Bbb Foods Inc (TBBB) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the BBB Foods' Fourth Quarter '23 Results. (Operator Instructions) Please note this call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

大家好，歡迎來到 BBB Foods '23 年第四季業績。 （操作員說明）請注意此通話正在錄音。 （操作員說明）

It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Anthony Hatoum, CEO. Please go ahead.

現在我很高興將會議交給執行長安東尼·哈圖姆 (Anthony Hatoum)。請繼續。

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to our first earnings conference call. We will begin by reviewing our key accomplishments from our fourth quarter of last year and we will review 2023. We will next look at the important operational milestones. Eduardo Pizzuto, our CFO, will follow, presenting our financial results and outlining our guidance for 2024. We will conclude with a Q&A session to answer as many questions as we can.

大家早安。歡迎參加我們的第一次收益電話會議。我們將首先回顧去年第四季的主要成就，然後回顧 2023 年。接下來，我們的財務長 Eduardo Pizzuto 將介紹我們的財務表現並概述 2024 年的指導。

As expected, we delivered strong results in the fourth quarter and for the full year 2023. Sales grew by 30.8% for the fourth quarter and by 35.3% for the full year. We opened a record 396 stores in the year, and 153 alone in the last quarter.

如預期，我們在第四季和 2023 年全年取得了強勁的業績。我們全年開設了創紀錄的 396 家門市，光是上一季就開設了 153 家。

In terms of cash flow from operations, in 2023, they reached MXN 3.1 billion, a growth of 48% for the year. This driven by improvements in our EBITDA and our favorable working capital dynamics. Post-IPO, we have a very robust balance sheet, having fully repaid our outstanding dollar debt.

就營運現金流而言，2023 年將達到 31 億墨西哥比索，年增 48%。這是由我們的 EBITDA 改善和良好的營運資本動態所推動的。在首次公開發行後，我們擁有非常穩健的資產負債表，已完全償還了未償還的美元債務。

Let's turn to operational performance. In terms of store expansion, 2023 was a landmark for our company. We opened a record-breaking 396 new stores, bringing our total to 2,288 stores. That is a growth of 21%. Of these 396 stores, we opened 153 in the fourth quarter alone. That's 39% of the total.

讓我們轉向營運績效。在門市擴張方面，2023年對我們公司來說是一個里程碑。我們破紀錄地開設了 396 家新店，使門市總數達到 2,288 家。即成長了 21%。在這 396 家商店中，光是第四季我們就開設了 153 家。佔總數的 39%。

We have been very consistent with our growth. From 2019 to 2023, we have maintained a compound annual growth rate of new stores opened of 20-plus percent. For those of you with whom I spoke during our road show, you know that we have significant runway to sustain these growth rates for the next 10 years. And we maintain our view that Mexico offers a potential market of no less than 12,000 3B stores.

我們的成長非常一致。 2019年至2023年，我們新開店年複合成長率維持在20%以上。對於那些在巡迴演出期間與我交談過的人來說，你們知道我們有足夠的空間來維持未來 10 年的成長率。我們仍然認為墨西哥擁有不少於 12,000 家 3B 商店的潛在市場。

Moving on to revenues and margins. For 2023, revenues reached MXN 44 billion. That's a 35% growth over 2022. To break it down, of this 35%, 29% is from stores opened before 2022 and 7% from the new stores of 2023. Our gross margins increased by 86 basis points over the last year, largely explained by our increase in scale and negotiating better terms with our suppliers.

接下來是收入和利潤。 2023 年，收入達 440 億墨西哥比索。比2022 年成長35%。是解釋是我們規模的擴大以及與供應商談判更好的條款。

Some of you are familiar with the positive sales trend of our 2005 to 2022 store vintages. What you see on this chart are the sales curves of each of our vintage of stores since inception, and this is adjusted for inflation. I note 3 things: All our vintages continue to grow their sales. No vintage has yet flattened down. Each vintage -- each newer vintage has a steeper sales curve than the one preceding it. And the starting sales points of each new vintage are getting higher. In other words, our stores are breaking even faster.

你們中的一些人熟悉我們商店 2005 年至 2022 年年份葡萄酒的積極銷售趨勢。您在這張圖表上看到的是自成立以來我們每個年份商店的銷售曲線，並且根據通貨膨脹進行了調整。我注意到三件事：我們所有年份的銷售量都在持續成長。還沒有哪個年份的年份已經平淡。每個年份－每個較新的年份都有比前一個年份更陡峭的銷售曲線。而且每個新年份的起始銷售點都越來越高。換句話說，我們的商店的破產速度更快。

And what drives that is the continuous improvement in our value proposition to our customers, which, for example, is far superior today to what we offered customers 5 years ago. We have more private labels, we have better-quality private labels, and we're giving our customers more value for money. That, in turn, builds trust, existing customers will buy more, and we continue to gain more customers.

