Portuguese retail group Sonae has reported that consolidated turnover increased by 7.1% to €5.7 billion in 2017, with growth across all its businesses.
In particular, the group's food retail business, which includes the Continente grocery chain, saw growth of 5.4%, while the value of online sales surpassed €100 million for the first time ever.
Overall, underlying EBITDA increased by 6.9% to €336 million, while net profit reached €166 million.
"2017 was a positive year for Sonae's businesses, which continued to grow at a solid pace and made significant progress in the development of their individual strategies," said Ângelo Paupério, Co-CEO of Sonae.
"Overall, we evolved further in the development of a portfolio of more autonomous, focused and flexible businesses."
Grocery Growth
Sonae MC, the group's food retail unit, saw turnover increase by 5.4% to €3.88 billion last year.
The company says that this growth by driven by its store network expansion programme, with the opening of 19 new Continente Bom Dia stores and one Continente Modelo, as well as like-for-like sales growth of 1.2%.
Sonae MC also reinforced its presence in the health and wellness segment, increasing the variety of healthy products available in Continente stores, as well as acquiring 51% of Go Natural and 100% of organic supermarket chain Brio.
The group also launched Dr. Well's clinics, which specialise in dental and aesthetic medicine.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
