Leclerc has announced its 2012 full-year results with sales up 7 per cent in France to €32.3 billion, excluding petrol. Like-for-like sales grew by 5.8 per cent and the retailer increased its market share to 19 per cent by the end of the year.
The French retailer's supermarket banners displayed growth of 10.4 per cent, while sales at its non-food formats were up 7.5 per cent. Hypermarket sales growth was 4.9 per cent, with the divison making up 55 per cent of the group growth, and accounting for 84.1 per cent of revenues.
Drive, Leclerc's 'click & collect' format' contributed 2.8 per cent to group sales but represented 27.8 per cent of sales growth, fuelling Leclerc's plans to expand its Drive network by 117 outlets in 2013, bringing its total to 400 by the end of the year. Turnover for the format is expected to grow to €1.375 billion from 2012's €838 million and the product offering will be extended 5 per cent.
Leclerc's goals for 2013 are to boost sales growth by 5 per cent, and to continue to increase market share. President Michel-Edouard Leclerc said, "Our aim remains to achieve a market share of 20 per cent by 2015. We will maintain our investment irrespective of the performances of our competitors, in order to make Leclerc the first multi-format, multi-connected and multi-channel banner." (12 Feb)
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Kevin Kelly
