Atacadao SA

BOVESPA:CRFB3

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

Good morning, and thank you for attending this video conference, where we are going to disclose the results of the first quarter of 2024. I would like to start this video conference by expressing our solidarity for the people of Rio Grande do Sul state, who are enduring a very difficult time because of the strong rainfall in the last few days.

At this critical time, we are providing all of our support to our more than 500 associates who have been affected by the rain, and we are also offering support to the communities. Since last week, together with Ação da Cidadania Citizenship Action, 20 stores of our group in Rio Grande do Sul are receiving donations for the victims of this natural disaster.

Given the level of the flooding, 5 of these 20 stores had to be temporarily closed, but we are still receiving donations in the other stores up to May 24. We have also frozen the prices of all of our products in all of the stores in Rio Grande do Sul up until May 31. Our priority now is to maintain our associates safe and to do our best to continue to supply goods to the people of Rio Grande do Sul.

Now let's move to the results of the first quarter. We started the year with a lot of energy and with very exciting results. We saw a return of food inflation to positive levels, and this had a favorable impact in terms of prices and volumes. All of our business lines saw increases in terms of growth which leads us to believe that the outlook for 2024 is very favorable. At the same time, we are executing on our expansion plans, optimization of store portfolio and to improve our operational efficiency. We have completed the closure of stores according to our optimization of store portfolio, and we have closed 123 stores.

We have also moved forward in terms of converting stores. In this quarter, we opened 5 new Atacadão stores, which were conversions from retail stores. 9 other stores are being converted and will be opened in the next few months as Atacadão and Sam's Club. And with this, we have converted 14 of the approximately 20 conversions planned for the year.

In addition to the progress on executing our strategy in brick-and-mortar stores, we have also improved our digital strategy. In this quarter, e-commerce reached 90% of penetration in sales with a GMV of BRL 2.4 billion, a very expressive growth by 52% year-on-year. Again, the highlight was the food channel, especially 1P, which grew 117% with the sales of the digital channel of Atacadão, which has nearly tripled year-on-year.

In terms of the results, we see food inflation going back to positive levels, and therefore, there is an improvement in the sales. In the atacarejo, like-for-like was 1.8% positive with an improving volumes, especially B2B. Again, the performance of the converted stores was the highlight. And it grew like-for-like by 21% year-on-year, a very sound growth.

The EBITDA margin also increased by 95 bps with the maturation of the converted stores and the capture of synergies. Sam's Club was again a highlight in terms of sales, with a very expressive growth by over 22% year-on-year, a positive like-for-like of 7% and expansion of the area with 8 new stores added in the last 12 years and an increase in the members which now has reached 3 million.

The EBITDA margin grew 110 bps year-on-year with a greater penetration of our own brand. This performance attests to the importance of differentiated assortment, especially in times of greater seasonality as was the case of Easter.

In terms of retail, we saw an increase in like-for-like, but the performance presented challenges. We are working to adjust our positioning in retail by optimizing the store portfolio, by improving our positioning in terms of price and by simplifying the operational structure. These efforts will become increasingly evident in the next few quarters, and we are going to see a recovery of sales and a drop in SG&A.

And our bank, the Carrefour Bank, increased in terms of billings by 16% relative to last year. And the EBITDA increased by nearly 5x vis-a-vis the first quarter of 2023. We are seeing an increase in -- an improvement, sorry, in the level of delinquency and a maturation of investments for the capture of new clients.

The consolidated EBITDA in the quarter totaled BRL 1.4 billion with a consolidated margin of 5.7%, a very strong expansion of 145 bps year-on-year. This reflects the capture of synergies of BRL 2 billion, and we are near to the target we proposed for the end of 2025.

In terms of our ESG strategy, we continue to move forward in our priority pillars. Last week, we joined the ISE, the B3 Business Sustainability Index. And we are very proud of that. This index brings together 79 companies, which are recognized for their excellence in terms of sustainability, corporate sustainability. And this attests to the Grupo Carrefour Brasil to ESG issues.

Still on this front, we now have a share of 37% of women in leadership positions and 42% of black people at 2.3 percentage points and 1.6 percentage points increase, respectively, relative to last year, which attests to our improvement in terms of being a more diverse and inclusive company.