推動這一目標的是我們對客戶價值主張的不斷改進，例如，今天我們為客戶提供的價值主張遠遠優於 5 年前。我們擁有更多的自有品牌，我們擁有更好品質的自有品牌，我們為客戶提供更多的物有所值。反過來，這會建立信任，現有客戶會購買更多產品，我們也會繼續獲得更多客戶。

And it also helps that the 3B brand is getting stronger. It's also true that, as we have more stores, word of mouth on our value proposition spreads further and faster. And although we are not showing it here on this chart as we don't have yet full year numbers, our 2023 vintage appears to be following the same trend.

這也有助於3B品牌的日益強大。確實，隨著我們擁有更多商店，我們的價值主張的口碑傳播得更遠、更快。儘管由於我們還沒有全年數據，所以我們沒有在此圖表中顯示它，但我們的 2023 年年份似乎遵循相同的趨勢。

So if I had to summarize, I would say we continue to increase penetration of private labels, which went from 43% to 47% of our sales. In turn, these private labels are offering tremendous value to our customers. That, in turn, will drive, and is driving, increasing traffic to our stores and the positive trends in our average ticket size. So we're generating this virtuous circle: Outstanding value proposition, generates higher traffic, generates higher sales, generates increasing cash flow, then, in turn, finances our growth.

因此，如果我必須總結一下，我會說我們繼續提高自有品牌的滲透率，占我們銷售額的比例從 43% 增加到 47%。反過來，這些自有品牌也為我們的客戶提供了巨大的價值。反過來，這將推動並且正在推動我們商店的客流量增加以及我們的平均門票金額的積極趨勢。因此，我們正在形成這種良性循環：出色的價值主張，產生更高的流量，產生更高的銷售額，產生更多的現金流，然後反過來為我們的成長提供資金。

I'll pass the mic now to Eduardo, who will go over the financial results for the fourth quarter and for the full year.

我現在將麥克風交給愛德華多，他將討論第四季和全年的財務表現。

Thank you, Anthony. Good morning, everyone. Our EBITDA continues to grow exponentially. As seen in the chart, our EBITDA grew 32.9% in the fourth quarter and 44.3% during 2023. Let me give you a few highlights to better appreciate the context of the quarter.

謝謝你，安東尼。大家，早安。我們的 EBITDA 繼續呈指數級增長。如圖所示，我們的 EBITDA 在第四季度增長了 32.9%，在 2023 年增長了 44.3%。

40% of our total store openings happened in the fourth quarter. Therefore, we show full expenses, but we had yet to show full revenues. Admin expenses were affected by the hire of talent to support our growth and to fulfill our obligations as a public company.

我們新開店總數的 40% 發生在第四季。因此，我們顯示了全部費用，但我們尚未顯示全部收入。管理費用受到僱用人才的影響，以支持我們的發展並履行我們作為上市公司的義務。

And finally, we reported a number of nonrecurring expenses. Specifically, MXN 80 million related to Hurricane Otis in Acapulco and MXN 14 million in pre-IPO expenses in the fourth quarter. As illustrated in the graph, if we exclude the expenses from the IPO and the impact of Hurricane Otis, EBITDA would have been approximately 17% and 5% higher for fourth quarter and 2023, respectively. Therefore, adjusted EBITDA margins would stand at 5.3% and 4.5%, respectively.

最後，我們報告了一些非經常性費用。具體而言，其中 8,000 萬墨西哥比索與阿卡普爾科的奧蒂斯颶風有關，第四季度 IPO 前費用為 1,400 萬墨西哥比索。如圖所示，如果我們排除 IPO 費用和奧蒂斯颶風的影響，第四季和 2023 年的 EBITDA 將分別成長約 17% 和 5%。因此，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率將分別為 5.3% 和 4.5%。

It's important to note that, over time, we expect expenses to decrease as a percentage of sales as our revenue base grows, fixed costs are spread out, and the one-offs costs do not recur.

值得注意的是，隨著時間的推移，隨著我們收入基礎的增長、固定成本的分散以及一次性成本不會重複出現，我們預計費用佔銷售額的百分比將會下降。

Hard discount is a unique business model. It generates a significant amount of cash through changes in negative working capital. We are not the exception. We turn our inventories 3x before we pay suppliers. As you can see in this chart, negative working capital represents 10% of revenues. We generated MXN 1.4 billion during 2023 given this dynamic. This trend will continue as long as we continue to increase our sales.

