Jerónimo Martins’ profit rises 8% to €646 million in 2025
The owner of Pingo Doce recorded sales of €36 billion, representing a 7.6% increase on the previous year. The group’s management proposes to distribute €408.5 million in dividends.
The Jerónimo Martins group, which owns the Pingo Doce hypermarket chain and Recheio, made a profit of €646 million last year, representing a 7.9% increase compared to 2024. The retailer’s net profit has grown again, after falling by 21% that year due to deflation in shopping baskets and rising costs.
In light of these results, the board of directors of Jerónimo Martins will propose to shareholders, at the general meeting to be held on 26 April, the distribution of a gross dividend of €0.65 per share, representing an increase of around 10% compared to the same period last year. In total, the managers propose to distribute €408.5 million in dividends.
“This represents a payout of around 50% of consolidated ordinary profit (or around 58% of consolidated net profit), excluding the effects of the application of IFRS 16”, states the financial report published on Wednesday by the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM).
Jerónimo Martins’ management also proposes that, from these 2025 profits, a further €40 million be allocated to the Jerónimo Martins Foundation, as was planned when this entity was launched to support initiatives linked to health, poverty eradication and vocational training.
Sales rise 7.6% and Pingo Doce ‘feeds’ on ready meals
The group’s global sales grew by 7.6% to €36 billion, according to information disclosed to the CMVM after the Lisbon stock exchange closed. In the specific case of Pingo Doce, sales grew by 5.3% to €5.3 billion, with a Like-for-Like (LFL, excluding the effects of store openings and closures) increase of 4%, ‘fuelled’ by the ready-made food segment. At Recheio, sales reached €1.4 billion, 3% higher than in 2024, with an LFL of 3%.
However, it is the international business that stands out. In Colombia, Ara’s sales reached €3.2 billion, 17.4% higher than in 2024, whilst in Poland, Biedronka, in the year it celebrated its 30th anniversary, exceeded €25 billion in sales (+7.4%). Hebe’s sales also grew by a single-digit percentage (7.5%) to €626 million.
Jerónimo Martins’ EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) amounted to €2.5 billion, up 11% on 2024, whilst the EBITDA margin increased by 22 basis points to 6.9%.
“In 2025, despite the pressure exerted by geopolitical challenges and trade tensions on the international economy in general and on the markets where we operate in particular, our companies demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt”, highlighted Jerónimo Martins’ CEO, Pedro Soares dos Santos, in the message accompanying the report.
The company led by Pedro Soares dos Santos also states that, following the implementation of the €1.2 billion investment plan and the payment of €371 million in dividends, it had a net cash position of €866 million at the end of last year, whilst net debt rose to €3.3 million.
Slovakia gains 35 new stores
A year after announcing its entry into the Slovakian market under the Biedronka brand, Jerónimo Martins has announced that investment will continue in 2026 with the opening of around 35 new stores this year, “enabling the company to continue adapting its business model to this new market whilst building its relationship with Slovakian families and gaining competitive advantage”.
Still on the subject of 2026, Jerónimo Martins’ CEO, Pedro Soares dos Santos, highlighted the international context and its consequences for energy and food prices. “The year begins with escalating geopolitical instability, the effects of which on various macroeconomic indicators, including energy prices and food inflation, are currently unpredictable”, he warned.
Pedro Soares dos Santos also noted that the group began 2026 “operating in deflation” at the Polish Biedronka, “in a market that did not grow in volume and where competition showed no signs of easing”.
