it fair to think and to assume that we might get some lingering related expenses into the first half of the year or not? I mean I guess that was the first bit.

And the second bit is, the margin pressure that you seem to suggest also comes from these new assets as you incorporate them particularly this year to the extent that we have the gas stations and the investments related to that. Is that an incremental pressure as well? So kind of just give us a sense of how much potential pressure there could be this year in the OXXO asset? That would be great. Thank you.

Sure, Alex. On the first one, it's just the effect of Dona Tota, which we were mentioning as part of the growth in the OpEx for the quarter. This is the last quarter in which -- and if you remember, we basically started consolidating Dona Tota first quarter of this year.

This is a business which has substantial higher margins than the convenience stores, but also has a more heavy operating expenses structure than operating a convenience store. And this will be, I think, the last quarter in which we will be having that effect.

Starting next year, I think the effect will be minimal. So I think we will be lapping the consequences of having bought this business and consolidated it since 2014.

On the gas stations, as I described, we have already have the structure to run that business in place because we were running the gas stations even though we were not owners of the PEMEX franchises.

So there you shouldn't expect really a change or we shouldn't expect a change in the way this business is run or the profitability we have been getting measured on a return on our assets.

Of course now you are going to see the sales being consolidated on the Company and that will produce the effect of putting pressure on the overall FEMSA Comercio operating margins due to the fact that this is a lower margin on sales business, but still, as I said in the opening remarks, a very profitable business when you measure it against the investments that you have to make.

So I think that it will be very important for us -- and I also said that in the opening remarks -- that we provide you with the right information for you to continue understanding the underlying performance of our convenience store business and now understand what the effect of this new line of businesses which is going to be consolidated -- in terms of Comercio operations and gas stations behaves as well.

So I think that we are going to try to do our best as always to try to have you understand the performance of the two businesses going forward.

No, that's great. Very helpful. Thanks indeed.

Thank you, Alex.

Jeronimo De Guzman, Morgan Stanley.

I wanted to clarify something also related to these gas stations. First of all, just wanted to see -- so you mentioned that you didn't consolidate the sales from these. So how are these booked because I guess you did operate them through third parties? So how are they showing in your financial statements?

They were being only shown as the margin that we were making by operating their gas stations, Jeronimo. So the assets that we already owned and the margins that we were making by operating those gas stations were already on our P&L, but the sales were not. It was basically commercial margins that we were making because of the service that we were providing on operating those gas stations.

I see. So based on the information that you gave, the sales that were generated from these gas stations, I mean it's right that it should be a 15% increase in revenues right off the bat for 2015?

You are right on that.

Yes, it is a big number -- revenues.

Yes, so it does seem like it's a pretty big impact on revenues. So I just wanted to see if there's any range you can give us on the margin that these gas stations could have, because including that on the revenue with much lower -- with lower margin, I don't know how much lower -- could have a significant impact on the overall margin for Comercio?

Sure, it will. That's why we will need to have you understand the performance. And what I can tell you is this is a very typical margin for selling gas in Mexico or US, which goes to low single-digits, Jeronimo -- which is very different from the high single-digits we make on our convenience stores.

But again, it is important to have that figure in mind, but it's more important to know that again the return on the investment is very good, significantly above cost of capital involving in investing in this line of business.

Yes, I mean I guess the sales per unit is much, much higher than what it would be for an OXXO based on what --

Significantly more higher. Yes, you are right.

Okay, that's helpful. And then just wanted to ask you again on the SG&A for OXXO. So there were these -- there was the impact of Dona Tota, which goes away now that it's more comparable, and there was also a lower comparison base. But in terms of the non-recurring that you mentioned from Hurricane Odile, how much of an impact was that in the fourth quarter?

It was mentioned at the last of the reasons because it was not necessarily the biggest one, but it also -- when OpEx increases everything that is working against you counts. So it was not a major number within the explanation, but it was there.

I see. Okay. So when you put it all together for OXXO or for Comercio, it seems like you continue to have pretty good gross margin gains from some of the promotions you have with suppliers and some of the sales incentives. I assume those could continue going into 2015.

In 2015 maybe the OpEx can be a little bit -- you start running into, yes, the less tough comparisons. But is it still -- how do you view the margins I guess behaving in 2015 given that you still have this big headwind from the pharmacies despite the returns being better?

Yes, let me try to frame it this way. If you look at the times in which OXXO has been able to consistently grow same-store sales within a reasonable growth, economic growth and a consumer sentiment which I would say is also consistent with an environment of economic growth, the combination of growing same-store sales, opening new stores, have a good cost control in place had produced in the past a very important margin expansions -- I would say a very important years in which we expanded margins 200 basis points, sometimes 50 or 60, whatsoever.