In terms of protection of the planet and biodiversity, we have a target to reduce our carbon emissions by 70% until 2040, Scope 1 and Scope 2, with a baseline of 2019. In this quarter, we were able to reduce our carbon emissions by 30% relative to the baseline. That is 6 percentage points better relative to the same period of 2023.

And in April, we launched our sustainability report, which brings details about our ESG strategy and the main achievements of 2023. The report, which was reviewed by external auditors is now available on our Investor Relations site, and I would like to invite you all to access the document and see what we have been doing.

I now turn the floor over to Eric, who's going to talk about the financial data.

[Eric Alencar, executive]

Thank you, Stephane. Good morning to all. It's a pleasure to be here with you again. I would like to say a few words about the tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul.

As Stephane mentioned, we show our solidarity for the people of Rio Grande do Sul. Grupo Carrefour is now present in Rio Grande do Sul. We have 98 stores, 30 Atacadão, 3 Sam's Club, 11 hypermarkets, in addition to supermarkets, gas stations and pharmacies. And among our large format stores, 6 Atacadão stores and one hypermarket were affected by the rains. These stores together account for less than 1% of our sales. We have insurance policies which cover material damage and business interruption. We are still assessing the potential net cash impact, but we don't think that they will be material.

In the next slide, we are going to talk about the figures you had access to last night. On Slide 3, we see the consolidated results of the company in the quarter. Gross sales in the first quarter amounted to BRL 28 billion, a 2.5% growth relative to the same period last year, with an improvement in the sales trends in all the formats. Gross margin was 20.3%, a growth by 63 bps year-on-year, with an improvement in all business lines apart from retail, where we are adjusting our strategy to position prices to increase the competitivity of retail.

There was a 3.7% drop in SG&A despite the expansion of our network and the cost inflation. This is a result of our initiatives to reduce costs and capture synergies after the integration of the BIG Group. In terms of percentage of the net sales, SG&A improved 85 bps, which means that we can continue to grow whilst having discipline in terms of costs.

The adjusted EBITDA grew 37% with a gain of 145 bps in the margin. This comes from the synergy, the maturation of converted stores and also new clients in the bank.

And finally, we closed the quarter with a positive bottom line. Adjusted net income was BRL 52 million, which does not reflect the capture of the benefits of lower interest rates, which we have renegotiated for intercompany loans and the normalization of our income tax rate, which is still higher than normal.

On Slide 5, we will talk about Cash & Carry Atacadão. At the end of the first quarter, we had 366 stores, and we added 5 new stores, all conversions from the retail stores. Gross sales were BRL 19.3 billion, 7% growth year-on-year, with like-for-like of 1.8%, which is above the average food inflation of the period, which was 1.6%. The improvement in sales also reflected the volumes, especially in our B2B clients, which have recovered in terms of volume.

The former BIG Group stores, which have been converted into Atacadão, have performed very strongly with a like-for-like growth of 21%. The gross margin increased 65 bps relative to last year and gains came from negotiations with suppliers and a greater share of services in sales. We are implementing services of bakery, cold cuts and butchery in selected Atacadão stores to better serve our individual clients. And this strategy has been paying off. In March, 58 stores offered these services. And until the end of the year, we want to have at least twice this number.

SG&A increased by 2.1% due to the opening of 20 stores and cost inflation. In terms of percentage of net sales, SG&A decreased 31 bps year-on-year. This has to do with the maturation of the converted stores and a focus on cost efficiency.

The converted stores of the former BIG Group had a margin of 4%, which is greater the typical maturation and is also greater than the average of the organic stores opened in 2022 and 2023. The ramp-up of these stores resulted in an adjusted EBITDA of BRL 1.6 billion, a significant improvement by 95 bps year-on-year.

And now I'm going to talk about retail. Gross sales were BRL 6.9 million in Q1 2024, a drop by 11%, which can be explained by a reduction by 24% in the sales area. In the last 12 months, we converted 25 retail stores into Atacadão, and we sold 140 stores, especially supermarkets. Sales in terms of the same stores, dropped 1.4%, which is better than what we saw in Q4 2023.

Throughout the quarter, we saw a very positive change in like-for-like in retail, especially in March, because of Easter. The gross margin was 77 bps lower this year which has to do with our strategy to implement competitivity and was also under the pressure of the markdown of the stores we closed for conversion.