硬折扣是一種獨特的商業模式。它透過負營運資本的變化產生大量現金。我們也不例外。在向供應商付款之前，我們將庫存週轉三倍。正如您在此圖表中看到的，負營運資本代表收入的 10%。鑑於這種動態，我們在 2023 年創造了 14 億墨西哥比索的收入。只要我們持續增加銷售額，這種趨勢就會持續下去。

And finally, let me give you some guidance for 2024. We plan to open anywhere from 380 stores to 420 new stores. We expect our revenue to grow anywhere from 28% to 32%. And same-store sales, we are expecting it to grow mid-teens.

最後，讓我為您提供 2024 年的一些指導。我們預計我們的收入將成長 28% 至 32%。我們預計同店銷售額將成長到十幾歲左右。

I will now turn back the call back to Anthony for some final remarks.

現在我將把電話轉回給安東尼，讓他做最後的評論。

Ours is a very powerful and resilient business model, and we are executing it with discipline and consistency. We continue to be the leaders in this segment. Every year we get stronger and we increase the value offer to our customers. That's what it is at the core of our growth that you have seen both in terms of total and same-store sales.

我們的業務模式非常強大且富有彈性，我們正在嚴格遵守紀律並始終如一地執行它。我們仍然是該領域的領導者。每年我們都會變得更強大，並增加為客戶提供的價值。這就是我們在總銷售額和同店銷售額方面所看到的成長的核心。

So for us, it boils down to this: It's more of the same, better and faster. We continue to open stores. We continue to increase the value that we offer our customers by developing new products and strengthening the relationships with our suppliers. And scaling up helps a lot. We continue to improve the efficiency of our operations, as we have done over the last years. And we continue to generate cash that we will use to grow, invest in price and in projects that have high ROICs.

所以對我們來說，可以歸結為：更多相同、更好、更快。我們繼續開店。我們透過開發新產品和加強與供應商的關係，不斷增加為客戶提供的價值。擴大規模有很大幫助。正如我們過去幾年所做的那樣，我們繼續提高營運效率。我們將繼續產生現金，用於成長、投資價格以及投資回報率高的項目。

In conclusion, I'm very excited for 2024. And thank you for listening. We'll now start the Q&A session. So please go ahead, operator.

總之，我對 2024 年感到非常興奮。我們現在開始問答環節。所以，請繼續，操作員。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from Andrew Ruben with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們將回答摩根士丹利安德魯魯本 (Andrew Ruben) 提出的第一個問題。

Congratulations, Anthony, Eduardo and to all of the 3B team. I have 2 questions, if I may. The first is on gross margin. It looks like a strong quarter in 4Q. So I'd be curious, versus the (inaudible) of the year, if there is anything incremental on the supplier negotiations to call out. And then as it pertains to 2024, how you think about the balance of letting the scale benefits, the negotiations flow through the margin versus being reinvested in price?

恭喜安東尼、愛德華多以及所有 3B 團隊的成員。如果可以的話，我有兩個問題。首先是毛利率。第四季看起來表現強勁。因此，我很好奇，與今年（聽不清楚）相比，供應商談判是否有任何增量值得關注。然後，就 2024 年而言，您如何看待讓規模效益、談判透過利潤率與價格再投資之間的平衡？

And then second, quickly on the store guidance for the year, curious how you think about the timing. I know you mentioned 40% of the 2023 opening were in the fourth quarter. Just curious if we should consider any similar cadence for the year ahead.

其次，快速了解今年的商店指導，好奇你如何看待時機。我知道您提到 2023 年開業的 40% 是在第四季。只是好奇我們是否應該考慮未來一年類似的節奏。

Andrew, good to hear from you. Let me start with the margin question. This is quite a dynamic process negotiating with suppliers as we scale up. And you have to think about it that this is something that happens on a product-by-product basis. And typically, what happens as we scale up, we're negotiating better terms and conditions across the board. And then the decision is what goes into price and what gets retained that gets reflected in gross margin as you see.

安德魯，很高興收到你的來信。讓我從保證金問題開始。隨著我們擴大規模，這是一個與供應商談判的動態過程。你必須考慮到這是在逐個產品的基礎上發生的事情。通常，當我們擴大規模時，我們會全面談判更好的條款和條件。然後決定的就是價格包含哪些內容以及保留哪些內容，這些內容會反映在毛利率中，如您所見。

And the end result is what you've seen, which is a 16% gross margin in the fourth quarter. That's a very dynamic number and I wouldn't be surprised if it fluctuates as it's trending or stabilizing at some point.

