Americanas stock melts almost 28% with imminent judicial recovery – 01/19/2023 – Market

Americanas shares collapsed this Thursday (19), after the company announced that it is working with the possibility of filing for judicial recovery “in the next few days or potentially in the next few hours”.

At 10:36 am, the shares retreated 27.59%, to R$ 1.26, further expanding the losses since the outbreak of the scandal. Before the announcement of the “accounting inconsistencies” of BRL 20 billion, the shares were worth BRL 12.

The company stated that its cash position is BRL 800 million, of which a “significant portion” was “unjustifiably unavailable for handling on yesterday’s date”.

“The situation at Americanas is getting more and more complicated”, evaluated André Luzbel, head of equities at SVN Investimentos, who sees judicial recovery as inevitable and complex, like that of the operator Oi.

He added that the horizon is still quite hazy, as it is not known how the retailer will deal with creditors, the sale of assets, among others. But he pointed out that the company has several good assets and some with some liquidity.

“Now, in relation to Americanas, it’s the famous ‘sell lunch to buy dinner’, they need to survive. Judicial recovery seems inevitable to me… but everything is still very hazy”, he said.

According to Luzbel, many investment funds have already zeroed out their positions in the company’s shares, as well as in debt securities, a movement that was accelerated by the downgrading of the credit rating by the main risk agencies.

“The scenario continues to deteriorate rapidly for Americanas, which so far has brought little or no positive news in terms of negotiations with creditors”, said the team at Guide Investimentos in a note to clients.

The day before, the Justice of Rio de Janeiro reversed the decision that protected Americanas from being charged by BTG Pactual on a debt of R$ 1.2 billion with the bank. Bradesco also asked that the court only allow the company to withdraw funds from the bank with prior approval.