Americanas gains R$ 2 billion in market value after announcing new CEO

Americanas shares reacted strongly this Monday (22) to the announcement of Sérgio Rial for the presidency of the company from 2023.

In just the first hour of trading, the retailer gained almost R$ 2 billion in market value.

At the day’s high, the stock hit R$15.61, an advance of 19.80% compared to the closing on Friday (19), a level that was maintained around 12:40.

The retailer announced on Friday the choice of Sérgio Rial as successor to the current president, Miguel Gutierrez, starting January 1, 2023.

The announcement was considered unexpected by the market.

“The company believes that this succession movement will reinforce its strategy of growth with profitability”, highlighted the company in a statement to the financial market.

For BTG Pactual, the name is being well received by the market given Rial’s extensive and renowned experience as a global executive (CEO and president of Santander Brasil, CEO of Marfrig and president of Vibra, as well as vice president of BRF).

Some of the sources highlighted, however, Rial’s lack of experience in a strictly retail business – which does not seem to be an issue for investors.

The bank believes that the measure also reinforces the company’s focus on modernizing its operations after last year’s corporate restructuring and amidst the process of integrating the physical store and e-commerce divisions, in addition to greater competition in the segment in sales by web.

Likewise, Itaú BBA says it believes that the market will also see this change as “a step in the right direction, an attempt to bring new ideas to one of the most successful stories in Brazilian retail”.

“We feel that this asset has been overlooked by investors and analysts in recent quarters. With this management change, we believe that more investors are likely to give Americanas the benefit of the doubt and assume that more value can be extracted from this asset soon.”