Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB de CV (FMX) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hello and welcome to the FEMSA's second quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. My name is George. I'll be a coordinator for today's event. Please note this conference is being recorded and for the duration of the call, your lines will be in the listen-only mode. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions once you have the presentation (Operator Instructions).

您好，歡迎您參加 FEMSA 2024 年第二季業績電話會議。我的名字是喬治。我將擔任今天活動的協調員。請注意，本次會議正在錄音，並且在通話期間，您的線路將處於只聽模式。但是，一旦您進行了演示，您將有機會提出問題（操作員說明）。

And I'd like to have a call over to your host today Mr. Juan Fonseca, Head of Investor Relations to begin today's conference. Please go ahead, sir.

我想致電今天的東道主投資者關係主管胡安·豐塞卡先生，開始今天的會議。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, George. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to FMSA's second quarter 2024 results conference call. Today we are joined by Martín Arias, our CFO and Jorge Collazo, who heads Coca-Cola FEMSA's Investor Relations team. The plan is for Martín to open the conversation with some high level comments on our strategic progress and business trends, followed by a more detailed discussion of the results and finally opening the call for your questions.

謝謝你，喬治。大家早安。歡迎參加 FMSA 2024 年第二季業績電話會議。今天，我們的財務長 Martín Arias 和可口可樂 FEMSA 投資者關係團隊負責人 Jorge Collazo 也加入了我們的行列。馬丁計劃以對我們的策略進展和業務趨勢的一些高層評論開始對話，然後對結果進行更詳細的討論，最後開始詢問您的問題。

Before I hand over the call to Martín, I want to address the disclosure at the end of today's press release related to changes to our first quarter results as reported. In the press release for the first quarter of 2024, we classified certain results related to non-core discontinued operations on several incorrect lines and we are reclassifying them today.

在我將電話轉交給馬丁之前，我想談談今天新聞稿末尾所披露的有關我們第一季業績變化的信息。在 2024 年第一季的新聞稿中，我們將與非核心已終止業務相關的某些結果分類在幾個錯誤的行中，今天我們將對其進行重新分類。

The changes only impact the consolidated income statement and mainly cause a decline in income from operations. However, they do not impact consolidated net income and do not impact any of the results of the business units report separately. You can find a detailed table at the end of today's press release and Martín will briefly explain the main differences before we open the call for your questions.

此變動僅影響合併利潤表，主要導致營業收入下降。然而，它們不會影響合併淨利潤，也不會影響業務部門單獨報告的任何結果。您可以在今天的新聞稿末尾找到詳細的表格，在我們開始詢問您的問題之前，馬丁將簡要解釋主要差異。

Martin, please go ahead.

馬丁，請繼續。

Thank you, Juan. Good morning, everyone. Before we review our quarterly results, I would like to update you on the most recent steps we have taken as we continue to execute on the FEMSA forward strategy, varying initiatives related to capital returns for shareholders, as well as asset divestitures. As you are aware, we remain actively engaged in share buybacks.

謝謝你，胡安。大家早安。在我們回顧季度業績之前，我想向您介紹我們在繼續執行 FEMSA 前瞻性策略、與股東資本回報相關的各種舉措以及資產剝離過程中所採取的最新措施。如您所知，我們仍然積極參與股票回購。

In the second quarter, we completed our first accelerated share repurchase program for $400 million and initiated a new program for $600 million. Additionally, during the first six months of 2024, we have bought back approximately $180 million in shares in the Mexican stock market.

第二季度，我們完成了 4 億美元的首次加速股票回購計劃，並啟動了 6 億美元的新計劃。此外，在 2024 年前六個月，我們在墨西哥股市回購了約 1.8 億美元的股票。

Earlier this year, we also secured shareholder approval for an extraordinary dividend of approximately $600 million, half of which has already been paid. This brings our extraordinary return of capital to shareholders for 2024 to nearly $1.8 billion equal to approximately 60% of what we committed to by the end of 2026.

今年早些時候，我們還獲得股東批准發放約 6 億美元的特別股息，其中一半已經支付。這使得我們在 2024 年為股東帶來的非凡資本回報達到近 18 億美元，相當於我們到 2026 年底承諾的資本回報的約 60%。

These figures do not include the ordinary dividend of approximately $800 million half of which has been paid to-date. This is all consistent with capital allocation framework we communicated last February and we will continue to advance towards our stated objectives.

這些數字不包括約 8 億美元的普通股息，其中一半已支付。這完全符合我們去年二月傳達的資本配置框架，我們將繼續推動我們既定的目標。

In terms of our progress on asset divestitures, we announced last week that we have reached a definitive agreement to divest our refrigeration and food service equipment operations in Imbera and Torrey, for a total amount of approximately $450 million. This transaction is expected to close before the end of the year.

就資產剝離進展而言，我們上週宣布已達成最終協議，剝離位於因貝拉和托里的製冷和食品服務設備業務，總金額約為 4.5 億美元。該交易預計將於今年底前完成。

And finally, in the first week of July, we received the remaining payments from our divestment in Jetro Restaurant Depot totaling $945 million. This means we have now received the full amount from the Jetro transaction. This is not reflected in our financials report today, but the cash is now on hand.

最後，在 7 月的第一周，我們收到了 Jetro Restaurant Depot 撤資的剩餘付款，總額為 9.45 億美元。這意味著我們現在已收到 Jetro 交易的全額金額。這沒有反映在我們今天的財務報告中，但現在手頭上有現金。

We will continue to analyze opportunities to return capital to shareholders beyond our ordinary dividend, consistent with our stated objective of a total of approximately 3 billion by the end of 2026.

我們將繼續分析在普通股息之外向股東返還資本的機會，這符合我們設定的 2026 年底總計約 30 億美元的目標。

In addition, as we gain greater clarity and all the organic and strategic opportunities available, and in light of developments on the macro front in the coming years, we will analyze the possibility of launching additional capital return initiatives.

此外，隨著我們獲得更多的清晰度和所有可用的有機和戰略機會，並根據未來幾年宏觀方面的發展，我們將分析啟動額外資本回報計劃的可能性。

Let me turn to the general trends we saw in our operations. In the second quarter, we continue to see good momentum and strong performance from our core business units. Once again, most of our operations, including the two that contribute most to our results, delivered a solid set of numbers.

讓我談談我們在營運中看到的整體趨勢。第二季度，我們繼續看到核心業務部門的良好勢頭和強勁業績。我們的大部分業務，包括對我們的業績貢獻最大的兩項業務，再次交付了一組可靠的數據。

Proximity Americas saw deceleration in the pace of the same-store sales growth in Mexico against a tough comparison base, due in part to a shift in the timing of holy week celebrations relative to last year, as well as volatile weather, but offset by stellar gross margin and solid store expansion.

在嚴峻的比較基礎上，鄰近美洲地區的同店銷售成長速度有所放緩，部分原因是聖週慶祝活動的時間相對於去年發生了變化，以及天氣不穩定，但被出色的天氣所抵消毛利率和實體店擴張。

For its part, Coca-Cola FEMSA delivered a remarkable performance, showing double digital increases across its own income statement, driven once again by strong volume and revenue growth in its major markets. We continue to see good results at Valora and OXXO Gas, with both businesses delivering double-digit growth in the income from operations.

就其本身而言，可口可樂 FEMSA 表現出色，在其主要市場的銷售和收入強勁增長的推動下，其損益表顯示出雙數字增長。我們繼續看到 Valora 和 OXXO Gas 的良好業績，兩家公司的營運收入都實現了兩位數的成長。

At our health division, we saw sequential improvement in our fastest growing retail operation in Colombia, combined with stable results from Chile, but we again faced competitive headwinds in Mexico, and we are laser focused with our plans to change the trajectory in that market to bring it in line with the positive dynamics we see elsewhere at FEMSA.

在我們的健康部門，我們看到哥倫比亞成長最快的零售業務連續改善，加上智利的穩定業績，但我們在墨西哥再次面臨競爭阻力，我們正專注於改變該市場軌蹟的計劃使其與我們在FEMSA 其他地方看到的積極動態保持一致。

Finally, at digital, we continue to add users and advance towards our ecosystem objectives. Now let me go over the quarter's results in more detail. Let's begin with FEMSA's consolidated second quarter results.

最後，在數位領域，我們繼續增加用戶並推進我們的生態系統目標。現在讓我更詳細地介紹一下本季的業績。讓我們從 FEMSA 第二季的綜合業績開始。

Total revenues increased 12.2% and operating income rose 15.8% compared to the second quarter of 2023, driven largely by strong growth of Proximity, fuel, and Coca-Cola FEMSA, and despite weaker performance in our health division.

與 2023 年第二季相比，總收入成長了 12.2%，營業收入成長了 15.8%，這主要得益於 Proximity、燃料和可口可樂 FEMSA 的強勁成長，儘管我們的健康部門表現較弱。

Net consolidated income increased 75.5% to MXN15.7 billion, mainly explained by improved operating income, a non-cash foreign exchange gain of MXN6.1 billion related to our U.S. dollar denominated cash acquisition and derivative financial instruments, and a higher interest income related to an increase in our average cash balance.

合併淨收入成長75.5%，達到157 億墨西哥比索，主要是由於營業收入增加、與我們以美元計價的現金收購和衍生金融工具相關的非現金外匯收益61 億墨西哥比索，以及與此相關的利息收入增加增加我們的平均現金餘額。

This was all offset by a significant shift from a large other non-operating income to a small non-operating expense related to the receipt of Heineken dividends and the gain from the sale of JRD in the second quarter of 2023, and was also offset by higher interest expense, reflecting a benefit in the second quarter of 2023 from a one-time gain related to the repurchase of debt.

這一切都被從大額其他非營業收入轉向與喜力股息相關的小額非營業費用以及 2023 年第二季度出售 JRD 的收益的重大轉變所抵消，並且也被利息支出增加，反映了2023 年第二季與債務回購相關的一次性收益帶來的好處。

Now turning to our operational results. Proximity Americas delivered a solid performance in the second quarter. OXXO's same store sales increased 4.1% in the first quarter, I'm sorry, in the second quarter, driven by an increase of 4.7% in average customer ticket and a decrease of 0.6% in traffic.

現在轉向我們的營運結果。Proximity Americas 在第二季表現穩健。OXXO第一季的同店銷售額成長了4.1%，對不起，第二季是受到平均客票成長4.7%和客流量下降0.6%的推動。

The second quarter was an atypical one, where each month reflected a unique set of mixed effects, generally more negative than positive. For example, the month of April had a tough calendar effect due to the shift in the Holy Week celebrations, while May benefited from extremely high temperatures across Mexico, and June faced a comparison base of approximately 20% growth in '23, as well as some early tropical storms and the restriction of alcohol sales ahead of the national elections. Ultimately, these factors combine to contribute to the deceleration of same-store sales.

第二季度是一個非典型的季度，每個月都反映出一系列獨特的混合影響，通常負面影響多於正面影響。例如，由於聖週慶祝活動的轉變，4 月份產生了嚴峻的日曆效應，而 5 月份受益於墨西哥各地的極高氣溫，6 月份面臨著 23 年約 20% 增長的比較基數，以及一些早期的熱帶風暴以及全國選舉前的酒精銷售限制。最終，這些因素綜合起來導致同店銷售減速。

However, gross margin expanded by 310 basis points to reach 44.1%. Driven by strong trends in commercial revenue, income, I'm sorry, in commercial income, a positive contribution from financial services and revenue management initiatives. Income from operations increased 7.6%, while the operating margin contracted 10 basis points to 9.9%, reflecting higher operating expenses as we build our platform in South America, higher labor costs across markets, and investment behind capability building and strategic initiatives, such as store segmentation and revenue management.

然而，毛利率卻增加了310個基點，達到44.1%。在商業收入強勁趨勢的推動下，抱歉，在商業收入中，金融服務和收入管理措施做出了積極貢獻。營運收入成長 7.6%，而營運利潤率收縮 10 個基點至 9.9%，反映出我們在南美洲建立平台時營運費用增加、整個市場勞動力成本上升以及能力建設和戰略舉措（例如商店）背後的投資細分和收入管理。

On the store expansion front, OXXO added 404 net new stores during the quarter, of which 332 were opened in Mexico and 72 in South America. This figure includes 14 openings by Grupo Nos in Brazil. Historically, store openings typically have lagged in the first half of the year, complicating our operations in the second half and resulting in lower incremental revenues from those stores for the full year.

在門市擴張方面，OXXO 本季淨增 404 家新店，其中 332 家在墨西哥開設，72 家在南美洲開設。該數字包括 Grupo Nos 在巴西開設的 14 個職缺。從歷史上看，上半年的門市開張通常會滯後，這使我們下半年的營運變得複雜，並導致這些門市全年的增量收入較低。

Therefore, in an effort to improve the shape of our annual expansion curve, we have shifted our focus this year to opening as many stores as we can during the first half. This approach will enhance the efficiency and productivity of the new stores and avoid the operational congestion in the key fourth quarter. This means a full year target for OXXO Mexico remains between 1,000 and 1,100 net new stores, which is the sweet spot for which our growth engine is currently optimized.

