A "solid" set of results, driven by a "remarkable performance" of the food retail business, where the company owns the Continente brand. This is the analysts' interpretation of the figures reported by Sonae after the market closed. With comparable growth of 9% in the third quarter of the year, Continente distanced itself—even further—from Pingo Doce, its direct competitor in the national market.

In a highly competitive market segment, Sonae's food retail business has once again proven that it can overcome difficulties. “MC’s food segment showed strong LfL growth of 9% in the quarter, a particularly robust performance, supported by solid volume growth,” said Sonae CEO Cláudia Azevedo, in a message during the presentation of results for the first nine months of the year.

This evolution compares with the comparable growth of 4.4% for Pingo Doce in the same period. A difference (favourable to the hypermarkets owned by the Azevedo family company) that has only been accentuated. In the previous quarter, in which sector sales benefited from the Easter effect, MC’s food retail division had recorded a comparable increase of 10.5%, while Pingo Doce grew sales by 6.5%.

“The focus of Sonae’s results was on the performance of Sonae MC, particularly its food retail division,” comments JB Capital, in a commentary on Sonae’s results, which ECO had access to.

Analysts explain that the “LfL growth gap [between Continente and Pingo Doce (Jerónimo Martins' food retail business in Portugal) continues to widen: it expanded to 4.6 percentage points in the 3rd quarter, compared to 4 percentage points in the 2nd quarter and 3.9 in the 1st quarter,” they summarize.

CaixaBI analyst Rita Machado Belo also highlights the “remarkable performance” of the food retail unit, despite the difficult context in the national market, “reflecting the resilience and effectiveness of its business strategy.”

“This quarter, MC's food retail reinforced its leading position in Portuguese food retail, reaching revenues of €1.88 billion, reflecting a solid increase in volumes,” concludes the same expert. This figure compares to €1.4 billion billed by Pingo Doce in the same period.

“Sonae MC presented a solid set of results with strong margin growth in the quarter,” reinforces CaixaBank/BPI, also in a comment on the results reported by the Maia-based company.

Sonae closed the first nine months of the year with a net profit of €200 million, representing a 38% increase, and consolidated turnover grew 17% to €8.2 billion, "with organic expansion, strengthening of leadership positions, exploitation of synergies and active portfolio management," according to the results presentation shared by the company.