Spar International has posted global retail sales of €35.8 billion – up 5.4% on a constant-currency basis – in its 2018 financial year.
It is the third consecutive year of strong growth for the global retail giant, which operates over 13,112 stores in 48 countries across the world.
Commenting on the results, Tobias Wasmuht, chief executive of Spar International, said, “Our continuous compound annual growth of 5.2% over the last three years creates a strong platform to build from for the future and indicates that our ‘Better Together’ strategy, launched in 2016, continues to deliver for the organisation, our partners, and our customers.”
In 2018, the retailer added 335 new stores to its network and launched operations in four new countries.
European Markets
In its 16 Western European markets, Spar’s sales grew by 4.1%, to €22.1 billion.
Spar Austria’s sales grew by 4%, to €6.88 billion, making it one of the fastest-growing supermarket chains in the country for the ninth year in a row.
Spar Netherlands witnessed growth of 15.8%, while Spar Belgium’s sales grew by 5.1%.
Spar France reported growth of 5.5%, while sales in Spar Spain increased by 6.1%.
“In Western Europe, where we have almost 8,000 neighbourhood and proximity stores, Spar is well placed for future growth, with large-scale store modernisation projects ensuring continued standards of excellence,” Wasmuht explained.
Spar Ireland saw sales rise by 3.8%, and – despite the political and economic uncertainty linked to Brexit – Spar UK recorded good results during the fiscal year, with sales of €3.3 billion and 3.6% growth in constant-currency values.
Spar Denmark saw ‘exceptional’ sales growth of 9.2%, the company noted, driven by its new neighbourhood retail strategy roll-out.
Spar Norway performed well, with an increase of 2.4%.
Central And Eastern Europe
In Central and Eastern Europe, the retailer saw sales growth of 15.8%, to €5.8 billion.
Spar Hungary delivered an exceptionally strong performance, registering growth of 9.8% and exceeding €1.9 billion in sales, the retailer reported in its statement.
Spar Russia generated €2 billion in sales – up 27.8% – in the 2018 financial year. This was driven by steps taken to tailor its offering according to customers’ needs and expectations, the retailer reported.
Global Markets
In Africa and the Middle East, Spar registered growth of 8.2%, with a turnover of €5.9 billion.
Spar South Africa’s turnover grew to €4.9 billion, up 5.7% at constant 2018 exchange rates for the full calendar year.
Spar China saw sales of €1.5 billion in the 2018 financial year, with strong growth in the Shandong and Guangdong provinces.
“In Asia, Spar China is set to open over 150,000 square metres of retail sales space in 2019, with strong store development plans, including compact hypermarkets and a new generation of supermarkets in northern and southern China,” Wasmuht added.
In India, Spar opened six new hypermarkets in 2018 and posted sales growth of 24.5%, to €179 million.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
