Operator 1: Please stand by. Your meeting is about to begin. Hello and welcome everyone joining today's Kimberly-Clark de Mexico Q3 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, you will have the opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session. To register to ask a question at any time, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Please note, this call is being recorded and we are standing by if you should need any assistance. It is now my pleasure to turn the meeting over to CEO Pablo González. Please go ahead.
Pablo González: Good morning, everyone. Hope you are all doing well, and thanks for participating on our call. Sales for the quarter were in line with last year, with consumer products growing for the fifth consecutive quarter, and margins remained strong, notwithstanding continued cost pressures, once again underscoring KCM's resiliency. After Javier takes you through the detailed results, we will talk about our strategies and actions as well as provide an update on our KCM Plus innovation, growth, and transformation strategies. Let me turn it over to Javier.
Xavier Cortés Lascurain: Hello. Good morning, everyone. During the quarter, our sales were MXN 13.4 billion, in line with last year, flat in volume and in price mix. Net sales grew in consumer products, which increased 1.8% with balanced contribution from volume and price and mix, while away from home decreased 4.7% with 1.7% sequential growth, and exports were down 14.8% driven by lower hard roll sales. Cost of goods sold decreased 2.9%. Our cost reduction program once again had very good results and yielded approximately MXN 450 million of savings during the quarter.
Xavier Cortés Lascurain: These savings were generated through a combination of global fiber contracting initiatives, changes in sourcing, and the use of alternative fibers, product redesigns and the introduction of new raw materials in non-woven fabrics, diaper geometry redesigns to improve material efficiency, and logistics and distribution efficiencies across our network. These initiatives reflect ongoing actions across procurement, product design, manufacturing, and logistics. In addition to these actions, compared to last year, fibers were favorable while super absorbent materials and resins compared negatively. The FX was lower, averaging around 8% less than last year. Gross profit increased 3.7%, and margin was 40.3% for the quarter. SG&A expenses were 5.4% higher year over year, and as a percentage of sales were up 100 basis points. Distribution expenses were flat despite cost headwinds, as we continue to improve our footprint and streamline logistics operations.
Xavier Cortés Lascurain: We are investing behind our brands, and our expenses also reflect increased cost for data purchased from our client platforms. Operating profit increased 2.3%, and operating margin was 21.9%, up 60 basis points year over year. We generated MXN 3.4 billion of EBITDA, a 1.6% increase year over year, with an EBITDA margin of 25.5% within the long-term range. Cost of financing was MXN 456 million in the Q3, compared to MXN 404 million in the same period last year. Net interest expense was higher due to additional debt issued. During the quarter, we had a MXN 4 million FX gain compared to a MXN 3 million loss last year. Net income and earnings per share for the quarter were in line with the prior year at MXN 1.7 billion and MXN 0.56 respectively.
Xavier Cortés Lascurain: For the year, our sales are up 2%, and our EBITDA and earnings per share are up 7% and 8% respectively. We maintain a very strong and healthy balance sheet. Our total cash position as of 30 September was MXN 20.2 billion. Our net debt to EBITDA ratio was 0.8 times, with EBITDA to net interest coverage of nine times. Thank you.
Pablo González: Thanks, Javier. A few brief remarks before taking your questions. Overall, as you know, we had a strong H1 of the year, and I would say less strong Q3 behind continued subpar economic growth and domestic consumer spending. Given the depressed consumer sentiment on the economy, we expect weak consumer demand to stretch through the end of the year, which means retailers will continue to be cautious and focused on reducing inventory levels after a long and aggressive summer promotion season. Under such a scenario, ensuring our actions translate into share strength, mix improvements, and opportunity capture is essential. Results on our consumer products businesses show that is the case. Our away from home business is on its way to improved results. On the export side, we need to continue to work with our strategic partners to strengthen our combined North American supply chain.
