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Introduction & Market Context
Mexican restaurant operator Alsea SAB De CV (BMV:ALSEA) presented its second quarter 2025 results on July 23, showcasing a robust 14.2% year-over-year sales increase, significantly outpacing the 4.2% growth reported in the previous quarter. The company, which operates global brands including Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), Domino's Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ), and Burger King across multiple regions, demonstrated particularly strong momentum in its European operations while maintaining steady performance in its core Mexican market.
The results come as Alsea continues to execute on its strategic priorities of disciplined growth, portfolio optimization, and digital transformation, all while navigating varying economic conditions across its markets.
Quarterly Performance Highlights
Alsea reported total sales of 21.35 billion pesos (pre-IFRS-16) for Q2 2025, representing a 14.2% increase compared to the same period last year. EBITDA reached 3.03 billion pesos with a 14.2% margin pre-IFRS-16, while post-IFRS-16 EBITDA stood at 4.62 billion pesos with a 21.5% margin.
As shown in the following financial results overview:
Same-store sales (SSS) grew by 4.9% compared to Q2 2024, while digital channels continued to play a crucial role in Alsea's business model, accounting for 38.6% of tender and generating 35.3 million orders during the quarter.
The company also reported an improvement in cost of sales, which decreased from 32.6% in Q2 2024 to 31.8% in Q2 2025, representing an 80 basis point improvement that helped support margin performance.
Regional and Brand Performance Analysis
Alsea's performance varied significantly across brands and regions. Starbucks showed consistent growth across all markets, with South America leading at 9.7% SSS growth, followed by Mexico at 3.8% and Europe at 2.5%. Domino's Pizza demonstrated particularly strong performance in Colombia with 10.8% SSS growth and Mexico with 8.9%, while Spain showed more modest growth at 1.9%.
The detailed breakdown of same-store sales performance by brand and region reveals both strengths and challenges:
Notably, Burger King faced headwinds in both Mexico and Chile, with SSS declining by 6.8% and 5.1% respectively. This contrasts with the full-service restaurant segment, which delivered solid 5.9% SSS growth in both Mexico and Spain.
In terms of regional sales, Europe showed the strongest year-over-year growth at 25.4% (from 5.15 billion pesos in Q2 2024 to 6.47 billion pesos in Q2 2025), while Mexico grew by 9.1% (from 10.69 billion pesos to 11.67 billion pesos) and South America by 12.9% (from 2.85 billion pesos to 3.22 billion pesos).
Digital and Loyalty Program Performance
Alsea's digital transformation continues to yield results, with loyalty programs generating 5.4 billion pesos in sales during the quarter. The breakdown shows Mexico leading with 3.0 billion pesos (27% of tender), followed by Europe with 1.8 billion pesos (31% of tender) and South America with 0.6 billion pesos (18% of tender).
The company's loyalty initiatives demonstrated varying performance across brands, with Starbucks showing the strongest growth at 26.9% year-over-year and representing 31.2% of tender. Burger King's loyalty program grew by 26.3% (27.7% of tender), while Domino's increased by 4.9% (30.1% of tender). Full-service restaurants were the only segment to show a decline in loyalty program performance, dropping 2.7% year-over-year.
The following slide illustrates the company's global loyalty key performance indicators:
Strategic Initiatives & ESG Commitments
During the presentation, CEO Christian Gurría outlined Alsea's strategic priorities, which focus on disciplined organic growth, portfolio optimization, capital allocation discipline, building a high-performance organization, enhancing profitability, and advancing ESG commitments.
The strategic roadmap emphasizes these key focus areas:
On the ESG front, Alsea highlighted several initiatives, including Fundación Alsea's 24.4 million peso investment in social programs benefiting over 97,500 people in vulnerable situations in Mexico. The company's "Every Cup Counts" program has successfully avoided more than 379,000 single-use cups, while 149 full-service restaurants in Mexico City are implementing a distribution and return plan for recyclable plastic packaging used in delivery and takeout.
Financial Position & Outlook
Alsea reported a total debt of 34.3 billion pesos, with a debt maturity profile spread across 2025 (16%), 2026 (48%), 2027 (25%), and 2032 (11%). The debt is denominated 65% in Mexican pesos and 35% in euros. The company's debt-to-EBITDA ratio stands at 3.0x, while the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio is 2.7x.
The debt profile and maturity schedule is illustrated in the following slide:
Capital expenditures year-to-date totaled 2.5 billion pesos, with 63% allocated to Mexico, 28% to Europe, and 9% to South America. By category, 48% went to opening and remodeling stores, 26% to other projects, and 26% to maintenance.
Alsea maintains a significant global footprint with 4,795 units across its various brands, including 1,930 Starbucks locations, 1,531 Domino's Pizza outlets, 377 Burger King restaurants, and various other concepts. The company serves approximately 117 million clients and employs over 75,500 team members across its operations.
While specific forward guidance wasn't detailed in the presentation materials, the strong Q2 performance and continued execution of strategic initiatives suggest Alsea is well-positioned to maintain its growth trajectory through the remainder of 2025, particularly if it can address the underperformance in certain brands and regions while capitalizing on its digital transformation and European growth momentum.
Full presentation:
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