La Jornada: Consumer companies obtain weak results

The average of consumer companies listed on stock exchanges in Mexico reflected weakness in their results during the first quarter of 2026, due to a weaker economic and consumer environment than initially expected in the country and, in the case of companies that have operations in the United States, due to immigration policies.

The income of frequently consumed companies listed on national stock exchanges rose 0.8 percent annually on average during January-March of this year.

According to analysts, the family economy faces a panorama of great pressure, in an economic and consumer environment that has been weaker than initially expected, which is leading to prioritizing the basics and sacrificing what is not essential.

The timely estimate of the gross domestic product (GDP) reports a quarterly contraction of 0.8 percent in the January-March period in real terms, which undoes the important advance in economic activity in the last quarter of last year (0.9 percent) and is the first contraction since the fourth quarter of 2014, adjusting for seasonality. Compared to the same period in 2025, the economy advanced 0.2 percent.

After private consumption fell sharply in January 2026 (1.6 percent monthly), the timely indicator of private consumption (IOCP) estimated a very weak recovery in the February-March two-month period, with a monthly advance of 0.2 percent and without variation, in that order, as well as 2.1 percent annually for each month.

Femsa shows resilience

Femsa’s total revenue increased 8.3 percent in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of last year, while Coca-Cola Femsa demonstrated its resilience and flexibility in the face of a challenging consumer environment in Mexico, its largest market, which was partially offset by strong performance in South America.

In OXXO México “advances were made in a weak consumer environment at the national level.” During the quarter, OXXO’s store base in Mexico expanded by 158. The division had 888 total net store additions in the last 12 months. As of March 31, 2026, OXXO México had a total of 24,455 stores.

Among the companies with weak reports are Liverpool (-1.9 percent), Arca Continental (+0.2 percent annually), Chedraui (-6.2 percent), Gruma (+4.9 percent) and Alsea (-65.7 percent).

Alsea shares accumulate a loss in the year of 4.5 percent; Chedraui, 17.1 percent; Raven, 32 percent; Walmart, 1.9 percent.