The positive performance seen in the first three months of the year reflects the strong growth of all banners.
We ended the first quarter of the year with remarkable sales growth that reflects the competitive strength of the different businesses, as well as the flexibility and resilience of our operations, even when tested by an unprecedented threat - the COVID-19 pandemic.
The initial impact of the global health crisis on our companies was felt in the first half of March. The intensity of this impact depended on the evolution of the pandemic in the countries where we operate (Portugal, Poland and Colombia) and our teams responded swiftly, with extraordinary diligence and sense of commitment.
In all geographies, our teams showed flexibility and readiness to adopt, in a rapidly-changing environment, the measures necessary to guarantee that our stores could distribute a steady flow of essential goods and respond to social emergencies.
At the moment, it is hard to predict the scale and depth of the ultimate effects of the pandemic.
In this context of high uncertainty, we will keep supporting our working community and I am sure that our teams will continue, as until now, to show their sense of mission and service towards consumers, the communities where we operate, and our supply chain partners.
This crisis finds our Group in a strong financial position, after a year of very good results. However, given the ongoing global recession, prudence advises us to reinforce our conservative capital structure management and keep the flexibility to capture potential opportunities. Therefore, the Board of Directors decided to revise the dividend amount initially proposed, reducing exceptionally the payout to 30% of consolidated profits.