Lithuanian retailer Maxima Grupė has posted 6.3% year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue in the first half of its financial year, to €2.05 billion, driven by expansion in Poland.
The company’s consolidated like-for-like (LFL) retail revenue increased by 1.2% in this period.
The retailer reported strong growth in LFL revenue in the first quarter (+5.2%), followed by a decline of 3.4% in the second quarter due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Consolidated EBITDA for the six months ended 30 June 2020 increased by €21 million year-on-year to €163 million.
The growth is a result of the overall strong performance in the first quarter of 2020 and good cost control, mainly in Lithuania and Poland, the company said.
EBITDA margin improved to 8.0% in the first half of 2020, up from 7.4% in the first half of 2019.
Divisional Performance
In the Baltic states, the company reported 'moderate' revenue growth of 3.9%, while LFL revenue was down 1.5%.
Poland and Bulgaria reported ‘solid’ revenue growth, of 12.2% and 23.4% respectively.
The high LFL revenue growth in both countries was driven by inflation levels, the company said.
The company’s e-commerce division reported 100.9% year-on-year growth in revenue as consumers shifted to online shopping due to the pandemic.
Negative Impact
The company has forecast a negative impact on its profit before tax, in the range of €5 million to €10 million, due to the pandemic.
Capital investment levels remained stable at €47 million in the first half of 2020 compared to €50 million in the same period last year.
The debt level of the group remained stable, with net debt (including lease liabilities) to EBITDA ratio of 3.2x as of the end of June 2020, the company added.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
