Maxima Grupė has reported a 5.8% growth in revenue to €4.2 billion in its financial year 2020.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures affecting performance in the second quarter, the retail group’s like-for-like (LFL) revenue rebounded in the third quarter, and yearly LFL growth remained positive at +0.7% at constant exchange rates.
Consolidated EBITDA for the financial year, excluding non-recurring items, reached €374.7 million, up 12.4% from €333.4 million in 2019, while EBITDA margin improved from 8.3% to 8.9%.
The company’s Polish retail operations accounted for the largest share in EBITDA growth, with Stokrotka becoming the second largest company in the group, both in terms of revenue and EBITDA.
Regional Performance
The company continued to expand operations outside the Baltic region and increase its market share in Poland and Bulgaria with revenue growth of 13.7% and 22.2%, respectively.
It also retained its strong LFL revenue performance of 4.9% in Poland and 5.6% in Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, growth in Baltic countries was weaker, with LFL revenue down 0.8%, as consumers shifted from brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce due to the pandemic.
As a result, Maxima Grupė’s e-commerce arm, Barbora’s revenue more than doubled in 2020.
Sales amounted to €104 million and accounted for 3.4% of the total revenue generated in the Baltics.
Barbora increased its capacities by more than twice in less than a month during the pandemic, enabling customers in the Baltic states to avoid at least 1.8 million social contacts by providing them a safer shopping experience from the comfort of their homes.
Furthermore, the group launched online shopping in Poland and Bulgaria.
'Safe Access To Daily Products'
Mantas Kuncaitis, CEO and chairman of the board of Maxima Grupė, commented, “The COVID-19 pandemic showed us, that we are nothing without our heroes – medics, pharmacists, policemen, volunteers, our employees in stores, warehouses, production, e-commerce, and many others.
“Together with our employees-heroes and our business partners, we unified our efforts to provide our customers a safe access to daily products, as well as to provide aid to those who needed it most.”
The company’s reviewed cost structure allowed it to retain all employees and increase benefits by 16% in 2020, which amounted to approximately €49 million.
Net debt remained stable compared to 2019, resulting in a substantial improvement in the group’s financial leverage as the Net Debt/EBITDA ratio decreased from 3.0x in 2019 to 2.6x in 2020. [Pic: ©_fla/123RF.COM]
© 2021 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.
