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It’s not every day that we find a reference for Sean Kingston in our inbox, but we’re sure what’s happening here.
People who don’t blow “burning fire” now…
Average FT Alpha Building Leader
…You may have the same question we had: what is this about it?
Now, City’s Brazilian pharmaceutical team is investigating a local crime wave. They write:
This week’s City Friday Chart analyzes cases of drugstore theft/robbery in Sao Paulo. This has been accelerating with fast clips over the last few months.
Some people probably live small lives from the proceeds of these crimes, but the phenomenon of drugstore robbery has seen corporate casualties. In a first quarter report, Brazil’s biggest chemist, Raia Drogasil, blamed theft of the store by pinching margins (our emphasis):
Our total profit totaled $2881.3 million in 1Q25, with a total margin of 26.6%, a contraction of 0.6 pp compared to the same period last year. This shrinkage stems from 0.3pp pressure from stock losses mitigated by sales mix effects, investments in pricing and promotions, and increased 0.2pp NPV.
The group said it hopes the quarter will be converted into this quarter as it makes efforts to mitigate losses, including reducing stocks and putting products in acrylic display cases. The financial paper cites Renato Raduan, CEO of RD.
That may seem minor, but acrylic covers make looting harder. You need to lift it with one hand and the other hand grab the product. It complicates quick grabs and skin tactics.
In a call after his comeback last month, Raduan added:
And of course, in the revenue call here, I’m not going to give you details of the tactical plan, but I just want you to know that you’re not accepting this level with a loss of 30 bps. We have put in place actions to address it.
City’s Leandro Bastos and Renan Prata seem happy with RD sorting out the issue.
Bad concerns about in-store experience and incremental costs are unwanted side effects.
This is moderately interesting insight into the intersection of consumer pressure, drug development, economic institutions and crime in the emerging market context.
But this doesn’t answer the real question here. Should City suggest that, as their title is – if their local chemists are being taken away, they would call them 911? After all, the standard emergency number from Brazilian police is 190.
Answer: It’s okay. Calls placed on Brazil’s 911 (and 112, European emergency services numbers) have been directed to 190 since 2013. Brazil hosted it in anticipation of an international visitor influx of the 2014 Soccer World Cup (and where Germany is memorable in the semi-quarter clash known as the Mineiron status quo).
Was there all of this play in City’s mind, as he apparently chose to frame this analysis in the song of the 33rd American song in 2009? We doubt that. Still, this is better advice than “Just Dance” or “Boom Boom Pow.”