The SG&A reduced 13.7% year-on-year, a drop by 92 bps in terms of percentage of sales. We are going to continue to work to reduce costs in the next few quarters, so as to make retail more agile and competitive.

The adjusted EBITDA totaled BRL 136 million with a margin of 2.2%.

I would like to remind you that we completed the closure of 123 stores, retail stores as we communicated in the last investor morning. The 112 stores that we closed between January and March affected our results. The EBITDA was negative by minus BRL 29 million in this 112 stores, which drove our margin down. If we exclude these operations, the retail segment would have had an EBITDA of BRL 165 million.

In terms of Sam's Club, gross sales were BRL 1.6 billion in the quarter, a 22% growth relative to the same period last year. A like-for-like of 6.9% and an expansion of the network with 8 stores added in the last 12 months. Our member base increased by 33.5%, and we now have 3 million members, which is even better in terms of joining than in the last few quarters.

Net gross income was BRL 321 million with a margin of 22.1% in the quarter and this is due to the greater penetration of the Member's Mark and the mix of products in the quarter.

SG&A totaled BRL 244 million in the quarter, a 30.7% increase year-on-year. This growth is expected because of the opening of the stores. As they mature, this SG&A is going to be diluted.

And finally, the adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was 5.4%, 110 bps greater than the margin of Q1 2023, which can be explained by the expansion of gross margin.

On Slide 11, you see the performance of the Carrefour Bank. Our credit portfolio is now BRL 25 billion, an increase by 22% relative to the first quarter of 2023. And this drove our billings up by 15.6%. This is thanks to the capture of new clients in the converted stores. Delinquency rates are going down as a result of our restricted policy to grant credit since Q2 2022.

Also, credit in the market has improved as a whole. The financial margin has increased 35% year-on-year with the new customers we captured in the converted stores, and this has contributed positively to our results.

SG&A dropped 7.6% this year due to our discipline. We are operating a very efficient bank, with efficiency indices that are the lowest in the market. But we are always looking for new opportunities to decrease costs and expenses. As a result of the increase in revenue, an improvement in the delinquency levels and a better control of SG&A, EBITDA in the quarter was BRL 204 million, that is nearly 5x the result of last year.

On Slide 12, we see the adjusted net income of BRL 52 million in the quarter. The result of the operations after tax and depreciation was BRL 942 million. Financial expenses amounted to BRL 706 million and do not reflect new rates we negotiated for the intercompany loans.

We have renegotiated 2 lines. First, the credit line of BRL 1.9 billion maturing in May 2025, where the rate is now 10.25%; and then the credit line of BRL 6.3 billion maturing April 2026, where the rate went from 14.95% to 11.1% a year. The benefits of its renegotiation should be seen as of the second quarter and should become even more relevant according to the schedule we disclosed to the market on April 7. We are going to capture all the savings in 2025.

In terms of taxes, we paid BRL 129 million which still sees the impact of the consolidation of the legal entities, which had accumulated losses.

In terms of operating cash flow, we are generating a strong flow. We generated BRL 5.1 billion in the last 12 months. The working capital was positive by BRL 614 million which has to do with our dealings with suppliers. The free cash flow was BRL 3.6 billion, which is above the 12 months of the first quarter of 2023, thanks to better operational margins, better dynamics of working capital and lower investments which was expected as we finished the integration of the acquisitions.

And now on Slide 15, we'll talk about leverage. This cash flow has allowed us to reduce debt as you can see on the slide. At the end of the quarter, we had a net debt of BRL 13.5 billion, BRL 2.1 billion less than March 2023. Our leverage ratio was 2.24x net debt over EBITDA.

I now turn the floor over to Stephane. Thank you very much.

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

Thank you, Eric. To wrap up, I would like to say that we started the year very excited, with very good sales trends and exciting results. We have moved forward in terms of optimizing our store network. We have increased our sales by expanding also the profitability of our business units. And we are now close to achieving the targets of 2025 in terms of BRL 2 billion in synergies after the acquisition of the BIG Group.

Our converted stores are maturing very strongly, and we were able to create positive cash and positive results and to reduce our net debt in the quarter. We are also well positioned to tap the opportunities in the market in a more stable macroeconomic environment, and we are confident that 2024 will be a year of inflection for the Grupo Carrefour Brasil.

