Tiendas 3B (TBBB) Earnings Call zu Q3 2026: Umsatz steigt um 40 %, flächenbereinigter Umsatz plus 20,5 %

Tiendas 3B (TBBB) verzeichnete im dritten Quartal 2026 weiterhin eine starke operative Dynamik. Der Umsatz stieg im Jahresvergleich um 40 %, unterstützt durch ein flächenbereinigtes Umsatzwachstum von 20,5 % und den fortgesetzten Ausbau des Filialnetzes.

Wichtigste Erkenntnisse

• Der Gesamtumsatz stieg im Jahresvergleich um 40 % auf 28 Mrd. MXN, während das flächenbereinigte Umsatzwachstum bei 20,5 % lag.
• Das EBITDA ohne nicht zahlungswirksame aktienbasierte Vergütungen stieg um 60 % auf 1,9 Mrd. MXN. Die entsprechende Marge weitete sich um 83 Basispunkte aus.
• Tiendas 3B eröffnete im Quartal netto 141 neue Filialen, womit sich das Gesamtnetz auf 3.765 Filialen erhöhte. Seit Jahresbeginn beliefen sich die Netto-Neueröffnungen auf 419.
• Der operative Cashflow für die ersten neun Monate des Jahres 2026 stieg im Jahresvergleich um 128 % auf 7,1 Mrd. MXN. Das Management erklärte, dass der operative Cashflow die organische Expansion weiterhin vollständig finanziert.
• Das Management bekräftigte seine Ganzjahresprognose von netto 590 bis 630 Neueröffnungen und verwies dabei auf eine solide Pipeline sowie den saisonal bedingt intensiveren Eröffnungsplan im vierten Quartal.
• Neuere Filialjahrgänge starten laut Management mit höheren Umsätzen und laufen schneller hoch als frühere Jahrgänge, was durch eine höhere Bekanntheit der Marke und ein verbessertes Kundenwertversprechen unterstützt wird.

Wichtige Finanzdaten

Geschäfts- und operative Entwicklung

Tiendas 3B eröffnete im dritten Quartal netto 141 neue Filialen, womit sich die Neueröffnungen seit Jahresbeginn auf 419 und die Gesamtzahl der Filialen auf 3.765 erhöhte. In den letzten 12 Monaten fügte das Unternehmen netto 603 neue Filialen hinzu. Seine Expansionsstrategie kombiniert weiterhin den Eintritt in neue Märkte mit einer höheren Filialdichte in bestehenden Märkten.

Das Unternehmen eröffnete im Laufe des Quartals zudem vier Logistikzentren und erweiterte sein Netzwerk damit auf 25 Regionen. Das Management gab an, dass neue Logistikzentren dazu beitragen, die Lieferdistanzen zu verkürzen, da Filialen näher gelegenen Standorten zugewiesen werden können. Auch ältere Logistikzentren werden mit zunehmender Auslastung effizienter.

Die vier Eröffnungen führten zu einem gewissen sequenziellen Margendruck. Allerdings wurden zwei Standorte zu Beginn des Quartals eröffnet, sodass die meisten damit verbundenen Voreröffnungskosten bereits im zweiten Quartal verbucht wurden. Das Management verwies zudem auf eine verbesserte Umsetzung bei der Eröffnung sowie geringere Transportkosten als ausgleichende Faktoren.

Das flächenbereinigte Umsatzwachstum lag weiterhin deutlich über dem vom Management herangezogenen breiteren ANTAD-Vergleichswert, mit einem Vorsprung von mehr als 21 Prozentpunkten im Quartal. Tiendas 3B führte seine Entwicklung auf ein verbessertes Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis für Kunden, eine höhere Markenbekanntheit und ein größeres Kundenvertrauen zurück.

Laut Management stammten etwa zwei Drittel des flächenbereinigten Umsatzwachstums aus volumenbedingten Faktoren, der Rest aus Preiseffekten. Der Großteil der Preiskomponente spiegelte eher den Produktmix als die Inflation wider, da die unternehmenseigene Inflation nahe null lag. Die Anzahl der Artikel pro Transaktion ist seit dem Börsengang von zwei bis drei auf vier bis fünf gestiegen.

