MEXICO CITY — Market share gains across all product categories, a first for the company in the last six years, highlighted second-quarter accomplishments of the North American business of Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV. Pricing discipline and commercial execution were cited by Bimbo executives as igniting the company’s rebound.
Operating income of Bimbo’s business in North America was 2,049 million pesos ($117.2 million) in the period ended June 30, up 27% from 1,608 million pesos in the second quarter of 2025. On a currency-adjusted basis, operating income jumped 44%. Operating margin in the second quarter was 4.6% in North America, a 1.3 percentage point improvement from 3.3% a year earlier. The division’s EBITDA margin widened to 10%, up from 9% a year earlier.
Net sales in North America were 44,368 million pesos ($2.54 billion), down 10%, on an as-stated basis from 49,124 million pesos in the second quarter last year, but up 1.3% adjusted for foreign exchange movements.
“Despite a persistently challenging consumer environment, performance was underpinned by favorable price/mix and market share gains across all US categories — for the first time since 2020 — most notably in breakfast, buns and rolls, mainstream bread and salty snacks,” Bimbo said. “Results were also partially supported by the World Cup.”
The 1.3% improvement in adjusted sales year over year represented an improvement from a 0.7% gain in the first quarter and followed more than two years of sales decreases every single quarter, peaking at a 5.7% drop in the fourth quarter of 2024.EBITDA margins for the North American business have improved in four consecutive quarters, rebounding a cumulative 7.4 percentage points since bottoming in the second quarter last year.
In a July 23 investor call, Alejandro Rodriguez, chief executive officer, highlighted the company’s gaining market share across the board for the first time in six years.
“This is particularly noteworthy, given that several industry categories continue to face volume pressure,” he said. “The fact that we’re gaining share across all categories and in most cases, growing sales, highlights the effectiveness of our commercial execution, innovation pipeline and revenue growth management strategy. Combined with a double-digit EBITDA margin and another quarter of margin expansion, these results clearly demonstrate that our transformation initiatives are delivering tangible and sustainable benefits and are resonating with consumers.
“This sustained return to year-over-year growth confirms that the region is improving even as consumers remain under pressure, supported by strong revenue growth management strategy and sharper execution.”
A breakdown provided by the company of the sales results by product line in North America included gains of 8.9% in salty snacks (versus 1.1% industry wide), 2.1% in premium bread (1.3%), 1.8% in breakfast (1.6%) and 0.9% in buns and rolls (-1.8%), partly offset by sales decreases of 0.2% in sweet baked goods (-1.1%) and 1.6% in mainstream bread (-2.8%). Despite the decrease, Bimbo said it was the fourth straight quarter the company has gained share in the mainstream bread category.
“What is most exciting is the quality of this growth,” Rodriguez said. “Even against demanding backdrop in some of our markets, both price mix and volumes moved in the right direction… North America continued to build on its own recovery.”
Investment analysts on the call repeatedly asked executives to shed light on the forces contributing to the turnaround of the North American business.
The company saw momentum in its private label business during the second quarter.
| Photo: ©ALESSANDRARC – STOCK.ADOBE.COM“The foundation for that was our continued improved commercial execution, both in terms of how we go to market with our DSD system and then also how we have remained disciplined around pricing and promotion activities,” said Greg Koehrsen, president of Bimbo Bakeries USA.
The company’s presence in private label also has helped, he said.
“We see (private label) as not just a threat; it’s actually an opportunity,” Koehrsen said. “We value the offerings within our branded portfolio, but we’re also a producer of private label as well, and we use it strategically with some of our key customers. So, we continue to see positive momentum in both our branded business and also our private label business.”
Responding to a question about the role of new products in lifting the company’s fortunes, Koehrsen said Bimbo has been “pretty pleased” with the performance of new health and wellness focused products.
“Two things I think we’ve talked about in the past, but just to highlight them again, our Thomas’ high-protein bagels and our Sara Lee half loaves,” he said. “(The products) continue to outperform our expectations. It’s given us an opportunity to really lean into consumer spaces that value, health and wellness and premium.”
Beyond health and wellness, Bimbo also has experienced strong results from new products geared toward indulgence, Koehrsen said.
Pressed further about sources of the company’s improved results, Koehrsen re-emphasized pricing discipline.
“The teams’ improvement and commitment — we’ve reaped benefits from that,” he said. “We’re going to continue to do the same thing going forward. Again, this really is different by subcategory and subsegments. We’re going to think about this differently in, let’s say, a premium and health and wellness environment where consumers are asking for certain things and potentially differently in a value proposition environment.”
Second quarter net income at Grupo Bimbo was 2,935 million pesos ($167.8 million), up 3.9% from 2,826 million peso in the same period a year earlier, up 3.1% adjusted for foreign currency. Sales were 105 billion pesos ($6 billion), down 2.2% from 107.4 billion the year before but up 4.5% on an adjusted basis.
Bimbo’s net debt to EBITDA ratio decreased to 2.5 times from 2.9 times a year earlier.
Diego Gaxiola, chief financial officer, said the deleveraging was made possible by free cash flow of 12 billion pesos ($690 million), even as the company devoted 5.3 billion pesos ($300 million) to dividends and share buybacks.
During the conference call, Gaxiola said the company’s strong results have prompted Bimbo to raise its guidance for the full 2026 year. The company now expects EBITDA margins to improve 70 to 120 basis points from 2025, bringing the margins to 14.6% to 15.1%. The company previously had forecast margin improvement of 60 to 110 basis points.
“We delivered a strong quarter, with volume growth and positive price/mix even against a challenging consumer environment in several of our markets, along with continued adjusted EBITDA margin expansion,” Rodgriguez said of Grupo Bimbo consolidated results. “These (results) reflect the strength of our brands, the commitment of our people, the discipline of our execution and the tangible progress of our transformation initiatives in North America. Combined with sustained momentum in Mexico and EAA, the quarter reaffirms the resilience of our diversified business model and our confidence in delivering long-term value for our shareholders.”
While the company is not yet issuing guidance for 2027, Gaxiola offered an optimistic view of the company’s prospects despite an expectation of further inflationary pressures in the new year.
“We do expect the inflationary environment to remain challenging,” he said. “We have seen upward pressure across several key inputs, including wheat, resins and energy, and current market conditions suggest that some of these pressures could persist into next year. That said, we believe we are well positioned to navigate this environment.”