Company Profile

Guararapes is one of the largest fashion groups in Brazil, with an integrated platform of financial products and services.

Having been in the market for 77 years, the Company’s business model currently includes:

(i) Retail and Financial Ecosystem, including:

(a) a brand platform including the retail chain Riachuelo, Casa Riachuelo, Carter’s and FANLAB, totaling 424 physical stores spread throughout the country, in addition to the e-commerce operation, which includes its own brands and marketplace;

(b) Midway Financeira, an integrated platform for financial products and services;

(c) one factory for clothing and fabrics in general, located in Natal – RN;

(d) three Distribution Centers (DCs), located in Guarulhos-SP, Natal-RN and Manaus-AM;

(e) Transportadora Casa Verde.

(ii) Real Estate, which includes:

(f) Midway Mall, in Natal-RN;

(g) Own real estate properties.

We have more than 28,000 RCHLOVERS in stores, offices, industrial plants, and distribution centers, and we share the purpose of turning dreams into reality so that our customers live their fashion.

Since its inception, the Company has sought to direct all its efforts toward achieving maximum integration between its operations, a fact that consolidates the Company as a differentiated player, offering a robust ecosystem that integrates retail, industry and financial service.

This offers efficiency and agility gains to operations, from product development to the end consumer, with a team focused on democratizing fashion in Brazil and united by the purpose of turning dreams into reality.

For over seven decades, the Company has witnessed important changes in Brazil and the world, from the emergence of ready-to-wear clothing stores to the revolutions generated by the internet and social media. Walking alongside Brazilians throughout its journey, the Company knows that it is essential to understand the customer journey, as well as their needs and preferences.

To design its collections and products, the Company combines its experience in the industry with research and analyses of trends, models, prints, colors and materials, bringing consistency and assertiveness to the collections launched in stores throughout the year, offering several options to meet the different customers’ lifestyles and events.

In recent years, the Company has developed and strengthened its fashion, lifestyle and financial services ecosystem, a movement that occurred in conjunction with the Company’s digital transformation process.

The Company has evolved its value proposition, focusing on taking the core business to its maximum potential, bringing greater assertiveness and quality to its products. To this end, the Company revisited processes and mapped out growth levers and initiatives that support strategic priorities centered on four core pillars:

For the second year in a row, Guararapes was chosen to be part of B3’s ISE portfolio. Such achievement reinforces the consistency and seriousness with which the Company has evolved regarding environmental, social, transparency and governance issues in its ESG agenda and demonstrates the Company’s focus on creating more sustainable fashion, as presented in its Integrated Report.

Lojas Riachuelo

Riachuelo, a retail company, was acquired in April 1979 to promote integration between retail and production.

Riachuelo proposes to facilitate access to fashion, taking it to the consumer in a streamlined and high-quality way, at a fair price. To this end, it researches, develops and distributes the latest items from the fashion runways and the streets, with the speed that the world asks for and that customers deserve. Furthermore, it seeks to bring quality products with personality, to be a benchmark in women’s, men’s and children’s fashion retail.

Thus, the Guararapes industrial plant began to direct most of its production to Riachuelo, which was developed more intensively from 2005 onwards, and since 2008, the entirety of the industrial plant’s production has been destined for the Group’s chain of stores, which is present throughout the country.

With the strength of the Carter’s brand, Riachuelo reinforced its positioning in the infant and toddler clothing segment, a market that is currently served by small chains with only regional significance in Brazil. Carter’s has strong synergy with Riachuelo’s value proposition since both offer quality products at an excellent cost-benefit ratio.

Having the brand’s exclusivity in Brazil makes this partnership an important anchor for the Company’s digital channels platform, by creating an environment that involves all categories related to motherhood, which is even more complete with the entry of the marketplace, offering clothes, layettes, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), light and heavy children’s lines, among other products and services that expand customer relationships and purchasing frequency.

Casa Riachuelo offers a unique shopping experience, with pieces that bring the latest trends from different lifestyles to deck Brazilians’ homes. With Casa Riachuelo, the Company offers customers the right mix of products, competitive prices and financial services, all in an omnichannel experience.

