Americanas Ends 2025 With More Cash, But Its Customer Base Keeps Shrinking

Key Points

• Americanas finished 2025 with cash of R$942 million ($174 million), up about 46% from January.
• Active customers fell for eight straight months, ending December at 40.83 million.
• The retailer closed 171 stores in 2025, while its shares rose 4.66% to R$5.62 ($1) on the update.

Americanas, the Brazilian retailer still under court-supervised reorganization, closed 2025 with a larger cash balance but a smaller customer base and a reduced store footprint.

The figures, disclosed in a monthly report released to the market on January 27, underline a turnaround that is improving liquidity while testing demand and loyalty.

The company reported cash of roughly R$942 million ($174 million) in December, a gain of about 46% versus January of the prior year. Yet the same report showed active customers slipping to 40.83 million in December, from 41.71 million in November.

That represents a one-month decline of 0.88 million. It is also down from 47.9 million in April, a fall of 7.07 million, or about 14.8%. The customer base has now contracted for eight consecutive months.

Americanas ended December with 1,470 stores, one fewer than in November and far below the 1,641 stores reported in January 2025. That is a reduction of 171 locations, or about 10.4%, over the year.

The company said the moves reflect retail seasonality and its transformation plan, which includes closures, resizing sales areas, and selective openings.

While the store base fell in every month of 2025, the last quarter showed signs of leveling out, with 1,472 stores in October, 1,471 in November, and 1,470 in December.

Investors responded positively on the day. Americanas shares closed up 4.66% at R$5.62 ($1). The numbers arrive against a long shadow.

After disclosing accounting inconsistencies of around R$20 billion ($3.7 billion) in early 2023, Americanas sought court protection with roughly R$43 billion ($8.0 billion) in debts.

In June 2024, federal police actions against former executives included asset freezes of about R$500 million ($93 million), tied to an alleged impact of roughly R$25.3 billion ($4.7 billion).

Operationally, the company has pointed to improvement in profitability metrics, including adjusted EBITDA ex-IFRS 16 of R$94 million ($17 million) in 2Q25.

The central question now is whether tighter operations and a smaller footprint can translate into stabilizing customers, not just cash.

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