Operator : Good day, and welcome to the Jerónimo Martins First Half 2026 Results Conference Call. Today's conference call is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Ana Luisa Virginia, Chief Financial Officer of Jerónimo Martins Group. Please go ahead, madam.

Ana Virgínia : Thank you, Nadia. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining this call to present our first half results. As a reminder, in our corporate website, you can find the results release, a slide presentation and a fact sheet for the period. The first half of 2026 proved more demanding than we initially anticipated, particularly with regard to strong pressure on food prices and fuel-related costs. Heightened geopolitical uncertainty kept consumers cautious and focused on low prices and promotions in what food is concerned and competition did not ease in the sector. Against this backdrop, all our banners delivered solid sales and EBITDA by protecting price competitiveness, strengthening their value propositions and executing efficiently. Volume-led growth, combined with careful margin mix and reinforced focus on efficiency drove group sales up by 5.1% or 4.5% at constant exchange rates to EUR 18.3 billion and EBITDA to increase 7.6%, reaching EUR 1.2 billion with margin at 6.8%, 16 basis points ahead of the same period last year. Every business expanded EBITDA margin, contributing to this solid delivery. Excluding IFRS 16, the Group closed June with a net cash position of EUR 11 million after having paid EUR 409 million to its shareholders. Starting with the income statement. The Group delivered strong operational performance. Despite substantial basket deflation at Biedronka and also at Hebe, and low basket inflation in Ara, Pingo Doce and Recheio, sales grew 5.1%, driven by strong volumes in every banner. EBITDA grew 7.6% ahead of sales and margin rose 16 basis points to 6.8%, reflecting better mix, scale and strict cost control. Higher financial costs mainly result from the execution of the expansion program and its impact on interest from capitalized leases. While in other profit and losses, we've included the EUR 40 million contribution out of the 2025 results to the Jerónimo Martins Foundation. This heading also incorporates write-offs resulting from remodel initiatives and provisions net of compensations received for legal proceedings. Cash flow before dividends was negative at EUR 332 million. Basket deflation at Biedronka impacted sales growth and trade payables and weighted on cash generation. Despite the increased pressure, the balance sheet remains solid. The half year position reflects capital investment of EUR 412 million and the payment of EUR 409 million in dividends. Investments remained aligned with our strategic priorities. The H1 CapEx focused on expansion of our store network, store remodelings and logistics improvement. Throughout the period, the Group opened 124 stores and remodeled 115. On logistics, Ara opened a new distribution center in Medellín early in the year, and Biedronka inaugurated its 18th distribution center in Southeastern Poland in late June. This latter facility is expected to reduce annual travel by almost 1 million kilometers, further improving an already very efficient operation. Focusing now on Group sales. Volume growth across all banners drove H1 sales, reflecting competitive pricing, adequate assortments and disciplined execution. Group like-for-like in the period was at 1.4%. Turning to sales performance by banner. I will start with Biedronka. The Polish food retail market remained extremely challenging with subdued demand, price-sensitive and promotions-driven consumers, intense competition between the players and a fast slowdown of food inflation, which turned negative in June. In this context, Biedronka consolidated its price leadership while continuing to watch and optimize assortment and to further enhance its value for money proposition to Polish consumers. Sales grew 1.7% to EUR 12.6 billion or 1.9% in local currency, with like-for-like up 0.2% despite significant basket deflation. H1 volumes rose by around 5%, offsetting the impact of like-for-like from deflation and preserving our main banners market share. Deflation accelerated markedly in Q2, resulting in sales slightly below Q2 '25 and in a like-for-like of minus 1.6%, while like-for-like volumes grew by more than 4%. Turning now to Hebe. Despite intense competition leading to greater basket deflation, Hebe fine-tuned its assortment and strengthened its value proposition across online and offline channels. Sales rose 5% to EUR 312 million or 5.3% in local currency with like-for-like up 2.4%. Portuguese consumers continue to look for savings with pricing and promotions driving most purchasing decisions. Pingo Doce remained highly competitive while strengthening its value proposition throughout a ready meals offer that combines convenience, quality and differentiation. Total sales grew 5.3% to EUR 2.7 billion and like-for-like, excluding fuel, reached 3.7%, supported by strong volume growth in the context of low basket inflation. In the second quarter, sales increased 3.3%, with like-for-like excluding fuel at 1.9%, again reflecting solid underlying performance and the competitiveness of the offer. After a first quarter affected by severe storms in Portugal Central region, the HoReCa sector entered the summer season less dynamic than in the same period of 2025. Despite a more challenging backdrop, Recheio continued to demonstrate resilience and competitiveness in both HoReCa and Traditional Retail segments. Sales increased 2.5%, EUR 673 million with like-for-like at 1.3%. In the second quarter, in a softer trading environment, sales grew 1.8% and like-for-like reached 0.3%. Finally, Ara. In Colombia, despite stronger demand and improved consumer confidence, market environment remained challenging with strong promotional intensity across the food retail sector. Ara continued to strengthen its brand awareness and consumer traction through disciplined execution of its expansion program and a value proposition tailored to local needs. This approach boosted another period of strong sales growth. Sales increased 30.2% in euros and 21.1% in local currency, reaching EUR 2 billion. Like-for-like was 6.8%, driven primarily by volume growth as Ara operated with very low basket inflation. In the second quarter, sales increased 21% in local currency, while like-for-like accelerated to 7.5%. In euros, sales increased 36.9%. Looking now at profitability and margins. Across the group, our businesses remain focused on protecting price competitiveness while continuously improving efficiency and effective cost management. Therefore, despite significant basket deflation at Biedronka and Hebe and low inflation across the remaining businesses, EBITDA reached EUR 1.2 billion, an increase of 7.6% ahead of sales growth. As referred, this performance was supported by rigorous management of every profitability driver, namely volume growth, sales mix and efficiency. Zooming in at margins by banner, every business improved its EBITDA margin in the first half. At Biedronka, the margin increase translates the continuous efforts to optimize assortment and improve store layouts, leading to enhanced sales mix. Also contributing to this performance was a disciplined focus on cost control and efficiency gains. At Hebe, margin improved, supported by the work carried out on sales mix optimization, differentiation and strict cost management. In Portugal, ongoing work on margin mix, operational discipline and efficiency measures leveraged margin progression at both Pingo Doce and Recheio. At Ara, EBITDA margin benefited from strong like-for-like performance, growing scale and assertive cost management. Overall, the Group margin increased from 6.6% to 6.8% in the first 6 months of 2026. Let me conclude with a few final remarks. The context in the first half of 2026 proved harder than we expected. Nonetheless, this set of results proved the resilience of our businesses and the quality of execution across banners, especially in light of the significant deflationary pressures faced particularly by our Polish operations and the continued impact of higher labor, rental and fuel-related costs. This performance was only possible because our teams continue to execute with determination, focused on serving consumers, protecting price competitiveness and improving the offer. These actions drove strong volume growth in all our banners and reinforced consumer preference. Across the group, better mix, operational discipline, efficiency gains and rigorous cost control leveraged profitability and enabled every banner to improve its EBITDA margin. These results reinforce our confidence in the competitive strength of our banners in the quality of their value propositions and in their ability to create sustainable long-term value. Regarding the outlook, we remain vigilant about the operating environment. Based on the information currently available, we do not anticipate any material improvement in market conditions during the second half. Geopolitical uncertainty, limited visibility and pressure on consumer confidence should persist, and therefore, consumers are very likely to keep focused on low prices and promotions fueling market competition. Our priorities, therefore, remain unchanged, protecting competitiveness, ensuring consumer preference and improving efficiency. The investment program for the year is capped at around EUR 1.2 billion, focused on growth, store modernization and logistics. Our teams will continue to closely monitor the context, keeping the flexibility to adjust our execution if deemed necessary. Thank you for your attention. Operator, I am now ready to take questions.

