Financeirização do varejo: um bom ou mau negócio?

Abstract

The granting of credit has been configured as an important instrument for enabling the level of consumption of families, being widely explored by business groups in the Brazilian retail sector. Part of these business groups include, in their corporate structure, controlled financial institutions, internalizing the benefits and burdens of these operations. This article analyzes whether this strategy of internalizing financial operations has allowed the fabric, apparel and footwear retail business groups that adopt it to differentiate themselves from other groups in the segment. Indicators of size, liquidity, equity structure, indebtedness, activity and market multiples were compared and multiple regressions and different tests were performed for the proposed model, based on data referring to the period from 2010 to 2018. In line with expectations, the groups Businesses that adopt the strategy mentioned here are larger in size, operational and financial cycles, gross margin and equity turnover, when compared to other business groups. However, contrary to expectations, it was not possible to observe any advantage of the groups with a financial institution over the others in terms of higher profitability or more favorable market multiples. Finally, the participation of third-party capital (onerous and total) and the immobilization of shareholders' equity were higher in business groups with a financial institution.