Brazil's Assaí posted gross revenue of R$21.4 billion in the second quarter of 2026, a 2.4% year-over-year gain, as the cash-and-carry wholesale retailer logged record customer traffic exceeding 40 million monthly visits. The results signal durable consumer demand for the warehouse-club format even amid a difficult macroeconomic backdrop in Brazil.
Traffic and Market Share
Same-store customer traffic climbed 3.4% in the quarter, driving a 0.3 percentage-point gain in same-store market share. Recurring net income on a pre-IFRS basis reached R$344 million. Operating cash generation came in at R$3.3 billion — a margin of 17.1%, up 0.4 percentage points versus the same period last year — while free cash flow totaled R$2.7 billion over the trailing twelve months. That cash performance, combined with a reduced expansion pace and tighter capital allocation, pushed financial leverage down to 2.37x, a decline of 0.8x over twelve months and the company's lowest leverage reading since Q3 2021.
CEO Belmiro Gomes credited operational efficiency and cash discipline for the quarter's outcome: "We closed another quarter with a solid operation, a strengthened financial structure, and relevant initiatives to expand our growth opportunities, always with discipline in capital allocation, operational efficiency, cash generation, and sustainable value creation for shareholders, customers, employees, and partners."
New Growth Bets
Assaí used the quarter to advance several strategic initiatives with direct implications for its merchandise mix and service offer. The company opened the first two units of Assaí Farma — its pharmacy concept — in São Paulo, and extended its sports nutrition and supplements category to 93 stores, moves that mirror the health-and-wellness pivot underway across grocery and foodservice retail. On the private label front, the company launched 30 new SKUs under its Assaí, Assaí Chef, and Econobom brands, a category with meaningful margin implications for wholesale operators.
The company's In&Out seasonal model — which rotates general merchandise through stores — drove strong household appliance sales, with television offers timed to FIFA World Cup matches generating traffic and basket lift.
Digital and Financial Services
Assaí's digital ecosystem showed the sharpest growth of any segment. Last-mile delivery sales through iFood expanded 237% in the quarter. The company also launched a marketplace pilot on Mercado Livre using a fulfillment model, and expanded testing of its Assaí Pay card machine to 30 stores. The convergence of wholesale grocery formats with embedded financial services and rapid delivery reflects a broader trend reshaping restaurant and retail supply chains across Latin America, where operators increasingly expect their wholesale partners to offer omnichannel fulfillment.
For foodservice buyers and hospitality procurement teams sourcing through cash-and-carry channels, Assaí's traffic growth and private label expansion suggest continued investment in professional-buyer-relevant categories, while the deleveraging trajectory positions the company for a potential return to store network expansion in future periods.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
