MONTERREY, MEXICO--(Marketwired - Feb 24, 2016) - Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. (
Fourth Quarter 2015 Highlights:
2015 Full Year Highlights:
Carlos Salazar Lomelín, FEMSA's CEO, commented: "2015 was a strong year for us, and a good way to mark the 125th anniversary of our Company. As is always the case, our results represent a balance of our performance across different operations and markets, and in 2015, the positive trends and results outweighed the negatives, certainly in Mexico, but also beyond. FEMSA Comercio delivered a remarkable performance not just in the core OXXO business, where we surpassed 14,000 stores and our comparable sales growth approached the high single digits, but also in our newer operations such as drugstores and gasoline stations, both of which are in the early stages of rapid, profitable growth. We closed the acquisition of Farmacon in Mexico and we made a controlling investment in Socofar, thus obtaining access to the drugstore markets in Chile and Colombia as well as a platform from which to build our regional growth strategy. For its part, Coca-Cola FEMSA managed to navigate challenging environments well, adjusting its operational structure as well as its price and package architecture to suit evolving conditions across markets, growing volumes and transactions in most territories, defending profitability, and strengthening competitive positions in anticipation of improved market dynamics down the road.
"As we look to 2016 we will again face some headwinds, from sustained volatility in the foreign exchange environment and soft consumer demand in Brazil, to demanding comparison bases in our key Mexico market, but we are optimistic that our team, our processes and our business platform will once again put us in a good position to compete and create value. And we continue to see more opportunities ahead of us than ever before, with the benefit -- and the responsibility -- that come from the combination of financial flexibility and strategic discipline."
1 Excludes non-comparable results from acquisitions at FEMSA Comercio in the last twelve months.
To obtain the full text of this earnings release, please visit our Investor Relations website at
www.femsa.com/investor under the Financial Reports section
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning our future performance that should be considered as good faith estimates made by us. These forward-looking statements reflect management's expectations and are based upon currently available data. Actual results are subject to future events and uncertainties, which could materially impact our actual performance.
FEMSA is a leading company that participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world; and in the beer industry, through its ownership of the second largest equity stake in Heineken, one of the world's leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. In the retail industry it participates with FEMSA Comercio, operating various small-format store chains including OXXO. Additionally, through its Strategic Businesses unit, it provides logistics, point-of-sale refrigeration solutions and plastics solutions to FEMSA's business units and third-party clients.
Contact Information:
Media Contact
(52) 555-249-6843
www.femsa.com
Investor Contact
(52) 818-328-6167
www.femsa.com/inversionista