Thank you very much for attending this video conference, and we will now open for the Q&A session.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Irma Sgarz from Goldman Sachs.

[Irma Sgarz, analyst]

I have actually 2. In relation to the drop in gross margin, which we saw in retail in the quarter, how much of this has to do with the repositioning of prices, your new strategy? And how much of it has to do with promotional activities before the closure of stores to shed all the inventory. I would like to understand how this happened and how this is going to be -- how this is going to play out in the gross margin?

And then the plan to close down the less profitable stores seems to have moved very quickly. But in terms of the hypermarket, what do you see for that format? There is no major growth expected in that format, is there? Is there any room to improve the profitability of these stores which are not going to be converted necessary to Atacadão? And maybe, what can you do in terms of assortment, gross margin and inventory management, I mean, all the levers to improve profitability in this format.

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

I'm going to start with the second question. Thank you, Irma, for your questions. And then I'll pass the floor on to Eric. The plan to close 123 stores includes also 16 hypermarkets. In the first quarter, we closed the stores where we thought there was no room for recovery in the next few years or the possibility of converting them into winning formats such as Atacadão or Sam's Club.

We also said in November last year, that within the hyper mercados, hypermarkets, we have around 40 stores that can be converted into Atacadão and Sam's Club, of which 20 are to be converted this year and 20 are to be converted up until 2026. So we have analyzed the store network, and we know which ones can grow and others which can be converted and stores that we have to close down. So this has been done. This analysis has been done. So 123 today and another 15 conversions and 20 still need to be converted.

For those stores that will be kept as hypermarkets, we do have leverages. We are seeing an improvement, just by looking at the stores, the hypermarkets. Our retail business includes different formats, different brands, and we saw the impact of the closures of hypermarkets and other formats.

If we look more specifically to what is happening in supermarkets, we have some space to continue to grow positively and in a sustainable way. We are seeing a positive trend for those stores. In Q1, we saw that, and this trend has improved month-on-month. We have tools to continue to grow in this format, repositioning prices, for example, we have a set of actions.

In terms of the assortment, we are going to maintain our brand, the Carrefour brand, which is doing really well and the prices better than the national or foreign brands. We are going to maintain the services as well. And we are going to deliver more products, some smaller sizes to meet the needs of Brazilian consumers.

As you know, they are heavily indebted. So we have several tools and several initiatives to see growth happen again. We have hypermarket stores, and we see a positive future for some stores, and we are seeing an improvement in the trends.

And now I turn the floor over to Eric.

[Eric Alencar, executive]

Hello, Irma. As you said, your question, as you very well said, part of the answer is in your question. The margin in retail dropped by nearly 1%, this is in part because of markdowns in the stores that had to be converted and also changes that group is making in terms of repositioning prices in retail. The markdown didn't have a great impact but what accounts for this decrease of 0.8% has to do with the repositioning.

[Marcela Bretas, executive]

And just to complement what [ Eric ] said, the provisioning for markdown are now the nonoperational expenses, and this is something that we did last quarter. So the markdowns in the gross margin this year has to do with 14 stores that are now being converted to Atacadão and Sam's Club, and these markdowns are considered within the gross margin, but they account for a lesser effect relative to the repositioning of crises.

[Irma Sgarz, analyst]

That was very clear. Just one more clarification. Given that this drop has to do with the repositioning of prices, can we think that this is going to be the new level of gross margin for this business line, for this division?

[Eric Alencar, executive]

It is fair to say that we have to work within a new reality. We will try to offer more competitive prices to our customers, but the margin also has to do with the gaining of efficiency in the operation. So I wouldn't conclude that because we are working hard to improve the turnover to decrease costs and improve our negotiations with the suppliers. And I think this is going to have a positive impact.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Clara Lustosa from Itau BBA.

[Clara Lustosa, analyst]

We have 2. First, I would like to explore the gross margin of Atacadão. This was due to a greater share of B2C and better negotiations with suppliers. So can we expect a new level of gross margin for the division, given the change in the profile of customers? I mean you have been attracting retail customers to those stores. And then also margins in view of the competition?