Tiefkühlprodukte und Kosmetik wurden als neuere Kategorien identifiziert, die eine besonders starke Entwicklung zeigten, während Molkereiprodukte weiterhin ein solides Wachstum beisteuerten. Das Management bezeichnete Tiefkühlwaren als kontinuierliche Wachstumskategorie, betonte jedoch, dass Investitionen in Kühltechnik weiterhin einer strikten Disziplin in Bezug auf die Rendite des eingesetzten Kapitals unterliegen.

Die Handelsmarge verbesserte sich im Jahresvergleich. Das Management führte diesen Fortschritt auf Skaleneffekte zurück, darunter bessere Lieferantenkonditionen und Rabatte, und verwies zudem auf den operativen Hebel sowie Effizienzgewinne in der Logistik. Laut Unternehmen blieb der Preisabstand zu den Wettbewerbern im Laufe des Quartals weitgehend stabil.

Tiendas 3B arbeitet weiterhin mit rund 900 SKUs. Zu jedem beliebigen Zeitpunkt führt das Unternehmen etwa 60 bis 80 Produkt- oder Formattests durch und behält dabei strenge Anforderungen an Produktrotation und Kundennutzen bei.

Management-Ausblick

Das Management bekräftigte seine Prognose von netto 590 bis 630 Neueröffnungen im Jahr 2026. Das Unternehmen erwartet wie in den Vorjahren ein intensiviertes Eröffnungstempo im vierten Quartal und gab an, dass die Entwicklungspipeline weiterhin solide ist.

Das Management erklärte außerdem, dass sich die operative Dynamik im vierten Quartal fortsetzte, und beschrieb das erwartete operative Umfeld für Q4 als gewohntes Geschäft („Business as usual“). Auf der Grundlage der derzeit verfügbaren Informationen zu den vorgeschlagenen Steueränderungen in Mexiko wurden keine Änderungen an den Expansionsplänen des Unternehmens für 2027 vorgenommen.

Die Optimierung der Transportprozesse dürfte auch 2027 ein wichtiger Bereich für operative Verbesserungen bleiben. Laut Management könnten weitere Effizienzsteigerungen aus Lagerprozessen, kürzeren Lieferdistanzen und einer breiter angelegten Logistikoptimierung resultieren.

Risiken und zu beobachtende Faktoren

• Steuerreform: Laut Management könnte ein mexikanischer Gesetzesentwurf zur Begrenzung von Abzügen hauptsächlich vorübergehende Auswirkungen auf den Cashflow haben. Die endgültigen Regelungen werden noch geprüft, und das Unternehmen plant, zusammen mit der Prognose für Q4 eine konkretere Einschätzung vorzulegen.
• Hochlauf der Logistikzentren: Neue Standorte können Voreröffnungskosten und kurzfristigen sequenziellen Margendruck verursachen, obwohl die Umsetzung laut Management immer effizienter wird.
• Saisonalität: Saisonale Produkte konzentrieren sich auf November, Dezember und teilweise Januar. Auch der Zeitpunkt von Lieferantenrabattzahlungen kann Vorteile von Dezember in den Januar verschieben.
• Lieferantenkapazität: Das schnelle Wachstum von Eigenmarken erfordert eine vorausschauende Kapazitätsplanung. Das Management gab an, dass es bereits die Anforderungen für 2028 und 2029 mit Lieferanten bespricht und unter Berücksichtigung von Logistik, Kapazität und Lieferkontinuität mehrere Lieferanten einsetzen könnte.

Highlights der Analysten-Fragerunde

Tempo der Filialeröffnungen: Das Management hielt am Ganzjahresziel von 590 bis 630 fest und gab an, dass das vierte Quartal gewöhnlich aktiver bei Eröffnungen ist. Die aktuelle Pipeline stützt die bestehende Prognose.

Margenausweitung: Die Handelsmarge profitierte von Skaleneffekten, Lieferantenkonditionen und Rabatten. Auch die Logistik trug dazu bei, da ältere Logistikzentren effizienter wurden und sich die Transportkosten verbesserten.

Wirtschaftlichkeit neuer Filialen: Laut Management eröffnen neuere Filialen mit höheren Anfangsumsätzen, laufen schneller hoch und erreichen höhere Umsatzniveaus als frühere Jahrgänge. Als Haupttreiber wurden eine stärkere Markenbekanntheit und ein besseres Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis genannt.

Warenkorb und Kategoriemix: Die Artikelanzahl pro Transaktion ist auf vier bis fünf gestiegen. Hochwertigere Produkte und wachsende Kategorien wie Tiefkühlkost und Kosmetik unterstützen den Produktmix, das Hauptziel bleibt jedoch laut Management die Steigerung der Einkäufe von Bestandskunden.