Operator : [Operator Instructions] And now we're going to take our first question. And it comes from the line of Will Woods from Bernstein.

William Woods : When you look at Poland, when do you think food inflation will turn in the Polish market? Do you think food PPI could turn positive in Q3? And then second one is, when you look at the Polish margin expansion, you've obviously done a great job controlling the cost there. But can you give a little bit more detail on what you're exactly doing? You mentioned store processes, assortment mix and store layout. How has this fed into gross margin expansion?

Ana Virgínia : So as we mentioned, so I think that we flagged this in the results release because as you probably remembered, I mentioned in the first quarter call that we were expecting somehow depending on the cycle of productions that the cost pressure would come in and turn probably into inflation in the second half of the year. At this point, and as we already left the second quarter, we don't see that happening at least in some of the main categories of our banners and particularly on Poland. And that's why we are flagging that currently, we do not see in terms of the deflationary pressure, any change in the context. This is mainly the big difference versus what I referred in Q1. So for us, it's now very difficult to say. It's true that we will have some better comparables, particularly from September onwards, as we also mentioned. But what we are seeing is several sources of pressure on prices. We do not see, for instance, on the supply part, as I referred in some of our most important categories, we are -- our suppliers are also operating in deflation. And this has to do with several dynamics of the market. I will give you the example of meat, which is a quite important category or even dairy or fruits and vegetables, for instance, in Portugal, where as you have good harvest or good production or you have some constraints in the demand, then this puts pressure because you have to put the product in the market. And this, of course, to have the consumers to buy more leads to further price decreases. Then, of course, you have the consumer environment or the consumption environment and also the competition dynamics because every player, and it's not only in Poland, but it's particularly harsher in Poland is pushing for volumes to somehow compensate for the deflation that is happening in the market. So currently, I'm being totally blind with you and totally honest, we do not see at this point when the turning point will take place. So it's probably getting easier in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter, I think it's going to be difficult from what we are seeing currently, as I said, in the dynamics, even in the first month of the third quarter. For Polish margins, yes, they did a great job. I think that, of course, as the company ended the year already in deflation, it's true that it did really a remarkable work on one hand in the offer and also the fact that it had worked on its layouts in terms of the stores to keep it more efficient to help the operations and our colleagues in the stores to be able to replenish and to do the -- all the executions in a more efficient way. And I think that pays off. Of course, there may be a kind of a seasonal effect here. Easter is usually a season where you have a harder execution, and this also happens in Christmas and in some periods in summer. Q2 didn't have the whole period of Easter. So either in terms of the gross margin and also in terms of the cost pressure, it eased a little bit because it tends to be more competitive also during these peaks in terms of sales. And of course, what we saw also -- so better mix also some ease from the comps in Easter, both in costs and in margin. And of course, also some processes that are now more linear for our operations, and I give you the example of the DR system that started, as you know, in the third quarter last year. That is now a big burden to our colleagues in the stores to have -- to take care of that -- of the return of the bottles. But it's already somehow in a cruise mode, which also helped, and it's more noticeable in quarters where, of course, the sales tend to be slightly more pressured as it happens in the second quarter. So I think really, it's -- as you mentioned, really, and I agree, it was really a great job from our colleagues in Poland.

Operator : Now we're going to take our next question. And the question comes from the line of Frederick Wild from Jefferies.

Frederick Wild : They're all about Poland, please. So first of all, could you comment on exit rates for Biedronka and current trading, whether there's been any shift in the consumer environment there? Second, if we take a sort of bit of a step back, it seems a very surprising, very impressive margin beat in Q2. Would you ordinarily be looking to reinvest a little bit more of that margin in the context? And can we see that as one of the limiting factors for half 2? And finally, the volume picture in terms of how you're reporting remains incredibly positive. Could you just give us a sense of the breakdown of how much of this was market share? How much of this was mix? How much of this was the underlying Polish consumer?

Ana Virgínia : Fred, I have to say it was very hard to hear you, but I will try to address your questions. If there is anything that I do not answer, please come back because it was really slightly harder to listen to you. So in terms of consumer environment, in fact, we are not seeing any major change in the consumer environment. I think at least in what food is concerned, from the numbers and even the official figures that we have access, the savings continue to increase. So I believe it's not really an issue regarding the available income of the Polish consumer. I think it tries to save whenever it is possible. So in what food is concerned, at least, it remains quite cautious. And of course, as the rest of the dynamic allows to also decrease prices because part of this -- we have to say, part is, as I said, supplier driven and part is still a correction of some of the higher-priced commodities even from last year. So there is here a dynamic regarding commodities, regarding harvest, particularly on the fresh products and on the groceries and some other dynamics that are pushing also deflation from the supplier side, as I said. And I think that if the consumer can buy at better prices, of course, it will not -- it is at least in some categories, slightly -- I wouldn't call it probably trading up, but it's willing to buy, and that is helped by some categories that are a little bit more value-added and contribute positively to the mix, and that happened. But overall, we are not seeing a change in the consumer environment in Poland. Of course, the competitive environment is also quite difficult. It didn't ease on the contrary, I have to say. I think that more players are now also playing, of course, with the promotions. And so we are seeing all the players in the market trying to drive volumes also to try to compensate what they are seeing, which is apparently at least from some of our competitors' declarations, they have been saying that they are still operating in deflation, and we believe so from the numbers that we see. So if we are going to invest part of this margin in competitiveness, one thing is for sure, Biedronka will want to provide the best prices and the best opportunities to the consumer, the Polish consumer, and that's what it has been doing. If I think all the levers that justify the margin increase in the second quarter will apply in the second half, probably not. But we will do everything to protect margin, not losing competitiveness. So if we have to invest a little bit of the margin, as you said, probably we will, if that compensate in terms of sales. Of course, it's a difficult balance. It implies really hard work from our teams, but it's -- I'm sure that it's what they will try to do. So be the most competitive. And if they will have to, of course, invest a little bit more of margin, they will do it. On the volume and on the market share, from the information that we got on GfK until May, our market share was more or less stable. But from the numbers that we got in June, I think that it even increased slightly in the whole period. This is the information that I can provide you. And I think that really Biedronka was able not only to craft the promotions, but to give really good opportunities that justify the fact that even in June, it really delivered a very good performance in terms of volume growth.

