FEMSA Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2015 Results

MONTERREY, MEXICO--(Marketwired - Feb 24, 2016) - Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE: FMX) (BMV: FEMSAUBD) (BMV: FEMSAUB) ("FEMSA") announced today its operational and financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2015.

• Since the month of March 2015, FEMSA Comercio has consolidated its gasoline station operations and has provided certain incremental financial information for that business. Given the financial differences that exist between the fuel business and FEMSA Comercio's other retail operations, and in an effort to further refine our disclosure to better communicate our performance, we are making changes to the way we present FEMSA Comercio's results. As of the fourth quarter of 2015, FEMSA Comercio's results are split into its two divisions: Fuel, referring only to that business, and Retail, encompassing all other operations of FEMSA Comercio. Therefore, the Retail Division's fourth quarter and full year 2015 results exclude any contribution from the Fuel Division.

Fourth Quarter 2015 Highlights:

• FEMSA's consolidated total revenues and income from operations grew 27.5% and 8.8% compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, mainly driven by the integration of Grupo Socofar into FEMSA Comercio's Retail Division and the addition of OXXO Gas stations by FEMSA Comercio's Fuel Division. On an organic basis¹, total revenues increased 7.6% and income from operations grew 4.1%.
  
  
• FEMSA Comercio - Retail Division total revenues grew 40.2% and income from operations increased 32.3%, each as compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, reflecting the integration of Grupo Socofar, new store openings across formats and 8.6% growth in same-store sales for OXXO. On an organic basis¹, total revenues increased 13.0% and income from operations grew 19.4%.
  
  
• FEMSA Comercio - Fuel Division revenues and income from operations amounted to Ps. 6.121 billion and Ps. 39 million, respectively.
  
  
• Coca-Cola FEMSA total revenues and income from operations increased 3.0% and 4.3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. On a currency-neutral basis and excluding Venezuela, total revenues and income from operations grew 10.2% and 9.2%, respectively.
  
  

2015 Full Year Highlights:

• FEMSA consolidated total revenues increased 18.3% and income from operations grew 12.5% compared to 2014, reflecting the addition of OXXO Gas stations by FEMSA Comercio's Fuel Division and, to a lesser extent, by the integration of Grupo Socofar into FEMSA Comercio's Retail Division. On an organic basis¹, total revenues increased 8.2% and income from operations grew 9.4%.
  
  
• FEMSA Comercio - Retail Division continued its pace of strong floor space growth by opening 1,208 net new OXXO stores in 2015. OXXO same-store sales rose 6.9%. The Retail Division's total revenues and income from operations increased 21.2% and 25.6%, each as compared to 2014. On an organic basis¹, total revenues increased 14.1% and income from operations grew 22.4%.
  
  
• FEMSA Comercio - Fuel Division's total revenues and income from operations amounted to Ps. 18.510 billion and Ps. 207 million, respectively.
  
  
• Coca-Cola FEMSA's total revenues and income from operations increased 3.4% and 9.2% compared to 2014. On a currency-neutral basis and excluding Venezuela, total revenues and income from operations grew 8.6% and 13.5%, respectively.
  
  
• Ordinary dividend of Ps. 8.355 billion proposed by FEMSA's Board of Directors, to be paid in 2016 subject to approval at the annual shareholders meeting to be held on March 8, 2016.
  
  

Carlos Salazar Lomelín, FEMSA's CEO, commented: "2015 was a strong year for us, and a good way to mark the 125th anniversary of our Company. As is always the case, our results represent a balance of our performance across different operations and markets, and in 2015, the positive trends and results outweighed the negatives, certainly in Mexico, but also beyond. FEMSA Comercio delivered a remarkable performance not just in the core OXXO business, where we surpassed 14,000 stores and our comparable sales growth approached the high single digits, but also in our newer operations such as drugstores and gasoline stations, both of which are in the early stages of rapid, profitable growth. We closed the acquisition of Farmacon in Mexico and we made a controlling investment in Socofar, thus obtaining access to the drugstore markets in Chile and Colombia as well as a platform from which to build our regional growth strategy. For its part, Coca-Cola FEMSA managed to navigate challenging environments well, adjusting its operational structure as well as its price and package architecture to suit evolving conditions across markets, growing volumes and transactions in most territories, defending profitability, and strengthening competitive positions in anticipation of improved market dynamics down the road.

"As we look to 2016 we will again face some headwinds, from sustained volatility in the foreign exchange environment and soft consumer demand in Brazil, to demanding comparison bases in our key Mexico market, but we are optimistic that our team, our processes and our business platform will once again put us in a good position to compete and create value. And we continue to see more opportunities ahead of us than ever before, with the benefit -- and the responsibility -- that come from the combination of financial flexibility and strategic discipline."

¹ Excludes non-comparable results from acquisitions at FEMSA Comercio in the last twelve months.

To obtain the full text of this earnings release, please visit our Investor Relations website at
www.femsa.com/investor under the Financial Reports section

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This report may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning our future performance that should be considered as good faith estimates made by us. These forward-looking statements reflect management's expectations and are based upon currently available data. Actual results are subject to future events and uncertainties, which could materially impact our actual performance.

FEMSA is a leading company that participates in the beverage industry through Coca-Cola FEMSA, the largest franchise bottler of Coca-Cola products in the world; and in the beer industry, through its ownership of the second largest equity stake in Heineken, one of the world's leading brewers with operations in over 70 countries. In the retail industry it participates with FEMSA Comercio, operating various small-format store chains including OXXO. Additionally, through its Strategic Businesses unit, it provides logistics, point-of-sale refrigeration solutions and plastics solutions to FEMSA's business units and third-party clients.