FANLAB is a brand specialized in fans of series, books, movies and games, in an independent operation, present in the physical and digital environment, with a dedicated e-commerce. Portfolio includes apparel, accessories, collectibles, home decor, home fashion, pets and special collections from brands such as Harry Potter, Marvel, DC, Looney Tunes and Free Fire.

Midway Mall and Properties

Opened on April 27, 2005, the Midway Mall located in Natal, State of Rio Grande do Norte, has more than 300 stores spread over 235.9 thousand sqm of gross built area and is considered the largest retail center in the city.

In December 2022, Midwest Estacionamento Ltda. was founded, to manage parking lot at Midway Mall.

At the end of 2023, Riachuelo had a portfolio of 48 stores installed in properties belonging to the Group, a total of 124.9 thousand sqm in sales area. Considering the area of its own real estate properties (Midway Mall and stores), together with the Natal distribution center, the industrial production plants and the call center, the Company has approximately 759 thousand sqm in gross built area.

Transportadora Casa Verde

Transportadora Casa Verde, a road transport company, is responsible for part of the Group’s logistics. Due to the investments made in recent years, mainly in technology, it has regularly delivered the products manufactured by the Company to Riachuelo stores efficiently.

History

Guararapes, today recognized as one of the Best Companies in the Textile Sector in the Industry Category by Exame Magazine, as well as one of the largest employer brands in the country, began its legacy in 1947 when the brothers Nevaldo and Newton Rocha, opened their first fabric store, called “A Capital”, in Natal-RN.

After four years of operation, this first business of brothers Nevaldo and Newton Rocha was expanded to Recife-PE, with the implementation of a fabric manufacturing plant, as well as the acquisition of several commercial points.

In October 1956, the Company was founded in Recife-PE. After two years, the first industrial plant was opened in Natal-RN, with a total floor area of 2,700 sqm, cconsequently transferring its headquarters to the same location.

In the early 1970s, the Company went public, with the subsequent constructionof industrial plants in Fortaleza-CE in 1976 (9,800 sqm of gross floor area), and in Mossoró-RN, as well as the creation of the chain of “Super G” stores.

In 1979, Guararapes acquired Lojas Riachuelo and Wolens, expanding its operations to textile retail, an area responsible for the Company’s greatest growth in recent years.

Also in 1979, Guararapes Têxtil was opened in Natal-RN, with 40,000 sqm of built area.

In 1980, Transportadora Casa Verde was founded, a road transport company responsible for part of the group’s logistics and whose activity is to transport the Company’s and Lojas Riachuelo’s products and materials.

In 1982, the Pool brand was launched, created by Flávio Rocha, becoming a fashion icon in the 1980s, in addition to being the main sponsor of the driver Ayrton Senna at the beginning of his career, when he competed in Karting and Formula 3.

Later, in 1983, tin 1983, Riachuelo merged Seta and Wolens stores.

Ten years later, in 1993, Guararapes Group underwent a modernization and restructuring process.

In 1997, the Natal – RN manufacturing unit, responsible for producing knitwear and part of the shirts, was expanded and had a built area of 150,000 sqm. At the same time, the Fortaleza – CE manufacturing unit became responsible for producing flat fabrics such as twill, jeans and shirts.

From 2005 onwards, the Company’s manufacturing units started allocating more significant amounts of parts produced to Lojas Riachuelo, until 2008 all production was distributed to the Group’s chain of stores. Guararapes products play a key role for the Group, ensuring quality, agility, reactivity and better chain social and environmental control.

In addition to existing ventures, the Company also invested in research, creation, development and the distribution process, which are essential to the evolution of its integrated business model, seeking efficiency between product development and delivery to stores. To this end, it improved the logistics of its operations and in 2000, the Company opened its first distribution center (“DC”) with 58,000 sqm, located in Natal – RN.

In addition to the relationship between retail and industrial plants, the Company integrated the management of its financial operations with Midway Financeira. Created in 2008, Midway Financeira aims to carry out financing operations for consumers of products and services, seeking the most appropriate financial resources to support such transactions.

In 2010, the Brand Card operations began, and the Company opened the Riachuelo Theater in Natal – RN.

Crossing borders, the Company opened an office in Shanghai, China, in 2013, to mediate commercial negotiations.

