Italian retailer Esselunga Group closed 2014 with sales of €7.01 billion (+0.8 per cent compared to 2013), despite a 1.6 per cent deflation of retail prices and a declining market.
In terms of financial results, the Esselunga Group achieved an EBITDA of €521 million (+3.2 per cent y/y); an operating result amounting to €335 million (+2 per cent y/y) and a net profit of €212 million (€210 million in 2013).
The price reductions were once again central to Esselunga’s strategy, rewarding the company with customer growth of 8.5 per cent.
Investments last year amounted to €400 million, while overall investments in the last five years reaching €1.8 billion. The company plans to hire 2,500 new employees (it currently has over 21,000) by 2017.
During 2014, stores were opened in Calco (Lecco), Aprilia, Milano Porta Vittoria, Novara, Prato Leonardo, Parma via Emilia West, Saronno (Varese), Firenze Galluzzo and Marlia (Lucca), as well as the logistics hub Campi Bisenzio (Florence). For 2015 is planned a further development of the sales network that has already begun with the opening of the 150th store in Milan (in Via Adriano).
Milan-based Esselunga can boast 95 superstores and 55 supermarkets in 30 provinces distributed across six Italian regions (Veneto, Piedmont, Tuscany, Lombardy, Lazio and Liguria).
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic
