Americanas lost R$352 million in Q3 as it pivots to digital-to-store sales

Americanas posted a R$352 million loss in the third quarter, its first balance sheet since exiting judicial recovery, as the Brazilian retailer doubles down on a sales model that starts online and ends in the store.

The quarterly loss contrasts with a R$367 million profit in the same period of 2025. For the first nine months of the year, the loss reached R$955 million, against R$227 million a year earlier. The company released the figures on the night of the report date.

CEO Fernando Soares said the company has reversed its strategic direction. "A Americanas teve uma mudança drástica de orientação como companhia. O digital era um e-commerce com marketplace. Agora é um digital que serve à loja. A compra começa no site e termina na loja física, que é o foco da operação," he said. He explained the mechanics: "O que acontece é que a pessoa busca comodidade e compra no site, mas quando chega na loja para buscar o produto acaba aumentando o tíquete. Se a loja está bem sortida, cumpre a função dela de surpreender. Nossa estratégia está em cima disso."

How fast is the online-to-offline model growing?

Revenue from online-to-offline sales rose 80.3% in the January-to-September period compared with a year earlier. Quarter on quarter, the jump was 93.8%. Digital still accounts for only 6% of revenue, down from 54% in 2022, when the business model was different. But large events show the potential: during Easter, digital drove 11% of store sales, and during the World Cup it reached 30%. The company expects a similar pattern at Christmas, though it avoids giving numbers.

Soares acknowledged operational strain. "Temos uma lição de casa para fazer, pois o crescimento do modelo foi mais rápido do que a gente imaginava. O digital traz oportunidade de vender mais. Mas é preciso ter estrutura pra atender um pedido em até uma hora e o consumidor não cancelar a compra," he said.

The model exploits what competitors lack: a dense physical footprint that can fulfil online orders quickly.

What does the strategy change for stores?

Approaching its centenary in 2029, Americanas reorganized its value proposition around five strategic universes: Guloseimas (sweets), Moda Conforto (comfort fashion), Brinquedos (toys), Cuidado com a Casa (home care) and Beleza (beauty). New tests include plain, cheaper tops and leggings in fitness fashion, a move into makeup, and sports nutrition items such as carbohydrate gels, bars and dairy drinks placed near checkout queues.

Stores generally occupy 700 to 1,000 square metres. During 2026, the company cut sales floor areas, mainly by closing second floors in several units, and sales rose. Same-store sales grew 8.7% in January-to-September against 2025, and gross revenue per square metre rose 9.3%.

Why last year's result is hard to repeat

CFO Sebastien Durchon explained the year-on-year gap. "No resultado do ano passado, a gente tinha um Ebitda positivo, reconhecemos créditos fiscais, fechamos acordo com PGFN. Ganhos absolutamente válidos, que vão ajudar a companhia daqui para frente, mas não tem como ter volume parecido," he said.

Less than a month before the results, a court closed the judicial recovery process, recognizing full compliance with the restructuring plan, almost four years after the accounting fraud crisis.

The fraud case moves to trial

In January 2023, Sergio Rial, former Santander CEO, took over Americanas and resigned after nine days, revealing accounting inconsistencies that inflated results by at least R$25.3 billion — later confirmed as systematic fraud practiced over years. The company filed for judicial recovery that month; the plan was approved near the end of the year. The recovery plan covered total debt above R$50 billion, of which about R$43 billion were concursal debts subject to creditor renegotiation.

Reference shareholders — billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Herrmann Telles — provided an emergency injection of between R$7 billion and R$12 billion, part of a R$24 billion capitalization plan that also included R$12 billion in debt conversion by creditors.

Last Friday, the Federal Court in Rio accepted charges filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office in March 2025 and made former CEO Miguel Gutierrez and 11 other former executives defendants, accused of 28 fraudulent schemes and crimes including criminal organization, capital market manipulation, insider trading and document forgery.

For marketers and retail operators, the test now is whether event-driven digital spikes and tighter stores can narrow a loss that widened more than fourfold year on year.