A recent market survery reveals that the growth of the Polish
discount store market is continuing apace, with the market share
set to grow significantly in the course of the next two years.
Carrefour, the French retail giant, said that it met its profits
growth targets for 2003 but that it was raising the bar even higher
in 2004 as it revamped its French operations and continued its
worldwide expansion.
Britain's biggest food retailer Tesco looks set to take a further
step towards its goal of competing with global giants such as
Carrefour and Wal-Mart with a move into the massive Chinese retail
market.
Mercadona, the biggest Spanish supermarket group, is to increase
its investments by more than 50 per cent this year as it seeks to
spread its portfolio of stores across the country and build on its
excellent performance in 2003.
Compared to other central European nations, the presence of foreign
retailers in Hungary is relatively low, with the likes of Tesco,
Delhaize, Tenglemann, Rewe and Auchan among the few western
companies already present there. And...
Hyparlo, the French retail group which operates a number of
franchised Carrefour outlets, reaped the benefits of a new focus on
just two markets last year - and benefited from the extraordinary
gain from the sale of its Italian business.
Merkur, the Austrian supermarket group owned by Germany's Rewe
group, has just signed a new agreement with the UK-based
international logistics service provider Tibbett &
Britten assuring the long-term supply of chilled foods...
In an unexpected move, Spanish supermarket operator Consum has
decided to leave the Eroski retail group and pursue its own store
development programme.
A report last week suggested that Spanish hypermarkets
were on track to recover some of the market share lost to
supermarkets in recent years as a result of store opening
restrictions. But new data suggest that the supermarket sector...
With tough rules on new store development curbing the growth of
hypermarkets in Spain - designed to protect traditional retailers -
most of the dynamism in the market has come from supermarkets,
which have, ironically, been just as...
Hypermarkets may be the domain of foreign rather than domestic
retailers in the Czech Republic but this does not appear to concern
most consumers there when it comes to their weekly shop.
Most of Europe's leading supermarket groups have published trading
figures in the last few weeks, covering both the key Christmas
period and the whole of 2003. Today we look at three more groups,
based in the UK, Finland and...
Ahold's worries
have hit the headlines throughout 2003, and while it now appears to
be on the road to recovery after revelations of fraud and losses of
€1 billion, it is still not all plain sailing for the Dutch
retailer.
Alongside the growing wealth of the average CEE consumer, the
region's food retail sector is growing at an unprecedented rate, a
recently published report finds. Fuelling that growth is the boom
in large-scale supermarket and...
If the market is still waiting to see who emerges as potential
buyers for Ahold's Spanish operations, put up for sale earlier this
year as part of a major restructuring plan, the sale of the
company's Latin American businesses...
Carrefour is Europe's largest food retailer and the world's second
largest after Wal-Mart, with operations across the globe. But the
one blot on its otherwise impressive copybook in recent years has
been its relative inability...
Ahold has sold two underperforming Polish hypermarkets to French
rival Carrefour for an undisclosed sum as part of its drive to
focus on profitable businesses. But the company has shown no signs
of withdrawing from that market altogether.
Tesco has announced that it has gained control of Kipa, a small
Turkish hypermarket chain by acquiring the necessary majorities of
the unlisted public shares in the company. The move will ensure a
much needed foothold in a market...
Ahold is to sell off its Spanish retail operations as part of a
long-awaited recovery plan announced today. The programme will also
include a €2.5bn rights issue which will help pay down debt, and
significant efficiency savings designed...
Hot weather in France pushed down Q3 sales at Guyenne &
Gascogne, but the same phenomenon helped lift turnover at the
company's Spanish joint venture, Centros Comerciales Carrefour.
Carrefour has been busy this week, announcing plans to extend its
operations in South Korea and Japan. But it is also expanding
closer to home, today unveiling a tie up with Norway's Norges
Gruppen which will allow it to roll...
Ahold is to publish its audited results for 2002 on Thursday -
restated following the revelation of accounting fraud earlier in
the year. The figures are unlikely to make encouraging reading, and
shareholders and investors alike will...
Guyenne and Gascogne, the French retail group, has continued to
improve its sales and profits in the first half of 2003, building
on the major advances made in the first six months of last year.