Operator : Now we're going to take our next question. And the question comes from the line of Manjari Dhar from RBC.

Manjari Dhar : I also had 2, if I may. I think you mentioned that not all the cost levers will apply in the second half. I just wondered if you could give some more color on sort of what might fall away, what's been done and where you still see some incremental benefits? And then my second question is, I just wondered if you could give us an update on how performance in Slovakia is going.

Ana Virgínia : So what I mentioned, of course, is we are -- at this point, we are not -- or we do not have visibility on how or what will be the level of price pressure. So the information that we got is at least in some of the categories, this is not just a question of the competition and of the cautious consumer is really supplier driven. The part of the deflation, as I said, is the correction move. So we don't know how this will play. It can play on the positive side, but we are not still seeing these signs at this point. In terms of the things that can put a little bit more of pressure, of course, the comparables are also different. We also had good volumes last year. So it really depends on the dynamic of the market and on how even our competitors will react. As I said, Biedronka will make sure that it will continue to be the price leader. It will continue to offer the Polish consumer good opportunities. And this is something that it's really the signature of the brand and what we have been doing. We think that the consumer will stay very cautious. At least we don't see even from the -- as we said, from the geopolitical point of view and on the fuel-related costs, et cetera. So that part will definitely not improve in principle. At least we are not seeing that happening currently, which will add further pressure, for instance, on the transportation costs that we have seen already increase and will further increase as we have more volumes in the second half of the year. So in Q2, as I said, it was not particularly so hard in terms -- it was hard in terms of the execution of the volumes, but it's also in terms of the execution, you tend to -- it tends to be harder when you have the peak of sales and certain periods where even the competition tends to be harder. So Christmas, the way that Christmas will play and even the summer may put some extra pressure on our operational costs and on the competition. So -- but at this point, as I said, it's difficult to say. What I can tell you is that we will protect and try to protect margins as it was done really in the first half which is -- it's more comparable than just the first or the second half versus last year. On Slovakia, so we are currently operating 17 stores. As we mentioned, the licensing process is much -- it takes longer than in Poland. So -- but we expect to still open the level of stores that we have in our outlook. And of course, as we introduce scale, it also improves some of the KPIs and that includes, of course, not only the gross margin, the inventory losses, et cetera, and it helps dilute the costs that we also have in logistics and head office. So the aim is, of course, to progress and to progress on a positive way. It's still EBITDA dilutive, but it's normal at this stage of the business in the country.

Operator : Now we're going take our next question. And the question comes from the line of Luis Colaco from JB Capital.

Luis Colaco : Congrats for the good set of results. Two or 3 questions, if I may. The first one, if you could give us a breakdown of your sales growth in Poland, namely the like-for-like in terms of volume, basket deflation and Easter effect? My second question is regarding your working capital. I noticed some deterioration -- a slight deterioration in working capital, probably the cash conversion cycle. Just wanted to understand the rationale or the drivers behind this. And if this is something that we can try to relate with the gross margin expansion? Third, of course, also related with the gross margin if you think that going forward, can we expect this gross margin expansion to be sustainable in the next quarters? And the fourth question, if I may, if you can give us some more color on the nonrecurrent cost breakdown?

Ana Virgínia : I wish. Many thanks. I believe that the congratulations are really for our operating teams and all our banners. So in terms of the breakdown effects, I don't know if it's for the first half or for the second quarter.

Luis Colaco : For the second quarter if I may.

