Felipe Dubernet
Management
Hello Thiago and thank you for your two questions. The ones referring to the macroeconomic outlook for Argentina and the second one regarding the performance of our beer portfolio in Argentina. As you notice, our international business segment has presented robust volume and EBITDA growth in the last six quarters, as I was saying, primarily due to our operation in Argentina. During this period of time, we did not see a similar performance in other consumer related sectors in the country as the Argentinean economy has a double digit inflation, another headwind during this time. As a result, we believe that the beer industry and CCU Argentina, in particular, has seen a growth trend that was not driven by macroeconomic factors. Over the last couple of years, CCU Argentina has seen innovative returns of newest types of beers adding new value piece through brand extensions and therefore the success of a brand like Imperial. CCU Argentina was also very innovative with packaging and one-way convenience can packaging strategy, which has been very well received by the consumer. As a result of all this innovation, we boost industry growth. Also Schneider, Imperial, Heineken and Mueller and our other brands in Argentina make up a very strong and diversified beer portfolio which covered the full range of price point and consumer taste. That said, we recognize that the macroeconomic outlook for Argentina has deteriorated recently. I think, of course, you are aware about that. Consumer confidence also has declined as the Argentine peso has depreciated sharply and interest rates and inflation rates are on the rise. With such a fragile macroeconomic environment, we think it is appropriate to remain cautious regarding how macroeconomic conditions will continue to evolve and impact the consumer. Despite this, we feel very confident in our beer brand portfolio in Argentina after the transaction and without Budweiser. In fact, the consumer preference for our brands in Argentina continued to increase, demonstrated by the excellent performance of our brands after the transaction, especially our strategic brands such as Schneider, Imperial, Heineken and Mueller. And answering you your specific question about organic growth, what I can inform you is that all of these brands deliver strong volume growth on a high comparison base of last year during the two months after the transaction, that is during May and June. Of course, in April also, we experienced a very high growth. So far, the industry continued to grow. Our portfolio is strong. However, I must say, there is a risk regarding the macroeconomic environment in Argentina. Okay, Thiago?