And then the second question has to do with the bank. You have said that bank would be impacted by the revolving credit issue, and this is something you have been talking about, but the results were quite surprising. Top line was better, SG&A were lower. So going forward in the next few quarters, how can we think in terms of the profitability of the bank?

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

Thank you, Clara, for your questions. I will let Eric give you more detail. In terms of the gross margin of Atacadão, there are different elements. First, remember that Atacadão can continue improve the gross margin in terms of like the scenario for food inflation, the converted stores are driving gross margins upwards. And if the food inflation goes to better or more positive levels, we can have a better gross margin than in the previous quarters.

In terms of the bank, I wanted to make a first comment, the team in the bank has been working really hard to prepare for the potential impact of the changes in the revolving credit policies. So we are growing in terms of profitability. We are improving our operational efficiency. So the bank has the capacity to overcome the difficulties.

[Eric Alencar, executive]

That's what I wanted to say. Exactly, Stephane. In terms of the improvement in the margin of Atacadão, we went from 15.4% in Q1 2023. There were many changes happening. Synergies had not been captured yet. Negotiations with suppliers was still messy because of the integration process, and there were no services as such. Then in Q4, 15.9%, and in Q1 2024, 16%. So this reflects the new negotiations.

The Atacadão Group will not work in terms of increasing prices. We will focus on the mix of services and negotiations with the partners and suppliers.

So an important point for us to mention is that in the last few years, we saw that April, April is the anniversary of Atacadão, we sell high volumes with a smaller margin. So you may see a variation in the second quarter as is natural. But from 15.4% to 16%, I would say this is anchored in a structural change.

And our -- in terms of the bank today, it has a lot of moving parts, but this is the capacity, the ability of the team to find alternatives to increase profitability in the bank.

In terms of the new rule in the revolving credit, we need at least 6 vintages to know what impact we will see. I also think that all the things are going to have an effect, the ability, for example, to reduce cost by 7.6% whilst having a growth by over 22%. This is wonderful. And a reduction in delinquency not only because of what we have been doing since the second quarter of 2023, but there is a drop in delinquency rates in Brazil overall.

And then the 55% increase in terms of personal loans, and these are products that bring in more margin. So we are cautious, but we are excited in the next quarter. We will be able to give more guidance to you and we will be able to talk about the results that can be expected by year-end.

[Clara Lustosa, analyst]

Thank you so much and congratulations for the results.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Alexandre Namioka from Morgan Stanley.

[Alexandre Namioka, analyst]

I would like to focus on atacarejo and more specifically, EBITDA margin, especially in the mature stores. I would like to understand 2 things. Can you give us some more color in terms of the performance of the mature stores, are they losing volume? And then how do you see this change in the mix of clients in the mature stores?

And then the second point, given the volume dynamics, how do you see the operational leverage? And how should we look at this margin in the stores opened until 2019, is there any space, any room for improvement? Or should we expect a drop in those mature stores?

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

Thank you for the question. In terms of Atacadão, the mature stores show a lot of resilience. When we look at the performance in terms of EBITDA of the mature stores, which we presented in the release, the performance was really good of those stores. And there were also improvements relative to the previous quarter. And this is because of what Eric explained in terms of synergies which also have a positive impact in those stores. And all the things that we are doing to improve efficiencies and to attract more B2C customers to those Atacadão stores, including the mature ones. We talked about new services in the Atacadão stores, the butcher, the bakery, the cold cuts. This has had a positive impact in terms of sales volume.

And we see a possibility of growing in terms of B2C, and we are confident that the mature stores can grow because more and more Brazilian consumers are going to the atacarejo segment. More and more consumers are using the Cash & Carry segment, this segment is increasing its share. 73% of Brazilian households shop in the atacarejo, Atacadão stores, and this is growing.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Felipe Cassimiro from Bradesco.

[Felipe Cassimiro de Freitas, analyst]

Firstly, I would like to explore the effects of the tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul, what do you see happening in terms of food inflation? And how is the company going to react in terms of inventory and suppliers in this new scenario of food inflation potentially. And also the competitivity of prices in retail, is it an everyday low price strategy for all stores? Or do you focus on some stores where there is a greater impact of Cash & Carry? What is the profile of these stores? Is it across the board for retail? Or is it more localized in terms of the competition? And then about the receivables, it's now 21 days. So why have the term for receivables increased?