Ana Virgínia : Okay. Okay. So in terms of the food -- or basket food deflation, we operated with around 6% deflation. And so in terms of volumes, it increased slightly more than 4% as we had a negative like-for-like of 1.6% in the quarter. The calendar effect, of course, this is a little bit tricky, but we estimate to be around 1% or so slightly negative around -- at least 1% or slightly more than that. On the working capital. So part, of course, is due to -- if we look at the whole period, if we look at just the whole period, it is really the fact that we ended last year with a very good performance of Christmas and that, of course, we had to pay for the trade payables, at least for the first half. When we compare just the second quarter, one has to do, of course, with the dynamics of sales and the dynamics of the market with deflation, as we mentioned. So if the level of growth in sales is lower, and particularly we had the Easter effect also, so part of the receivables of Easter were in the first quarter, not in the second quarter. And of course, operating particularly in Biedronka with a high deflation that affects, of course, the dynamic, of course, because in the quarter, the growth was slightly negative. And of course, even the trade payables, the level does not -- is not the same when we are in deflation also from the supply side part. It's not -- we have a slightly more days of sales in terms of stock, but that is -- it has to do with the dynamic of the business. We have 1 DC more. We have more stores that opened at the end of the quarter. So this may be just a temporary situation. It did not happen any compensation or in terms of the trade payables because even the trade payables, I believe probably Claudia can give you that color later, but I believe it didn't deteriorate and so -- despite some of the pressures in terms of days of sales, so which means that there was no compensation in terms of gross margin. The gross margin was really driven, which was your second question -- third question, was really driven by the mix. And of course, as I said, as also the part of the suppliers are operating in deflation in terms of percentage, this translates also in the prices or we don't -- we see also a cost deflation in what the cost of goods sold is concerned. And the rest, as I said, is mix. If this is sustainable, I think that part of it will be, but it will also depend again on the consumer demand and on the competition moves. So we will want, as I mentioned, to be -- to continue to be the price leader in Poland to provide really the best opportunities and to give all the reasons for the consumer to continue to visit store and to prefer the Biedronka stores. So this may, of course, imply a different dynamic and a different progression. As I also mentioned, we have a soft comp with Easter effect. But -- so it's -- at this point, I cannot say, but I think that overall, as gross margin increased in all the banners, in fact, in all our banners and particularly due to the mix and to the -- as I said, to the market dynamic, I think this is a good performance. And in principle, part of it we'll be able to keep for the second half of the year. On the nonrecurrence, so I -- now we are a little bit careful and even say so, this is not really just nonrecurrence. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, here, we have to book something that is even decided from the prior year results, which is the Jerónimo Martins Foundation contribution. It's a decision of the shareholders at the AGM, but it has to be booked through the P&L. And so it doesn't depend or it doesn't affect the performance of the different banners. So we are putting here in what we call the other costs and losses. So these are either nonrecurrent or things that can introduce some volatility in the performance, but don't -- are not directly linked to the performance of the companies and hence being booked at this heading. So you have the EUR 40 million of the foundation, which, of course, will be a cash item. Then you have some write-offs due to the remodeling of stores that we prefer not to keep it in the invested capital because the stores were totally refurbished, and that's the way we think we should do. It's a noncash item. And probably, I think it was around EUR 8 million or EUR 10 million. And then I believe this will be in our first half annual report details. But then the other is, of course, the litigation. So we do provisions, although we do not disclose exactly to which cases because it has to do with our own position, but I think it was around EUR 4 million. And then we have some indemnities and slight other donations that we may give on a discretionary basis, but it's basically that.

Luis Colaco : Okay. Can I just add an additional question on the gross margin. If I'm not mistaken, in the fourth quarter last year, you had a positive impact from a reversal of a provision related with inventories. Can we assume or should we assume that in the fourth quarter of this year, we will see a reversal, I mean, 30 basis points, around 30 basis points drop in gross margin, all else equal? Or we should think differently regarding the gross margin for the fourth quarter, bearing in mind the impact that you had in the fourth quarter of 2025?

Ana Virgínia : Thank you, Luis. Absolutely right. Yes, there was this effect. I don't think it can be a direct because, of course, I think that not all will be equal. But it's true that, of course, we will have some effect from that, from the comps because, of course, we will not be expecting to be adjusting that, which was, as we mentioned, an accounting effect. Of course, this will all depend on how even the Christmas season will go. It's true that, for instance, Biedronka operated already in deflation in December last year. So it may happen, of course, different. There are a lot of moving parts also that may be affecting the gross margin and that includes also the competition, et cetera, as I mentioned. But the rest, we should expect a little bit of pressure going to the comps because of this accounting adjustment, yes.

Operator : And now we're going to take our next question. And the question comes from the line of Robert Joyce from BNP Paribas.

Robert Joyce : I'll do them one by one, if that's all right. Just trying to understand a bit more specifics on the numbers. I mean, as we're seeing it, are we expecting Biedronka like-for-like to be negative now in the second half of the year, probably the third quarter, I'm guessing. What do you think on that?

