Grupo Carso S.A.B. de C.V

What it is

Grupo Carso is a Mexican conglomerate — a single listed company that owns businesses in four very different industries: retail stores, industrial manufacturing, infrastructure and construction, and energy. Its retail arm, Grupo Sanborns, is the largest piece by sales (roughly 52%), while its industrial manufacturing arm — Grupo Condumex, which makes cables, automotive harnesses, and power transformers — contributes about 31% of sales and generates a disproportionate share of profit.

In 1996, Carso’s vast telecom holdings — including Telmex and what became América Móvil — were spun off into a separate company, leaving today’s Grupo Carso as a purely industrial and commercial business. The retail brands you see on Mexican high streets include Sanborns cafés, Sears Mexico, iShop, MixUp, and, since a recent licence, Saks Fifth Avenue.

Who owns it

Ownership is tightly concentrated: insiders led by founder Carlos Slim Helú collectively hold about 76% of the shares, leaving a free float of roughly 24% for outside investors. The group was founded in 1980 and the name “Carso” is a blend of Carlos Slim and Soumaya Domit de Slim, his wife.

Carlos Slim Domit — one of the founder’s sons — serves as chairman, and also sits on the boards of América Móvil and Teléfonos de México. Institutional investors hold about 6% of the stock, meaning the market for freely traded shares is thin — a fact that partly explains the high valuation multiple.

Who runs it

Antonio Gómez García is the Chief Executive Officer; he also serves as president and CEO of Grupo Condumex, the industrial manufacturing arm. Patrick Slim Domit — another son of the founder — is Vice Chairman, and additionally serves as General Director of Grupo Sanborns and President of Sears Operadora México.

Day-to-day control sits firmly with the Slim family; the board structure, confirmed on the company’s own corporate-governance page, places multiple family members in executive and supervisory roles across every subsidiary.

The money, in plain words

Carso keeps about 4.6 cents of profit from every peso of sales — a net profit margin of 4.6% (our calculation), which is modest for a conglomerate and reflects the thin margins typical of retail, its largest segment. For every peso shareholders have put in, the company earns about 6.5 cents a year — a return on equity of 6.5% — which is acceptable but not exceptional, and has fallen sharply from recent years as net profit dropped 39% between FY2024 and FY2025 (our calculation: MXN 14.5bn (US$837 mn) to MXN 8.8bn (US$508 mn)).

The balance sheet is clean: the company holds MXN 23.6bn (US$1.36bn) in cash with no debt reported — net cash of US$1.36bn (our calculation) — giving it real firepower for deals. At a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.9×, the market is pricing Carso not as a mature retail business but as a growth vehicle, effectively betting on the energy expansion; the company pays no dividend.

What it is doing now

Grupo Carso has secured a US$1.99 billion contract with Pemex to drill 32 wells at the Ixachi gas and condensate field in Veracruz — its single largest energy deal to date. The agreement runs through subsidiaries GSM Bronco and MX DLTA NRG 1, covering drilling and completion of up to 32 wells over three years.

Slim has been expanding Carso’s presence in oil to become the most prominent private partner to state-owned Pemex — and one of the few investors still willing to do business with the heavily indebted firm. The company acknowledged that some balances from past drilling services remain pending collection — a real credit risk that investors are watching closely.

What to watch

• Pemex payment risk. The Ixachi contract only starts paying in January 2027; if Pemex — carrying roughly US$100bn in debt — delays or defaults, Carso absorbs the cost of wells it has already drilled.
• Retail pressure. Revenue fell 3.2% in FY2025 (our calculation) and net profit dropped 39%; any further softening in Mexican consumer spending will squeeze the retail arm, which generates over half of all sales.
• Succession and governance. With the Slim family controlling 76% of shares and occupying most senior roles, any change in family strategy — or health — moves markets quickly.
• Valuation stretch. A P/E of 36.9× is a significant premium for a business posting sub-5% net margins; it requires the energy bets to pay off substantially to justify the price.

This is news, not investment advice.