最終的結果就是你所看到的，第四季的毛利率為 16%。這是一個非常動態的數字，如果它隨著趨勢或在某個時刻趨於穩定而波動，我不會感到驚訝。

Your second part of the question, if I'm not mistaken, had to do with store openings and the concentration of store openings in the last quarter. Again, a very dynamic process. And my expectations for 2024 is that it's better spread out throughout the year.

如果我沒記錯的話，你問題的第二部分與上季的開店情況和開店集中度有關。這又是一個非常動態的過程。我對 2024 年的期望是，它能更好地分佈在全年。

Our next question comes from Robert Ford with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的羅伯特福特。

Congratulations on the quarter. Anthony, can you talk a little bit about your price gaps? I know there's some concern when people look at this gross margin that some of this is pricing and you have some difficulty accepting that these are actually vendor term improvements.

恭喜本季。安東尼，你能談談你們的價格差距嗎？我知道，當人們看到這個毛利率時，會有一些擔憂，其中一些是定價，而你很難接受這些實際上是供應商條款的改進。

And then, Eduardo, you touched on the increase in SG&A, but can you give a bit more detail on how you expect to leverage that administrative cost line as you move forward?

然後，Eduardo，您談到了 SG&A 的增加，但是您能否提供更多細節，說明您在前進過程中預計如何利用管理成本線？

And then on the Hurricane Otis charges, are you done? And is that net of insurance? And then how are you thinking about Acapulco over the intermediate to longer term?

那麼關於奧蒂斯颶風的指控，你完成了嗎？這是扣除保險後的金額嗎？那麼您如何看待阿卡普爾科的中長期發展呢？

And then lastly, how should we think -- or how do you think about long-term equity-based compensation in terms of annual dilution from this point forward?

最後，我們應該如何思考——或者您如何看待從現在開始的年度稀釋方面的長期股權薪酬？

Okay. Bob, I'll start with the first part of the question, which was: do our gross margins come from price increases or increase in unit sales? And I would say the latter. When we look at our internal inflation numbers, we have seen a significant drop in inflation, and I would say even deflation in the fourth quarter. So all driven by better negotiations on costs from our supplier, and a portion of that gets actually put in the prices of our products.

好的。鮑勃，我將從問題的第一部分開始，即：我們的毛利率來自價格上漲還是銷量增加？我想說的是後者。當我們查看內部通膨數據時，我們發現通膨大幅下降，我想說第四季甚至出現通貨緊縮。因此，所有這些都是由我們的供應商更好地進行成本談判所推動的，其中一部分實際上已計入我們產品的價格中。

You had a question about price gaps.

您有關於價格差距的問題。

Price gaps. Yes.

價格差距。是的。

All of our data, extensive data, shows that we are the price leader in the market today. Some of you have gone out and done their own price checks, and I would encourage everybody to do the same and reach your own conclusions. But when you come visit us, we'll be happy to share oodles of data about pricing in a vast geographic area.

我們所有的數據，廣泛的數據，顯示我們是當今市場上的價格領導者。你們中的一些人已經出去進行了自己的價格檢查，我鼓勵每個人都這樣做並得出自己的結論。但是，當您造訪我們時，我們將很樂意分享大量有關廣大地理區域定價的數據。

Bob, this is Eduardo. Your first question on SG&A and how to leverage moving forward. Yes, we had a particular Q4. As I explained, we had a number of stores, about 40% of our openings, during Q4. Then we had additional hires in different areas, in strategic areas for 3B moving forward. We also had preparation for new regions. But as we move forward, yes, you should expect leverage from an SG&A, mainly coming from store expenses, also from efficiencies in logistics.

鮑勃，這是愛德華多。您的第一個問題是關於 SG&A 以及如何利用前進。是的，我們有一個特別的第四季。正如我所解釋的，我們在第四季度開設了許多商店，約佔新開業商店的 40%。然後我們在不同領域、策略領域進行了額外的招聘，以推動 3B 的發展。我們也為新地區做好了準備。但隨著我們向前發展，是的，您應該期待 SG&A 的槓桿作用，主要來自商店費用，也來自物流效率。

As we have mentioned before, we continue to do a lot of work in terms of efficiencies. We look at hours worked, and we're always constantly looking for ways to continue to drive our costs down. So yes, you should expect that SG&A will continue to go down as a percentage of sales.

正如我們之前提到的，我們在效率方面繼續做大量工作。我們專注於工作時間，並且始終不斷尋找繼續降低成本的方法。所以，是的，您應該預期銷售、管理費用佔銷售額的百分比會繼續下降。

And how much of that would you say is fixed versus variable, Eduardo?

