The war in the Middle East could increase food prices even further. Faced with a situation of widespread increase, “all players in the value chain have to play their role and so does the State”, defended Cláudia Azevedo. It should be remembered that in the last inflationary crisis, António Costa’s government implemented zero VAT on a basket of 46 essential products, a measure that was in force between April 18, 2023 and January 4, 2024. “We really like zero VAT”, highlighted the CEO of Sonae, at the conference.
Continente, which emerged 40 years ago, recorded a sales volume of 7.1 billion euros last year, a 10% growth compared to 2024. In the like-for-like comparison (i.e., comparing the same number of stores in both years), growth was 8.3%. This performance in the food segment was “mainly” driven by volumes, in a context in which (remember) inflation in food retail stood at 4%. Added to this is the expansion of the network, with the opening of 13 supermarkets, following a customer proximity strategy.
In consolidated terms, the Sonae group’s revenue reached 11.4 billion euros last year, an increase of 14% compared to 2024. EBITDA grew 18%, to 1.2 billion euros. The result of this operation was a net profit of R$247 million, an increase of 11%. Cláudia Azevedo considered it an “extraordinary” year for the group. An exercise of “fast-paced growth”, which materialized a “consolidated market share”. He also did not fail to highlight the investment of 1.1 billion euros made throughout 2025, 900 million of which will be invested in Portugal. According to him, the group has invested six billion euros in the last five years.
Sonae is also investing again in housing. This time, it is focused on ventures built-to-rent (build to rent). The group has three projects in its portfolio, with an investment of 100 million euros, at different stages of development. João Dolores revealed that these are investments in Portugal and Spain, markets where real estate continues to show signs of vitality. Without giving many details, he said that one of the projects is under construction and is located in Porto.
Right at the beginning of the conference, Cláudia Azevedo recalled that Father’s Day was being celebrated and highlighted that she felt “huge pride in leading this company”in a reference to the legacy of his father, Belmiro de Azevedo. He also added that he is “very happy as CEO of Sonae”, thus ruling out a departure at the end of the year, when the current administration’s term ends.
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