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

Thank you for your questions. In terms of the situation in Rio Grande do Sul, we have frozen the prices of all of our products in all of our stores in Rio Grande do Sul, approximately 100 stores, and we have frozen the prices until the last day of May. We want the people of Rio Grande do Sul to feel that we are contributing. We don't want prices to rise in that situation in Rio Grande do Sul. And we have to remember that we will have to renegotiate with our suppliers.

The share of sales of Rio Grande do Sul amounts to 5% or 6% of our sales throughout Brazil. So we can do that for a month to help the population in the state of Rio Grande do Sul without hurting the company financially. Carrefour Brasil is present in all of the states. So of course, we have to look after the company in Rio Grande do Sul, but we prioritize supporting the population, the people of Rio Grande do Sul, and this measure was to show that we would not increase prices and take advantage of the situation.

In terms of supplies, there are going to be challenges. The situation seems to be more stable now, the stores are closed, and we see difficulties that we will have to overcome.

In terms of your second question, we have a price positioning strategy that we implement in all of the Carrefour stores, but obviously, we work harder. We focus on those stores that needed the most. We always look at our stores in terms of store by store, to see where we have to make an investment, where we have to invest more, but all of the stores are included in our price positioning strategy.

Eric might have something to add to it.

[Eric Alencar, executive]

I'm going to focus on your question regarding working capital. We went from 16 days in terms of receivables to 21, and these 5 days may draw your attention. But there are 2 reasons that account for this. Half of it is because we include discounted receivables, but we generated more cash. We didn't have to discount so many receivables, and this increases the receivables, but this has to do more with finances than with operations.

And from an operational point of view, the bank was very successful in terms of credit cards, and there was an increase in the number of people who buy using our credit cards, and they have installments that go beyond 30 days. So in Atacadão, it's explained by a greater number of people using credit cards, especially our credit cards, and they then divide the amount in more installments that go over 30 days.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Nicolas Larrain from JPMorgan.

[Nicolas Larrain, analyst]

I actually have 2, and they have to do with Atacadão. You said that the conversions had the same-store sales over 20%. Am I right in thinking that the legacy Atacadão stores are closer to 0% or 5%, does it make sense?

And also ask you about the dynamics between the legacy and the converted stores, there is a gain in gross margin with a greater share of B2C. And in the converted stores, does B2C have a greater share relative to the legacy stores, or B2C or the relative share of B2C has to do with the fact that B2B is still lower?

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

The ramp-up of the converted stores is at a higher level than at the other mature stores, for example, the mature stores have a positive performance. And of 366 stores, 70 have been converted. So most of our sales in the Atacadão business comes from non-converted stores. So the growth was closer to the average of Atacadão. I'll give you a number very briefly here.

In terms of your second question, the converted stores have B2B and B2C sales. When we open a converted stores coming from retail, we have more B2C and we work on a monthly basis to increase the share of B2B. We have to build a new base of B2B. It's like opening a new store. The converted stores have B2C clients already, and then we create step-by-step, little by little, the B2B customer base which is different from opening stores where we have to work on both the B2B and the B2C basis.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Mr. Vinicius Strano from UBS.

[Vinicius Strano, analyst]

In terms of the price positioning at hypermarket, what is the gap in prices in hypermarkets as compared with Cash & Carry in Atacadão? And within Cash & Carry, how do you compare in terms of prices vis-a-vis your competition?

And then, Eric, in terms of taxes, when will the effective tax rate become normal or go back to normal? Do you have new initiatives for increasing tax efficiency, you have accumulated losses in the BIG Group acquisition. How do you see that going forward?

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

Thank you for your questions. In terms of your first question, we can say that retail prices are increasingly closer to the prices of atacarejo. In Atacadão, we have better prices, but the difference between retail and Atacadão is greater than the average of the different segments. But if we look at the price positioning of retail as a segment relative to atacarejo as a segment, the difference went from 12% to 7% or 8%. So the segments are closer with more services at atacarejo relative to retail.

I now pass the floor to Eric to take the second question.