Filialformat: Trotz einiger Convenience-orientierter Einkäufe an städtischen Standorten definiert das Management Tiendas 3B weiterhin primär als preisorientierten Lebensmittelhändler für den Bevorratungskauf.

Kapitalstruktur: Das Management erwartet derzeit nicht, dass die vorgeschlagenen Steueränderungen eine andere Kapitalstruktur oder eine höhere Verschuldung erforderlich machen, wird die Auswirkungen jedoch nach Vorliegen der endgültigen Regelungen neu bewerten.

Vollständiges Transkript des Earnings Calls

Vollständiges Transkript der Telefonkonferenz

Ausführungen des Managements

Operator

Good morning, everyone. My name is Renata, and I will be your conference operator. Welcome to Tiendas 3B's Third Quarter 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Also, please note that this call is for investors and analysts only. Questions from the media will not be taken nor should the call be reported on. Any forward-looking statements made during this conference call are based on information that is currently available to us. Today, we are joined by the Tiendas 3B's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Hatoum; and Chief Financial Officer, Eduardo Pizzuto.

I will now turn the call over to Anthony. Please go ahead.

Kamal Hatoum

Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. I will begin with a review of our third quarter operating results and will be followed by our CFO, Eduardo Pizzuto, who will discuss our financial results. We will then conclude with a Q&A session. The strong momentum we demonstrated in the first half of the year continued into the third quarter, delivering another quarter of excellent results.

Let me highlight some of our key achievements. We opened 141 net new stores, bringing our total store count to 3,765. Over the last 12 months, we opened 603 net new stores. We also opened 4 new distribution centers, expanding our network to 25 regions. Same-store sales grew 20.5% year-over-year. Total revenue increased 40% to MXN 28 billion. Reported EBITDA reached MXN 1.3 billion, while EBITDA, excluding noncash share-based compensation, increased 60% to MXN 1.9 billion. Finally, operating cash flows for the first 9 months of the year reached MXN 7.1 billion, an increase of 128% over the same period last year.

Let's now take a closer look at our operational performance. During the third quarter, we opened 141 net new stores, bringing our year-to-date openings to 419 stores. Over the last 12 months, we have opened 603 net new stores. Our real estate strategy remains unchanged. We continue to expand into new markets while increasing store density in our existing markets. Our strong operating momentum translated into another quarter of exceptional revenue growth. Total revenue reached MNX 28 billion, an increase of 40% year-over-year. Same-store sales grew 20.5%. The drivers of our same-store sales growth remain consistent, continuous improvements to our value proposition, growing brand recognition and increasing customer trust. Our same-store sales performance continues to significantly outperform the broader market. During the quarter, we maintained a gap of more than 21 percentage points versus ANTAD while keeping our internal inflation very low.

I will now pass the microphone to Eduardo.

Eduardo Pizzuto

Thank you, Anthony. Good morning, everyone. Sales expenses as a percentage of revenue decreased by 36 basis points year-over-year to 9.8% in the third quarter of 2026. Most of the expense lines showed operating leverage, including labor. Admin expenses, excluding share-based payment, decreased by 6 basis points year-over-year. While we continue our investment in talent as well as expanding into new regions, strong top line performance allowed for operational leverage generation. With respect to share-based payment expense, these charges are noncash and already reflected in our fully diluted share count. Additional details are available in the appendix of this earnings release, where we also provide projections for this noncash expense.

EBITDA for the third quarter of 2026, excluding noncash share-based payment expense, increased 60% to MXN 1.9 billion, driven by strong sales growth, improved gross margin and operational efficiencies. The adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 83 basis points year-over-year. As you know, we don't manage this business to an EBITDA target. EBITDA will naturally continue to grow over time, driven by our disciplined execution. Our business model generates strong operating cash flow through our structurally negative working capital model. As of September of 2026, adjusted negative working capital reached MXN 10.8 billion compared to MXN 7.8 billion in 2025, excluding IPO and follow-on proceeds. This represents approximately 10.9% of total LTM revenue, also excluding IPO and follow-on proceeds. Our operating cash flows fully fund our organic expansion.

I will now turn the call back over to Anthony for some final remarks.

