Since January 12, when “accounting inconsistencies” were revealed, the stocks lost 91.6%
01/20/2023
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Americanas filed for court-supervised reorganization after accusing creditor banks of executing “illegal withdrawals” — Foto: Divulgação
In a session marked by the Americanas’s request for bankruptcy protection, accepted by the courts, and exchange of accusations between the company and its creditors, the retail giant shares ended Thursday’s trading session – its last but one in the Ibovespa – with a drop of 42.53%, at R$1 each, while Ibovespa rose 0.62%, at 112.922 points. Since the 12th, when “accounting inconsistencies” were revealed, the stocks lost 91.6% of their value.
As forecasted by market participants, Americanas filed for court-supervised reorganization on Thursday after accusing the banks with whom it has debts of performing “illegal withdrawals” and suffocating its cash. On the other end, creditors criticized the stance of the company’s primary shareholders and say, according to sources, they feel “betrayed” by the company’s decision to go to court.
With so many uncertainties, investors renewed negative bets against the company and, consequently, against the shares, which plunged again into negative territory in the session. More than that, after the filing for a court-supervised reorganization, the company will be excluded after Friday’s trading session from the 14 indexes in which it participates on the B3, including Ibovespa.
“Given the progress of the discussions over the last few days, we imagine that the scenario would move towards a non-agreement between creditors and shareholders, that is, towards the effectiveness of the supervised reorganization request. In general terms, in this case, nobody wins: neither creditors, nor shareholders, nor the company— the latter being at least preserved from a bankruptcy decree,” said Victor Penna and Georgia Jorge, with BB Investimentos. The analysts have a sell recommendation for the stock.
Pedro Serra, head of research at Ativa Investimentos, points out that the company and its shares will go through even more difficult times ahead. The executive says that the weakness of the company’s cash flow will bring about several problems, which are likely to end up causing customers and investors to migrate to competitors.
“The company will not be able to invest in marketing, in free-shipping campaigns. Retailers no longer want to sell through Americanas’s online marketplace. If we think about the clients, they won’t want to buy with the company now either. So, the room for maneuver is much smaller. I believe that further ahead it will either go out of the market or take a long time to become competitive again. This means that a relevant slice of the market will be left for others to grab,” he said, indicating that Magazine Luiza, whose common shares rose 7.02%, and Mercado Libre (BDR up 1.59%) may be the main competitors benefited.
Still, the market has questions about the performance of the sector in 2023. In a report in which they point out preferences for the year, Genial analysts say they are cautious about e-commerce companies, especially when analyzing the development of debt dynamics for this year.
*By Matheus Prado, Augusto Decker — São Paulo
Source: Valor International