Ana Virgínia : Robert, I will ask you if you could do -- everybody is doing the questions in batches. So if you don't mind, I would prefer not to be going back and forth with the questions. Can you put the whole batch of questions, and I will answer each one of them.

Robert Joyce : No problem. I guess, so just quite number specifics, I guess. First one would be, yes, should we be thinking of deflation -- sorry, negative like-for-likes at Biedronka in the second half? Second one would be just specifically trying to understand the margin dynamics and how you expect them to play out at Biedronka. Are we thinking margin expansion will be less than the first half? We take the first half number at 25 bps. Is it going to be around there in the second half? Or should we be thinking less than that? And then the third and the fourth on just EPS, I guess, flat in the first half. Do we think that's a reasonable number for the second half? And then free cash flow again, what are we thinking there? Should we expect that kind of decline in the first half to continue in the full year year-over-year? Or should we expect to make some of that back in the second half?

Ana Virgínia : Thank you, Rob. So like-for-like for Biedronka, of course, if the pressure on the prices will continue, and as I mentioned, even from the supply side, we are not seeing an inflection point on there, it will put pressure, of course, on the like-for-like. But again, this will depend on the dynamics, on the volumes that the company can also grow and the rest of the dynamics in the market. So this -- of course, the second half has a tricky situation because it has 2 seasons that are quite important. The first one, of course, is Christmas. And the second one is the summer period. I remember that everybody was complaining of the weather last year, and that affected some of the categories, particularly in some of our peers. So these kind of dynamics may, of course, also help. So I think that we cannot assume it will be negative. We can assume only that it will have further pressure more than we anticipated. So we were -- I have to say, and I personally was expecting that what happened already or what had happened with the commodities, considering the fertilizers and the fuel prices, et cetera, would lead to faster inflation coming into the market, particularly in food. But as I said, we are not seeing that, and that will put pressure. If it will be negative, I would not assume that is the base scenario. It is possible, but I think that the company will do everything in its power not to happen, but it will really depend on all the dynamics. On the margin, the 25 basis points EBITDA for Biedronka, as I said, I think that we had some effects here that really helped. They may not happen or they may be a little bit more challenging in the second half. But again, it will depend on how things progress. The most important thing will be, of course, sales, but -- and the gross margin. And so the competitiveness of the market, the pressure on deflation will be important. We will have probably more fuel-related costs, the transports. At the moment, we are not seeing this at least in percentage of sales to affect the utilities, which is good. But it really will depend on the competitiveness of the market, how competitive and how much we have to invest from our side. The rest, I think it will really depend on the market. But at this point, again, our base case is not to drop the EBITDA margins versus the second half last year. On EPS, a challenging one. Of course, this has to do or part of this is even translation. It's true that -- and sometimes we are a little bit criticized by the fact that we are financing our Colombian operations with Colombian pesos. It appreciated. So when we translate, it's not cash, but it tends to increase. But in terms of -- as we are expanding, we should expect to have more interest coming from the capitalization of the leases. So on that, it will not help. I would say it will not be different from the second. It will not help. It will not be different from the first half of the year. On the nonrecurrence, it will depend on several things. So of course, in the second half, we will not have the foundation. It will depend on the rhythm of refurbishments and if we do some restructuring. And if from the litigations, we will need to make any other provision. So it's the main -- I think, will be the main addings where we may have some difference. But at this point, I cannot say if it will be the same as in terms of the progression on the net earnings. On the free cash flow and on the working capital, I expect an improvement in principle. Of course, again, we have a very tough comp at year-end. So the fortress that we had on 31st December 2025 is very challenging because it was really a terrific Christmas period for our banners. The comparison will be important. But in principle, the cash -- the free cash flow in the second half should be positive, of course, and play a role in terms of the improvement.

Operator : [Operator Instructions] We're going to take our next question. And the question comes from the line of Matthew Clements from Barclays.

Matthew Clements : Three, if that's okay. Firstly, could you give some indication of how much of your deflation in the first half was passing on those lower costs from suppliers and how much was incremental investment on Biedronka's behalf? Secondly, if deflation is driven predominantly by lower supply costs, that is implicitly kind of neutral from a gross profit and operating leverage perspective for the retailers, I mean your margins have improved, and we've heard from another competitor recently who reported better operating profit year-on-year despite severely negative like-for-likes. So my question is, why would this form of deflationary environment lead retailers, as you say, to go for volume to compensate deflation to protect leverage? And finally, 5% volume growth in a low-growth market is remarkable. Can you give a sense of the market share gains you've seen in the first half on both volume and value basis?