Kamal Hatoum

Thank you, Eduardo. We delivered an excellent first 9 months of 2026, driven by strong execution across our business. Our business model continues to demonstrate its resilience, scalability and its ability to self-fund our growth. Importantly, our growth is driven by 2 powerful engines, the continued expansion of our store network and sustained same-store sales growth supported by an ever-improving value proposition for our customers. Our newer store vintages are performing better than our previous vintages. They start with higher initial sales and their sales grow faster. This momentum continues into our fourth quarter. And if we look further ahead, we remain confident in the significant growth opportunities before us and in our ability to continue executing with increasing efficiency.

Thank you for your continued interest in Tiendas 3B. We will now open the call for your questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Andrew Ruben from Morgan Stanley.

Fragen und Antworten

Andrew Ruben

Congratulations on the quarter. Just checking in on the store openings. If we look at the pace so far this year, it looks like it's annualizing a bit below the guidance. But at the same time, we've seen in recent years, 4Q tends to be a heavier period for openings. So given that, I'm curious how you're feeling about the 590 to 630 opening guidance for the year? And then related, is there anything we should consider about kind of a structural reason why you might see more openings in 4Q compared to the other quarters of the year?

Kamal Hatoum

Andrew, thank you. No, we're still well within guidance, and you're absolutely right. The fourth quarter tends to be a little bit heavier on store openings, and our pipeline looks very healthy at this stage. So no change in guidance.

Operator

We can now go to Alejandro Fuchs from Itau.

Alejandro Fuchs

Thank you, operator.

Eduardo Pizzuto

Alejandro, you broke up. Can you hear us?

Alejandro Fuchs

Sorry, is this better?

Eduardo Pizzuto

Yes.

Alejandro Fuchs

Awesome. Sorry. No, just one quick question on competition. I wanted to see if have you seen anything different in the last couple of months? How maybe are you seeing the trends in the fourth quarter starting anything that caught your attention?

Kamal Hatoum

No. We haven't seen anything notable. From our own perspective, nothing has changed. We still are gaining new customers, and we still see a healthy trend in ticket size. But we read what you read, and we see people moving. And I think overall, this is healthy for the market and for the consumer. So all healthy, all good from the competition point of view.

Operator

Our next question comes from Hector Maya from Scotiabank.

Héctor Maya López

Congrats on the results. I have two questions. First, how much did commercial margin help Q3 margins, and how should we think about it going forward?

Kamal Hatoum

Yes. Hector, I don't know if you hear us, but you were breaking up a little bit. I heard your question is about commercial margin. I would say that there is an expansion in commercial margin in this quarter. And as we've said many times before, margins go up a little bit, come down a little bit. But overall, the trend over a longer period of time is a healthy upward trend. In terms of other things that affected our numbers, I would say we've seen a lot of operating leverage this quarter, too, and that is also very healthy. So net-net, everything is pointing in the right direction. And in the fourth quarter, just expect business as normal for us.

Héctor Maya López

Do you hear me here? Can you hear me?

Kamal Hatoum

Much better. Thank you.

Héctor Maya López

Yes. Sorry. And the other question was about Mexico's corporate tax and how we should think about it down the road.

Eduardo Pizzuto

Hector, I'm not sure if you're referring to this new law that limits deductions. But if that is the case as of today, with the information that we have today, this is a law that would mainly affect temporarily cash flows. So as of today, we don't expect any changes for our plans for next year. But of course, we will give you guidance on our next call, which will -- in which we will review Q4.

Operator

Our next question comes from Bob Ford from Bank of America.

Robert Ford

Just a follow up on Hector's question with respect to commercial term improvements. I was curious, were those realized as a result of your price volume optimization processes strictly? Or did volume-based rebates play a role at all in that improvement? And then when you think about the improvements in transportation costs that you referred to, how should we think about capacity utilization in the network? And I'm just curious, what do you see driving the improvements in transportation costs?

Kamal Hatoum

Thanks, Bob. Very thoughtful questions. Let me start with the last one. The world of transportation for us, let's say, is a world with a lot of potential going forward. We barely scratched the surface and what we can do to further optimize transportation costs. And it's a very exciting topic for us, and you'll see a lot more happening in 2027 on that front. In terms of commercial margins, it's a little bit of everything you mentioned, right? So of course, the main driver of improvement has always been scale. And as we continue to scale, everything improves, including rebates, as you mentioned. So I would expect this to continue for the foreseeable future and no changes in anything that we haven't seen in the past.

