Italian regional cooperative and retailer Unicoop Tirreno has announced the closure of 12 supermarkets and the sale of another eight stores, resulting in the loss of 481 full-time jobs.
The first goal of the 2017-2019 business plan is to halve losses by the end of 2017, reducing management costs while better targeting product sectors to recover market share.
The Piombino-based cooperative, which has more than one million members, has been in a tough financial situation over the past years, losing an estimated €100 million between 2009 and 2015. This resulted in the closure of two stores (Afragola and Guidonia) that created heavy losses.
Last month, the other cooperatives (Alleanza 3.0, Unicoop Firenze, Coopfond, Novacoop, Coop Lombardia, Coop Liguria, Coop Centro Italia, Coop Amiatina and Coop Reno) came to the rescue by providing €170 million in additional funding.
However, according to union sources, Unicoop Tirreno is set to end the financial year 2016 with a loss of around €25 million.
Unicoop Tirreno has over 100 stores in the Tuscany, Lazio, Umbria and Campania regions, with 4,500 employees.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
