raise your margin to 4.5%

Juan Roig’s chain has earned 1,729 million euros in 2025, 25% more than in 2024with sales of 41.9 billion. The net margin has exceeded 4% for the first time, a threshold that large European distribution rarely crosses.

Why is it important. In the food distribution industry, making money with a high margin is considered almost impossible. Supermarkets are caught between price pressure and the cost of operating thousands of very large stores with many employees.

That Mercadona has risen from 3.88% to 4.5% without major discounts or price wars is proof that its model has a structural efficiency that its competitors have not yet been able to replicate.

• 4.5% is the profit margin on net sales, without VAT.

In figures:

• 1,729 million euros of net profit, 25% more than in 2024.
• 4.5% net margin, compared to 3.88% from the previous year.
• 3.7 billion euros of planned investment in store renovation until 2033.
• 780 million euros distributed among more than 112,000 employees as objective bonus.
• 115,000 workers on staff, 5,000 more than the previous year.
• Productivity grew by 4%, store order management by 16% and energy efficiency by 4%. They are primarily responsible for margin growth, not just sales.
• 172 million of the profit comes from managing the treasury alone. In 2024 there were 180 million.

The context. Carrefour, Lidl and Aldi operate with net margins of around 1% or 2% in their main markets. That Mercadona exceeds 4% in a year of moderate inflation makes it an exception that is difficult to ignore.

Between the lines. The secret is not to sell cheap, but to control the entire chain.

• Mercadona has 2,000 suppliers that last year They invested 1.7 billion in their own facilities to serve her better.
• It is an ecosystem designed so that the margin does not leak anywhere: without external brands that negotiate in a position of strength, without promotions that destroy value and without unnecessary intermediaries.

Stores 9 include a central workshop that saves 10% in energy and 40% in water.

Yes, but. The sweet moment comes just as the most ambitious spending cycle in its history begins. Mercadona has announced an investment of 3,700 million euros to reform its entire network of stores (the so-called Stores 9 as an evolution of Stores 8) until 2033.

That is to say: capex is going to rise sharply for almost a decade. So the margin above 4% may be the highest point before a long reinvestment slope. In 2026, it plans to invest more than 1,000 million, consolidate a profit similar to that of 2025, and grow sales by only 3.5%. It is explicit confirmation that the reinvestment cycle is already beginning to bite.

The big question. He ecommerce Food supply is, almost everywhere in the world, a margin destroyer. Amazon has given up on a good part of its proposal, and Carrefour itself has lost money for years trying to make it work.

Mercadona assures that its 1,061 million in online sales have already been profitable for three years. If it is true, and if it escalates, there may be the next lever. If it fails to sustain black numbers, the digital business can eat up part of what the physical business has taken decades to build.

In Xataka | With its prepared dishes, Mercadona is putting an end to the idea of ​​cooking at home. Next goal: restaurants

Featured image | Mercadona