In the past two years, you have to take into account I think that all in all the Mexican economy have grown less than 1.5% in average for the past two years, that the consumer sentiment has been impacted by a number of reasons, including the tax reform that impacted a lot of the products we sell at the stores.

So in the short term, I think we were able to navigate throughout this couple of years, again, doing the job in terms of the cost containment efforts that we have to make consistently to keep growing in a profitable way, but also, as I have been very consistent also sending the message, to invest in the business to prepare to continue to grow into the future.

And I think my mention of the reinforcing of the organizations that will take care of the growth for the drugstore businesses and the food businesses -- and we invested a lot in people this year -- I think we were able to manage in this couple of years to expand the margin last year, a slight -- manage a slight, very small contraction of margin this year.

But all in all in this couple of years on a very, very recessive and troubled environment we were able to again grow the store base with quality openings. We are not shutting down stores, as we've never done.

But again, the performance of the business I think should be measured looking for longer terms. And in the long-term, we feel still very confident that we have the ability to -- as the environment gets better, as some of our investments in short term, things such as people, processes and technology starts to reap benefits going forward, that we still see opportunities for our convenience store business to moderately improve margins going forward.

It will have to do a lot with how the environment develops going into the rest of 2015 and forward. But all in all I should communicate that, yes, we feel good about the things that we are doing. And as you know, we don't really make decisions based on quarterly phenomenons, but looking more for long term as always.

Okay, great. Very helpful. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Jeronimo.

Armando Perez, Credit Suisse.

After incorporating your Farmacon stores and the 2015 openings, shall we expect any additional CapEx for logistics and distribution in this kind of business? Thanks.

That's a possibility, but short term I don't think we are going to be facing that. I think we have a full hands with just dealing with the gas stations piece. So as for 2015, I think the guidance we gave in terms of the CapEx for OXXO for the current business is the one that we believe is going to be executed throughout the year, Armando.

Okay, thanks.

Thank you.

Luca Cipiccia, Goldman Sachs.

I wanted to follow-up on the drugstores and investments as well that you mentioned you made in the fourth quarter, just to understand whether that means that you are getting closer to having a format or a structure for the business that satisfies the standard that you want to develop for a national footprint. Or in other words, I remember in the past we discussed whether you are evaluating if rolling this out under one single banner. You had a new acquisition very recently.

So maybe if you can discuss a bit where you stand in terms of reaching the optimal strategy for this new channel, that will be quite helpful. Thank you.

Let me try to explain the main elements that we are trying to assemble to make this winning business going forward. As we have been describing, we think that we were able to acquire some regional chains as beachheads based on current value propositions and banners that is brands for consumers in different regions, that is a good starting point as opposed to trying a greenfield strategy.

So that's for starters. And I think we have been quite successful in making agreements and acquisitions in that regard.

What we are now and we have been doing for the past two years since we started this strategy is we have been, I would say, confirming some of the hypothesis that we had when we entered the business and learning much more than we anticipated in trying to have better consumer insights into what's driving the decision making in order to go to an outlet that sells drugs and health and personal care products and convenience products.

We are now embarked in the process which involves, as you well pointed out, a strategy that in the end will include having a consistent operating protocols and processes supported by a backbone on an IT platform that will allow us to take advantage of scale to deal with a transition from the brands that today are known by the different regions in which these outlets operate to at some point in time possibly to a national banner or to at least less banners than the ones we are acquiring.

And also of course trying to take advantage of cross opportunities that we have between the convenience stores and the drugstores in a number of areas such as logistics, back office and talent management.

So all in all, that's kind of the process in which we are working on. This is a process that to put, let's say, all the different chains in the same platform, operating and technology, and looking for a strategy that will evolve into possibly a single banner or something less fragmented than the multiple banners we already have, it will take maybe two or three years.

So while we are doing that, we are not slowing down, as you better understand. Not slowing down our aspirations to continue looking, exploring and acquiring hopefully other chains. Not reducing our rate of opening of stores, and of course not reducing our efforts to make this an even higher profitable business than it is already.

So that's kind of in a nutshell what we are trying to aim in the whole drugstore strategy, Luca.

And just very quickly as a small follow-up. When you talk about openings, are they also, if you like, balancing the geographic footprint that is still missing in some parts of the country or really the openings that you are doing are in the respective region for each of the chains as to see whether you are spreading any of the concepts beyond the regions in which they originally operated?

Yes, we are very cautious about it. I mean just entering new regions from a greenfield perspective, it's something that we are still not there. We think this is not the more appropriate and risk taking attitude. So what we are doing is expanding in the regions in which we are. It's not necessarily expanding only in the cities in which we are, but going to adjacent states or adjacent cities, taking advantage a little bit and doing it in a very decisive way.

But also we are looking for other regional chains that might fill some holes we have, big holes we have in the geography. We don't have anything basically in Central Mexico and that's a very interesting region for us and for everybody. So that's the way that we are moving at least for the time being, Luca.