因此，為了改善年度擴張曲線的形狀，我們今年的重點是在上半年盡可能地開店。這項做法將提高新店的效率和生產力，並避免關鍵的第四季的營運擁塞。這意味著 OXXO Mexico 的全年淨新店目標仍保持在 1,000 至 1,100 家之間，這是我們目前優化成長引擎的最佳點。

Moving to Proximity Europe, total revenues increased by 5.8% basis. This positive performance was driven by growth in all business lines. Growth profit increased 8.8% in pesos, while gross margin improved by 120 basis points, reaching 43.3%. At the operating income level, Valora again delivered strong growth with 41% growth and 100 basis points margin expansion, reflecting the continued ad performance of the B2B operation, healthy results from the retail and food service businesses, and consistent cost management.

轉向 Proximity Europe，總收入成長了 5.8%。這一積極的業績是由所有業務線的成長所推動的。以比索計算的成長利潤成長了 8.8%，毛利率提高了 120 個基點，達到 43.3%。在營業收入層面，Valora 再次實現強勁成長，成長 41%，利潤率擴大 100 個基點，反映出 B2B 業務持續的廣告業績、零售和食品服務業務的健康業績以及持續的成本管理。

Turning to the health division. Total revenues showed a slight contraction of 0.4% for the same-store sales, decreasing 1.1%. This outcome was primarily driven by a highly competitive environment in Mexico and Ecuador, which was offset by stable performance in Chile and continued food momentum in Colombia retail. As a result, operating income fell by 14.8% in pesos and the operating margin contracted by 70 basis points, reaching 4.1%.

轉向衛生部門。同店銷售總收入小幅收縮 0.4%，下降 1.1%。這一結果主要是由墨西哥和厄瓜多爾的高度競爭環境所推動的，但智利的穩定表現和哥倫比亞零售業持續的食品勢頭抵消了這一結果。結果，以比索計算的營業收入下降了 14.8%，營業利潤率下降了 70 個基點，達到 4.1%。

While these numbers show a sequential improvement from the first quarter, this challenging dynamic continues to highlight the need for strategic adjustments to overcome the challenges and change the trajectory of our business, particularly in Mexico. As we have mentioned before, we are dedicating considerable efforts to addressing the issues within the health division.

雖然這些數字顯示較第一季連續改善，但這種充滿挑戰的動態繼續凸顯出需要進行策略調整，以克服挑戰並改變我們的業務軌跡，特別是在墨西哥。正如我們之前提到的，我們正在投入大量努力來解決衛生部門內的問題。

In Colombia, we continue to see encouraging results from our strategic acceleration of the retail component of our business, making us the retail leader in that market and reducing our exposure to the institutional sector. This transition is steering us towards a more profitable and structurally robust operation, enhancing our overall performance and stability.

在哥倫比亞，我們繼續看到我們業務零售部分的策略加速取得了令人鼓舞的成果，使我們成為該市場的零售領導者，並減少了我們對機構部門的投資。這項轉變引導我們實現利潤更高、結構更穩健的運營，提高我們的整體績效和穩定性。

Meanwhile, in Mexico, we are undertaking several significant strategic measures, including the launch of a new store format following the successful template used in our South American markets, which among other things, emphasizes the beauty and personal categories and strengthens consumer promotional activities. We will keep you posted as these initiatives progress.

同時，在墨西哥，我們正在採取幾項重大策略措施，包括效仿南美市場的成功模式推出新的商店模式，強調美容和個人品類，並加強消費者促銷活動。隨著這些舉措的進展，我們將及時通知您。

Turning to OXXO Gas, we posted a notable 15.9% increase in same-station sales and 16.2% in total revenues, reflecting solid performance in retail and institutional sales. During the quarter, the gross margin reached 11.6%, while the operating margin stood at 4.2%. Although the structure of profitability from our fast-growing institutional business is lower than that of retail, this was offset by operational efficiencies.

至於 OXXO Gas，我們的同站銷售額顯著成長了 15.9%，總收入成長了 16.2%，反映出零售和機構銷售的穩健表現。本季毛利率達11.6%，營業利益率為4.2%。儘管我們快速成長的機構業務的獲利結構低於零售業務，但這被營運效率所抵消。

Turning to Digital at FEMSA, we continue to make significant progress during the quarter. The number of active users for spin by OXXO reached 7.9 million, marking a 37% year-on-year growth. This demonstrates consistent customer adoption and an increase in transactions per user.

談到 FEMSA 的數位化，我們在本季繼續取得重大進展。OXXO旋轉活躍用戶數達790萬，較去年同期成長37%。這表示客戶採用率一致，且每個用戶的交易量增加。

Our Spin Premia loyalty program also showed impressive growth, with a 44.3% year-on-year increase, reaching 22.8 million active users. Approximately 36% of OXXO Mexico sales and 40.6% of OXXO Gas sales are now linked to Spin Premia. This integration strengthens our data gathering and utilization capabilities. We expect to gradually focus less on total users, with a shift towards a higher number of transactions per user.

我們的 Spin Premia 忠誠度計畫也顯示出令人矚目的成長，年增 44.3%，活躍用戶達到 2,280 萬。目前，OXXO Mexico 銷售額的約 36% 和 OXXO Gas 銷售額的 40.6% 與 Spin Premia 有關。這種整合增強了我們的資料收集和利用能力。我們預計將逐漸減少對總用戶的關注，並轉向增加每個用戶的交易數量。

Finally, Coca-Cola FEMSA reported another impressive quarter, achieving double-digit growth across its income statement. This remarkable performance was driven by consistent volume growth across most of its markets, coupled with effective revenue growth management initiatives, and despite the challenges faced to the flooding of its plant in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and the Holy Week calendar shift. A replay of KOF [ph] quarterly call, which was held last Friday, is available on their website.

最後，可口可樂 FEMSA 報告了另一個令人印象深刻的季度，其損益表實現了兩位數的成長。儘管巴西阿雷格里港工廠面臨洪水和聖週日曆變化的挑戰，但大多數市場的銷售持續成長以及有效的收入成長管理舉措推動了這一卓越業績。上週五舉行的 KOF [ph] 季度電話會議的重播可以在他們的網站上找到。

Regarding CapEx deployment, our key priorities remain to enhance our operational capabilities, drive innovation, and sustain organic growth across our operations. In the second quarter, our CapEx reached MXN11.3 billion, representing 5.7% of total revenue and 35.1% increase over that same period last year.

關於資本支出部署，我們的主要優先事項仍然是增強我們的營運能力、推動創新並維持整個營運的有機成長。第二季度，我們的資本支出達到 113 億墨西哥比索，佔總營收的 5.7%，比去年同期成長 35.1%。

This growth was driven by the expansion and remodeling of storage at OXXO Mexico, the continued development of OXXA Latam, increased investments in production and distribution capacity at KOF, as well as continued investment in our FEMSA-wide and digital transformation initiatives.

這一成長的推動因素包括 OXXO Mexico 的儲存擴展和改造、OXXA Latam 的持續發展、KOF 對生產和分銷能力的投資增加，以及對我們的 FEMSA 範圍和數位轉型計劃的持續投資。

Finally, let me go over the table that we included at the back of our press release to present in detail a comparison between the first quarter 2024 consolidated income statement and the comparable first quarter 2023 results and the reclassified statement published today. The main effect of these changes are the following. Total revenues grew 10.5% in the new numbers as opposed to 11.3%. Gross margin was 38.7% in the new numbers as opposed to 39.4%.

最後，讓我回顧一下我們在新聞稿後麵包含的表格，詳細介紹了 2024 年第一季合併損益表與可比較的 2023 年第一季業績以及今天發布的重新分類報表之間的比較。這些變化的主要影響如下。新數據中的總收入成長了 10.5%，而先前的增幅為 11.3%。新數據中的毛利率為 38.7%，而先前為 39.4%。

Income from operations were MXN12,935 million versus MXN14,767 million, and reflected a margin of 7.3% in the new numbers versus 8.3%, relative to the reclassified 2023 figure. Income from operations grew 12.2% in the new numbers as opposed to 14.4%. Other operating expenses, other non-operating expenses were only MXN487 million instead of MXN2.4 billion.

營運收入為 129.35 億墨西哥比索，而 2023 年重新分類後的數字為 8.3%，而新數據的利潤率為 7.3%。新數據顯示，營運收入成長了 12.2%，而此前為 14.4%。其他營業費用、其他非營業費用僅 4.87 億墨西哥比索，而不是 24 億墨西哥比索。

As mentioned in our press release, this does not impact the consolidated net income figures nor does it impact the results of the businesses reported individually in either period and does not affect the 2023 audited statements.

正如我們在新聞稿中提到的，這不會影響合併淨利潤數據，也不會影響任一時期單獨報告的業務業績，也不會影響 2023 年經審計的報表。

And with that, let's open the call for questions. Operator, please.

接下來，讓我們開始提問。接線員，請說。

Thank you very much, sir. [Operator Instructions] The first question today is coming from Benjamin Theurer, coming from Barclays. Please go ahead, sir. Your line is open.

非常感謝您，先生。[操作員說明] 今天的第一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的 Benjamin Theurer。請繼續，先生。您的線路已開通。

Hi, good morning. Thank you very much for taking my question, Martín. So one thing I wanted to follow up is just the strength of the gross margin at OXXO. I mean, that was obviously, as you've highlighted in your prepared remarks, a lot driven by the commercial initiatives, but it also feels like the financial services. So I wanted to understand if you can help us bridge the success that you're having at your digital initiatives, be it spend by OXXO, but also Premia as it relates to that boost on the gross margin. So how sustainable is that boost and how much of that is really related and interconnected with all the success you've pointed out in the press release when it comes to the digital initiatives? Thank you very much.

嗨，早安。非常感謝您提出我的問題，馬丁。所以我想跟進的一件事就是 OXXO 毛利率的強勁程度。我的意思是，正如您在準備好的演講中所強調的那樣，這顯然很大程度上是由商業舉措推動的，但也感覺像是金融服務。因此，我想了解您是否可以幫助我們在數位化計劃中取得成功，無論是 OXXO 的支出，還是 Premia 的支出，因為它與毛利率的提升有關。那麼，這種推動的可持續性有多大？非常感謝。

Yes, just to clarify, I mean, the digital initiatives, many of them are housed in Digital at FEMSA and are not reflected in the Proximity numbers per se. What you will see in Proximity that is related to digital is the initiatives of many of those efforts benefit the store and tend to drive traffic and consumer engagement. Although I've said in the past, tomorrow, for any reason we decided that Digital at FEMSA should be reintegrated into OXXO, a significant portion of the initiatives that Digital FEMSA undertakes would have to continue to exist exactly as they continue to exist. For example, Premia, Spin by OXXO.

是的，只是為了澄清一下，我的意思是，數位化舉措，其中許多都位於 FEMSA 的數位化部分，並且並未反映在鄰近數字本身中。您將在與數位化相關的 Proximity 中看到，其中許多努力的舉措有利於商店，並且往往會增加流量和消費者參與度。儘管我過去說過，明天，無論出於何種原因，我們決定將 Digital at FEMSA 重新整合到 OXXO 中，但 Digital FEMSA 所採取的舉措的很大一部分必須繼續存在，就像它們繼續存在一樣。例如，Premia、OXXO 的 Spin。

So we are still not, I would say, seeing the full potential of the Digital at FEMSA monetization of data or consumer promotions through the app at the level that we expect they will occur in the future. That's an ongoing process. So the improvement in the gross margin that you're seeing today is really very typical work of retailers of gaining commercial income from suppliers to promote their products and to give them prominent placements and to drive promotions. In the case of financial services, as you may know, financial services has a relatively higher gross margin. It's a service. So it doesn't really have a very large COGS associated with it.

因此，我想說，我們仍然沒有看到 FEMSA 透過應用程式實現數據貨幣化或消費者促銷的全部潛力，達到我們預期的未來水平。這是一個持續的過程。因此，您今天看到的毛利率的提高實際上是零售商從供應商那裡獲得商業收入以推廣其產品並為他們提供顯著位置並推動促銷活動的非常典型的工作。就金融服務而言，大家可能知道，金融服務的毛利率相對較高。這是一項服務。因此，它並沒有真正與之相關的非常大的銷貨成本。

And so when that business does well, it tends to improve the overall gross margin of the business. That effort on the commercial income relating to suppliers, I would tell you, is a product of many years of capability building and focus. And as you know, the history of OXXO has been one of every year creating a series of initiatives that create new layers of value. And we're always thinking one, three, five, ten years out, what do we need to be doing today? So today you're seeing the harvest of years of capability building, hiring of people, development of the system so that we can offer suppliers very varied and segmented opportunities for consumer promotions. So that is we're harvesting that today. I don't know if you have anything to add.

因此，當該業務表現良好時，往往會提高該業務的整體毛利率。我想告訴你，在與供應商相關的商業收入方面所做的努力是多年能力建設和關注的產物。如您所知，OXXO 的歷史就是每年都會推出一系列舉措，創造新的價值層。我們總是在思考一年、三年、五年、十年後，今天需要做些什麼？因此，今天您看到了多年來的能力建構、人員招募、系統開發的成果，以便我們可以為供應商提供多種多樣的、細分的消費者促銷機會。這就是我們今天的收穫。不知道你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yes. Hi, Ben. This is Juan. I mean, I would just add. Within that role that OXXO has increasingly played as a partner of our suppliers' marketing efforts. You are seeing kind of the early days of not just in the physical store, obviously, banners on the walls, decals on the doors of the coolers, that sort of thing, displays kiosks. But the early days of digital, screens at the stores and other ways through which the commercial income is being expanded into the digital realm.