In the following years, the Company refocused on improving its operations’ logistics and opened two other DCs, one in Guarulhos – SP (with 100,000 sqm) and another in Manaus – AM (with 6,000 sqm). In 2015, the Company started investing in the Guarulhos DC, which enabled the migration of automated logistics for 100% of the manufacturing mix, with Stock Keeping Unit (“SKU”) control, showing the quantity of items in stock according to their characteristics, such as category, size, collection, which was opened in 2016, being an important step towards the development of the fast fashion concept in the Company. The Natal and Guarulhos DCs have integrated inventory and operations for both physical and digital channels.

In 2015, the Company started selling cell phones, and in 2016, it launched cosmetics operations.

Aiming at further business expansion, in 2020, the Company opened two new store formats: Casa Riachuelo and Carter’s. With Casa Riachuelo, the Company offers customers pieces that bring the latest lifestyle trends to deck the Brazilian home. At the same time, by acquiring exclusivity over the Carter’s brand in Brazil, the Company reinforced its positioning in the early childhood clothing segment, expanding its relationship with customers.

Also in 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Company underwent a digital transformation process, which occurred transversally, through several cycles: first, the Company retrained and updated its environments and systems to strengthen the technological base, supporting its next steps. Therefore, it redesigned its technological architecture, bringing an integrated systemic vision between its retail and financial businesses.

The year 2021 consolidated pillars and levers capable of bringing revenue generation opportunities. In order to offer the best shopping experience to customers, the Company has adapted to their needs and prepared to serve customers in the channel they desire, seeking to offer the best shopping experience within a retail and financial services ecosystem. To this end, it began operating with integrated solutions such as, for example, e-store (virtual aisle), self-checkout and mobile POS in stores, among others.

These tools are supported by highly efficient omnichannel logistics solutions, such as In-Store Pickup and Quick Pickup, ship from store and strategically located distribution centers, with inventories and operations integrated between the physical and digital worlds. Additionally, the company features a marketplace that supports its omnichannel strategy, reinforcing a lifestyle concept focused on curated fashion and products by various brands and categories, thus enhancing the range of offerings available.

Also in 2021, the Loja do Amanhã opened in Jacarepaguá – RJ, a more sustainable point of sale model.

That same year, Midway launched its digital account, which reached the milestone of one million openings in the first five months of operation. As a result, the Company has been expanding its relationship with its customers, going beyond offering cards and personal loans, by offering products and services on digital channels with maximum integration with retail.

On December 22, 2021, B3 S.A. – Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3) granted the Company’s request for migration to the Novo Mercado and on March 30, 2022, the Company’s migration to this special listing segment was approved at a Special General Meeting. The migration to the Novo Mercado is a breakthrough for the Company, reinforcing its commitment to high standards of corporate governance.

The Company’s common shares began trading on the Novo Mercado on April 5, 2022, a year marked by the 75th anniversary of the Company, which is currently one of the largest fashion groups in Brazil.

Also in 2022, the Company expanded its brand portfolio and opened FANLAB, a new business specializing in the geek audience.

In 2023, the Company began to centralize its manufacturing production in Rio Grande do Norte, closing the activities of the industrial plant in Fortaleza – CE. The Company’s integrated business model remains unchanged, and this decision is part of its strategic planning, focusing on optimizing manufacturing operations to increase reactivity, efficiency and competitiveness, combined with sustainable growth.

In 2023, the Company’s Board of Directors approved the transition process for the CEO position, appointing Mr. André Michel Farber as the successor to Mr. Oswaldo Aparecido Nunes. The appointment of Mr. Farber was an important step for the Group, a professional with extensive knowledge of the national market and expertise in omnichannel strategy, innovation and expansion.

Also, in 2023, B3 authorized the free float of the Company’s shares until December 31, 2024, representing at least 16.41% of its capital stock. At the end of the period, 20% of free float shares must have been reached, as provided for in the B3 Novo Mercado Regulation.

Since its foundation, the Company has sought to direct all its efforts towards achieving maximum integration between its operations, which allows the Company to be the only player to integrate the three aspects of its business: retail, industry and finance. In addition to Riachuelo and Midway Financeira, the Group owns Midway Mall and Transportadora Casa Verde.

Timeline