Eduardo，你認為其中有多少是固定的與可變的？

Well, the fixed -- if you look at a store basis, our fixed cost is pretty much the rents, electricity. Most of it is fixed cost in terms of stores. We had a variable cost, which is personnel, but it doesn't grow linear with sales. It grows marginally with sales. So again, we have a pretty good runway in terms of efficiencies moving forward.

好吧，固定成本——如果你看看商店的基礎，我們的固定成本幾乎就是租金和電費。其中大部分是商店的固定成本。我們有一個變動成本，即人員成本，但它並不與銷售額呈線性成長。它隨著銷量的增長而小幅增長。再說一次，我們在提高效率方面擁有相當良好的跑道。

And on the admin side, I would assume that's largely fixed. Is that fair?

在管理方面，我認為這基本上已經解決了。這樣公平嗎？

Correct. Again, we -- as I mentioned, we had some hires at corporate level, in some areas like in purchasing, IT and, of course, finance to meet our IPO company obligations. But as we move forward, that is an obvious one in terms of leverage moving forward.

正確的。正如我所提到的，我們在公司層級招募了一些員工，涉及採購、IT，當然還有財務等領域，以履行我們 IPO 公司的義務。但隨著我們向前邁進，這在推動槓桿方面是顯而易見的。

Then your second question on Acapulco, Bob. Yes, we have -- we pretty much have expensed everything in 2023. We don't expect anything in -- any additionals in 2024. This is not net of insurance. We're still pending to get claims from insurance, and that will happen within the next weeks or even a few months still. And I believe that was your question on Acapulco, Bob.

那你的第二個問題是關於阿卡普爾科的，鮑伯。是的，我們幾乎已經在 2023 年支出了所有費用。我們仍在等待保險索賠，這將在未來幾週甚至幾個月內發生。我相信這就是你關於阿卡普爾科的問題，鮑伯。

Right. So this is gross of insurance, so you could see some reversal of these charges. And then it was more about -- I'm just reading some horror stories coming out of Acapulco in terms of how depressed the environment is. And I was just wondering how the market is behaving for you and what your expectations are over the intermediate to longer term.

正確的。所以這是保險總額，所以你可能會看到這些費用的一些逆轉。然後更多的是——我剛剛讀了一些來自阿卡普爾科的恐怖故事，講述了環境的沮喪程度。我只是想知道市場對您的表現如何以及您對中長期的期望是什麼。

We've reopened almost all our stores, and they're doing extremely well. I mean the rebound was fantastic.

我們幾乎所有的商店都重新開業了，而且它們的經營狀況非常好。我的意思是反彈非常棒。

Great to hear. And then the last thing was the equity-based compensation, in terms of annual dilution and how you're thinking about that.

很高興聽到。最後一件事是基於股權的薪酬，就年度稀釋以及你如何看待這一點而言。

Yes. So we've inherited our existing ESOP. And if you look at the F-1, this represents about 43 million options outstanding, not fully vested yet. But you can come to your own dilution number if you net the strike prices, the average strike price, which is published in the F-1, and you can get a number. And that's one fixed number for share dilution.

是的。所以我們繼承了現有的員工持股計畫。如果你看一下 F-1，這代表著大約 4300 萬份未行使的選擇權，尚未完全歸屬。但是，如果您對 F-1 中公佈的執行價格（平均執行價格）進行淨值計算，您就可以獲得自己的稀釋數字，並且您可以獲得一個數字。這是股票稀釋的一個固定數字。

Now going forward, we have an authorized new plan of about 8.4 million options that have yet to be distributed and that will be distributed over the course of several years. It has an evergreen function attached to it. But again, going forward, you issue options, you issue them at market price, and you get diluted only if we've created value that's superior to the strike prices we've set. So I don't see a significant impact to that dilution going forward. It will only come because we've created significant value for all shareholders.

現在，我們有一個授權的新計劃，其中約有 840 萬個選擇權尚未分配，並將在幾年內分配。它具有常青功能。但同樣，展望未來，你發行選擇權，你以市場價格發行它們，只有當我們創造的價值優於我們設定的執行價格時，你才會被稀釋。因此，我認為這種稀釋不會對未來產生重大影響。它只會到來，因為我們為所有股東創造了巨大的價值。

Agreed. And that's what we're thinking of. Just from this point forward, the benchmark we're using is about 1 point, based on our expectations, which seems in line with this incremental...

同意。這就是我們正在考慮的。就從現在開始，根據我們的預期，我們使用的基準約為 1 點，這似乎與此增量一致...

Yes. And I think that's a reasonable assumption.