No, I think -- hi, Luca. This is Juan. Just to add to what Javier just said, maybe the one example of kind of moving into the contagious state is the state of Veracruz. I mean we are coming from the Yucatan Peninsula and very gradually moving west along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. But you have to be very careful because you are basically creating a brand from zero.

Clear, very clear. Thank you.

Thank you.

Martha Shelton, Itau.

It's revolving -- just trying to think about how management is feeling in so far as the resources that its allocating to all of these acquisitions. You've got Dona Tota, you've got the pharmacies and now you've got the gas stations. Do you feel well enough resourced and is this really extending management? I will stop there.

Sure, we feel very good about it, Martha. The amounts that we have put in these businesses as an entry point I think are small compared with the size of the Company and the size of the opportunity. And so far we have not really found any surprises telling us that we are overstretching outside of our core skill set and the performance of the businesses have been, I would say, pretty much in line with our plans and strategy.

And I would say that we are -- if you want to put it this way, we are double betting on putting more people to help us develop this business as faster and in a better way. So that's how confident we feel with the new businesses that we are entering in the last couple of years.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

Antonio Gonzalez, Credit Suisse.

The first one in the -- I guess following up with the previous question, I wanted to ask obviously with an upcoming change in CFO -- and I understand Daniel Rodriguez moved to Mexico at the beginning of this year. I wanted to ask how are you splitting responsibilities regarding capital allocation and anything you can share regarding the integration of Daniel so far.

I mean obviously his role starts effectively only until April, I understand that. But I wanted to know with you, Javier, staying at the Finance Committee, who will be looking closer at these M&A opportunities? Are you probably going to spend more time just looking at Heineken and Coca-Cola opportunities while maybe Daniel will be looking more at the FEMSA Comercio opportunities? And how specifically do you incorporate Daniel's experience in South America?

And then the second question very quickly is just on the debit cards, Saldazo and OXXO. I wanted to ask how many cards do you have now and what is the impact that you are seeing, if you can quantify it in terms of traffic when you look at same-store sales for OXXO? Thank you.

Sure, Antonio. On the first one, it's pretty simple. People that know how FEMSA operates, it's very simple to explain how roles are being played here. In the current model, I've been Chief of Staff for the last nine years in the Company and Federico Reyes has been just focused on corporate development things, playing several roles -- as an extension I would say of the CFO, now Daniel, as a supporting arm for himself and his all organization, as also evidently as part of the management team of the Company.

And I would say that model which has worked I think well by me and Federico in the past nine years, now is -- basically replicating that role now; Daniel in charge of basically all functional areas of the corporate arena and myself pretty much focused on corporate development, which involves stakeholder management, if you want to call it that way, in terms of the Heineken and Coca-Cola FEMSA things, together with Daniel, not on my own.

And I would say working hand in hand with Daniel and his whole team for particularly in things that have to do with potential opportunities for the Company to either acquire or partner with third parties, looking for business opportunities going forward.

So that's kind of the way we work here. But let me expand a little bit more the comment. This is something that it's done not only by myself, Daniel and Carlos Salazar and the Finance Committee, which I will be participating when those are the things that the Finance Committee are going to be looking at. Most of the process of capital allocation is done in a very thorough process that involves the whole management team of the Company; that is the CEOs of the business units.

So the model again, as I said, that works -- that has worked very well in FEMSA is to have as many people that are knowledgeable about the facts that we are trying to analyze, hopefully, and most of the time with very different points of view on different matters. So hopefully through the right counter, we are able to extract the best of each opinion to get the best solution for each problem. So that's kind of the way we have been operating in the past and that's the way we will continue to operate in the future.

And in terms of the debit card, I think we have reached almost 1.5 million cards. We are very close to that number. Juan, I don't know if you want to expand a little bit on some of more comments on the performance?

Yes. No, I think -- hi, Antonio -- Javier is right. I mean we closed the year basically with 1.4 million or almost 1.4 million, so the rate of new accounts is slightly above 100,000 per month and the utilization rate continues to be much higher than the industry norm. So not only are people opening the accounts, but they are actually using them actively.

So I would say with a word of caution, but it seems that the trends are certainly not slowing down but perhaps maybe accelerating a little bit.

Excellent. Thank you so much, Javier and Juan.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Antonio.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that is all the time we have for questions today. I will now turn the conference back over to Mr. Astaburuaga for closing additional remarks.

Just to thank you very much for your participation today everyone and especially for bearing with me all these years as we tried to keep you up to speed on this Company that we love so much.

I leave you in very, very good hands with Daniel and Juan as always. So long everyone. Bye-bye.

Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to replay the webcast for this call, you may do so at FEMSA's Investor Relations website. This concludes our conference for today. Thank you for your participation and have a nice day. All parties may now disconnect.