Robert Ford

Great to hear. And just one follow-up, and that is going into year-end, how are you guys thinking about seasonal? What's different in seasonal for you compared to prior years?

Kamal Hatoum

Big differences, we see none. But definitely, there's a seasonal effect with end of year because, of course, seasonal products get sold in the month of November, December and sometimes through January, too. And there might be some timings in payments of rebates for sales that are done in December, you see the rebates in January. So that's the only effect that is likely to be seen, and that's nothing new. We've had it every single year for the last several years.

Robert Ford

So in terms of your irrepetibles or things like that, very similar to prior years, nothing?

Kamal Hatoum

I would think so. With improvements, again, improvements driven by scale, right? What I'm showing you this year in December is probably going to be much better than what we showed you last year in December.

Operator

Our next question comes from Irma Sgarz from Goldman Sachs.

Irma Sgarz

I'm sorry, I want to just go back to the commercial margin or to the gross margin, sorry, with a bit more detail. If you could just break down, I think a lot of analysts had expected some quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year pressure or at least less expansion in that gross margin. So I think that was a positive surprise, especially in the context of you building out 4 new distribution centers in this quarter.

So could you just provide a little bit more -- you point to the commercial margin, whilst you do acknowledge the pressures from this build-out. Just within that commercial margin, is there any sort of more breakdown that you can provide in terms of how much of that comes from better supplier terms compared to mix effects compared to perhaps some other sort of pricing intelligence-related benefits or shrinkage-related benefits, just to sort of understand the different components, how much they weighed. And I assume that most of this is sustainable and that you can continue to build on it.

Eduardo Pizzuto

Irma, thank you for your question. Anthony went over a little bit about the commercial margin. And I think the difference in this quarter is the fact that we opened 4 new DCs, and it did have an impact. If you look at it sequentially, it did have some pressure on margin. But if you look at versus a year ago, there's no doubt that the overall margins expanded. What happened this quarter, specifically with our logistics expense is that out of the 4 DCs that we opened, 2 of them opened in the early part of the quarter, so in July. So most of the preopening expenses happened in Q2. So that's one part.

The second part is that we continue to get better at preopening expenses. So we continue to get smarter on how we do the opening of distribution centers. And then the balance of that is overall transportation expenses continue to get better. The older distribution centers that we opened, for instance, last year, they're doing their job and they're becoming more efficient. So everything is accretive. So all in all, as we open more DCs, we become more efficient, and that helped out in the overall expenses, and that's the consequence you see on margins.

Operator

Our next question comes from Alvaro Garcia from BTG Pactual.

Alvaro Garcia

I have a multifaceted question here on the impact to same-store sales and average ticket from frozen. We've been able to visit some stores recently, and it's pretty clear how dynamic that category has become. So I guess my question is, one, first, where are we in the middle of sort of this rollout to increase freezer capacity for your entire store base?

And two, just, I guess, a broader question on sort of the identity of the store, Anthony. Where do you see the identity of the store? It felt a lot more like a convenience store than a grocery store in some of my more recent visits and how I saw some customers shopping for those specific categories, sort of that impulse element behind your business. So I'd love to hear your thoughts on sort of that convenience versus grocery identity.

Kamal Hatoum

Let me start with the last one. Yes, convenience versus grocery store. No, we firmly believe that we're still a grocery store that where the client comes mainly to fill up their pantry. But it's true that in maybe in urban areas that you're more likely to visit if you visit stores in Mexico City that you might see a smaller component, which is convenience driven, and that's normal. But we're definitely a lot of value for your money grocery store come do your pantry shopping with us.

In terms of categories, and you mentioned frozen. Yes, it's one of the exciting categories that are naturally developing in 3B. We were the pioneers in Mexico and bringing high value for money frozen to the market. It took a very long time to develop the category. And what you're seeing today is the result of many years of work and the natural evolution of this category, similar to other categories, which you didn't mention, which very normally, and that's what we do for a living is improve every single product in our catalog and every year, try to give you better value for your money.

So -- but frozen is more visible because you see a CapEx in freezers. And I just remind everybody that we look at the ROIC of this CapEx very carefully as we do with everything else and every single other investment. It remains -- frozen remains a growth category, and we have several others that are also growing quite fast and will continue to grow through 2027 if we do our job correctly. There was another part to your question, maybe Alvaro, that I missed?