是的。我認為這是一個合理的假設。

Congratulations on the quarter.

恭喜本季。

Thanks, Bob. Good hearing from you.

謝謝，鮑伯。很高興收到你的來信。

Our next question comes from Hector Maya with Scotiabank.

我們的下一個問題來自豐業銀行的赫克托·瑪雅。

Anthony, Eduardo, congratulations on your first quarterly report and the positive results. I just have one strategic question for Anthony. Could you please tell us your view on competition? I mean we have seen that the other players have responded to the growth of Tiendas 3B with plans to increase private label penetration and accelerate opening. So just wondering if you are considering to become even more aggressive in new stores outside of Mexico's central region, to potentially avoid, for example, BARA and FEMSA getting stronger before you in the north region, or Bodega or [Redansa] particularly becoming stronger in the southern region and Veracruz.

安東尼、愛德華多，祝賀你們的第一份季度報告和積極的成果。我只想問安東尼一個戰略問題。您能告訴我們您對競爭的看法嗎？我的意思是，我們已經看到其他參與者已經對 Tiendas 3B 的成長做出了反應，計劃提高自有品牌滲透率並加速開放。因此，我想知道您是否正在考慮在墨西哥中部地區以外的新店中變得更加積極，以潛在地避免，例如，BARA 和FEMSA 在您之前在北部地區變得更強大，或者Bodega 或[Redansa] 特別是在南部地區和韋拉克魯斯州。

Sure. Hector, Mexico has always been a very competitive market in grocery retail. And today, it's no exception. And we've been competing in this market as a significantly smaller company over time. And while it's true that our entry as a public company has created noise, we haven't seen to date any significant changes at the competitive level. It's still as competitive as ever and we're still all competing healthily against each other.

當然。墨西哥赫克託一直是雜貨零售領域競爭非常激烈的市場。今天，也不例外。隨著時間的推移，我們一直作為一家規模小得多的公司參與這個市場的競爭。雖然我們作為上市公司的進入確實引起了噪音，但迄今為止我們還沒有看到競爭水平發生任何重大變化。它仍然像以前一樣競爭激烈，我們仍然在相互健康地競爭。

So no material changes in the competitive environment that we've noticed. We remain the price leaders today, and we don't see anybody consistently undercutting us.

因此，我們注意到競爭環境沒有發生重大變化。今天，我們仍然是價格領先者，我們沒有看到任何人持續削弱我們的價格。

In terms of expansion, do we see anything different as we move out forward? No. It's been fairly consistent in terms of competitive environment.

在擴張方面，當我們向前邁進時，我們會看到什麼不同嗎？不。

And will, let's say, competitors turbocharging their growth or doing something different really affect our business model? I think it's healthy. I think there is plenty of runway for 2 or 3 or even 4 very strong competitors in this market. When we look at Mexico as a whole, we just see so much opportunity, and as such, as long as we do our job well, we focus on offering significant value to our customers, which is always improving, I think we will carve out our niche and be very successful.

比如說，競爭對手加速成長或做一些不同的事情真的會影響我們的商業模式嗎？我認為這很健康。我認為這個市場上有足夠的空間容納 2、3 甚至 4 個非常強大的競爭對手。當我們把墨西哥視為一個整體時，我們看到瞭如此多的機會，因此，只要我們做好我們的工作，我們就會專注於為我們的客戶提供巨大的價值，而這總是在不斷改進，我認為我們會開拓出我們的利基市場並且會非常成功。

Excellent. Thank you very much. Very clear. And congratulations again on the results.

出色的。非常感謝。非常清楚。再次恭喜結果。

Our next question comes from Froylan Mendez with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Froylan Mendez。

Hello, James. Could you give us some color on the same-store sales trends of mature stores during the quarter? And if you could give us a little light on what's embedded in your same-store sales guidance, but for the mature stores?

你好，詹姆斯。能為我們介紹一下本季成熟商店的同店銷售趨勢嗎？您能否向我們介紹一下您的同店銷售指導中包含的內容（針對成熟商店）？

Thank you for that question because I was going to raise it myself. I think if you refer to that spaghetti chart in the presentation that we shared with you, you can see that every single vintage is posting very strong same-store sales growth, and that's on an inflation-adjusted basis. And what we see is continued very strong same-store sales growth across the board.

謝謝你提出這個問題，因為我自己也想提出這個問題。我認為，如果您參考我們與您分享的簡報中的義大利麵圖，您會發現每個年份的同店銷售成長都非常強勁，而且這是在通貨膨脹調整後的基礎上。我們看到的是同店銷售全面持續強勁成長。

And every time, we ask ourselves, why? And it just boils down to what we've said before, the value proposition to our customers is continuously increasing. What we offer you today has nothing to do with what we offered you several years ago, in terms of better quality, better pricing, better assortment, across the board, that generates basically more customers coming in and very solid support for increasing ticket sizes.