是的。嗨，本。這是胡安。我的意思是，我只想補充一下。在這角色中，OXXO 越來越多地成為我們供應商行銷工作的合作夥伴。你看到的不僅僅是實體店的早期，顯然，牆上的橫幅，冷卻器門上的貼花，諸如此類的東西，展示亭。但在數位時代的早期，商店的螢幕和其他方式將商業收入擴展到數位領域。

And, of course, this also will involve Digital at FEMSA in larger ways. The other comment I wanted to make is in the kind of the old school services, which to Martin's point continues to perform well, in addition to whatever is happening on the Digital@FEMSA side, we did see double-digit growth in financial services. But that's just kind of more people going to the store and paying their bills and paying for their Temu and Shane purchases and other different things that we're doing with Amazon, and so, kind of the same old bricks and mortar, give people more reasons to come to the store. And we are being -- our colleagues are being very successful on that front.

當然，這也將在更大程度上涉及 FEMSA 的數位化。我想發表的另一條評論是關於老式服務，就 Martin 的觀點而言，這種服務繼續表現良好，除了 Digital@FEMSA 方面發生的一切之外，我們確實看到了金融服務的兩位數增長。但這只是更多的人去商店支付賬單，支付他們購買的 Temu 和 Shane 商品以及我們與亞馬遜所做的其他不同的事情，所以，同樣的舊實體，給人們更多來商店的理由。我們的同事在這方面非常成功。

Okay, perfect. Thank you very much.

好的，完美。非常感謝。

Thank you, sir. (Operator Instructions) We'll now move to Rodrigo Alcantara calling from UBS. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

謝謝您，先生。（操作員說明）我們現在將轉至從瑞銀 (UBS) 撥打羅德里戈·阿爾坎塔拉 (Rodrigo Alcantara) 的電話。請繼續。您的線路已開通。

Hi, thanks for checking my question. Just follow-up here on the gross margin is quite impressive. I mean, maybe you can just break down, I mean, how much also a proportion would you say could be attributed to the commercial income and how much would you say could be attributed to the services, which is also very interesting what you commented, Juan. I mean, 50-50, 40-50, you could give us some more granularity on that just for us to assess the sustainability of the gross margin expansion would be very helpful? That would be my question. Thank you.

您好，感謝您檢查我的問題。光是追蹤這裡的毛利率就相當可觀了。我的意思是，也許你可以分解一下，我的意思是，你說有多少比例可以歸因於商業收入，有多少比例可以歸因於服務，你所說的也很有趣，胡安.我的意思是，50-50、40-50，您可以給我們更多的粒度，這對我們評估毛利率擴張的可持續性會非常有幫助嗎？這就是我的問題。謝謝。

Thank you. Hey, Rodrigo, this is Juan. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you, right? So look, commercial income is very relevant, right? I would say, and some of you will remember my comments from a year ago or a year and a half ago, having opened the stores to both brewers, right?

謝謝。嘿，羅德里戈，這是胡安。我可以告訴你，但那樣的話我必須殺了你，對吧？所以看起來，商業收入非常相關，對嗎？我想說，你們中的一些人會記得我一年前或一年半前的評論，向兩家啤酒商開放了商店，對吧？

I mean, opening the stores to the Modelo portfolio always held potential in the sense of having the two large brewers competing for space in what is the most important channel for them. So that is beginning to actually take place. We've become important for a number of suppliers, a number of categories for OXXO also is, bar none, the most important place to deploy resources because we are not just a double-digit, but a significantly double-digit part of their channel structure in Mexico.

我的意思是，向 Modelo 產品組合開設商店總是具有潛力，因為這兩家大型啤酒製造商可以在對他們來說最重要的管道中爭奪空間。所以這已經開始真正發生了。我們對許多供應商來說已經變得很重要，OXXO 的許多品類也是無一例外最重要的資源部署場所，因為我們不僅僅是兩位數的供應商，而且是他們渠道中顯著兩位數的部分墨西哥的結構。

So it works as a partnership, obviously, and it is, I mean, again, I'm not going to tell you a number, but it's very relevant. Now, I did mention a few moments ago that after some years, also for many of you who have been observers of the company for a long time, where we had seen financial services kind of plateau, we are seeing, I don't know if our resurgence is the right word, but certainly, having brought, minority came back, we made some changes to our relationship with BBVA.

因此，顯然，它是一種夥伴關係，我的意思是，我不會告訴你一個數字，但它非常相關。現在，我剛才確實提到，幾年後，對於許多長期觀察該公司的人來說，我們看到金融服務業處於平穩狀態，我們看到，我不知道如果我們的復興這個詞是正確的話，但可以肯定的是，在讓少數族裔回歸之後，我們對與BBVA 的關係做出了一些改變。

And I mentioned a few moments ago, some of these bigger e-commerce players for whom a lot of the purchases are, people will do a purchase online, but then they prefer to pay in cash at the store. Because they don't want to provide their data online or for whatever reason they feel more comfortable paying in cash.

我剛才提到，在一些較大的電子商務參與者中，人們會在網上購物，但他們更喜歡在商店支付現金。因為他們不想在網路上提供數據，或者出於某種原因他們覺得用現金支付更舒服。

So things that did not exist two, three years ago are happening now on the financial services side. So I would say those two are obviously the bulk of what's driving the expansion. But that's been true for a long time, right? And I would say, if I have to say which is bigger, I would say commercial income is bigger. But yes, that's I think as far as I would take it.

因此，兩三年前不存在的事情現在正在金融服務方面發生。所以我想說，這兩個顯然是推動擴張的主要因素。但這已經很長一段時間了，對吧？我想說，如果我必須說哪個更大，我會說商業收入更大。但是，是的，這就是我所認為的。

That's helpful, Juan. Also on this front, a couple of quarters ago, months ago, you announced a partnership with Amazon, Mexico on that. Could you give us any update on this? Is this something also that is contributing to the service income line? That would be all. Thank you very much.

這很有幫助，胡安。同樣在這方面，幾個季度前、幾個月前，您宣布與墨西哥亞馬遜建立合作關係。您能給我們提供有關這方面的任何更新嗎？這是否也有助於服務收入線？僅此而已。非常感謝。

I mean, we've been working with Amazon for a while, as you know, in terms of the click and collect and having packages kind of under the counter. We are making some efforts to see whether there's a lockers alternative that we can deploy at some of the stores. We work with not just Amazon, we work with other e-commerce players where you can pay for your purchase, as I mentioned, some of them, but people like Mercado Libre where you can also do that now. Y

我的意思是，正如你所知，我們已經與亞馬遜合作了一段時間，在點擊提貨以及在櫃檯下處理包裹方面。我們正在努力看看是否有可以在某些商店部署的儲物櫃替代品。我們不僅與亞馬遜合作，還與其他電子商務公司合作，正如我所提到的，你可以在其中一些公司中支付購買費用，但像 Mercado Libre 這樣的公司現在也可以這樣做。是

ou can obviously do gift cards to another products. I mean, it's a very dynamic part of the business, right, where every month, every quarter, we try to have more -- again, more at the end of the day, it's more reasons for people to come to the store. They generate profit streams, but they also bring footfall, right? So it works out for us.

您顯然可以為其他產品製作禮品卡。我的意思是，這是業務中非常有活力的部分，對吧，每個月、每個季度，我們都會嘗試提供更多產品——最終，更多的產品是人們來到商店的更多理由。它們產生利潤流，但也帶來客流量，對吧？所以這對我們來說很有效。

Great. Thank you, Juan.

偉大的。謝謝你，胡安。

Sure.

當然。

Thank you, much sir. We will now move to Ricardo Alves calling from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

非常感謝您，先生。我們現在將接聽來自摩根士丹利的里卡多·阿爾維斯的電話。請繼續。

Hi, everyone. I had some technical issues. Can you hear me?

大家好。我遇到了一些技術問題。你聽得到我嗎？

Yes. Yes, Ricardo.

是的。是的，里卡多。

Thank you very much. Thanks for the call. Thanks for the opportunity. What's even more impressive to us about your gross margin expansion is that you deliver that in the context of average tickets that were in line with inflation and not above inflation as we've seen consistently over the past few quarters. So, I wanted to talk about your average ticket as well.

非常感謝。感謝您的來電。感謝您提供的機會。更令我們印象深刻的是，你們的毛利率擴張是在平均票價與通貨膨脹一致的情況下實現的，而不是高於通貨膨脹，正如我們在過去幾個季度中一直看到的那樣。所以，我也想談談你的平均票價。

Appreciate already the comments you made on the gross margin expansion, but thinking about your same-store sales and the component of average ticket, what were the main drivers in your view to deliver above inflation before the second quarter?

我已經很欣賞您對毛利率擴張的評論，但考慮到您的同店銷售額和平均票價的組成部分，您認為第二季之前實現高於通膨的主要驅動因素是什麼？

And then in turn, what were the drivers for you to perform just in line with inflation in the second quarter? I'm just trying to think of reasons that impaired that performance in the second quarter so that we can see above inflation figures as we move into the second half.

那麼反過來，是什麼推動你們在第二季的業績與通膨保持一致？我只是想思考損害第二季業績的原因，以便我們在進入下半年時能夠看到高於通膨的數據。

I mean, I would understand the traffic being down because of the holiday shift, but maybe there's more details on the mix of products and maybe categories that were underperforming because of the holiday or maybe because of the election that maybe it's going to be away and we could go back to above inflation ticket. So that's my first question kind of related to same-store sales going forward, but focused on average ticket.

我的意思是，我會理解由於假期班次而導致流量下降，但也許有更多關於產品組合的詳細信息，也許還有由於假期或選舉而表現不佳的類別，也許它會消失，我們可以回到高於通貨膨脹的票。這是我的第一個問題，與未來的同店銷售有關，但重點是平均票價。

My second question, we've been positively impressed over the past few months on the shareholder remuneration front, over $2.5 billion of buybacks and dividends. When you reflect, I think that maybe this is a question to Martín, when you reflect on the announcement made on February versus your current execution, which in my opinion is above expectations, what are the key learnings or with the learnings that you've had, are you willing to change in any way the announcement that you made in terms of your cash location down the road?

我的第二個問題，過去幾個月我們在股東薪酬方面給我們留下了積極的印象，回購和股息超過 25 億美元。當你反思時，我認為這可能是向馬丁提出的問題，當你反思二月份發布的公告與當前的執行情況時（我認為這超出了預期），關鍵的經驗教訓是什麼或你已經學到的經驗教訓是什麼？

You did another accelerated share repurchase. Is that the main focus going forward or perhaps another dividend early next year? And specifically for 2024, can we be getting closer to $3 billion in total return based on everything that you did and you can still be active on local buybacks in Mexico? Sorry for the long question and thanks again for the time.

您又進行了一次加速股票回購。這是未來的主要焦點還是明年初的另一筆股利？特別是到 2024 年，根據您所做的一切，我們的總回報能否接近 30 億美元，並且您仍然可以積極參與墨西哥的本地回購？抱歉問了這麼長的問題，再次感謝您抽出時間。

On the capital allocation, I mentioned it in my comments. We can always consistently reevaluate the capital return to shareholders, which is one of the core commitments made during FEMSA forward. So that is a history that will never end. There's no final chapter on capital return. So as we gain clarity on organic and inorganic opportunities available to us, as we understand the macro environments in which we're operating and the challenges or opportunities that create, and as we see the cash generation that our businesses are generating, and in particular the return that we're getting from the organic investments that we're making, we will have to reevaluate this consistently.

關於資本配置，我在評論中提到。我們始終能夠始終如一地重新評估股東的資本回報，這是 FEMSA 前進期間做出的核心承諾之一。所以這是一段永遠不會結束的歷史。沒有關於資本回報的最後一章。因此，當我們清楚地了解我們可以利用的有機和無機機會時，當我們了解我們經營所在的宏觀環境以及所創造的挑戰或機會時，當我們看到我們的業務正在產生現金時，特別是我們從有機投資中獲得的回報，我們必須不斷地重新評估。

But our dividend now is up to over $800 million. That's the ordinary. That's a very sacred number that going forward we will protect and maintain as much as that is possible for us. As to the extraordinaries, again, of the 3 billion that we promised that we would return to the markets in an extraordinary fashion, we've returned 1.8 billion. As to whether we will accelerate the remaining 1.2 billion, that is yet to be seen. And the determination of whether it will be dividends or shares will be determined by market conditions generally. So when we see opportunities to buy our shares at a compelling price, we will do so. And if not, we always have available to us the ability to repay through extraordinary dividends.

但我們現在的股利高達8億多美元。這就是普通的。這是一個非常神聖的數字，今後我們將盡可能地保護和維護它。至於非凡的，我們承諾將以非凡的方式返回市場的 30 億美元中，我們已經返回了 18 億美元。至於剩下的12億是否會加速，還有待觀察。至於是分紅還是股份，一般會根據市場狀況來決定。因此，當我們看到有機會以令人信服的價格購買我們的股票時，我們就會這樣做。如果沒有，我們始終有能力透過特別股息進行償還。

And I make this judgment almost every month. We meet. We discuss what our plans are, how our results are coming, how we see the markets, how we see the opportunities in the short, medium term, and on the basis of that. So I want to tell you that whether we will or will not return the additional 1.2 billion because that's the decision that's made, when we will return that 1.2 billion because that's the decision that's going to be made based on market conditions. So I hope that's helpful and that answers your question.

