La Comer is going slowly, but surely. Contrary to its competitors, such as Walmart and Soriana, who started the year with significant growth, the supermarket chain founded by Antonino González Abascal achieved sales of 7,611 million pesos (mp), during the first quarter of 2022.
These revenues represent an increase of 15.1% compared to the same period in 2021. Regarding earnings, La Comer reported a net profit of 482 million pesos, compared to the 374 million pesos it earned during the same quarter of last year, while the flow Operating income was 855 million pesos, which translates into an increase of 14.2% compared to the first quarter of 2021.
In turn, same store sales grew 7.3%. All formats, regions and categories showed increases in sales, but the La Comer format had the best same-store sales results during the quarter. This is followed by Fresko and Sumesa, whose results are due to the improvement in their product catalogue.
By region, the retailer had a better same-store sales performance in the Northwest, due to the recovery that developed in tourist areas. Western stores also had favorable increases in sales, while the central and metropolitan areas recorded more moderate growth.
Once again, the digital platform ‘La Comer en tu casa’ closed the quarter with good sales levels, although slightly more moderate than those presented last year. However, the retailer did not detail more figures in this regard.
For the first quarter of 2022, La Comer had an operating profit of 552 million pesos, showing an increase of 18% compared to the same quarter of the previous year and also an operating margin of 7.3%.
Investment projects
The company presented a cash balance of 2,404 million pesos, which represents a decrease of 132 million against the cash balance as of December 2021. This capital was used mainly for the investment of projects and store openings. The level of inventories stood at 4,222 million pesos and that of suppliers at 4,193 million pesos.
In March, the company opened a new store, the second of its Fresko format in Monterrey, Nuevo León, which required a total investment of 670 million pesos. With this new store, 597 formal jobs were created, of which 247 are direct and 350 indirect.
Some accounts with significant increases in expenses were pre-operational expenses due to the opening of a new store, expenses in systems, electricity and compostable packaging.
To date, the company has 78 stores that operate in four different formats: 13 City Market, 19 Fresko, 33 La Comer and 13 Sumesa. Together, the company operates a commercial area of 335,985 m². Most of them are located in the metropolitan area of Mexico City, where 52.6% of their total stores are located. The retailer also operates 339 outlets, which are located in shopping malls along with its stores, and also has two distribution centers.