每次，我們都會問自己，為什麼？歸根結底，我們之前說過，我們為客戶提供的價值主張正在增加。我們今天為您提供的服務與我們幾年前為您提供的服務沒有任何關係，就更好的品質、更好的價格、更好的品種而言，全面而言，這基本上會帶來更多的客戶進來，並為增加門票規模提供非常堅實的支援。

There might be, and I'm suspecting because I glanced through some of the analyst reports that came out late last night and early this morning, I'm suspecting that our definition of same-store sales might not be the same as the Street's definition of same-store sales. Just to be clear, we look at stores that have 2 years of sales and older to calculate our same-store sales ratios. And that might be conservative. But we like it this way because our newer vintages are growing so fast that we think that distorts the same-store sales number. But that's the way we do it.

可能有，而且我懷疑，因為我瀏覽了昨晚深夜和今天凌晨發布的一些分析師報告，我懷疑我們對同店銷售的定義可能與華爾街的定義不同同店銷售額。需要明確的是，我們會查看有 2 年及以上銷售額的商店來計算同店銷售額比率。這可能是保守的。但我們喜歡這種方式，因為我們的新年份酒成長得如此之快，以至於我們認為這扭曲了同店銷售數據。但這就是我們做事的方式。

I think that's exactly where my question was coming from. Because when you see the same-store sales number that you posted, the gap maybe versus what other retailers posted is not that large in some sort of way. That probably has to do with -- of course, it has to do with the growth pace. But I see your [point though]. Thank you so much.

我想這正是我的問題的來源。因為當您看到您發布的同店銷售數據時，與其他零售商發布的差異在某種程度上可能並沒有那麼大。這可能與——當然，與成長速度有關。但我明白你的[觀點]。太感謝了。

Yes. I mean just look at the slope of the curve in the spaghetti chart, and you see that, in the early years, you're at 40-plus percent. So we prefer not to include that and just to talk about stores that have come off this fast ramp-up.

是的。我的意思是，只要看看義大利麵圖中曲線的斜率，你就會發現，在最初幾年，你的比例是 40% 以上。因此，我們寧願不包括這一點，而只是談論那些已經擺脫了這種快速增長的商店。

Our next question comes from Rodrigo Alcantara with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的羅德里戈·阿爾坎塔拉。

Anthony, Eduardo, nice to hear from you. Just a very simple question on your plans on fresh, right? I mean we discussed in the past about you guys starting the fresh category. Just curious if this is in the pipeline for 2024, how advanced you are on those plans? And maybe leveraging this question, if perhaps you can comment on CapEx expectations, just for us to model accurately cash flow generation for 2024?

安東尼，愛德華多，很高興收到你的來信。只是一個非常簡單的問題，關於你的新鮮計劃，對嗎？我的意思是我們過去討論過你們開始新類別。只是好奇這是否會在 2024 年進行，你們這些計劃進展到什麼程度了？也許利用這個問題，您是否可以對資本支出預期發表評論，以便我們能夠準確地模擬 2024 年的現金流量產生？

Okay. Rodrigo, you were breaking up a little bit, but if I heard you correctly, your first question was: what are our plans for fresh?

好的。羅德里戈，你們分手了一點，但如果我沒聽錯的話，你的第一個問題是：我們的新鮮計劃是什麼？

Yes, yes.

是的是的。

Okay. A hard discounter, we'll offer fresh, but we'll offer it with the same kind of principle and approach that we offer everything else. It has to be high rotation, it has to offer high value for money. And we're currently running tests to be able to achieve that. I mean if you look at other countries like Turkey Bim, they offer fresh, A101 offers fresh, and there is no reason why 3B can't offer fresh.

好的。作為一家硬折扣店，我們將提供新鮮的產品，但我們將採用與我們提供其他產品相同的原則和方法來提供它。它必須具有高週轉率，並且必須提供高性價比。我們目前正在進行測試以實現這一目標。我的意思是，如果你看看其他國家，例如土耳其 Bim，他們提供新鮮，A101 提供新鮮，3B 沒有理由不能提供新鮮。

So as long as -- as soon as we are satisfied that the fresh we can offer meets these criteria we put, we will have fresh. Now when does that happen? It could happen in '24, but it could also be in '25. None of our looking-forward projections include anything from this category. So when it happens, it's icing on the cake.

