FEMSA Announces First Quarter 2019 Results

MONTERREY, Mexico, April 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. ("FEMSA”) (NYSE: FMX; BMV: FEMSAUBD) announced today its operational and financial results for the first quarter of 2019.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• 5.6% revenue growth (3.7% on an organic¹ basis) at FEMSA Consolidated
• 270 basis points gross margin expansion at FEMSA Comercio’s Proximity Division
• 2.4% revenue growth at FEMSA Comercio’s Health Division
• 2.5% revenue growth at FEMSA Comercio’s Fuel Division
• 9.2% volume growth at Coca-Cola FEMSA’s operations in Brazil  

Eduardo Padilla, FEMSA’s CEO, commented:

"During the first quarter we were able to leverage the resilience and confidence of the consumer in Mexico to deliver a robust set of numbers at FEMSA Comercio’s Proximity Division, despite a difficult comparison base driven by the Holy Week calendar shift.  The Health Division delivered strong growth in Colombia and a steadily improving operation in Mexico even as it faced a soft quarter in Chile and foreign exchange headwinds across South America, and the Fuel Division faced supply disruptions early in the quarter that put some pressure on revenue growth. For its part, Coca-Cola FEMSA delivered top-and-bottom line growth in Mexico and Central America, as well as particularly encouraging volume growth in Brazil.  All in all, it was a solid start to the year across the FEMSA business platform.”

¹ Excludes the effects of significant mergers and acquisitions in the last twelve months. For this quarter, it includes the consolidation of Caffenio, our sole coffee supplier in Mexico, which we now control with 50% share ownership.

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 company that creates economic and social value through companies and institutions and strives to be the best employer and neighbor to the communities in which it operates. It participates in the retail industry through FEMSA Comercio, comprising a Proximity Division operating OXXO, a small-format store chain, a Health Division, which includes drugstores and related activities, and a Fuel Division, which operates the OXXO GAS chain of retail service stations. In the beverage industry, it participates through Coca-Cola FEMSA, a public bottler of Coca-Cola products; and in the beer industry, as a shareholder of Heineken, a brewer with operations in over 70 countries. 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. Through its business units, FEMSA has approximately 300,000 employees in 12 countries. FEMSA is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability MILA Pacific Alliance, the FTSE4Good Emerging Index and the Mexican Stock Exchange Sustainability Index, among other indexes that evaluate its sustainability performance.