Alvaro Garcia

Yes. I guess the only part is where are we in the rollout? I know that we're looking to sort of increase the number of freezers. But obviously, the new stores come with the freezer set that you'd like, but I know you're looking to increase the number of freezers in some of your older stores. So where are we in that process? Any color there would be helpful.

Kamal Hatoum

Let me answer it generically by saying that refrigeration strategy is very dynamic. I mean you'll see changes in our refrigeration approach in the next years. It's not likely to stop. We're always looking to optimize everything in the store, increasing -- including refrigeration, and we do it on many levels. For example, we try to reduce refrigeration costs while offering you refrigerated goods, and that will result in physical changes in the store that shouldn't surprise anybody because we're driving towards better ROIC on refrigerated goods. So what you will see going forward is more changes in both refrigeration and frozen, but always driven by what I mentioned before, improve the ROIC, give better value to your customer.

Operator

Our next question comes from Joseph Giordano from JPMorgan.

Joseph Giordano

I'd like to explore 3 fronts here. So first, looking at this commercial margin, right, I understand there's lots of scale gains. So if you could comment a little bit on how you're seeing like maybe the price gap widening of 3B versus peers, which may help in this context, this pantry loading and all these changes in like journeys to the store. The second one goes with part of your comments around the new stores ramping up faster than the history. So my question to you is if we are actually seeing higher returns on those stores in the sense that eventually like not just the CapEx the same, but also the terminal sales or the sales of maturity is probably higher than what you had back in the past. And in this growth profile, like how the new categories like maybe like frozen are really helping on this additional growth?

Kamal Hatoum

Sure thing. Price gap, we haven't seen much change, notable change. The price gap remains and it's steady. So in this quarter, we haven't seen anything that jumps. So I would say that is -- continues to be what it was in previous quarters. In terms of new store ramp-ups and higher ramp-ups, it's true that over time, what we've seen is the store sales curve becoming steeper and for all our stores, the maximum sales going up over time. And what we'll do is in the next quarter or thereafter, we will update our spaghetti chart, which will clearly show that graphically to everybody.

So that trend continues. And again, it's driven by 2 things. One is our brand is much better recognized today than it used to be, and that trend continues. But most important is the value proposition to customers, which is notably improving over time. We are continuously offering our customer more value for money. And in the categories that we have, like you mentioned frozen, what you find today in the freezer is much more relevant and more value for money than it was last year. And this keeps on driving what you see in same-store sales. It keeps on driving this curve, which you see steepening, starting higher and reaching higher. For the time being, this continues. Joe, did you have another question related to that?

Joseph Giordano

Sorry, Anthony, the last question. No, I think like you responded at all. It's more about like the private label helping the pantry loading, but you already answered that. Thank you.

Kamal Hatoum

Thanks.

Operator

Our next question comes from Vinicius Strano from UBS.

Vinicius Strano

Could you please break down same-store sales growth between traffic and ticket? And within ticket, how do you see items per basket evolving? At what level items per basket are mature stores are reaching if you're seeing growth here as well? And any commentary around which categories are leading growth and how they are contributing to margins? Any color on how mix might be helping margins as well? This would be my questions.

Eduardo Pizzuto

So it has been very consistent for the past quarters. So 2/3 is coming from volume, which is the number of tickets and price per ticket. And the balance is price. And within price, it's -- the vast majority comes from mix, not from inflation because remember, our internal inflation is very, very low, actually close to 0. So that is where same-store sales are coming from. In terms of items per basket, yes, you can expect that we continue to see that number going up. If you remember at IPO, we're talking about 2 to 3 items. Today, we're talking about a range of 4 to 5 items per transaction. As Anthony mentioned earlier, as we continue to improve our value proposition, that number tends to go up. And you heard a third point that I couldn't hear properly. Can you repeat that third question?

Vinicius Strano

The other question was just about which categories are leading growth and if you're seeing -- if you could just comment around mix contributions to gross margins as well.

Eduardo Pizzuto

In terms of categories, when you look at the breakdown of categories, fundamentally, if you look at every item in our shelves have to have a very high rotation. So everything is contributing to growth. Of course, we have had slightly newer categories like frozen or cosmetics, which are having an outstanding performance, but everything improves. Dairy, for instance, continues to have a very solid growth as part of same-store sales. And then did you ask about mix? Did you have an additional question?

Vinicius Strano

Yes, if you could just comment around mix contribution to gross margins as well.

