Portuguese food retailer Sonae MC opened a total of 78 new stores in 2015, which contributed to a 0.8 per cent growth in turnover to €3.49 billion.
Throughout the year, Sonae MC opened 11 Continente Bom Dia stores, two Continente Modelo stores and 65 Meu Super stores.
In addition, the retailer is carrying out refurbishments in its stores to create what it calls, “2020 hypermarket of the future” concept. Eight out of 40 Continente hypermarkets were partially or totally renewed as of December 2015.
Earlier this week, Sonae M completed a €30 million investment to open its 226th Continente hypermarket, located in the Nova Arcada Shopping Mall in Braga.
Over the past year, Sonae MC also developed a new store concept for Continente Bom Dia, which has been implemented in new stores and in a few of the refurbished ones.
Speaking to newspaper Diario Economico, the Co-CEO of Sonae, Paolo Azevedo, revealed that the retailer may expand its hypermarket brand to Africa and the Middle East. This follows the international franchising agreement signed last year with the Fathima Group, in order to establish Continente hypermarkets in the UAE by 2017
Photo courtesy of Continente Facebook page
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