Pablo González: Going forward, as we go into 2027, we expect steady improvements in demand, supported by an economic recovery that is slowly gaining traction. Some economic indicators starting to show improvements. Private investment is increasing, and given the government's announced plans, public investment should also grow. Industrial production has gained momentum behind export-oriented manufacturing and resilient construction activity. The salaried mass will continue to grow, among other metrics. All of this together should translate into improving growth rates and increased, although still moderate, domestic spending in 2027. This, of course, would be much welcome news. On the cost side, the now long-running geopolitical tensions have translated into longer-lasting cost pressures, specifically in oil derivatives, resins, and transportation costs. On the domestic side, increased labor cost has been a consistent headwind and will continue to be so in the future as we transition to the 40-hour workweek.
Pablo González: As we move ahead, we will require dynamic and efficient use of our revenue growth management capabilities, as well as continued efficiencies in our operations and very strong cost savings programs. More broadly, we will stay focused on enacting the strategies and actions we've identified as part of our KCM Plus initiative. Namely, ensure our core businesses are performing well and our diamond categories are accelerating behind consumer-centric, relevant, and differentiated innovation, stronger consumer engagement, and improved commercial execution. Achieving greater participation in private labels where we're making inroads, inserting ourselves into categories that represent important areas of growth in the future, including pet food, accelerate and deepen our efforts to consistently improve our end-to-end cost structure. Strengthen our skill set to take advantage of the multiple opportunities and advantages presented by the evolving consumer, retail, and technology landscapes.
Pablo González: Challenging times, but we have set a clear path for KCM to continue to deliver results and have consistently shown the execution capabilities to make that happen. We believe the coming years will be no exception. With that, let me open the call for questions.
Operator 1: Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your keypad. To leave the queue at any time, press star two. Once again, that is star and one to ask a question. We will pause for a moment to allow everyone a chance to join the queue. We will take our first question from Ben Theurer with Barclays. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Ben Theurer: Yeah, good morning, Pablo, Javier. Thank you very much for taking my question. Two very quick ones. Obviously, you have called it out, consumer products, while they continue to grow, they grew a little bit at a lower rate than in the H1. So it is a twofold question. One, if you could provide us what was volume versus price. Second, how much do you think of that was, to a degree, related to some of your competitors maybe being a little bit more aggressive on promotioning, and as a result of that, have a market share movement within the quarter. So to understand a little bit better the dynamics in consumer products. That would be my first question. Thank you.
Pablo González: Sure, Ben. Thanks for your questions. On the growth on the consumer side, again, 1.8%, and it is split by half between volume and price and mix. So 0.9% volume, 0.9% price and mix. So evenly split. Yeah, I think it is always the case that in the Q3 after the summer promotional season, we see lower demand as consumers have some product in their shelves, and also clients have some product on their shelves. So that was part of the slowdown on the consumer side. On the competitors, we did see more aggressive stances from them during the promotional season. As you know, we have been a little bit more careful on that front to try and protect the value of the categories.
Pablo González: Our shares remain very healthy, so we think it was the right strategy, and it is just, as it usually happens, Q3 being slower than Q2. Having said all of that, there is no doubt that we have a backdrop of soft consumer demand. I think we were all expecting it to be a little bit stronger during the Q2 and Q3, given some of the actions that we are taking. It is still pretty soft. Some opportunities for improvement going forward as we see, as I mentioned, the economy starting little by little to gain some traction, and hopefully that endures. If that is the case, we should see stronger consumer spending coming into 2027.
Ben Theurer: Okay, perfect. Thanks. Following up on the cost side, you mentioned, obviously, that you are starting to see the impact from some of the geopolitical disruption causing what kind of oil derivative pieces to starting to go higher. If we think about it on a year-to-date basis, until when did you have lower cost inventory, and when did you really start seeing those higher oil derivative prices affecting you, and how should we think about this on a go-forward basis?
Pablo González: Well, the cost pressures we started to see really back in Q2 and even stronger in Q3, because there is always a little bit of a lag.
Pablo González: What we expected was that those would subside and that fundamentals will come to play a part so that costs would start to come down. But given the geopolitical tensions have stayed where they are right now, we continue to see some of the pressures. What we saw in Q3 will continue through Q4, maybe at slightly lower levels. We will see how this continues to evolve and see what happens coming into 2027. But the costs were already putting some pressure in Q2, particularly in Q3, and we will see some still hanging in throughout Q4. Again, we will see what happens coming into next year.