我幾乎每個月都會做出這樣的判斷。我們見面了。我們討論我們的計劃是什麼，我們的結果如何，我們如何看待市場，我們如何看待短期、中期的機會，並在此基礎上進行討論。所以我想告訴大家，我們是否會返還額外的12億，因為這是我們做出的決定，當我們返還那12億時，因為這是根據市場情況做出的決定。所以我希望這對您有所幫助並回答您的問題。

Yes, no, let me take a stab, Ricardo, on the same store sales conversation. I mean, certainly the quarter, as Martín described in the opening remarks, is a very strange quarter in terms of each month having one-offs or tough comparisons.

是的，不，里卡多，讓我來談談同一家商店的銷售對話。我的意思是，正如馬丁在開場白中所描述的那樣，這個季度確實是一個非常奇怪的季度，因為每個月都有一次性或艱難的比較。

Generally, I think the subject of tough comparisons is a bit of a constant. I think we've mentioned at the outset that for the month of June, we were lapping a 20% growth for same-store sales. And this was both in terms of the ticket that you focus on the question, but also traffic, right? So we've talked a little bit about segmentation and revenue management capabilities being developed at OXXO. Obviously, that should continue to help us drive pricing, hopefully above inflation.

一般來說，我認為嚴格比較的主題有點恆定。我想我們一開始就提到過，6 月的同店銷售額成長了 20%。這既是你關注的問題的門票，也是流量，對吧？我們已經討論了 OXXO 正在開發的細分和收入管理功能。顯然，這應該會繼續幫助我們推動定價，預計將高於通膨。

If I take a step back and I look at how the year is evolving, even thinking about margin for a second, in the first quarter, we saw the contraction at the operating level be bigger and hopefully getting smaller now. Certainly, sequentially from first quarter to second quarter, it did get smaller, and hopefully we can continue to shoot for that flat margin for the full year.

如果我退後一步，看看這一年是如何發展的，甚至考慮第一季的利潤率，我們看到營運水準的收縮更大，現在希望能縮小。當然，從第一季到第二季度，它確實有所縮小，希望我們能夠繼續爭取全年保持平穩的利潤率。

But in the same-store sales front as well, we are getting into easier comps. We get into the second half we're getting into easier comps. So that should help in terms of the number that we print for third and fourth quarter. One thing that is true, though, and that's kind of bigger than FEMSA, is that just historically, after elections, second half after elections, sometimes there's a bit of softness out there in terms of the consumer environment. We'll see what happens this time around.

但在同店銷售方面，我們也正進入更容易的競爭階段。進入下半場，我們的比賽變得更加容易。因此，這應該有助於我們第三和第四季度列印的數量。不過，有一件事是真實的，而且比 FEMSA 更重要的是，從歷史上看，在選舉後，選舉後的下半年，有時消費者環境會出現一些疲軟。我們會看看這次會發生什麼事。

But we're optimistic that the tools that we have and the capabilities that we have today that we maybe didn't have a year ago, two years ago, combined with a more normal comp base where we're not lapping 15s and 17s and 18s should make for a set of numbers for the second half that is kind of which is more normal. And as I've said before, we'll see the new algorithm for same-store sales ends up being better than what we used to havebefore COVID when we talked about 5% same-store sales.

但我們樂觀地認為，我們擁有的工具和我們今天擁有的能力，我們可能一年前、兩年前都沒有，再加上更正常的比較基礎，我們不會在 15 年代和 17 年代重疊， 18應該是下半場的一組數字，這是比較正常的。正如我之前所說，我們將看到同店銷售的新演算法最終會比新冠疫情之前我們討論的同店銷售 5% 之前的演算法更好。

It's kind of the mid-single budget that many of you have heard me say a thousand times. We'll see where we end up if we can do a little bit better than that. But then we'll also make some assumptions about inflation and about inflation. And so obviously we got some news this morning about inflation picking up a little bit. So we'll have to deal with that. But generally speaking, I think we feel good about our ability to structurally improve on the algorithm with these new capabilities that are being developed at OXXO.

這是一種中等單人預算，你們中的許多人已經聽我說過一千遍了。如果我們能做得更好一點，我們會看看最終的結果。但隨後我們也將對通貨膨脹和通貨膨脹做出一些假設。很明顯，我們今天早上得到了一些有關通膨略有上升的消息。所以我們必須處理這個問題。但總的來說，我認為我們對利用 OXXO 正在開發的這些新功能從結構上改進演算法的能力感到滿意。

And I would just add, look, in a competitive environment, and we live in a competitive environment, our policy is not just to look at inflation and to say, I'm going to increase it above inflation. I mean, that's an unsustainable business model. Because part of the secret that OXXO has always had is that it is price competitive to other alternative retailers, but it is extremely convenient. And so being respectful of that principle of our success, what we need to do is drive more traffic into our stores. We need to drive more opportunities for the consumers to come to our store to do more things in that store. Be they services, be they food, be they other solutions that we can bring to them.

我想補充一點，在競爭環境中，我們生活在競爭環境中，我們的政策不僅僅是關注通貨膨脹，然後說，我將把通貨膨脹率提高到高於通貨膨脹的水平。我的意思是，這是一種不可持續的商業模式。因為 OXXO 一直擁有的部分秘密是，它比其他替代零售商具有價格競爭力，但又極為方便。因此，尊重我們成功的這項原則，我們需要做的就是吸引更多人流進入我們的商店。我們需要為消費者提供更多機會來我們的商店做更多的事情。無論是服務、食物或我們能為他們帶來的其他解決方案。

And so, we tend to focus really on revenue growth generally more than the ticket per se and that ticket relative to inflation, because that is dictated in many instances by market conditions as opposed to whatever we feel we want to do or not do. And we focus a lot more on margin. As a good retailer, it's about the gross margin and maximizing that as much as possible.

因此，我們通常更傾向於關注收入成長，而不是門票本身以及相對於通貨膨脹的門票，因為這在許多情況下是由市場條件決定的，而不是我們認為我們想做或不想做的任何事情。我們更加關注利潤。作為一個優秀的零售商，最重要的是毛利率並盡可能地最大化毛利率。

So I understand your question, and I know it's a figure that people from the outside look a lot at because it's easy to understand. It's publicly available. You can compare across retailers, but the formula, the secret sauce is a little bit more complex. And to be honest, if you ask me all the ingredients, I could tell you all the ingredients, but the components of the mix actually changes. And it's changing over time. It changes by season. It changes as we develop new. So our secret sauce is always getting better, and the mix of the ingredients is changing.

所以我理解你的問題，我知道這是一個外部人士經常關注的數字，因為它很容易理解。它是公開的。你可以在不同的零售商之間進行比較，但配方、秘訣要複雜一些。老實說，如果你問我所有的成分，我可以告訴你所有的成分，但混合物的成分實際上會改變。而且它隨著時間的推移而改變。它隨季節而變化。隨著我們開發新產品，它會改變。所以我們的秘方總是變得更好，而且成分的搭配也在不斷變化。

That's a very fair point, Martín, and Juan as well. So thanks for the caller. Really helpful.

這是一個非常公平的觀點，馬丁和胡安也是如此。所以感謝來電者。真的很有幫助。

Thank you very much, Mr. Alves. We'll move to Bob Ford of Bank of America. Please go ahead, sir.

非常感謝您，阿爾維斯先生。我們將請美國銀行的鮑伯·福特發言。請繼續，先生。

Hey, thank you. Excuse me. Good morning, Martín, Juan, and thanks for taking my question. How are same-store sales in July at OXXO Mexico? And how are you thinking about the legislative proposals to limit the work week and the funding or process changes to accommodate those? And then one, you touched on the change in the relationship with BBVA, and I had read that they positioned 45,000 FC devices in your stores. And I was curious if you could expand on the comment about the change in the relationship and maybe how these MPOS devices are playing into that? Thank you.

嘿，謝謝你。打擾一下。早安，馬丁、胡安，感謝您提出我的問題。OXXO Mexico 7 月同店銷售額如何？您如何考慮限制工作週的立法提案以及適應這些要求的資金或流程變化？然後，您談到了與 BBVA 關係的變化，我讀到他們在您的商店中放置了 45,000 台 FC 設備。我很好奇您是否可以詳細闡述有關關係變化的評論，以及這些 MPOS 設備如何發揮作用？謝謝。

Maybe start with the end of your question, and we'll try to cover everything. Generally, I think the relationship with our partners on the financial services side is it's interesting over time how it changes, right? Because it's the type of customer that we service and the financial services you know, the different banks have different positions, I guess, in terms of how much of that they want OXXO, kind of outsourced to OXXO. So it ebbs and flows, and we have really good relationship with BBVA.

也許從你問題的結尾開始，我們會盡力涵蓋所有內容。總的來說，我認為我們與金融服務方面的合作夥伴的關係隨著時間的推移會發生怎樣的變化，這很有趣，對吧？因為這是我們服務的客戶類型和你知道的金融服務，所以我猜不同的銀行在他們想要 OXXO 的程度方面有不同的立場，有點外包給 OXXO。所以它有起有落，我們與 BBVA 的關係非常好。

The number of transactions that each one of the customers can perform at OXXO per month increased recently. It does cover other aspects in terms of having the devices at the stores. But it's a very dynamic process, right? I wouldn't say love-hate, but certainly different amounts of love in terms of the role that OXXO plays for these retail banks in terms of large chunks of the population that can eventually see OXXO as kind of the place where they bank. And so that's very much a story that is evolving. But right now and I think I connect this to my earlier comment, I think we're going through a really good phase of how we're interacting with our banking partners.

最近，每位客戶每月可以在 OXXO 執行的交易數量有所增加。它確實涵蓋了商店中設備的其他方面。但這是一個非常動態的過程，對吧？我不會說愛恨交織，但就 OXXO 對這些零售銀行所扮演的角色而言，肯定有不同程度的愛，因為大部分人最終都會將 OXXO 視為他們銀行的地方。所以這在很大程度上是一個正在演變的故事。但現在，我想我將這與我之前的評論聯繫起來，我認為我們正在經歷一個與銀行合作夥伴互動的非常好的階段。

In terms of July, I think, I mean, we don't have, obviously, the month's not over yet, but I go back to the comment I made a few months ago that second half of election years, there's plenty of data that shows that it would not be surprising to see a bit of a deceleration. We'll have to wait to see if that materializes. But yes, I would say what we've seen is we'll be consistent with that

就七月而言，我認為，我的意思是，我們沒有，顯然，這個月還沒有結束，但我回到幾個月前的評論，即選舉年的下半年，有大量數據表明看到一點減速並不奇怪。我們必須等待，看看這是否會成為現實。但是，是的，我想說的是，我們所看到的是，我們將堅持這一點

Yes, I'll just emphasize what Juan said. Normally, as the new government administration takes over, there tends to be a little bit less execution on the budget and as new authorities come in and make judgments about priorities and understanding where they stand. So it would not be surprising for the second half of Mexico. Obviously, this should be a much softer landing in terms of a transition of government, given that the same political party won and the close working relationship between the soon-to-be former President and the future President. So we'll have to wait and see on that side.

是的，我只是強調胡安所說的。通常情況下，隨著新政府上任，預算的執行往往會稍微減少，隨著新當局的介入，對優先事項做出判斷並了解他們的立場。所以墨西哥下半場出現這樣的情況也就不足為奇了。顯然，考慮到同一政黨獲勝以及即將成為前總統和未來總統之間密切的工作關係，就政府過渡而言，這應該是一個更軟的著陸。所以我們必須在這一方面拭目以待。

And then just lastly, how are you thinking about some of the proposals to reduce the workweek? I mean, how abrupt do you think they can be and how do you think you can fund those?

最後，您如何看待一些減少每週工作時間的提議？我的意思是，你認為它們會有多突然？

Look, literally, we're just reading publicly available information. It's our understanding that the workweek will not be treated in this short legislative session that will happen in September. I understand that's off the table. But again, I'm reading what everybody else is reading. We do expect in the medium term that the reduction of the workweek in Mexico, the government has been very clear that it's an agenda and as always, we will respect the law and will implement the requirements of the law. Generally, we're sort of agnostic to these things as long as it's equally applied across the competitive environment. Because then everybody has to react with the appropriate hours and many of their outlets and dealing with the cost impact of those issues.

聽著，從字面上看，我們只是在閱讀公開資訊。據我們了解，九月舉行的這次簡短的立法會議不會考慮每週工作時間。我知道這是不可能的。但同樣，我正在閱讀其他人正在閱讀的內容。我們確實預計，從中期來看，墨西哥政府已經非常明確地表示，減少每週工作時間是一個議程，我們將一如既往地尊重法律並執行法律的要求。一般來說，只要這些東西同樣適用於競爭環境，我們對這些東西是不可知的。因為這樣每個人都必須在適當的時間和他們的許多網點做出反應，並處理這些問題的成本影響。

And until now, all of these issues have been implemented in that fashion. It hasn't been particularly targeted towards a particular industry or a particular type of retail. So as long as it's applied equally and across the board, we will react and we believe that at the end of the day, we're in a position to continue to compete as well as we've competed against everyone else. As to the minimum wage, again, during the campaign, reading exactly the same thing everybody else is reading. The future president announced that it is her intention to continue to increase the minimum wage, albeit at a slower rate than it was in the last five or six years. So we continue to expect that to happen.

