SPAR Austria’s food retail business has reported sales growth of 3.9%, amounting to €8.63 billion, in its 2021 financial year.
This growth was above the Austrian food retail industry’s average decline of -0.3%, the retailer noted, citing estimates by Nielsen.
Overall sales across its three business units – sports retail, food retail, and shopping centres – increased by 4.7%, to €17.37 billion, in this period.
The group’s earnings before tax (EBT) exceeded €334 million, corresponding to an EBT margin of 2.6%.
SPAR Austria Group comprises SPAR Austria, ASPIAG, Hervis, and SES SPAR European Shopping Centers.
The trading conditions in all countries in which SPAR operates were significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, the company noted.
Food Retail
Gross sales turnover in the company’s food retail business in Austria, Northern Italy, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia grew by 4% year on year, to €15.09 billion.
SPAR Austria’s store network comprises 1,443 SPAR and EUROSPAR stores, 69 INTERSPAR hypermarkets, and seven Maximarkt stores.
Out of this total, 692 outlets are operated by independent SPAR retailers.
In 2021, the retailer opened approximately 50 new stores and renovated more than 90 outlets.
In Northern Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia, SPAR generated total sales of €6.45 billion, with growth of 4.9% (adjusted for the exchange rate effect).
The retailer opened new INTERSPAR hypermarkets in Imola (Italy), Kaposvár (Hungary), Osijek and Samobor (Croatia), taking the number of INTERSPAR hypermarkets outside of Austria to 112. The total number of SPAR stores outside the country grew to 1,325.
Read More: Greenpeace Names INTERSPAR Austria As Supermarket Of The Year 2021
E-commerce Sales
The retailer’s e-commerce sales grew by 60% in Slovenia, 16% in Hungary, and 10% in Austria, respectively.
SPAR operates online grocery platforms in Hungary and Slovenia, while it offers both grocery and wine in Austria.
In November 2021, the company commissioned a new wine warehouse for its e-commerce platform, WeinWelt.at.
It has built a fully digitalised wine warehouse, equipped with innovative storage technology, in Loosdorf, Lower Austria.
The facility can process more than 2,500 orders daily and has created 20 new jobs.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
