Belmiro de Gomes: Well, getting back to cannibalization, yes, that exists. There’s no way out. We’re in regions where we were already present and other players were already present, but we believe that around December — and from the total base. So, it’s natural that eventually what happens in the big cities like in Sao Paulo, we have some stores with a lot of operational pressures. And so, sometime we didn’t have conditions to service the customers. There is a big queue on the outside, so the level of services as well that was provided. But sometimes you need to store in that region, and it’s in line with what we expected. And so, the market maybe expect a little more of impact. So maybe it would be about 12.5 if we didn’t have stores inside regions that were that close.
So, this — what happens is that B2B is sometimes quicker than B2C because businesses have to go far. There, as you know, have a different category products. And so, if you open up a store that’s 100 kilometers away, obviously they are going to start buying from there. But it’s natural that when you have an expansion and especially when you have to move on to similar model with less overlaps and to avoid level of cannibalization and some stores that were relatively close. So, the sales per square meter, that Wlamir highlighted, considers all of Brazil. And then, you have a variation that’s very significant when it comes to the national territory. So then, when you look at the purchase power, sometimes it’s not only because you have a smaller volume and the quantity or amount of products sold, but sometimes it’s just the average price.
So, it’s normal that the population has more purchase power and sometimes it even engages a similar amount. But sometimes it’s a product with lower added value, but this is an average for Brazil. And I hope that answers your question.
Ruben Couto: Yes. No, that’s clear.
Operator: So, the next question is from (ph), the sell-side analyst. Nicolas, we will enable your audio, so you may proceed. You may proceed, please.
Unidentified Analyst: Okay. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. Belmiro, I just wanted to get back to the organic expansion you mentioned. And how many stores — for the store openings have you already hired for 2023 and ’24? And also, how are you looking at the scenario from an industry perspective? Do you think you have room to accelerate the M&As once the balance sheet is already little deleveraged? Thanks.
Belmiro de Gomes: Well, thanks, Nicolas. M&A is not what on our strategy today. Our strategy is to really look at the organic stores that were already in the land bank for the company. So, these are projects that are practically prior or prior to the acquisition of the Extra stores. And what happened was a bigger selectivity of these projects to adjust the cost of construction in this new reality without leading to impact in the — and M&A is not our target. Our target is to finish the project and to deleverage in the company. Of course, this does not mean that it’s a completely closed-door. There will always be, as I mentioned, kind of on track. And as soon as we have the deleveraging or we can do this, it could be that it could happen. But it’s not our main strategy at this moment. But I do believe that maybe for 2024 or ’25, it could be possible for us to be a little more active in the sense, but this is really connected to the company’s leverage as well.
Unidentified Analyst: Very clear. Thanks, Belmiro.
Operator: Moving on. The next question is from Irma, a sell side analyst at Goldman Sachs. Irma, we will enable your audio. You can proceed. Thanks.
