Mexican bakery giant Grupo Bimbo plans to invest over $2 billion across seven states in its domestic market through 2028.
According to a government statement, the states of Baja California, Yucatán, Mexico City, Nuevo León, Querétaro, Puebla, and the State of Mexico will benefit from these investments. However, specific plants receiving the funding have not yet been identified.
This initiative is expected to create more than 2,000 direct jobs and 10,800 indirect jobs, as stated by the government.
Under the government’s Plan Mexico initiative, Grupo Bimbo’s president in Mexico, José Manuel González Guzmán, explained that the investment “aims to increase the productive and technological capacity of its various plants, modernise its fleet of electric delivery vehicles, and promote the circular economy with sustainable packaging.”
He added: “I believe that Mexico, with this Plan Mexico, will continue to grow in the coming years. This alliance we have, this strengthening of the economy, we must have confidence in it.”
At the time of publication, Grupo Bimbo had not responded to enquiries regarding specific details on the planned project investments and the facilities involved.
Ximena Escobedo Juárez, head of the Productive Development Unit in the Ministry of Economy, listed the municipalities benefiting from these investments:
These include Mexicali and Tijuana in Baja California; Mérida in Yucatán; Azcapotzalco in Mexico City; Salinas Victoria in Nuevo León; El Marqués in Querétaro; the capital of Puebla; and Toluca and Lerma in the State of Mexico.
Additionally, Reuters covered the investment program, noting comments by González on US tariffs made during a press conference with Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum.
According to González, “We believe that we will not be affected if any tariffs are imposed by the US.”
In other developments, Grupo Bimbo is expanding through mergers and acquisitions. Earlier this year, it acquired Karamolegos Bakery Romania, a packaged breads supplier based in Ilfov, Bucharest.
Last year, Grupo Bimbo also acquired Slovenia’s Don Don bakery business and invested in Brazil’s Wickbold bakery group.
When posting its first-quarter results in April, Grupo Bimbo reported net sales reaching a “record” 103.7 billion pesos ($5.5 billion), reflecting a 10.8% growth year-on-year.
In Mexico, Q1 sales grew by 1.7% to 38 billion pesos.
While group operating income fell by 1.8% to 6.5 billion pesos, adjusted EBITDA rose by 8% to 12.8 billion pesos. Unfortunately, net income saw a significant decline of 26.6%, dropping to 1.7 billion pesos.
Overall, results for the 2024 fiscal year presented a mixed scenario. Net sales increased by 2.1% to 408.3 billion pesos, whereas operating income fell by 6.5% to 33.1 billion pesos.
Adjusted EBITDA grew by 1% to 55.4 billion pesos, but net income retreated by 18.9%, landing at 12.5 billion pesos.