Ben Theurer: Okay, perfect. I will pop it off. Thank you.
Operator 1: Thank you. We will move next with Antonio Hernández with Actinver. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Antonio Hernández: Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Just a quick one regarding away from home. You're saying that, if I understood this correctly, is that improving sequentially? Any more color on which channels are improving and how fast it's improving, and maybe if you see that as well so far this Q4. Thanks.
Pablo González: Sure. Thanks for the question, Antonio. Yes, we did see in Q3 a sequential improvement on away from home of 1.7%. Particularly a little stronger September, which was good news, and hopefully that will continue through Q4. I wouldn't say that it's a particular channel that we're seeing improvements. I think overall, again, as the economy starts to gain a little bit more traction, particularly in away from home, we're starting to see volumes pick up. So we expect a slightly better Q4 and hopefully a much better 2027 as we go forth.
Antonio Hernández: Okay. Thanks a lot.
Operator 1: Thank you. Our next question comes from Bob Ford with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Bob Ford: Thank you very much. Good morning, Pablo, Javier, and thanks for taking my question. When you think about the inventory buildup in the trade this year, is it comparable to prior years, or do you think it will be a slightly bigger friction than past years because of maybe the buildup and perhaps a weaker consumer response? Then, given the expense pressures from oil derivatives and other areas, how are you thinking about pricing right now?
Pablo González: Sure. Thanks, Bob. Thanks for the questions. Look, the inventory buildup, I don't think it was very different from prior years. Maybe slightly so in certain categories, given that we also had the World Cup, and there was the expectation that we would see higher consumption in some specific categories, but not too different from prior years. I think what's different is the fact that, again, the consumer sentiment is pretty weak. Retailers are seeing demand weak. So they're being, I would say, extra careful when they think of their inventories or managing their working capital. We are seeing all of our clients really being very careful when it comes to inventories and how to flow through this Q4 and into 2027. We will see how it all evolves, but there's certainly some clients being cautious out there.
Pablo González: In terms of pricing, you've got two things because, as we mentioned, you've got the headwinds from raw materials that have continued for longer than we expected, and then you have the labor costs that have been building up over the past years, and then transportation costs are also a headwind. All of that against a backdrop of still soft demand that we've just described. We're very carefully analyzing to see what we need to do going forward and how we should act, and it's very likely that we will be moving ahead with pricing. But we will not do it as we've done in the past. That is, just across the board and a specific percentage. We're going to be looking, quite frankly, at every category and even, in some cases, specific SKUs to identify the most important opportunities and move on them going forward.
Bob Ford: No, it's very helpful. Just one other follow-up. When you think about innovation, and you touched on technology, and there are radical changes in terms of some of these product redesigns and alternative fibers, how do you think about opportunities for further innovation and cost savings moving forward, especially things that are technology-based or discovery is accelerating because of some of the technology applications?
Pablo González: Sure. No, just as you say, many of these things are accelerating, and non-woven fabrics and other materials that we are utilizing to bring innovations to there. We have done quite a good job this year with innovations in fem care, adult care, diapers. Going forward, we are very excited with what we see. We are introducing a new diaper right now with a new absorbent core that it will be first in market in Mexico and by far the best absorbent core in the market, and we expect that to flow through to our products in the coming years. Just like that, we are seeing quite a bit of interesting innovations in different categories, different products, and we are accelerating. We are using or taking advantage of what you mentioned, of the fact that some of these things are accelerating so that we can bring innovation faster to market.
Pablo González: When I look at the pipeline coming into 2027, we feel very excited about what we will be putting on the table for the consumer, and I think that's very important. The same holds true, Bob, when it comes to costs, right? You know we have always had this culture ingrained in the company of bringing down costs and just trying to be as efficient as possible. It is also true that the current context and probably future context will require us to double down on that. We have plans, and with technology accelerating on many fronts and many opportunities on automation and digitalization, et cetera, we are accelerating on all of those plans so that end-to-end, we can continue to improve our efficiencies and costs going forward. Hopefully, that will be ramping up and accelerating during next year in 2028. Again, we have got the plans.
Pablo González: We just need to get out there and execute. But very exciting what we have in the pipeline.