到目前為止，所有這些問題都已以這種方式實施。它並沒有特別針對特定行業或特定類型的零售業。因此，只要它得到平等和全面的應用，我們就會做出反應，我們相信最終，我們能夠繼續競爭，就像我們與其他所有人競爭一樣。至於最低工資，在競選期間，我讀到的內容與其他人讀到的內容完全相同。這位未來的總統宣布，她打算繼續提高最低工資，儘管速度比過去五、六年還要慢。所以我們繼續期望這種情況會發生。

Reacting to that, we are being proactive in every quarterly business reviews that we do. The OXXO team is doing an amazing job of finding areas of opportunity for efficiencies through technology, through dynamic scheduling, through shifting responsibilities between store leaders and store area supervisors, the use of part-time work. The other day, they were showing us a mapping that they're doing. They did it across two, 300 types of stores with different segmentation to figure out where the peaks were versus the, "labor capacity" in a store at any given moment.

對此，我們正在積極主動地進行每季的業務審查。OXXO 團隊做得非常出色，他們透過技術、動態調度、商店領導和商店區域主管之間的職責轉移以及利用兼職工作來尋找提高效率的機會領域。前幾天，他們向我們展示了他們正在製作的地圖。他們對 2 300 種不同細分的商店進行了研究，以找出在任何給定時刻商店中的峰值與「勞動力容量」的位置。

And despite what you would imagine, they saw an enormous number of opportunities where, hey, do we really need everybody to start their shift at exactly the same time? Or can we have some people starting to shift at 8 o'clock in the morning and finishing at four or five and have other people start at 10 but finish at six. And they're playing around with all these mix. Again, that segmentation that we always talk about from the perspective of value proposition is that segmentation that's also happening at an operational level. And again, that, we believe, will give us flexibility and opportunity.

不管你怎麼想，他們看到了大量的機會，嘿，我們真的需要每個人都在同一時間開始輪班嗎？或者我們可以讓一些人早上 8 點開始輪班，四點或五點結束，而其他人則在 10 點開始，六點結束。他們正在嘗試所有這些組合。同樣，我們總是從價值主張的角度談論的細分也是在營運層面發生的細分。我們相信，這將為我們帶來靈活性和機會。

And as I said in the past, the increase is the minimum wage for us. As long as it's applied equally, we see it as a positive. It's going to help consumers. It's going to be good for consumers. And consumers who are making more money will be spending more money at OXXO's and will be buying more soft drinks and will be going to more of our pharmacies and taking more trips and using more of our gasoline. So we are in the segments of the economy which generally benefit from the policies that the current government is implementing.

正如我過去所說，增加的工資是我們的最低工資。只要它被平等地應用，我們就會認為它是正面的。它將幫助消費者。這對消費者來說將是件好事。賺更多錢的消費者將在 OXXO's 上花更多的錢，購買更多的軟性飲料，去更多的藥店，進行更多的旅行，使用更多的汽油。因此，我們所處的經濟領域總體上受益於現任政府正在實施的政策。

That makes sense. Thank you so much.

這是有道理的。太感謝了。

Thanks Rob.

謝謝羅布。

Thank you, Mr. Ford. We'll now move to Thiago Bortoluci from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

謝謝你，福特先生。現在我們請來高盛的蒂亞戈·博爾托魯奇 (Thiago Bortoluci)。請繼續。

Yes. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions. My first one is a follow-up on OXXO traffic, right? When we try to isolate here for a calendar on average, you grew traffic by 0.8% in the first half of the year. This is a deceleration from last year, clearly. And it still puts you way below where you used to be pre-pandemic, right, if this is a reasonable base. I know Juan mentioned in one of the answers how important it is traffic to sustain the business model and profitability going forward. But given this relatively low run rate that you are printing, how realistic it is to expect an acceleration in traffic in the back end and in 2025? And what are the drivers for this? This is the first one.

是的。大家早安。感謝您提出問題。我的第一個是 OXXO 流量的後續，對吧？當我們嘗試在這裡隔離日曆時，平均而言，上半年的流量增加了 0.8%。顯然，這比去年有所放緩。如果這是一個合理的基礎的話，它仍然使你的水平低於大流行前的水平，對吧。我知道胡安在其中一個答案中提到流量對於維持未來的商業模式和獲利能力有多麼重要。但考慮到您列印的運行率相對較低，預計後端流量在 2025 年加速的現實程度如何？其驅動因素為何？這是第一個。

And the second one is still on OXXO, but now on profitability. You posted more than 300 basis points expansion in gross margin, but essentially flattish operating margin, right? I know in the press release you mentioned labor in Latin America as directionally the headwinds. But if you could help us quantifying those, which one is the most important. If it's labor, this pressure should ease next year. If it's Latin, it could be more structural. So just to help us frame the evolution of SG&A in OXXO? Thank you very much.

第二個仍然是 OXXO，但現在是獲利能力。你們公佈的毛利率成長超過 300 個基點，但營業利潤率基本上持平，對吧？我知道您在新聞稿中提到拉丁美洲的勞動力是直接的阻力。但如果你能幫助我們量化這些，哪一個才是最重要的。如果是勞動力問題，明年這種壓力應該會減輕。如果是拉丁語，可能會更具結構性。那麼只是為了幫助我們在 OXXO 中建構 SG&A 的演變？非常感謝。

Just one second, please. Juan will take the part on the traffic, and then I'll take the one on the operating margin.

請稍等一下。胡安將承擔流量部分，然後我將承擔營運利潤部分。

Yes, so let me start. Tiago. I mean, on the traffic side, if we go kind of back a few years to when you were talking about pre-COVID, and I think that is very relevant. We had this conversation I'm sure, with many of you before COVID. We would talk about within that 5% same-store sales that I mentioned a few minutes ago, that was kind of my go-to number, assuming the Banco de Mexico, the ban for inflation between three and four, we would get, you know, of that five, it would be basically 4% ticket and 1% traffic, right? 1% traffic was kind of what we aspired to back then. And I would say it probably continues to be what we would aspire to right now. I mean, traffic is a lot harder to come by than ticket.

是的，那麼讓我開始吧。蒂亞戈.我的意思是，在交通方面，如果我們回到幾年前你談論新冠疫情之前的情況，我認為這非常相關。我確信，在新冠疫情爆發之前，我們就和你們中的許多人進行了這樣的對話。我們會討論我幾分鐘前提到的 5% 同店銷售額，這是我的首選數字，假設墨西哥銀行禁止通貨膨脹 3 到 4，我們會得到，你你知道，這五個中，基本上是4%的門票和1% 的流量，對吧？1% 的流量是我們當時所渴望的。我想說，這可能仍然是我們現在所渴望的。我的意思是，交通比門票更難獲得。

There's also the factor of how, the fact that we're adding 4%, somewhere between 4% and 5% new stores every year. What does that mean for the individual traffic of a store? But, I would personally sign on the dotted line if we could get to that one point of incremental traffic, because to Martin's earlier comment, I mean, at the end of the day, getting more products and services and just figuring out more needs to satisfy at the store is really hard, right? And we do it well, and we've done it for a long time. We expect to continue to do it. But generally, it will be -- I'm talking about 20% of the safe store sales number. If you can do 20% of that being traffic, I think you're doing a great job.

還有一個因素，我們每年都會增加 4%（約 4% 到 5%）的新店。這對商店的個人流量意味著什麼？但是，如果我們能夠達到增量流量的這一點，我個人會在虛線上簽名，因為根據馬丁之前的評論，我的意思是，最終，獲得更多的產品和服務，並找出更多的需求在商店裡滿足真的很難，對吧？我們做得很好，而且我們已經這樣做了很長時間。我們期望繼續這樣做。但一般來說，我說的是安全商店銷售額的 20%。如果你能做到其中 20% 是流量，我認為你做得很好。

Quite frankly, what we've seen the last couple of years is just not -- where we were doing 15% since their sales growth, where 8% was ticket and 7% was traffic. That's just not replicable. It certainly had a component, as we discussed at the time that had to do with recovery post-COVID, right? People going back to certain activities, going back to certain places, going back to the office, which is something maybe the one that continues to happen as we speak. But I would expect traffic, again, to normalize somewhere around one point within the same-store sales calculation. And I think we'll be happy with that.

坦白說，我們過去幾年所看到的情況並非如此——自從他們的銷售成長以來，我們的成長率為 15%，其中 8% 是門票，7% 是流量。那是不可複製的。正如我們當時討論的那樣，它肯定有一個與新冠疫情后恢復有關的組成部分，對嗎？人們回到某些活動，回到某些地方，回到辦公室，這可能是在我們說話時繼續發生的事情。但我預期客流量會在同店銷售計算中的某個點左右正常化。我想我們會對此感到高興。

As to the issue of expenses, yes, they were 20-plus percent this quarter. Part of what you're seeing is the acceleration of growth in Latam-OXXO, where there has been an investment in people and capabilities relating to the more accelerated expansion that we're trying to achieve in some of these countries which are not in Mexico. Without a doubt, labor is an issue. But so the number, the total number for Mexico is actually below that by I would say, 25%. So Mexico itself was more in the sort of 15% range. And then what you're seeing is the OXXO Latam and that investment taking up and causing the entire number to go up to 20%. And so I would say labor is a driver. And I would say capability building and building up the teams for more aggressive expansion for implementing some of the initiatives that we're developing in Mexico, transporting them to the countries in OXXO Latam. That's what I would have to say on cost and expenses.

至於費用問題，是的，本季費用增加了 20% 以上。您所看到的部分原因是 Latam-OXXO 的成長加速，那裡對人員和能力進行了投資，與我們試圖在墨西哥以外的一些國家實現更快的擴張有關。毫無疑問，勞動力是一個問題。但墨西哥的總數實際上低於我想說的 25%。所以墨西哥本身更多的是在 15% 的範圍內。然後你看到的是 OXXO Latam，該投資佔據並導致整個數字上升到 20%。所以我想說勞動力是一個驅動力。我想說的是能力建設和團隊建設，以實現更積極的擴張，以實施我們在墨西哥制定的一些舉措，並將其運送到 OXXO Latam 的國家。這就是我要說的關於成本和費用的內容。

And I would just connect, I mean, that last comment on OXXO Latam, I mean, the reason this is beginning to move the needle a little bit here is that in some of these places in particular, I would say in Colombia, we have gotten to the place where the value proposition is, we believe, the right one. And so the pace of growth is increasing. And so the platform, the team that you need in place to kind of take that operation to the next stage in terms of just sheer scale, we are at that inflection point. And so that's, I think, where Martín is coming from in terms of those expenses increasing in what is otherwise a very small part of the division, right, that you think about South America versus Mexico.

我只是想連接，我的意思是，關於 OXXO Latam 的最後評論，我的意思是，這開始稍微改變的原因是，特別是在其中一些地方，我想說的是在哥倫比亞，我們有我們相信，我們的價值主張是正確的。因此，成長速度正在加快。因此，就純粹的規模而言，您需要建立平台和團隊來將該操作推向下一階段，我們正處於這個轉折點。因此，我認為，這就是馬丁的來源，因為這些費用增加了，而這些費用在該部門中只佔很小的一部分，對吧，你想想南美與墨西哥。

Thanks both. If I may, just a quick follow up. When you frame your ambition, right, for Latin America, which is huge, would you say you would need to invest more OpEx to get there or you are already ballpark where you want to be?

謝謝兩位。如果可以的話，請快速跟進。當你為幅員遼闊的拉丁美洲製定自己的雄心壯志時，你會說你需要投資更多的營運支出才能實現這一目標，還是你已經大致達到了你想要的目標？

I mean, there will definitely be an investment. I mean, the more successful you are, the more stores you have. I mean, when you reach a certain level, you get some operating leverage. But in the retail business, as compared to other businesses the number of people in the stores is a function of the number of stores that you have. After you've found the right mix of people that you need in a store, ideally, it sort of starts being a bit variable. Your distribution costs. Yes, it's sort of a step function because you build a distribution center, you have some excess capacity and you fill it up, but at some point you fill up your distribution center and you ideally have enough stores that distribution center reaches peak efficiency.

我的意思是，肯定會有投資。我的意思是，你越成功，你擁有的商店就越多。我的意思是，當你達到某個水平時，你就會獲得一些營運槓桿。但在零售業中，與其他行業相比，商店裡的人數是你擁有的商店數量的函數。理想情況下，當你在商店中找到所需的合適人員組合後，情況就會開始變得有些變化。您的分銷成本。是的，這有點像階躍函數，因為您建立了一個配送中心，有一些過剩的產能，然後將其填滿，但在某個時刻，您填滿了配送中心，並且理想情況下您擁有足夠的商店，使配送中心達到最高效率。

But every certain number of stores, you're going to be opening up a certain amount of distribution centers. So, now, if you're growing your top line, it will make sense. The beginning is the most painful. The beginning is always the most painful because you have to invest ahead of the profitability that's coming from the new store. To construct the capability to be opening up hundreds of stores in a country, the lead time for opening up hundreds of stores will be a year, six months to a year. The negotiation of the rent, finding the right locations, getting the appropriate permits in place, negotiating with all the suppliers so that store can open is a process. So, the most painful part is at the beginning and then thereafter, operating expenses as a percentage of the total start coming down and then you're normalized and everything sort of starts growing relatively in line and related to each other. It's hard to predict.

