Eurotorg, Belarus' biggest retailer, has posted a 14.2% like-for-like sales increase in full year 2018, of BYN 4.07 billion (€1.66 billion), with like-for-like sales seeing a 2.8% rise.
The retailer said that its full year like-for-like sales growth was largely driven by an increase in the average basket size (+5.6%), however it saw a moderate decrease in like-for-like traffic (-2.6%).
As of 31 December 2018, the company operated 862 grocery stores, of which 762 are grocery stores, and 100 are drogerie stores, operating under the Magia banner.
Fourth-Quarter Performance
In terms of the fourth quarter specifically, Eurotorg posted a 14.6% increase in net retail sales to BYN 1.09 billion (€440 million), with like-for-like sales down 3.4%, largely due to a decrease in LFL traffic (-8.2%).
The company's online grocery businesses, E-dostavka.by and Gipermall.by, generated one million orders and BYN 53.9 million in sale sin the fourth quarter, the company said, posting growth of 34.2%.
“The fourth quarter of 2018 capped off another strong year of operational growth for Eurotorg. In 2018 net retail sales rose by 14.2% in BYN terms," said Eurotorg CEO Andrei Zubkou.
“We continued our store expansion programme, rolling out more than 360 grocery and drogerie stores and entering over 150 new localities in Belarus in 2018. As of the end of the year Eurotorg operated a total of 862 stores, an increase of more than 70% year-on-year."
Future Expansion
Eurotorg opened 118 new store in the fourth quarter of the year, of which 85 were grocery outlets, and the retailer remains 'focused' on developing smaller formats – the average selling space of grocery stores that opened in the final quarter of the year was 167 square metres.
In addition, 82 of the stores opened in the fourth quarter were in leased premises, continuing the group's aim to operate an asset-light expansion strategy.
“Looking forward, we expect that 2019 will be another year of healthy growth," said Zubkou. "The Company’s financial position remains strong and sustainable, with positive cash flow allowing us to maintain strong growth rates and further decrease our leverage.
"We will continue to pursue our capex-light strategy by focusing on smaller-format stores in both urban and rural areas, while continuing to diversify our business with the further development of e-commerce and drogerie offerings.”
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