Bob Ford: No, it's very encouraging. Thank you so much.
Pablo González: Thank you, Bob.
Operator 1: Thank you. We will move next with Froylan Mendez with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Froylan Mendez: Hello, Pablo, Javier, can you hear me?
Pablo González: Yes, Froylan.
Froylan Mendez: Perfect. Thank you so much for taking my question. Two questions, if I may. One, on private label, can you give us an update? How is that business progressing relative to your expectations? How are you thinking about balancing further participation in private label with protecting, obviously, your growth and profitability of your branded product portfolio? That is the first question. Second, on your pet food initiative, could you just give us an update on where you are, how the progress so far compares with your initial expectations? Thank you so much.
Pablo González: Sure. Thanks, Froylan. Let me first take private label. I think we are making inroads. We are making progress with a few of our clients, and we expect the business to accelerate significantly next year. Yes, we are pushing, as we have said before, strategically to participate in some categories with some clients. As I just mentioned also, we are also supporting our brands very aggressively through innovation, communication, and consumer engagement. So we are pursuing both strategies so far with good results. We expect during 2027 that both growth within our private label push and within our categories will accelerate as we see, hopefully, a stronger domestic consumption environment. When it comes to pet food, good results. It has been a little bit over a year, and particularly on the premium side of the business, we have seen a very good response from consumers to our offerings, which is, again, very encouraging.
Pablo González: We are no doubt learning quite a bit of the category and putting that to practice. So we will be bringing to market some important improvements and innovations to our products. We continue to grow as expected. As we have always said, we are in this for the long run. This is going to take some time. It is a big category, but also a very competitive category with very good entrenched players. But we like what we see, we like the consumer response, and we will continue to invest behind our innovations in the category.
Froylan Mendez: Thank you, Pablo. If I just may follow up on the private label. How meaningful do you think this private label acceleration will be in 2027? Is it more of a push kind of situation, the fact that you are, let's say, gaining share into the category against other players, or is it simply the category growing and you are growing with it? Have you sensed any, let's say, cannibalization towards your branded portfolio at this point?
Pablo González: Good. Sure. This year, the business will likely a little bit more than double in size, and we expect the same thing to happen next year. So good growth rates, and it is a combination. We have gained some business, which that of course helps the growth, but also in some of the categories, private label as a whole is growing. So it is a combination of us getting into the market and participating and private label as a whole growing. That is what is bringing growth behind our brands. As we see some of the commitments we have made to some of the clients going forward, that is what we are very confident that we will be able to double the business again next year. Now, for the most part, that has not been against our products. Again, our shares remain very healthy, particularly when it comes to value shares.
Pablo González: In pretty much all of the categories, they are either increasing or stable and very, very healthy.
Froylan Mendez: Thank you so much, Pablo. Javier.
Pablo González: Thank you, Fred.
Operator 1: Thank you. We will move next with Luis Terziol with Citi. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Luis Terziol: Hi, guys. Thank you so much for taking my question. Just a quick one here from our side. We would like to know if you have any updates on the Kenvue transaction, if we should expect anything by year-end right now or maybe 2027. Thanks.
Pablo González: Thanks, Luis. Thanks for the question. Look, the priority of our partner here in the past months has been getting all of the regulatory authorizations to move ahead and actually closing the deal. They will tell you, but it is getting closer. That has been their priority, so they have been focused on getting that done. We have made progress with them on analyzing Kenvue Mexico, but we have not been able to come to a conclusion. We expect that as they close the transaction here in the coming weeks, we expect our analysis to speed up. We will definitely have a resolution on the matter by Q4. Moving ahead, not as fast as we would have liked, but we perfectly understand our partner had to just focus on getting this done.
Pablo González: Now we can really, in the coming weeks, sit down and take a closer look and figure out where we take it from there.
Luis Terziol: Perfect. Thank you so much.
Pablo González: Thank you.
Operator 1: Thank you. We will move next with Regina Carrillo with GBM. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Regina Carrillo: Hi. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. The peso has been an important tailwind for your profitability. If we were to see a meaningful depreciation next year, how much of that pressure could you offset through efficiencies or pricing or procurement? Would you remain with your 25% to 27% margin?