但每開設一定數量的商店，就需要開設一定數量的配送中心。所以，現在，如果您正在增加收入，那就有意義了。開始是最痛苦的。開始總是最痛苦的，因為你必須在新店獲利之前進行投資。建立在一個國家開百家店的能力，開百家店的周期是一年、六個月到一年。租金談判、尋找合適的地點、獲得適當的許可證、與所有供應商談判以便商店開業是一個過程。因此，最痛苦的部分是在一開始，然後是營運費用佔總費用的百分比開始下降，然後你就正常化了，一切都開始相對一致且相互關聯地增長。很難預測。

Now, I will tell you, we always have the ability, if things are not working out, to turn off certain valves and certain costs. So, these are not costs that remain embedded with you for forever if you're not getting the level of success that you're expecting.

現在，我會告訴你，如果事情進展不順利，我們總是有能力關閉某些閥門和某些成本。因此，如果您沒有獲得預期的成功，這些成本不會永遠伴隨您。

That's great. Thank you very much, both.

那太棒了。非常感謝你們兩位。

Thank you very much, sir. We'll now move to Alvaro Garcia of BTG Pactual. Please go ahead.

非常感謝您，先生。現在我們請 BTG Pactual 的 Alvaro Garcia 發言。請繼續。

Hi, Martín and Juan. Thanks for the taking the questions. My question is on other expenses. So, on page 16 of your release where you walk through sort of your net debt, the other expenses were $405 million versus $261 million last quarter, so a big sort of sequential uptick there. It implies sort of a $100 million run rate. I was wondering if that's related maybe to some intercompany stuff or maybe is there a potential change in your guidance for expenses at digital and corporate going forward? Thank you.

嗨，馬丁和胡安。感謝您接受提問。我的問題是關於其他費用。因此，在新聞稿第 16 頁上，您瀏覽了一些淨債務，其他支出為 4.05 億美元，而上季度為 2.61 億美元，因此出現了大幅連續上升。這意味著運行費用約為 1 億美元。我想知道這是否與某些公司間的事情有關，或者您對未來數字和企業支出的指導是否可能發生變化？謝謝。

Could you repeat those numbers just to make sure we can find the right place and make sure that we're in right spot.

您能否重複這些數字，以確保我們能夠找到正確的位置並確保我們處於正確的位置。

Sure. It's page 16 of the release. It's where you walk through your net debt and adjusted EBITDA ex-cost, and there's another when you walk through your EBITDA of $405 million. That's the other I'm sort of referring to. I suppose I could also refer to the difference between your consolidated EBITDA and your EBITDA of all your reported subsegments, which also seems to be inching closer to $100 million a quarter. So just wanted to really just clarify that guidance for the cash burn at digital and corporate going forward?

當然。這是該新聞稿的第 16 頁。這是您查看淨債務和調整後的 EBITDA 扣除成本的地方，當您查看 4.05 億美元的 EBITDA 時，還有另一個。這就是我所指的另一個。我想我還可以參考您的綜合 EBITDA 與您報告的所有子部門的 EBITDA 之間的差異，該差異似乎也接近每季 1 億美元。所以只是想澄清一下數字和企業未來現金消耗的指導？

Okay. Yes. Again, I'll respond quickly. I'll let two members jump in here. This other, if you look at the footnote, it includes FEMSA's other businesses, so it includes Bara and Digital at FEMSA corporate expenses. I would tell you the bulk of that is Digital at FEMSA at FEMSA corporate expenses. FEMSA corporate expenses, as we've mentioned in the past, is we have an expectation, again, of non-reimbursable expenses and by non-reimbursable expenses, expenses where the business is, we're not providing a service to the business that if it weren't here would by definition need to be in the operations. For example, we have a centralized mergers and acquisitions team. We have a centralized treasury that provides services to the operations. We provide our security arm that provides security to executives and to many of our facilities is here, all that gets reimbursed to us. And again, if we didn't have the security here, each one of the operations would have to have the security.

好的。是的。再次強調，我會盡快回覆。我會讓兩名成員跳進去。這個其他，如果你看腳註，它包括FEMSA的其他業務，所以它包括FEMSA公司費用中的Bara和Digital。我想告訴你，其中大部分是 FEMSA 的數位化費用，由 FEMSA 公司支出。正如我們過去提到的，FEMSA 企業費用是我們預期不可報銷的費用，而不可報銷的費用是企業所在的費用，我們不向企業提供以下服務：如果它不在這裡，根據定義，它需要在操作中。例如，我們有一個集中的併購團隊。我們有一個集中的金庫，為營運提供服務。我們提供安全部門，為高階主管和我們的許多設施提供安全保障，所有這些費用都歸我們所有。再說一次，如果我們這裡沒有安全保障，那麼每項業務都必須有安全保障。

So there's a sort of 100 million of corporate expenses that I've mentioned in the past and there is the burn rate for Digital is around $200 million to $250 million. That $200 million to $250 million does not include the benefits that it brings to OXXO, okay? It does include some things that OXXO makes for, for example, the loyalty program points because it's an arms length transaction between the loyalty program and OXXO and the loyalty program and the gap, but the burn rates are out to us. Right there, you probably have 300 to 350 of the total 405 number that you see there.

我過去提到過，公司的開支有 1 億美元，數位化的燒錢率約為 2 億至 2.5 億美元。那2億到2.5億美元還不包括它為OXXO帶來的好處好嗎？它確實包括 OXXO 所做的一些事情，例如忠誠度計劃積分，因為這是忠誠度計劃和 OXXO 之間的公平交易以及忠誠度計劃和差距，但燒錢率是我們的。就在那裡，您可能看到了 405 總數中的 300 到 350 個。

Yes, I would add in terms of some of the things that are being divested that were part of the other, if you think about Solistica, and you think about Imbera, I mean those are EBITDA positive companies that are being sold. And so, in the comparison, we're losing some of the entities that contributed positive numbers to that other. So that's also, I think, impacting the number.

是的，我想補充一下，一些正在剝離的公司是其他公司的一部分，如果你想到 Solistica，再想到 Imbera，我的意思是，這些都是正在被出售的 EBITDA 為正值的公司。因此，在比較中，我們失去了一些為其他實體貢獻正數的實體。我認為這也影響了這個數字。

Great. Thanks, Martín and Juan. Appreciate it.

偉大的。謝謝，馬丁和胡安。欣賞它。

Sure.

當然。

Thank you much sir. We'll move down to Carlos Laboy of HSBC. Please go ahead.

非常感謝您，先生。我們將請匯豐銀行的卡洛斯·拉博伊發言。請繼續。

Yes, thank you. Juan, on Ben's question earlier, you may want to give some context of how OXXO's margins have expanded since you arrived at the firm, right? Because the scale up that this business has to go through is important context. My question was a different one. Carlsberg just paid 14 times EBITDA for a weak Pepsi bottler with an unclear strategic purpose. So, you know, with one of the best Coke bottlers in the world sitting right there at half the valuation next to you, why isn't it cheap enough for you to buy out the float and deal with the governance problems that relationship with Coke FEMSA raises?

是的，謝謝。Juan，關於 Ben 之前提出的問題，您可能想介紹一下自從您加入公司以來 OXXO 的利潤率是如何擴大的，對吧？因為這項業務必須經歷的規模擴大是重要的背景。我的問題是另一個問題。嘉士伯剛剛以 14 倍的 EBITDA 價格收購了一家戰略目標不明確、實力薄弱的百事可樂裝瓶商。所以，你知道，世界上最好的可口可樂裝瓶商之一就以你旁邊一半的估值坐在那裡，為什麼它不夠便宜讓你買下流通股並處理與可口可樂相關的治理問題FEMSA 加薪？

Hey, Carlos. I mean, on your comment about what's happened to the margin since I got here, I would like to take some credit for that. I just have really good colleagues. I mean, I'll let Martín talk a little bit about the, kind of the strategic part of the cost conversation. Maybe just set it up by saying, you saw the numbers and you wrote on the numbers that Coke FEMSA delivered.

嘿，卡洛斯。我的意思是，對於你對我來到這裡以來利潤發生的情況的評論，我想為此獲得一些榮譽。我只是有非常好的同事。我的意思是，我會讓馬丁談談成本對話中的策略部分。也許只需說，你看到了這些數字，你就寫在了可口可樂 FEMSA 提供的數字上。

The current place where the system is so good, and the level of alignment is so good between the bottlers [ph] and their partners over in Atlanta, that it just, everything is working so well. And this obviously takes us back to the conversations about animal spirits and consolidation and things that could happen. And so those are, I'm sure those are questions that I know that you've all been asking of Ian and his team, but it's good times in Coca-Cola land. But I'll turn over to Martín to maybe make a comment about how the current structure makes sense and what we might be thinking about.

目前的系統非常好，裝瓶商 [ph] 和他們在亞特蘭大的合作夥伴之間的協調水平非常好，一切都運作良好。這顯然讓我們回到了關於動物精神、整合以及可能發生的事情的對話。所以這些是，我確信這些是我知道你們都向伊恩和他的團隊提出的問題，但現在是可口可樂土地上的美好時光。但我可能會請馬丁對當前結構的意義以及我們可能正在考慮的問題發表評論。

Yes, I mean, in effect, you seem to be suggesting a taking private transition of Coco-Cola FEMSA. And as happens with any topic in FEMSA, everything is always on the table, discussed and debated. So I can't tell you this is not an idea. At any given time, we've discussed and debated. And the part of what has weighed historically in our thinking has generally been there are advantages to having Coca-Cola FEMSA publicly traded.

是的，我的意思是，實際上，您似乎建議將可口可樂 FEMSA 私有化。正如 FEMSA 中的任何主題一樣，一切都始終擺在桌面上進行討論和辯論。所以我不能告訴你這不是一個想法。在任何特定時間，我們都曾進行過討論和辯論。從歷史上看，我們認為公開交易可口可樂 FEMSA 具有優勢。

One, it provides a currency through which in the past, we've been able to offer bottlers the opportunity to participate in the equity of whatever combination results from transactions that we undertake. And those bottlers have not always historically wanted to participate in other parts of our necessarily participate in other parts of our business.

第一，它提供了一種貨幣，透過這種貨幣，我們過去能夠為裝瓶商提供參與我們進行的交易的任何組合結果的股權的機會。這些裝瓶商歷來並不總是想參與我們業務的其他部分，也不一定參與我們業務的其他部分。

Number two, Coca-Cola FEMSA has historically -- its balance sheet has historically been a stronger balance sheet than FEMSA's in the regard that it's slightly better rating, it has slightly better cost of funding driven by the participation of Coca-Cola, and the standard identity of a bottling business which has slightly different dynamics than a retail business and a retail business of the nature such as retail. So there are -- number three, I think FEMSA has always felt that Coca-Cola FEMSA being a publicly traded company has generally helped the governance of Coca-Cola FEMSA itself in its relationship with Coca-Cola and with the public, because it requires everything to be discussed through a public board, and that, I think, everybody has seen the merit of that. So it's not taking product for Coca-Cola FEMSA is not nearly a financial decision. There are other elements that one has to think about.

第二，可口可樂 FEMSA 從歷史上看，其資產負債表一直比 FEMSA 的資產負債表更強勁，因為它的評級略好，可口可樂的參與推動了其融資成本略好，而且裝瓶業務的標準標識，其動態與零售業務和零售等性質的零售業務略有不同。第三，我認為 FEMSA 一直認為，可口可樂 FEMSA 作為一家上市公司，總體上有助於管理可口可樂 FEMSA 本身與可口可樂以及公眾的關係，因為它需要所有事情都需要透過公共委員會進行討論，我認為每個人都已經看到了這樣做的優點。因此，不為可口可樂 FEMSA 提供產品幾乎不是一個財務決定。還有其他一些因素需要考慮。

If you find someone as to the 14 times EBITDA, again, sometimes one pays a higher EBITDA for lower performing for a business not because it's a particularly good business but because it's such a bad business that you believe that you can improve so much profitability that you can grow yourself into a lower multiple. And although I do strongly believe, as you suggest, that Coca-Cola FEMSA should be better valued than it currently is given its returns on invested capital and its cash flow generation and its capability building, we could go on and on, and I'm sure both of us would agree because I know that you're a fan of Coca-Cola FEMSA. The reality is the opportunities for dramatically improving the performance simply because we bought out Coca-Cola and the public, or just bought out the public, probably is more limited than the example that you're highlighting.

如果你發現某人的14 倍EBITDA，那麼，有時候，有人會為業績較低的企業支付更高的EBITDA，不是因為這是一家特別好的企業，而是因為這是一家非常糟糕的企業，以至於你相信自己可以提高如此多的獲利能力，以致於您可以將自己成長為更低的倍數。儘管我確實堅信，正如您所建議的那樣，考慮到可口可樂 FEMSA 的投資回報率、現金流生成和能力建設，其估值應該比目前更高，但我們可以繼續下去，我確信我們都會同意，因為我知道您是可口可樂FEMSA 的粉絲。現實是，僅僅因為我們收購了可口可樂和公眾，或者只是收購了公眾，大幅提高業績的機會可能比您強調的例子更加有限。

But I will tell you, we discuss it certainly in the panoply of investment ideas that we consider. And maybe it's not even taking product, buying more, you know, buying some, leveraging the balance sheet, which is a form of buying back shares or buying back equity, buying a portion of what Coca-Cola, I think, part of what Coca-Cola owns, doing share buybacks entirely, or all things that are constantly and repeatedly discussed.