Kamal Hatoum

There is no doubt that we're offering higher priced, but even higher value for money products. So that might be contributing to mix in a positive way, as you're correctly asking. But I would say, fundamentally, our focus is on getting existing customers to buy more from us, and we're seeing that happen on a continuous basis. So as you increase the value proposition to your customers, suddenly somebody who wasn't buying something and that something could be in any category and decides to buy it from you, that is extremely powerful. That's what I think is the main driver and will continue to drive what you're seeing today.

Operator

Our next question comes from Antonio Hernandez from Actinver.

Antonio Hernandez

Congrats on your results. Just a quick one regarding the new pilots that you have overall across your different stores. Any new highlight there? Any pilot worth highlighting?

Kamal Hatoum

Look, at any point in time, there is about 60 to 80 pilots, let's call them that or tests that are running in our stores. Some of them you'll pick on because they're very visible like, let's say, fruits and vegetables or meat, you physically see them, they take more space. They have special shelving or refrigeration. But a whole bunch of them, you won't necessarily pick on because they look like any other product.

So we've never stopped piloting products, and we do it very aggressively and very consistently. And not all of them work, but those that work, you will see become part of the catalog. And we also maintain our discipline in number of SKUs because we always question when we do introduce a new product, which one should we drop across the board. And unless something is very, very different and unusual and unique, do we just add it on to our SKU count. And our SKU count today remains very conservative at around 900 products. And we've said before, we have the ability to increase this without changing anything in our operations or in our logistics to a significantly higher number. But we will maintain our very strict discipline in terms of very high value for money, very high rotation and everything else, we're not that interested in offering.

Operator

Our next question comes from Federico Galassi from The Rohatyn Group.

Federico Galassi

Two questions. The first one is you opened -- let me know if I'm wrong, but you opened 4 distribution centers this quarter. If we see in 1 year, you opened almost 10. The 2 questions are how much efficient are these new distribution centers? And the second one, if you continue to have in mind that one distribution center is almost 150, 160 new stores? This is the first one.

Kamal Hatoum

Federico, yes, the number hasn't changed. It still serves roughly the same number of stores. The operations of the warehouse in general have not changed. But of course, you're always optimizing your logistics. The optimization happens at 2 levels. One, internal operations, there's always room for improvement for shaving minutes of work and moving boxes and trying to drive down the cost of moving a box through your system. And I don't think stops, right? And I did mention earlier that on the logistics front, there is significant opportunity going forward, and it's for us to make that happen.

Now in terms of the other real mechanical advantage of opening more distribution centers is compacting distances. So every time we open a new distribution center, we're also reshuffling the stores so that the truck distances from warehouse to store become smaller. And that's a significant impact, and that happens every time we open a new distribution center. So yes, from that point of view, we do expect continuous improvements over time as we get bigger.

Federico Galassi

Very clear. And the second question is a rough number. You have about 20% same-store sales in your measure, that is 2 years. And when we compare with ANTAD, other channels that this quarter was close to 0. The question is, I am assuming that you are gaining market share to the modern and traditional channel. But beyond that, you are seeing a new client that they are moving or shifting from big box to proximity, if we can call proximity. That's the question.

Kamal Hatoum

It's a very hard question to answer because from our perspective, we don't see the full picture. I can't tell you if anybody is losing market share or if the customer is really changing behavior, used to buy something somewhere else and move to us. I'm going to assume there is some of that, but I don't have any concrete data to share with you in saying this is happening exactly that way or this way. All I can tell you is that if the customer did not see more value in our offer, we wouldn't be seeing the numbers we're seeing.

Operator

Our next question comes from Alberto Vadia from Fruit Tree Capital.

Alberto Vadia

I have 2 questions. One is regarding Yema. And we know it's a tiny piece of the pie, but just where do you see it? And if you could give us a quick update on it and where you see it in 10 years. And our other question is regarding talent and culture. And a lot of times, that's -- when we talk about culture, talent, it's revolving is stock-based compensation. We're more curious of how you see talent development at the base -- at the entry level, the person at the cashier, the stocking at the distribution center. That's it.