Pablo González: Thanks for the question, Regina Carrillo. Let me just state once again, 25% to 27% margin is a long-term range margin. So there might be quarters where we are under that number and certainly quarters where we are ahead of that number, like Q2 of this year. So that is our long-term range, and we feel very comfortable that we will be able to stay within that range. Again, you might see some movements within quarters. Now, to the crux of your question, yes, if the peso depreciates even further than it has right now, it would be another headwind. We do not know if that is going to happen. It has been a nice tailwind here in the past quarters. We will see how it all evolves, but it is one of the things we are taking into consideration as we think of, again, our raw material costs, our labor cost, transportation cost, FX comes into the mix.
Pablo González: We take all of that into consideration and put the scenarios together to figure out how we move on pricing and what we want to do in terms of pushing mix going forward. So, rest assured, we are doing all of those analyses, and we will make the decision when the time comes, and we will carefully consider every input and act as necessary going forward. Sorry, it is not just on the pricing side, but again, as I mentioned, it is also on the cost efficiency side, where we are, as I mentioned before in the call, being very aggressive on bringing greater efficiencies and even accelerating our cost reduction program, which has yielded very good results. But we are working on figuring out how to even accelerate that.
Regina Carrillo: Thank you. That is very clear. If I may ask another question, we noticed an increase in CapEx this quarter. Could you maybe give us some color on where those investments are being directed?
Xavier Cortés Lascurain: Hi, Regina. I'd probably say that the spike that you're seeing in CapEx is just by the nature of the cash outflows. But the CapEx will remain pretty much in line with what we've been mentioning, around between MXN 100 million, MXN 120 million for the year. That's what we're expecting for the following years. In terms of the projects where we are investing, it's really broad-based. There's a lot that we're investing on to bring innovation to the table. I mentioned, for example, the innovation that we're bringing to market right now on diapers. We did some in incontinence or adult care and fem care. We've got quite a strong innovation pipeline going forward. A lot of CapEx will go there, but also a lot of CapEx goes behind productivity and efficiency measures, and even capacity where we need it. It's really a combination.
Regina Carrillo: Perfect. Thank you so much.
Pablo González: Thank you, Regina.
Regina Carrillo: Thank you.
Operator 1: Thank you. Once again, that is star and 1 if you would like to join the queue. We will move next with Jorge Esquerra with BTG Pactual. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Jorge Esquerra: Hi, Pablo, Javier. Hope you are well, and thank you for the space for questions. Could you please share some color on the sequential performance of the consumer products top line? Maybe in particular, how volume and price mix grew sequentially? Maybe another question from my side, maybe it is too early to tell, but what would be a constructive scenario for the consumer products top-line growth heading into 2027? Thank you very much.
Pablo González: Thanks, Jorge. Thanks for the question. Consumer products business sequentially was down around 6%. Again, not a surprise. Q3 is always quite a bit slower than Q1 and Q2 as clients build up for the summer promotional season, pretty much in May, June, now even in April, and then they bring that down on the quarter. Again, not a surprise, but we certainly would have liked to have a stronger performance during the quarter, but still, fifth consecutive quarter of growth in consumer products, and we need to keep that going. When it comes to 2027, again, if we can, hopefully, some of the signs of the economy getting some traction continue and strengthen, hopefully, and we see a stronger consumption.
Pablo González: If that is the case, we feel very confident that we can get back to growing at the rate we grew the H1 of the year, so mid-single digit for consumer products. But we need to see that domestic consumption pick up for that to happen. We are working aggressively. In both cases, if it happens, we will have innovation plans to be able to take advantage of it. If it does not materialize, those innovation plans should help us gain some share, gain some traction, and also post better numbers. But we will see how the consumer evolves.
Jorge Esquerra: Thank you, Pablo. Very clear.
Pablo González: Thank you, Jorge Esquerra.
Operator 1: Thank you. We show no further questions in queue. I will now turn the meeting back to Mr. González for closing comments.
Pablo González: Well, thank you all again for participating on the call. This is our last call of the year, so we hope you have a terrific end to the year and look forward to talking to you early in 2027 and beyond. Thanks again for participating.
Operator 1: Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.
