Grupe S.A.B. de C.V

What it is

Grupe is the holding company for El Cid Resorts, which operates hotels, real estate, marinas, golf courses, and tennis clubs — all under one corporate roof on Mexico’s Pacific and Caribbean coasts. Its four divisions are Hotel Services (owning and running the resorts in Mazatlán, Cancún, and Cozumel), Timeshare (holiday-ownership sales and rentals), Real Estate (development and management of hotel properties), and Clubs (marinas, spa, golf, tennis, dining, scuba diving, and events).

The Mazatlán hub — the original El Cid Mega Resort — combines hotels, a golf club, a yacht club, a marina, and residential units on a single seafront strip. Its newest property, Ventus Ha’ Marina El Cid Spa & Beach Resort, sits in Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, on the Riviera Maya.

Who owns it

Grupo El Cid Resorts was founded by Julio Berdegué, and the Berdegué family has controlled it across two generations. Insiders hold 75.1% of shares, institutional investors hold a further 11.2%, leaving a free float of roughly 13.7% — meaning fewer than 1 share in 7 trades on the open market (our calculations from EODHD data).

That thin float makes the stock illiquid and the family firmly in charge of all strategic decisions.

Who runs it

Carlos Berdegué Sacristán, son of the founder, serves as President and CEO. A CFO or board chair is not disclosed in available public sources.

The company was founded by Julio Berdegué Aznar in 1971 and has been headquartered in Mazatlán ever since.

The money, in plain words

Sales have edged down three years running — from MXN 3.27 bn (~US$188.9 M) in 2023 to MXN 3.20 bn (~US$184.7 M) in 2025, a fall of 2.2% (our calculation) — which is a polite way of saying that tourist spending at these properties is not growing. The gross profit margin (what remains after paying direct costs like staff and food) was 38.3% in FY2025 (our calculation), a healthy starting point; the problem lies lower down the income statement.

Operating profit — what the resorts earn before interest and tax — was MXN 391 M (~US$22.6 M) in FY2025, an operating margin of 12.2% (our calculation); creditable for a resort operator. But after financing costs and other charges, the business kept only MXN 32.4 M (~US$1.87 M) as net profit, a net margin of just 1.0% (our calculation) — and on a trailing twelve-month basis the company is in very slight loss, a net margin of –0.4% (EODHD).

Return on equity is –0.19% (EODHD): for every peso owners have invested, earnings are essentially zero. CIDMEGA has never paid a regular dividend and has no current plans to do so.

The balance sheet shows MXN 10.49 bn (~US$605.5 M) in total assets and MXN 5.74 bn (~US$331.4 M) in equity, with cash of MXN 214 M (~US$12.4 M); total debt is not separately disclosed in available filings. The asset base is large relative to the market value of MXN 1.28 bn (~US$73.6 M), suggesting the stock trades at a steep discount to what the properties themselves might be worth — which either means a bargain or a warning about hidden liabilities and thin earnings.

What it is doing now

In June 2024, El Cid Resorts announced an EarthCheck Silver Level Certification for its environmental practices — a signal that the company is moving sustainability up its agenda, likely in response to what international tour operators now require. Separately, Grupe signed a multi-site affiliation agreement with Interval International covering five existing resorts within El Cid Vacations Club, plus any future properties developed or acquired during the term.

The resorts in both Mazatlán and the Riviera Maya are marketing programming around the FIFA World Cup 2026, tying hotel occupancy promotions to what is expected to be a bumper season for Mexican tourism. The El Cid Golf & Country Club in Mazatlán, with 27 holes designed by Lee Treviño and Robert Trent Jones Jr., continues to position itself as a premium standalone draw.

What to watch

• The margin squeeze. Operating profit is healthy; the gap between operating and net profit is wide and has widened — the interest-cost structure needs scrutiny when full debt disclosure becomes available.
• Revenue trajectory. Three straight years of declining sales in a period of strong Mexican tourism overall is a red flag; whether the World Cup 2026 effect reverses that trend will be the clearest test of management’s strategy.
• Liquidity. With a free float of only ~13.7% and average daily trading of roughly 211 shares, this stock can be extremely hard to sell quickly — a structural risk any buyer must price in.
• Succession and governance. A family-run, illiquid company with near-zero returns on equity and no dividend needs a visible plan for capital allocation and independent oversight; neither is prominently disclosed.

This is news, not investment advice.