“During the period, the EBITDA margin [earnings before taxes, interest, depreciation, and amortisation] was substantially pressured by the combination of the significant slowdown in food inflation, in a movement to correct the extraordinary increases seen in previous years, with high inflation at the level of costs, essentially motivated by rising wages”, highlighted the owner of Pingo Doce, in the same note.

Sales, in turn, grew 12.3% to 16.3 billion euros in the first half of the year, the group said.