Russian retailer O'Key Group has said that it is "fully committed to improving the overall in-store shopping experience for our customers" in the coming year, following the publication of its audited financial results for 2016.
The results indicate that O'Key Group's total revenue rose 8.0% year-on-year to RUB 175.4 billion, with its hypermarket and supermarket segment rising 4.9% to RUB 169.7 billion. Its discounter dement posted revenue of RUB 5.8 billion.
Gross profit was up 4.8% to RUB 40.2 billion, with gross margin contracting 0.7 percentage points to 22.9%.
Eventful And Challenging
Heigo Kera, the chief executive of the group's hypermarket and supermarket segment said that 2016 was an "eventful and challenging year" for the group, which saw the implementation of a business transformation programme.
"We put considerable effort into improving efficiency in our hypermarket and supermarket business segment as well as further expanding our discounter stores," he said.
Kera added that in full-year 2017, the retailer intends to "focus on making further progress towards becoming a multi-format retailer, enhancing our operating efficiency, accelerating our growth and strengthening our relationship with investors."
The retailer will also focus on improving the quality of its product mix and private label brands as a 'key priority' this year.
Armin Burger, who heads up O'Key's Discounter segment, said that the group has put a "considerable emphasis on improving the product range continually adjusting it to the needs of our customers. As a result of these changes, we have seen a growing popularity of our private labels brands, resulting in the overall success of the discounter concept."
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