因此，只要我們對我們可以提供的新鮮產品滿足我們提出的這些標準感到滿意，我們就會有新鮮的。那什麼時候發生呢？它可能發生在 24 年，但也可能發生在 25 年。我們的前瞻性預測都不包含此類別的任何內容。因此，當它發生時，那就是錦上添花。

Your second question was CapEx. I'm going to let Eduardo answer that one.

你的第二個問題是資本支出。我會讓 Eduardo 來回答這個問題。

Yes. CapEx.

是的。資本支出。

Rodrigo, in terms of CapEx, it's pretty much what we had explained in our prospectus. No changes really there. Again, as we explained, our target is to invest MXN 3.9 million per store. Particularly this year, in addition to stores, we're going to be adding 2 additional regions, distribution centers. By the way, they both have already opened. And again, additional CapEx in terms of trucks and cars that the majority, of course, will come from CapEx from stores. So no major changes there, and that's how we plan to execute in 2024.

羅德里戈，就資本支出而言，這與我們在招股說明書中所解釋的差不多。確實沒有任何變化。正如我們所解釋的，我們的目標是每家商店投資 390 萬墨西哥比索。特別是今年，除了商店之外，我們還將增加兩個區域、配送中心。順便說一句，他們都已經開業了。再說一次，卡車和汽車方面的額外資本支出，當然，其中大部分將來自商店的資本支出。所以沒有重大變化，這就是我們計劃在 2024 年執行的方式。

Thanks for the clarification, Eduardo. Congrats on your first earnings results.

感謝您的澄清，愛德華多。恭喜您獲得第一份獲利結果。

(Operator Instructions) We will move next with Jorge Izquierdo with BTG Pactual.

（操作員指示）接下來我們將與 BTG Pactual 一起與 Jorge Izquierdo 一起行動。

Congrats on the results. My question is on average ticket. We saw it went from MXN 50 in 2019 to slightly above MXN 82 in 2023. So I was wondering if you could provide more color on the main factors which are driving this increase. And what should we expect for the future?

祝賀結果。我的問題是平均票價。我們看到它從 2019 年的 50 墨西哥比索上升到 2023 年略高於 82 墨西哥比索 所以我想知道您是否可以提供更多關於推動這一增長的主要因素的信息。我們對未來該期待什麼？

Good to meet you. Fundamentally, what drives increase in tickets is our customer picking up 1 additional item in their visit. And that happens as we increase the penetration of wallet because we're offering more, a bigger selection of better things, more value for money to our customers. And it's happening naturally and it's a natural upward trend that we've been observing now for several years.

很高興見到你。從根本上來說，推動門票增加的因素是我們的客戶在訪問中額外購買了 1 件商品。當我們提高錢包的滲透率時，就會發生這種情況，因為我們為客戶提供更多、更多更好的東西，物有所值。這是自然發生的，也是我們多年來觀察到的自然上升趨勢。

Now inflation that we've seen in the past has sort of created a little bit of noise in our number. We've seen high inflation. So in '22, the ticket size got a little bit inflated. We've seen it in the first quarters of '23. But we've seen internally a significant deflation in the fourth quarter of '23.

現在，我們過去看到的通貨膨脹已經在我們的數字中產生了一些噪音。我們看到了高通膨。所以在 22 年，票價有點誇大了。我們在 23 年第一季就已經看到了這一點。但我們在 2023 年第四季內部看到了嚴重的通貨緊縮。

Now going forward, I expect inflation to stabilize, and then I expect our ticket size to continue its upward trend as we've been experiencing it now for several years.

現在展望未來，我預計通膨將穩定下來，然後我預計我們的門票規模將繼續呈上升趨勢，就像我們幾年來所經歷的那樣。

Great. Very clear.

偉大的。非常清楚。

And we show no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the call back to the presenters for closing remarks.

目前我們沒有提出任何進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回給主持人，讓其致閉幕詞。

Again, thank you very much for attending our first meeting. This is very exciting for us. We were extremely nervous at the beginning of the call, but I think hearing familiar voices that have supported us all this time has made it very smooth and easy. And of course, we're happy to talk to you during our quiet periods about what's going on.

再次非常感謝您參加我們的第一次會議。這對我們來說非常令人興奮。通話一開始我們非常緊張，但我認為聽到一直支持我們的熟悉的聲音讓通話變得非常順利和輕鬆。當然，我們很高興在安靜的時間與您談論正在發生的事情。

So thank you again, and we look forward to talking again and seeing you in person.

再次感謝您，我們期待再次交談並親自見到您。

And this does conclude today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at anytime.

今天的節目到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以隨時斷開連線。