This article was developed by the team of Food Retail Italy, official representative of the international fairs Cibus y TuttoFood Milan in Latin America.
On mass market South American retail is emerging with increasing visibility over its projects cierre del ejercicio 2025 For part of the main organized food distribution groups, this requires greater precision in planning and financial communication in a more stable regional macroeconomic context. Cencosud, one of the major actors of the region with operations in Chile, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil and United States, presented a guidance formal para 2025 que proyecta revenues of approximately 17.950 million dollars and an adjusted EBITDA of approximately 1.870 million dollars, which implies a desperate operational margin of the alrededor of the 10,4%, accompanied by a reversal plan 610 million for openings, renovations and logistical capabilities, with 24 new supermarkets planned this year there is more than 44.000 m² of additional venues to provide for its omnichannel and regional competitiveness.
In Brazil, Assaí Atacadista , referent in the format attacking and one of the main operators of large retail, has re-signed in a “relevant fact” in compliance with the financial discipline, indicating that the plan is to complete the business with an index of Deuda Neta above EBITDA pre-IFRS 16 seeks at 2,6 times, an objective that underpins the group's focus not only on business growth but also on sustainability and control of the financial structure in the face of a higher interest rate environment.
Carrefour, with a significant presence in Brazil and other Latin American markets, has reiterated its communication of the results of the third quarter which maintains its financial objectives of 2025 without changes to the Group level, supporting a positive trend in life like-for-like (+10,9% in Latin America in the first half of 2025) driven mainly by the decline in food sectors (+4,9% LFL in the second quarter in Brazil) and other formats, which reflects the effect of its commercial and price strategies, considering the negative change effects that he has enthroned the region.
For its part, Success Group, key operator in Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina, reported solid results in the first few months of 2025, with Net consolidated use of COP 383.000 million (about 89 millones de euros) and a growth in operational inputs of the elder of the 5,8% year-on-year in the second quarter, accompanied by an expansion of the current EBITDA 32,3%, driven by improvements in commercial strategy and operational efficiency, given that, although not constituting a formal "guidance" for the year, they aim for a favorable trajectory of development for the totality of the business.
In addition, these particular projects and results indicate that a substantial part of the large retailers of the mass market South America is adopting a more transparent and structured focus compared to its end-of-year expectations, which facilitates investors, investors and industrial analysts to better read the market in general. The combination of explicit financial guidance, reiterated financial objectives and solid operational results makes it clear that planning capacity and financial discipline will become a central competitive factor in regional food retailing at the beginning of 2025 and early 2026.