但我會告訴你，我們肯定會在我們考慮的所有投資理念中討論它。也許它甚至沒有採取產品，購買更多，你知道，購買一些，利用資產負債表，這是回購股票或回購股權的一種形式，購買可口可樂的一部分，我認為，一部分可口可樂擁有，完全進行股票回購，或是所有不斷反覆討論的事情。

Martín, how do you value the data from Coke FEMSA and the relationship information from Coke FEMSA that FEMSA needs or could need in the future? What is that worth?

Martín，您如何評價 FEMSA 需要或未來可能需要的可口可樂 FEMSA 數據以及可口可樂 FEMSA 的關係資訊？那有什麼價值？

Oh, if I had the answer to that, I'd be a venture capitalist, and I'd be raising billions on dreams. I can't assign a value to it, and I think we won't know for years what that eventually will be valuable to the entire ecosystem. But that was a tough one to assign a specific number to. I do think we have a conviction that through all of our businesses, Coca-Cola FEMSA and FEMSA in all its iterations. Our pharmacy business is one of the businesses that has the best data. The problem is it's a significantly smaller business, but I believe it has 6 million people in its loyalty program. But even here in Mexico, just in Mexico, I think they may have 6 million members in their loyalty program. And that's an incredible source of information on consumption patterns and needs of the consumer.

哦，如果我有這個問題的答案，我就會成為一名風險投資家，我將為夢想籌集數十億美元。我無法給它價值，而且我認為我們在很多年裡都不會知道它最終對整個生態系統有什麼價值。但這是一個很難分配具體數字的事情。我確實認為，我們堅信，透過我們所有的業務，可口可樂 FEMSA 和 FEMSA 的所有迭代。我們的藥局業務是擁有最好數據的業務之一。問題是它的規模要小得多，但我相信它的忠誠度計劃中有 600 萬人。但即使在墨西哥，就在墨西哥，我認為他們的忠誠度計劃中可能有 600 萬會員。這是有關消費者消費模式和需求的令人難以置信的資訊來源。

Digital at FEMSA, that is the mission of Digital at FEMSA, because it's a long-term bet. It's going to require a lot of work by the way, just standardizing the data so that when a consumer buys an OXXO Gas, we understand that it's the same consumer that's buying an OXXO Mexico that we understood. It's the same consumer that's buying at Fomento@ESA (ph) that we know that they're a mom and pop in Coca-Cola FEMSA.

FEMSA 的數位化，這是 FEMSA 數位化的使命，因為這是一個長期的賭注。順便說一句，這需要做大量的工作，只是標準化數據，這樣當消費者購買 OXXO Gas 時，我們就知道購買 OXXO Mexico 的消費者正是我們所理解的。我們知道，在 Fomento@ESA (ph) 購買產品的消費者是可口可樂 FEMSA 的媽媽和流行人士。

I mean, that is a significantly larger undertaking that I think people understand in integration of systems and standards and then using that information for, amongst other things, consumer promotions and selling the opportunity to make promotions to those consumers or to extend credit because you have a very clear understanding of spending patterns, of developing loyalty programs that drive traffic or consumption or give benefits to a mom and pop.

我的意思是，這是一項更大的事業，我認為人們理解系統和標準的集成，然後將這些資訊用於消費者促銷和銷售向這些消費者進行促銷或提供信貸的機會，因為你有對消費模式、開發忠誠度計劃以推動流量或消費或為夫妻店帶來好處有非常清晰的了解。

I know that it sounds easy to say it, but when you understand the intricacies of that, what that involves, you understand that it's a huge task ahead of us. And as many huge tasks that FEMSA takes, you know, sometimes they take years to develop and to come to fruition.

我知道這聽起來很容易，但是當您了解其中的複雜性以及其中涉及的內容時，您就會明白這是我們面前的一項艱鉅的任務。正如 FEMSA 承擔的許多艱鉅任務一樣，您知道，有時它們需要數年的時間來開發和實現。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you very much, sir. We'll now go to Hector Maya calling from Scotiabank. Please go ahead.

非常感謝您，先生。我們現在去豐業銀行打電話給赫克托·瑪雅。請繼續。

Hi, thank you very much for taking my question. So could you please update us on how you have been thinking about transactions in the U.S.? I mean, if your conviction regarding inorganic growth and convenience stores has changed or the timing to eventually pull the trigger has evolved considering the local and U.S. political environment this year? And also on how you're thinking so far in terms of store sizes or exposure to gas stations? Because from what we see in the U.S. market, stores are much larger in size, like 250 square meters at that minimum, over 80% of stores sell fuel. So I was wondering on how you were thinking that FEMSA could tackle these peculiarities in the U.S. market? Thank you.

你好，非常感謝你回答我的問題。您能否向我們介紹一下您對美國交易的最新看法？我的意思是，考慮到今年當地和美國的政治環境，您對無機成長和便利商店的信念是否發生了變化，或者最終扣動扳機的時機是否已經改變？到目前為止，您對商店規模或加油站的曝光度有何看法？因為從我們在美國市場來看，商店的面積要大得多，至少250平方米，80%以上的商店都賣燃油。所以我想知道您認為 FEMSA 如何解決美國市場的這些特殊性？謝謝。

We've spoken about this in various forms. We continue to believe that there's an opportunity for FEMSA to contribute value and to create value with its capabilities by entering the convenience store sector. In the U.S., we've had that conviction for many years, but obviously, we had a structural issue relating to the Heineken shares that made it impossible. I would tell you, the issue of political environments in Latin America generally are not the driver. We wouldn't diversify. We didn't think we could create value.

我們已經以各種形式討論過這個問題。我們仍然相信，FEMSA 有機會透過進入便利商店領域貢獻價值並利用其能力創造價值。在美國，我們多年來一直堅信這一點，但顯然，我們存在著與喜力股票相關的結構性問題，這使得這一信念成為不可能。我告訴你，拉丁美洲的政治環境問題通常不是驅動因素。我們不會多元化。我們認為我們無法創造價值。

I think you were talking about the U.S. political environment, but I have nothing to do with that.

我認為你在談論美國的政治環境，但我與此無關。

To be honest, compared to what we deal with on a daily basis and interact, I know that what's happening in the U.S. creates an enormous amount of passion and opinions about issues. We all probably listen to the U.S. news more than we should. People will continue to go to convenience stores. We'll continue to have to have gasoline. We'll continue to eat snacks on their way to and from work. FEMSA has thrived in many different types of environments. We're highly confident that nothing that's going to happen in the U.S. is going to be so surprising to us relative to other experiences in other countries. You highlighted some important differences between what is the business in the U.S. and what is the business in Mexico. And we are well aware of them and we debate them frequently.

老實說，與我們日常處理和互動相比，我知道美國發生的事情引發了巨大的熱情和對問題的看法。我們可能都比應有的情況更常聽美國新聞。人們將繼續去便利商店。我們將繼續需要汽油。我們將繼續在上下班途中吃零食。FEMSA 在許多不同類型的環境中蓬勃發展。我們非常有信心，相對於其他國家的經歷，在美國發生的任何事情都不會讓我們感到如此驚訝。您強調了美國業務和墨西哥業務之間的一些重要差異。我們非常了解它們，並且經常就它們進行辯論。

But one, I would just note on the gasoline, we own gas stations in Mexico. And it's a very different business, but it's not like we're new to the gasoline business. Number two, they are bigger stores and they require more investment. So it requires much more careful thought as to how you expand and the speed with which you expand and the level of certainty that you need to have with regards to the value proposition that you have. Very different to open up a hundred stores where the investment is 3,000 to 4,000 versus a store where the investment can be $4 million or $5 million. So it's a point well taken and one that we are certainly aware of.

但我想提一下，關於汽油，我們在墨西哥擁有加油站。這是一個非常不同的行業，但我們並不是汽油業的新手。第二，它們是更大的商店，並且需要更多的投資。因此，需要更仔細地思考如何擴展、擴展的速度以及您所擁有的價值主張所需的確定性程度。投資3000到4000美元開一百家店與投資400萬或500萬美元開一家店有很大不同。所以這是一個很好的觀點，我們當然也意識到這一點。

As we've said, we are looking for opportunities in what we call the southern belt that sort of starts through Texas and then goes through the south to the east, excluding Florida and excluding the southwest such as California. There's where we believe particularly in Texas and border states that we can add value, particularly complementing whatever we acquire with trying to develop a proposition with the Hispanic market. Again, we are not looking to open up a Hispanic value proposition in the United States as the sole and primary convenience store consumer proposal, but it will certainly be part of it and we think we could sort of add value to that. We are intrigued by the possibility of trying out what has been extremely successful to us in the United States, which is a standalone convenience store value proposition, but we understand that that is something new and gasoline will be part of the mix.

正如我們所說，我們正在所謂的南部地帶尋找機會，該地帶從德克薩斯州開始，然後從南部向東延伸，不包括佛羅裡達州，也不包括加利福尼亞州等西南部地區。我們相信，特別是在德克薩斯州和邊境州，我們可以增加價值，特別是透過嘗試開發​​西班牙裔市場的主張來補充我們所獲得的一切。再說一次，我們並不打算在美國開放西班牙裔價值主張作為唯一和主要的便利商店消費者建議，但它肯定會成為其中的一部分，我們認為我們可以為此增加價值。我們對嘗試在美國非常成功的可能性很感興趣，這是一個獨立的便利商店價值主張，但我們知道這是新事物，汽油將成為其中的一部分。

So whatever opportunities we're looking at, almost all of them include a gasoline proposition. Again, in terms of size of opportunities, we've spoken about sizes which would be considered small relative to the size of all of FEMSA. I don't have in our radar right now opportunities that exceed the billion, billion and a half numbers. We would like to start out with something smaller, get our feet on the ground, test out opportunities and possibilities before we would undertake a very large transaction. And we've been until now very disciplined in how we've gone about that and our board and our strategy committee have been very clear about that and we've listened and we always pay attention to our board and our strategy committee. I hope that's helpful.

因此，無論我們正在尋找什麼機會，幾乎所有機會都包括汽油提案。再次，就機會的規模而言，我們已經討論過相對於整個 FEMSA 的規模而言，這些規模被認為很小。我現在的雷達中沒有超過十億、十億個半的機會。我們希望從較小的事情開始，腳踏實地，在進行大型交易之前測試機會和可能性。到目前為止，我們在處理此事方面一直非常自律，我們的董事會和策略委員會對此非常清楚，我們傾聽並始終關注我們的董事會和策略委員會。我希望這有幫助。

I would just connect as a way to close the comment to what also said on the call three months ago in terms of the thoughtfulness and the prudence and as compelling as the industry is and the overall size of the U.S. market. There's a lot of reasons why it's attractive. But in terms of just giving the market the comfort that we will be very, very deliberate and thoughtful in terms of how we go after it.

作為結束評論的一種方式，我想將其與三個月前的電話會議上所說的內容聯繫起來，即考慮到行業的深思熟慮和審慎性以及令人信服的行業和美國市場的整體規模。它具有吸引力的原因有很多。但就讓市場感到安慰而言，我們將在如何追求市場方面非常、非常深思熟慮和深思熟慮。

Thank you very much, very clear. Thank you.

非常感謝，非常清楚。謝謝。

Thank you, sir, Maya. We have time for only one question at this time. The last question in the queue today will be from Luis Yance, calling from Santander. Please go ahead.

謝謝你，先生，瑪雅。目前我們只有時間回答一個問題。今天隊列中的最後一個問題將來自路易斯揚斯 (Luis Yance)，他從桑坦德 (Santander) 打來電話。請繼續。

Hi, guys. Thanks a lot for taking my questions. Quick one on same-store sales. I appreciate all the colors you gave about the one-off events that impacted the second quarter. But as we think about second half, when you put into the balance what you said on one side, easier comps going into the second half, but on the other side, historically having a tougher second half after the first year of elections. Just wondering where does that take you, especially relative to the formula you gave, the 5% same-store sale growth of a normalized base. Does that take you to that number that's kind of sort of your expectation or perhaps a bit lower than that and closer to inflation?

嗨，大家好。非常感謝您回答我的問題。快速了解同店銷售狀況。我很欣賞您對影響第二季度的一次性事件的所有描述。但當我們考慮下半年時，當你把你所說的話平衡起來時，一方面，下半年的比較容易，但另一方面，歷史上在選舉第一年之後下半年會更加艱難。只是想知道這會帶你去哪裡，特別是相對於你給出的公式，即標準化基數的 5% 同店銷售額增長。這是否會讓你達到你的預期的數字，或者可能比這個數字低一點並且更接近通貨膨脹？

So just try to get a sense of where you think things will happen the way you think could happen, where we might end up in terms of growth? And maybe if you can comment on the differences between the formats, because I guess a lot of the focus has been on OXXO, on Mexico, but on the other side, you have Latam, same store sales going closer to flat, but then bottom maybe Brazil still growing double digits, so if you can comment on the difference in performance on those and maybe the expectations going forward? That will be helpful? Thanks.