Kamal Hatoum

Look, we're firm believers that investing in talent is a high return on investment effort, and we will continue to do so. We pay maybe more than others attention to the HR and to the culture functions. And we believe that these have paid off in droves and have propelled us to where we are today and will propel us going forward to where we'd like to be. It sounds philosophical, but we firmly believe that it's the team that makes the difference, and we're investing in the team and we'll continue to do so at all levels, all the way from the cashier, as you mentioned, to the most senior person in the company. And you'll see that physically and you'll see that in our numbers.

In terms of Yema, it's a very exciting concept. It's only 4 stores, as you mentioned correctly. It will continue to grow, and it will grow at its own pace. It is hitting a niche of the market that nobody seems to have been looking at and the reception from customers has been exceptional. So it will continue to grow, but we haven't guided or -- and we're unlikely to guide anytime soon as to where it can head to. But very exciting, and we're very glad to have it.

Operator

Our next question comes from Guli Arshad.

Kamal Hatoum

Guli, we can't hear you.

Gulrez Arshad

Yes. Okay. Now you can, right?

Kamal Hatoum

Yes, absolutely.

Gulrez Arshad

So congratulations on a great quarter. So I have basically 2 questions. First, how do you manage the scaling of your private label providers? And related to that, do you have different private providers for different regions for the same product? That's the first question.

Kamal Hatoum

Let's start with that, Guli, because it's a very important question and one that merits its own time. If private labels, as you know, play a strategic role in our growth, and this is where we offer the most value to our clients. And of course, when you're growing at the rates we're growing, you ask yourself, well, where do I have a product that is good 3 years from now. And if you're not asking that question today, you won't have it in 3 years.

So basically, we very proactively manage the procurement side and make sure that by the time we get to that 3-year point, everything is in place. So for example, in 2026, we're not talking about 2026. We're talking about '28 and '29 with all our suppliers. And that's the way the business has operated, and that also explains why this business has been able to grow at 30% plus per annum now for the last 12-plus years without experiencing any hiccups. So it's the right strategy and we will continue the same way going forward.

In terms of do we have 2 suppliers for 1 given product, there is no right or wrong answer here. It all depends on the product, and it all depends on the supplier. Sometimes for geographical reasons, you want to have 2 suppliers because the logistics make more sense. Sometimes for strategic reasons, you want to have 2 suppliers because you protect your supply base and you make sure that it's redundant if there is any risk of interruptions. So really, it's on a product-by-product basis that we look at it and make decisions as to how many suppliers supply a given private label product.

Gulrez Arshad

So you might have, for example, 2 yogurt providers instead of one?

Kamal Hatoum

Exactly. That could happen. There's always a benefit in having longer runs with one supplier, but you always have to trade off. You have to include logistics and you need to include growth capacity and you need to include safety of supply.

Gulrez Arshad

Very good. So my second question is really kind of a business school jargon, but I'm so impressed with your growth. So my question is, what do you think is your distinctive competence as well as a differentiator compared to your competition?

Kamal Hatoum

Yes, indeed. I do feel like I'm at business school. Look, I'm going to -- it might sound poetic here, but I really think that it's the team. A better team, you can do great things.

Gulrez Arshad

I agree.

Operator

Our next question comes from Vanessa Quiroga from Eternal Capital Group.

Vanessa Quiroga

My question is regarding the tax reform that is currently in the process of being approved. Can you comment on any potential impact on the effective tax rate that you're currently paying, both accounting and cash?

Eduardo Pizzuto

Vanessa, we've addressed this earlier in the call today. And basically, this -- with the information and again, I underscore that with the information that we have today, this is a law that will temporarily affect or mainly will temporarily affect our cash flows. So having said that, as of today, we have no plans to change our plans for next year. So for now, no changes with the information that we have today. But of course, this is constantly under review, and so we need to see the final draft. And then we will give you, of course, our guidance in our Q4 call. But as of today, that's the information we have.

Vanessa Quiroga

I see. And do you expect this to change your capital structure in the sense of preferring to raise debt maybe in order to manage better the cash flows for instance?

Kamal Hatoum

We don't think it has that kind of impact. It might shift cash flows on a temporary basis. But again, let's hold up until Q4, and we'll have a much more concrete and better answer for you.

Operator

We have not received any further questions. I would like to hand the call back over to Anthony Hatoum for his closing remarks.

Kamal Hatoum

I'd like to thank you very much for being with us today, for your continued support and your continued interest in our company. Thank you to the analysts that are covering us. Thank you to the investors who trust us. And thank you to all our team for making all of this happen. And I look forward to talking to you on the next call. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. You may now disconnect.