Ana Virgínia : Matt, so as I mentioned, yes, and particularly in the main categories, and I gave the example of dairy and meat because this is really -- these sectors have a particular situation currently. For instance, particularly in pork meat, the supply didn't adjust the fact that China didn't want pork from Europe. And that, of course, means more available product in the market, and this pressures a lot the price downward. Of course, you'right, as part -- I cannot tell you exactly what is the part of the deflation that is supplier driven, competition driven and price investment to catch the volume and to have the consumers with us. But I can tell you that, of course, a big part is -- and as you mentioned, this reflects also in the improvement in the gross margin. So part is mix, as I said, and part is because, as you mentioned, if my cost price is also in deflation, of course, my margin is not affected, but my cash margin is. So -- and that's what drives me to get the volumes to compensate in terms of cash margin. This completely compensates or not, what is the downward on that is that if to have more volumes, I have to transport more boxes, my people in the store have to replenish more often. So this implies usually a big pressure on costs. And I think that the terrific job that was done really was somehow also anticipating a little bit this dynamic in the market. It really helped the layout change that Biedronka has been doing. It really helped the fact that some of the processes are now -- operational process are a little bit more, as I said in the beginning, in a cruise mode to really protect the cost base also because this is really pressured from the deflationary situation. On the market share, as I mentioned, the information that we got from GfK is just until May. And according to GfK, we basically were flat. So we protected the market share. According to the market numbers for June, we think that we increased market share in June, particularly in the month of June, so it should have for the first half gone slightly up.

Matthew Clements : And that's on a value basis, is it?

Ana Virgínia : Value basis, Matt. We don't have the volume.

Matthew Clements : Your volume share gains must be very impressive?

Ana Virgínia : I would assume, yes. Yes. Yes.

Operator : Now we're going to take our next question. And the question comes from the line of Izabel Dobreva from Morgan Stanley.

Izabel Dobreva : I had a couple of questions. Firstly, starting with Biedronka. Could you give us a sense of what level of deflation you're planning for as we go towards the third quarter? I guess your results this morning imply deflation of just over 5% in 2Q. Do you think that's the sort of number we should have in mind for the third quarter and then perhaps assuming a small improvement from the fourth quarter? And then linked to this, how should we think about your relative price position versus the peer group? Would you say that it strengthened over the quarter? And the reason I'm asking this is because typically, when there is a common source of deflation in the market from the supply chain, a lot of the peers will, of course, give that back to consumers. So I'm trying to understand whether your deflation is also symptomatic of price investments you made out of your own self-funded initiatives? And then my final question is just on Slovakia. If there was an asset available for sale in the market, which was a way to gain a faster route to scale, would you be open to M&A in Slovakia? Or is your preference to build up the presence in the market organically?

Ana Virgínia : So for Biedronka, of course, at this point, we don't know, of course, what will be the level of deflation we'll be operating. As I mentioned, it will really depend. What I can tell you is that we started the quarter, and that's why we are flagging that we are not seeing still an inflection point in prices overall, not from the PPI nor from some of the categories and the suppliers. Even in Portugal, we are having deflation, for instance, in fruits and vegetables because there were good harvest. So there is this kind of dynamic. But -- so there is a part that may be temporary in terms of the deflation. I would assume probably that in the -- everything else constant because of the comparison, and we mentioned that on our release from September, we would, in principle, have a lower -- if still operating in deflation, we could expect a lower deflation versus Q3, but we don't know exactly if -- in fact, if we are going to be operating in deflation or not. As I said, this really depends on the dynamics of the market. One thing, of course, or one driver of the deflation is it has to do, of course, with our price positioning. As I said, we want to keep being the leaders in terms of price. We think that the consumer will value this. Price is, of course, together with promotion, but promotions is price ultimately and is also accounted for, they are also accounted for in our price, our basket deflation and our basket inflation computation. So I think that, as I said, part of the margin was -- gross margin was protected because it was also supplier driven, but we don't have it. We also did price investments. It's because of the consumer environment. And we did even price investments in some of the, let's say, more value-added categories because this contributed to the mix, although being in promotions or being -- the idea, of course, if you have a slightly more value-added products that you can help -- even if you decrease the price, it can help through the mix. So we did price investments. And in terms of the price positioning, I wouldn't say that there is a big increase in the gaps, but the gaps were maintained. Biedronka made sure of that. And I think that is what justifies the increase in volume and the performance in terms of market share that, as I priorly mentioned, in terms of volumes must be a quite significant increase even in Q2. For Slovakia, yes, there are some rumors in the market, of course. And Izabel, as it is our position always, we will not comment that. We didn't like when we were some years ago having to sell our own businesses, and we will not do that to our peers. We will not comment. There are these rumors. Of course, we will monitor it closely as we usually do, all the opportunities. And of course, we don't exclude, of course, to do M&A in the countries where we operate and particularly in one where we have just entered, but we wouldn't comment much more than that.