Sales and profits at Jeronimo Martins continued to grow in the
first half, despite the weak economic conditions in Portugal and
Poland. The disposal of loss-making businesses appears to have paid
off, but the company is not completely...
Tesco, the leading supermarket operator in the UK, stretched
further ahead of its rivals in the first half of the year thanks to
a combination of volume growth, the roll out of new store formats
and strategic acquisitions.
The two franchise operators for the Carrefour retail group had
differing performances in the first half. Guyenne & Gascogne
showed solid growth during the six months, while Hyparlo's sales
suffered as a result of the disposal...
Basque retailer Eroski remains committed to expanding its business
this year, despite the increasing levels of red tape which are
slowing down new store development.
Carrefour has fought off the increasing challenge from Metro and
Tesco to maintain its leadership of the European grocery reatil
market in 2002. Rewe, Wal-Mart and discount chains Aldi and Lidl
have all strengthened their positions,...
Wal-Mart has consolidated its unassailable lead in the global
retail rankings, according to the latest report from M+M Planet
retail. But while there has been no change to the companies making
up the top 30 global players, several...
Auchan, the French food retailer, has reported sales for 2002 only
marginally affected by exchange rate concerns due mainly to its
growing focus on core eurozone markets.
There are numerous potential candidates to acquire the South
American operations of the troubled Ahold group, but as market
analysts Euromonitor point out, such an acquisition would not be
without considerable risks. The debate is...
Tesco is now one of the world's top 10 grocery retailers, and is by
far the fastest growing company in the field. And, according to a
new report by M+M Planet Retail, the British number one has the
right growth strategy to see...
Metro, the German retail group, is to restructure its Extra Food
Stores unit, decreasing the number of outlets and thereby
increasing profitability across the business.
Carrefour, Europe's biggest food retailer, continued to improve its
market dominance in the first quarter of 2003, but sales were once
again impacted by currency problems in Latin America, Asia and
Eastern Europe.
Carrefour, the leading French food retailer, has operations in many
other countries, three of which have reported growth this month. In
Spain, sales grew 9 per cent, while in Greece the company posted a
16 per cent increase. Carrefour's...
Two years after its launch, the 'virtual' Spanish supermarket
capraboacasa.com, is going from strength to strength. Sales through
the online business now account for 1 per cent of the chain's total
turnover, and grew...
Ahold's much publicised financial concerns have prompted
speculation that Europe's second largest food retail group could
become a potential takeover target. Both Carrefour and Tesco have
been linked to the Dutch group,...
The arbitration court in France has ruled that Casino did not act
illegally in buying a stake in one-time purchasing partner Cora,
and that it was in fact the latter chain which acted outside the
law by quitting the Opera buying group.
Spanish supermarket chain El Arbol is expecting to complete the
disposal of nearly 200 stores by the end of March, and is confident
that its newly streamlined business will return to the black by
2004.
French retail rivals Carrefour and Auchan have both announced
developments for their foreign subsidiaries. In Spain, Carrefour
has sold 45 Champion supermarket outlets, while in the US, Auchan
will close its two Texan hypermarkets...
Allowing Spanish stores to open every day of the week will lead to
massive job losses and higher prices, supermarkets and small store
operators have warned. And the only people to benefit will be the
French hypermarket groups Carrefour...
The pressure on margins caused by the demands of the retail sector
is nothing new, but a recent survey of prices charged by four
supermarket chains in Spain has prompted one producers' association
to warn of economic meltdown.
Auchan and its Italian partner, the Agnelli group, have launched a
offer for all the outstanding shares in the La Rinascente group, a
€735m bid which result in the Italian company being delisted.
The Casino group has concluded the sale of 11 shopping malls
centred around its Geant hypermarkets in Poland. The deal, which
allows for the sale of two other malls, was valued at €163m.
The growing levels of consolidation in the European food retailing
sector are continuing to drive sales growth, with turnover forecast
to rise 17 per cent between 2001 and 2006, according to a report
published recently by Mintel's...
Hypermarkets in Thailand are taking the place of supermarkets,
reports the Bangkok Post. According to a survey, "Thailand's
Shopping Habits", released...
French supermarket giant Carrefour unveiled this week its first
hypermarket inJapan, the South China Morning Post reports. The
company plans to open...