因此，試著了解您認為事情會以您認為可能發生的方式發生，我們最終可能會實現什麼成長？也許你可以評論一下格式之間的差異，因為我想很多注意力都集中在墨西哥的 OXXO 上，但另一方面，你有拉丁美洲，同店銷售額接近持平，但隨後觸底也許巴西仍在兩位數成長，所以您是否可以評論一下這些方面的表現差異以及未來的期望？這樣會有幫助嗎？謝謝。

Hi Luis, it's Juan. In terms of the same-store sales number, that five that has kind of been my historical go-to and obviously based on what the operation has done. Once you isolate a lot of the one-offs, again if you're charting the numbers, that dip that we saw this quarter, a lot of it can be explained by comp base and some of these one-offs, right? So I think there's still the sentiment that we could end up at a slightly higher number than the historical average, but the way you phrase the question is the right one, right?

嗨路易斯，我是胡安。就同​​店銷售數字而言，這五個數字一直是我歷史上的首選，並且顯然是基於營運所做的事情。一旦你隔離了很多一次性的事情，如果你再次繪製數字，我們本季度看到的下降，很多都可以通過比較基數和其中一些一次性事件來解釋，對嗎？因此，我認為仍然存在一種觀點，即我們最終的數字可能會略高於歷史平均水平，但您提出問題的方式是正確的，對嗎？

I mean there are unknowns in terms of the macro, you know what happens in the second half. We know how the comparable base evolves, right? We know that. The one thing we know is the consumer is going to be there, just generally.

我的意思是宏觀方面存在未知數，你知道下半年會發生什麼事。我們知道可比較的基礎是如何演變的，對吧？我們知道這一點。我們知道的一件事是，一般來說，消費者都會在那裡。

So right now I would be optimistic, but that's one guy's opinion. It really does depend on whether the macro in the second half. To Martin's earlier point, is this a different transition because there's a lot of continuity and so does that mean that the budget gets allocated and money continues to flow or do we live again something like what we lived six years ago, right?

所以現在我會很樂觀，但這是一個人的觀點。這確實取決於下半年的宏觀情況。對於馬丁之前的觀點，這是一個不同的過渡，因為有很多連續性，所以這是否意味著預算得到分配並且資金繼續流動，或者我們會再次生活在六年前的生活中，對嗎？

Where as you all remember, a lot of things kind of were brought to a stop. I think we're going to be somewhere in between. So right now my bias would be on an optimistic one, but we're going to have to wait and see.

你們都記得，很多事情都停止了。我想我們會介於兩者之間。所以現在我的偏見是樂觀的，但我們必須拭目以待。

Great, thanks. If you could comment on the difference on the formats, Latam same-store sales on the lower end, maybe the double-digit ones that we saw at Latam and Brazil?

太好了，謝謝。您能否評論一下格式上的差異，拉丁美洲同店銷售額處於低端，也許是我們在拉丁美洲和巴西看到的兩位數銷售額？

Yes, I mean, I think there we can't really leave out of the analysis just how new these value propositions are, right? And how much of the outside growth has to do with that. I mean, OXXO and also in Brazil or even Bara, those are not normalized same-store sales numbers.

是的，我的意思是，我認為我們不能在分析中忽略這些價值主張的新程度，對吧？外部成長在多大程度上與此有關。我的意思是，OXXO 以及巴西甚至巴拉，這些都不是標準化的同店銷售數字。

So yes, I think in both cases, there's a good tailwind of finding a niche or finding a need that was not being properly satisfied, right? I think the strength that we see in OXXO Brazil or the strength that we see in the discount sector in Mexico has a lot to do with a consumer that is avid or thirsty for what those formats provide. But there's also just the newness of the formats, right?

所以，是的，我認為在這兩種情況下，找到一個利基市場或找到一個沒有適當滿足的需求都有一個很好的推動力，對嗎？我認為我們在巴西 OXXO 看到的實力或在墨西哥折扣行業看到的實力與消費者對這些形式所提供的產品的熱衷或渴望有很大關係。但格式也很新穎，對嗎？

And so I don't think we can at this point in either of those examples isolate how much is coming just from the sheer growth. And again, the fact that this is new to the consumer, and how much of it is just that you play in a different part of the economy. And maybe discount in Mexico is going to bring better numbers than big box retail for the foreseeable future. But I don't know that.

因此，我認為我們目前無法在這兩個例子中分離出有多少來自純粹的成長。再說一遍，這對消費者來說是新的，而這在很大程度上只是因為你在經濟的不同部分發揮作用。也許在可預見的未來，墨西哥的折扣將比大型零售店帶來更好的數字。但我不知道。

The formats are pretty similar in many respects operationally. But in terms of what gets sold in the store, there's a different mix. For example, we would love to have the mix of food that we have in Colombia versus what we have in Mexico. When that proposition was developed in Colombia, the value proposal that we're going with in terms of our expansion became clear after some trial and error that the Colombian consumer in that format needed to have significantly more food offerings than what we were offering in Mexico at the time. The types of food offerings that you make are completely different. Pao de Queijo in Brazil is sort of like a staple comfort food. While the rest of Latin America means absolutely nothing.

這些格式在操作上的許多方面都非常相似。但就商店裡販售的商品而言，卻有不同的組合。例如，我們希望將哥倫比亞的食物與墨西哥的食物混合。當這一主張在哥倫比亞提出時，經過一番嘗試和錯誤，我們在擴張方面所遵循的價值建議變得清晰起來，即哥倫比亞消費者在這種形式下需要提供比我們在墨西哥提供的更多的食品當時。您製作的食物種類完全不同。Pao de Queijo 在巴西有點像是主食安慰食品。而拉丁美洲其他地區則毫無意義。

So in none of the stores in South America, for example, we have services. One, because we don't have the scale for those services to really pay for themselves. There are countries with different levels of banking penetration. Brazil is a country which in financial terms is quite different to Mexico. And so the value proposition on services is not going to come really from services. But food tends to be a higher margin business.

例如，在南美洲的任何一家商店中，我們都沒有提供服務。第一，因為我們沒有足夠的規模讓這些服務真正回收成本。有些國家的銀行業滲透程度不同。巴西是一個在金融方面與墨西哥截然不同的國家。因此，服務的價值主張不會真正來自於服務。但食品往往是利潤率較高的行業。

And so you want to focus on food. So the propositions, each one of them are different. I would tell you if we battled more in Chile, then we're battling more in Chile today than we are in Brazil and Colombia. That's good news because Brazil and Colombia are the bigger countries. But Chile is a more challenging environment for us with significantly more sophisticated retailers who have a significantly more developed convenience value proposition than I would say that we're finding in either Colombia or Brazil.

所以你想專注於食物。因此，每個提議都是不同的。我想告訴你，如果我們在智利的戰鬥更多，那麼我們今天在智利的戰鬥比在巴西和哥倫比亞更多。這是個好消息，因為巴西和哥倫比亞是更大的國家。但智利對我們來說是一個更具挑戰性的環境，這裡的零售商明顯更加成熟，他們的便利價值主張比我在哥倫比亞或巴西發現的要發達得多。

So we're optimistic on the particularly those two larger countries, Colombia and Brazil. But this is so difficult to work until you create that virtuous circle that you currently have in OXXO. I mean, the value of the brand and what people associate with OXXO in Mexico creates an opportunity where you could quickly acquire the right to win in many new things that you propose to the consumer and just the presence that OXXO has.

因此，我們對特別是哥倫比亞和巴西這兩個較大的國家持樂觀態度。但這是很難實現的，除非你創造出 OXXO 目前的良性循環。我的意思是，品牌的價值以及墨西哥人與 OXXO 的聯繫創造了一個機會，您可以快速獲得在向消費者提出的許多新事物以及 OXXO 所擁有的存在感中獲勝的權利。

That's why we've dedicated so much time in building out our expansion specifically in Sao Paulo because we want to create that sense throughout Sao Paulo, the state, not the city, the state of Sao Paulo, which represents an outside percentage of GDP and population. Because if we can make that work in Sao Paulo, that will give us enormous comfort to then roll out to many other cities. And we've resisted the temptation and the pressure from many different forums to say, why don't you go to Rio and why don't you go to a different city? No, no, no. We want to create that sense of presence in state of Sao Paulo to see how the Brazilian ultimately reacts.

這就是為什麼我們投入大量時間專門在聖保羅進行擴張，因為我們希望在整個聖保羅州，而不是整個城市，聖保羅州，創造這種感覺，它代表了 GDP 的外部百分比，人口。因為如果我們能夠在聖保羅實現這一目標，那將為我們帶來巨大的安慰，然後將其推廣到許多其他城市。我們抵抗住了許多不同論壇的誘惑和壓力，說，為什麼不去裡約，為什麼不去另一個城市？不，不，不。我們希望在聖保羅州營造一種存在感，看看巴西人最終會如何反應。

Also, I would tell you the same-store sales, I believe we calculated on the basis of sort of 18 months. 13, the public number is 13. Sorry, 13 months. And so it's a little bit of the history of FEMSA and OXXOs and so on, but the maturity curve of different stores in different countries is quite different. So what you would define as a mature store versus not a mature store makes a difference than in Mexico generally 13 months was perceived as the proper level of maturity, particularly the size and presence that we have. But when you're developing a value proposition, the maturity may be different.

另外，我會告訴你同店銷售額，我相信我們是在 18 個月的基礎上計算的。 13、公眾號13。抱歉，13個月。所以這有點FEMSA和OXXOs等的歷史，但是不同國家不同商店的成熟度曲線有很大不同。因此，您對成熟商店與不成熟商店的定義會有所不同，在墨西哥，通常 13 個月被認為是適當的成熟度，特別是我們擁有的規模和存在。但當你制定價值主張時，成熟度可能會有所不同。

So we may still see growth. It's really just the normal maturity of a store, as opposed to the steady state sales of a store where you then are measuring the same-store sale to see the continued health of that store relative to other alternatives. And so I support a little bit of what Juan is saying that the focus on that number in these new operations can be a little difficult to interpret at times.

所以我們可能仍然會看到成長。這實際上只是商店的正常成熟度，而不是商店的穩態銷售，然後您可以衡量同店銷售，以了解該商店相對於其他替代品的持續健康狀況。因此，我支持胡安所說的一點，即在這些新行動中對這個數字的關注有時可能有點難以解釋。

No, I would add, Luis, and we're getting to this through the same-store sales question. But something we haven't really talked about a lot today that I expect we'll be talking a lot in calls and conversations in the future is prepared food. And Martín really made a reference to that. We've done quite well in Colombia. We're doing well in Brazil. Obviously, Valora, it's one of the things they do best is prepared food, the whole foodvenience concept. They're very advanced in some of their value propositions. But in Mexico, where we've been the longest time and we have the biggest scale, I think there's still opportunity for improvement of the prepared food category that would then open or supercharge this vector to bring more people into the store.

不，我想補充一點，路易斯，我們將透過同店銷售問題來解決這個問題。但我們今天還沒有真正談論很多，但我希望我們將來會在電話和談話中談論很多，那就是預製食品。馬丁確實提到了這一點。我們在哥倫比亞做得很好。我們在巴西做得很好。顯然，Valora，他們最擅長的事情之一就是預製食品，整個食品便利概念。他們的一些價值主張非常先進。但在墨西哥，我們在那裡的時間最長，規模最大，我認為仍然有機會改進預製食品類別，然後打開或增強這個載體，吸引更多人進入商店。

And I would ask you to stay tuned on that, because we're working internally a lot on kind of improving and approaching it in different ways, the prepared food opportunity in Mexico. So even as we kind of think about the U.S. as a future opportunity, certainly prepared food plays an important role in U.S. convenience, as you all know. So, again, stay tuned for more and more conversations on prepared food and how we are improving our capabilities on that front.

我請你們繼續關注這一點，因為我們正在內部進行大量工作，以不同的方式改進和接近墨西哥的預製食品機會。因此，即使我們將美國視為未來的機遇，眾所周知，預製食品在美國的便利性中發揮重要作用。因此，請再次關注越來越多有關預製食品的對話以及我們如何提高這方面的能力。

Great. Thanks a lot, guys, for the color.

偉大的。非常感謝，夥計們，顏色。

Thank you, Luis.

謝謝你，路易斯。

Thank you, Mr. Yance. We do not appear to have any further questions at this time. I'll turn the call back over to Mr. Juan Fonseca for any additional or closing remarks. Thank you.

謝謝你，揚斯先生。目前我們似乎沒有任何進一步的問題。我會將電話轉回給胡安·豐塞卡先生，以便他發表補充或結束語。謝謝。

I mean, just thank you for your interest, for joining us today. As always, the team and I, Pamela, Alex, and myself are always around to try to help. And we'll speak soon. Thank you.

我的意思是，感謝您今天加入我們的興趣。一如既往，我的團隊和我、帕梅拉、亞歷克斯和我自己總是在身邊盡力提供幫助。我們很快就會說話。謝謝。

Thank you very much. That will conclude today's conference. Thank you very much for your attendance. You may now disconnect. Have a good day and goodbye.

非常感謝。今天的會議到此結束。非常感謝您的出席。您現在可以斷開連線。祝你有美好的一天，再見。