GMAT3

Grupo Mateus is a Brazilian company in the food retail and wholesale sector, with common shares traded on B3 under the ticker GMAT3. The company’s trajectory began in 1986, when Ilson Mateus opened a small 50 m² grocery store in Balsas, in the state of Maranhão, after professional experience in other activities. In 1989, the company entered the wholesale segment with the Armazém Mateus brand, seizing regional supply opportunities. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the group structured its operations in Maranhão, expanded its logistics fleet to hundreds of trucks, and consolidated its brand with new stores in key cities in the state and in the capital São Luís, including through the acquisition of commercial locations from local competitors.

Business diversification gained momentum starting in 1997, with the company’s entry into the home appliances segment through the Eletro Mateus banner. In 2007, Grupo Mateus deepened the vertical integration of its food business with the creation of the bakery industry Bumba Meu Pão (now Bumba Alimentos), responsible for producing bread, pastries and savory products for its network. In the same period, it entered the cash and carry format with the brand then called Mix Mateus, consolidating a self-service model focused on bulk purchases. Between 2012 and 2018, the company intensified its expansion outside Maranhão, especially into Pará and other regions in the North and Northeast, opening fruit and vegetable hubs, distribution centers and a slicing center in São Luís to standardize cold cuts and portioned products.

The digital transformation process and the strengthening of corporate governance accelerated from 2019 onwards. In that year, Grupo Mateus launched the Mateus App, focused on loyalty and discounts, and the Mateus Online e-commerce platform, initially targeted at selling non-food products such as home appliances, furniture, stationery, beauty products and beverages. In 2020, the company carried out its initial public offering of shares on B3, listing in the Novo Mercado segment and raising funds through a primary and secondary offering of GMAT3 shares. After the IPO, the group consolidated its digital ecosystem with the launch of the Mateus Mais app in 2021, unifying the previous platforms and reinforcing its omnichannel strategy by integrating the in-store and online shopping experience across its different store formats.

Grupo Mateus’s business model is based on a multi-format, multi-channel platform that combines cash and carry, supermarket and hypermarket retail, B2B wholesale, specialized stores for electronics and furniture, a bakery industry and proprietary financial services. In the B2B wholesale segment, the company operates through independent sales representatives, supplying small and medium retailers, the foodservice channel and the group’s own stores, in addition to distributing bakery products under the Bumba Alimentos brand. In food retail, it operates supermarkets, hypermarkets, neighborhood markets and convenience stores under the banners Mateus Supermercados, Hiper Mateus, El Camiño and Armazzém, complemented by the Mateus Mais digital channel. In cash and carry, it operates under the Mix Mateus banner, while the electronics segment is served through Eletro Mateus brick-and-mortar stores and also via e-commerce integrated into the digital platform.

The operating segments are diversified but show a clear predominance of cash and carry in revenue generation. In 2024, cash and carry accounted for 56% of consolidated net revenue, followed by food retail with 23%, B2B wholesale with 17% and the electronics segment with 3%. The company sells a broad portfolio of food and non-food products, with tens of thousands of SKUs distributed among cash and carry, supermarkets, neighborhood stores and distribution centers. Among the products sold are perishables such as fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy, as well as processed foods, cleaning products, personal hygiene, stationery, apparel, housewares, electronics, home appliances, furniture and variety items. The company also develops its own and exclusive brands, with production concentrated mainly in the bakery industry and complemented by lines produced by third parties.

Grupo Mateus’s geographic footprint is concentrated in Brazil’s North and Northeast regions, with a focus on regional food retail and wholesale. As of December 31, 2024, the company operated 272 brick-and-mortar stores in 117 cities across nine states: Maranhão, Pará, Piauí, Ceará, Bahia, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Paraíba and Sergipe, in addition to a network of distribution centers located in logistics hubs such as São Luís, Davinópolis, Altos, Santa Izabel, Cabo de Santo Agostinho, Marabá, Feira de Santana, São Gonçalo dos Campos, Conde, Maracanaú, Marituba and Maceió. The logistics infrastructure included 18 distribution centers, one slicing center and three bakery plants, with storage capacity exceeding 460 thousand square meters and a mix of owned and outsourced fleet. This structure supports the daily supply of stores and the service of more than 45 thousand B2B points of sale in several states in the North and Northeast.

The company’s customer base includes end consumers, the foodservice channel and retailers of different sizes. In food retail and cash and carry, Grupo Mateus serves families and individual consumers, as well as restaurants, snack bars, hotels and other out-of-home food establishments. In traditional wholesale, through independent sales representatives, the company supplies small neighborhood shops, regional retail chains and convenience stores operated by third parties under the Armazzém banner. The B2B wholesale operation gained additional relevance by securing exclusive distribution contracts with major domestic and international consumer goods manufacturers in the North and Northeast regions, reinforcing the group’s role as a key logistics and commercial operator in the local supply chain.

Grupo Mateus’s activities are subject to a comprehensive regulatory framework, which includes labor laws, consumer protection, personal data protection rules, sanitary regulations and environmental requirements. In the consumer protection field, the company must ensure clear information about products and services and comply with restrictions on abusive practices. In the sanitary sphere, the sale of food, cosmetics, hygiene products and items of animal origin requires specific licenses issued by agencies such as ANVISA, state and municipal health surveillance authorities and entities linked to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, with periodic inspections of product storage, handling, transportation and display. In addition, the installation and operation of stores, distribution centers and industrial units depend on zoning licenses, operating permits, fire department authorizations and, when applicable, environmental licenses in accordance with the National Environmental Policy.

From an economic and financial standpoint, Grupo Mateus ended 2024 with net revenue above R$ 32 billion and gross revenue of R$ 36.4 billion, net income of approximately R$ 1.3 billion and a net margin of around 4.2%. The recent trajectory combines organic growth, with the opening of dozens of stores per year, and inorganic expansion moves, such as the agreement entered into for a business combination with Novo Atacarejo in Pernambuco, Paraíba and Alagoas, approved by CADE without restrictions and still subject to the fulfillment of contractual conditions for completion. With GMAT3’s listing on B3’s Novo Mercado, the company began to adopt corporate governance practices aligned with higher standards, together with investments in technology, logistics and human capital, aiming to support regional expansion and consolidation as one of the largest food retail chains in the country by revenue, according to specialized industry rankings.