Operator : And now we're going to take our final question for today and it comes from the line of [indiscernible] from Kepler Cheuvreux.

Unknown Analyst : Three questions from my side. Looking at your gross margin improvement of almost 40 basis points in the first half and almost 50 basis points in the second quarter. Could you give us an idea of how much came from better assortment mix? Is it, for example, 1/3 or more of the improvement? Second question is specifically on the assortment mix, especially in Poland. Could you be more specific about which categories or products are gaining share and drive this positive mix contribution to gross margin? And third question on the food PPI and when this food PPI returns, do the current assortment and the procurement changes that you made at Biedronka, would it make you structurally less exposed to margin pressure than in the last inflation cycle?

Ana Virgínia : So on gross margins, as I mentioned, at the Group level, all our banners increased gross margins. So -- and I have to say that I would -- probably all of that would come from mix mainly. And of course, in some cases, the fact that also the suppliers want, particularly on, let's say, the more fresh goods categories also want to increase their volumes to get rid of their stock and their production and invested with us. But I would say that most of the increase came from the assortment mix and the way that we craft promotions to drive that change in mix. The fact that in the second quarter is slightly ahead of the first one, it has to do usually with the fact that the peak period in terms of sales are a little bit more dynamic in terms of the -- having to do price investments. And as Easter calendar changed, I think it has also to do with this different dynamic. But it has -- most of it was better mix. On the categories in Poland, I tend to be -- so we have, of course, some categories where we have -- or we have been using in the different categories, products that, as I said, are a little bit more value-added or have better margins to contribute to the sales mix and the margin mix. I would not detail much because usually, I don't think that our competitors do that. So I would prefer to refrain, but there are some categories in, of course, the different ones, more value-added yogurts with protein or more. So these kind of examples where you have some -- I wouldn't call it a premium product, but a product that is perceived as more value-added to the consumer. We, of course, craft and do our assortment review, taking into consideration these kind of trends in the market and things that the consumer may value and buy even if they are slightly more expensive than the basic products. On the food PPI, I would say that in some categories, we will not see that change in the short term. As I said, in the meat categories, in fruits and vegetables due to the season that is -- and due to a particular situation in pork meat, I think that this will take a little bit more time to change. If it changes, of course, this will put pressure on prices. But then it will depend on the dynamic of the market. So in principle, of course, we will maintain, as I said, price competitiveness. If we'll pass that to the consumer, it will depend also on the competitive environment on competition. And so it's not immediate that we can conclude that the positive PPI will drive deflation down, probably not immediate. We are very fast in decreasing the price to get the volumes, probably a little bit slower passing it to the consumer although, as I said, it's not an issue from the available income point of view. So I think that we'll have to be very smart in crafting again, the promotions, the way we put the products to make sure that we protect the margin. In terms of procurement, I think that we have -- of course, we have our private label, and this is very stable for our suppliers. So I think that in principle, of course, there are other dynamics, but I wouldn't say that this will come a lot from a change in the procurement. I think that we will have -- if we want the suppliers with us, it has to be a win-win situation. Of course, Biedronka is in a very good position because it can provide the way, of course, to have the volumes sold to the Polish consumers. But I don't think that there will be a change in terms of procurement. And I don't know if there was any other questions. Did I answer all the questions?

Unknown Analyst : Yes. Yes, you did.

Ana Virgínia : Thank you.

Operator : Dear speakers, there are no further questions for today. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker, Ana Luisa Virginia, for any closing remarks.

Ana Virgínia : In the first 6 months of the year, our teams kept consumers at the heart of the strategy while maintaining a strong focus on the overall quality of value propositions and on profitability. This allowed for a solid and resilient delivery. As market conditions are not expected to improve and recognizing that price and promotions continue to be the main drivers of customers' purchasing decisions, we will stay focused on execution and on preserving price leadership, aiming to ensure profitable sales growth. Thank you for your questions and for joining today's conference call. I wish you all a pleasant day and a smooth summer period. Many thanks.

Operator : This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now all disconnect. Have a nice day.