[Eric Alencar, executive]

The question about taxes is very clear to us. Last year, we paid BRL 232 million in taxes with an effective rate of 193%. Now we paid BRL 141 million, 61%, but this is not a normal tax load. We continue to work, and we should reach December with a load that -- a tax load, a tax burden that is normal for our company. This comes from different projects, but also from the legal entities of the companies we merged into our group, and this will normalize our tax burden. You can be confident that the normalization is going to happen by the end of this year or the beginning of 2025.

[Operator]

The next question is from Mr. Soares from Citi.

[Joao Pedro Soares, analyst]

Just a quick follow about the legacy stores and the volumes of B2B. The competition is becoming more conservative for 2 quarters, there hasn't been the restocking of the B2B or the businesses basically. And then the second point, and then in relation to financial expenses, it has not reflected your efforts to renegotiate the debt with France. So in terms of liability management, how much are you going to have in terms of savings, in terms of financial expenses?

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

Thank you for your questions. I'll take the first question. Atacadão has always been clever in terms of the B2B sales, has always been strong in B2B sales. When there is a scenario of deflation of food prices, we suffer because the B2B segment accounts for a relevant share of our sales. So we are also the first to benefit when there is a food inflation. And this is something we saw in the first months of the quarter, and in Q4 as well, there was an improvement of -- in B2B sales in the last quarter of 2023.

When you look at the performance of these sales since Q4 2023, the trend has been improving. So clearly, we have the ability to take advantage of a scenario where there is food inflation.

I'll turn the floor now over to Eric.

[Eric Alencar, executive]

I had a problem when I was listening to your question, but if I understood correctly, you want to know the gains that we are going to have this year and next year.

[Joao Pedro Soares, analyst]

Yes, this and other things, Eric. If we look at liability management from a broader standpoint, how much in savings are you going to achieve?

[Eric Alencar, executive]

There are 2 work fronts here. The largest variation has to do with [ SO ]. We have a debt and BRL 8 billion is intercompany debt, and this is going to drop by 3.8%. This is not going to happen in 2024, this BRL 300 million, they are also going to happen in 2025. We are now renegotiating BRL 6 billion and this is going to give us another BRL 150 million in terms of improvement in our financial results.

The other part of our debt is linked to the CDI. And there, we have CDI plus 1%. So 0.2% upwards or downwards. So there's going to be no gain in addition to the drop in the CDI rates.

So in total, we can see BRL 700 million in improvement for the whole group. BRL 300 million comes from the ICO and then the other part is going to come from the CDI.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Mr. Vitor Fuziharo from Santander.

[Vitor Fuziharo, analyst]

The first one has to do with the improvement in gross margin at Atacadão. So how relevant is the better negotiation with suppliers, and where are you going to focus your efforts? And then in relation to the capital structure, you have renegotiated with France. Is there any clear optimization or any clear change?

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

In terms of the first question, I think we have partially answered it, better negotiation with suppliers. And this is because of the new level that we have reached with the BIG Group, which is being integrated. So we have greater volumes for Atacadão and for the other brands as well.

We want to leverage all the volume of the Carrefour Group in Brazil, the expansion of B2C is allowing us to have better margins at Atacadão, even greater than we have seen in the last few quarters. This is to say that with an increase in food inflation, our work in terms of efficiency, B2C and the renegotiation, we are positive. We are confident that we are going to see better margins for Atacadão.

[Eric Alencar, executive]

In relation to the capital structure, when there is a large change in terms of financial costs and when there is an improvement, it is expected that the structure of the company should be questioned, but there is no definition in terms of having a material change in our capital structure.

I would just add that our idea now is to become more and more efficient in generating more cash. Return will come from an efficient operation. And once we achieve these results that we want to achieve, we can discuss a different capital structure that is better suited for our new level of performance.

[Operator]

We will now close the Q&A session, and I would like to turn the floor over to Mr. Stephane for his final remarks.

[Stephane Maquaire, executive]

Thank you so much for your questions, for your comments. We are very happy with the results of the first quarter of 2024. The sales trends are very, very encouraging. And we will continue to move forward in terms of optimizing the store network, to expand the profitability of all our business units, and we are very close to achieve BRL 2 billion in terms of synergies.

So we are very well positioned in 2024 for this big change for our group. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

The video conference to disclose the results of the first quarter of 2024 of Grupo Carrefour Brasil is now ended. The IR department remains available to take any questions you might have. Thank you all very much for attending, and have a lovely day.

[Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]