Arca Continental Navigates Mexico's New Excise Tax with RGM and Digital Tools, While Peru Provides Growth Upside

Q2 2026: Resilience in the face of a new tax, driven by value-share gains and a standout Peru performance.

AC.MX · Earnings Call · 2026-07-23

Resilience Amid Regulatory Headwinds

Arca Continental delivered a second quarter that underscores the durability of its model in a challenging environment. The CEO opened the call by noting, “In a complex operating environment, we delivered positive consolidated volume, protected profitability and continue advancing the capabilities that support sustainable growth.” — Arturo Hernandez, CEO · 2026-07-23 Consolidated volumes rose 0.6% in the quarter despite a 3% decline in Mexico, where the excise tax and soft weather pressured demand. The company executed a full pass-through of the tax, as the COO explained: “We executed a full pass-through of the excise tax resulting in an average price around 8%.” — Jean Claude Tissot, Senior Management / Executive · 2026-07-23 Management's ability to protect profitability through pricing discipline and cost control is a recurring theme, and this quarter was no exception. The CFO emphasized, “On a currency-neutral basis, revenue rose 5% in the quarter and 6.8% year-to-date.” — Emilio Marcos Charur, CFO · 2026-07-23

Peru's Dual-Strategy Success

The standout performer was Peru, where volumes surged 17.6% — the strongest second-quarter result since entering the market in 2015. The dual strategy of Coca-Cola and Inca Kola is clearly resonating. As the CEO noted, “Peru delivered a remarkable result with total volume increasing 17.6%, our strongest second quarter result since entering this market in 2015.” — Arturo Hernandez, CEO · 2026-07-23 This builds on the company's long-term investments in cooler coverage and affordability initiatives. The World Cup also provided a powerful activation platform, driving consumer connections and point-of-sale execution, which the company leveraged to gain value share across all five operations. This is a direct follow-through on the prior quarter's strategy, where management had anticipated the tax and prepared mitigation plans. As Jean Claude noted on the Q4 2025 call, “We have prior experience with similar taxes with [ IEPS ] and the use of our tools.” — Jean Claude Tissot, COO · 2026-02-12

Digital and RGM as Key Levers

The company's confidence in navigating the tax environment rests on its advanced revenue growth management (RGM) tools and digital capabilities. The CEO reiterated in Q&A that “our performance is pretty much tracking in line or even slightly better than we initially anticipated considering the circumstances.” — Arturo Hernandez, CEO · 2026-07-23 They continue to deploy AI-enabled initiatives along the value chain, including inventory balancing and photo-recognition execution monitoring. Management reaffirmed full-year guidance of mid-single-digit top-line growth (currency-neutral) and EBITDA margins around 20%. The emphasis on consumer connections and execution excellence suggests the company is well-positioned to weather the tax storm while capitalizing on growth pockets like Peru. This resilience is not new, but the combination of a fresh regulatory shock and a strong regional offset makes this quarter worth watching.

Despite these pressures, we successfully protected our EBITDA margin through effective revenue growth management initiatives and a disciplined approach to cost and expense management.
Emilio Marcos Charur, CFO · 2026-07-23