Coop Netherlands has said that the acquisition of 51 EMTÉ stores last year from Sligro Food Group has helped boost its full-year turnover by 18%.
Group turnover for the year increased by €182 million to €1.2 billion last year, the retailer said.
It opened 27 new stores during the period, while a dozen stores were converted. It currently boasts 290 stores across the Netherlands.
Year Of Investment
The group invested €150 million in 2018, mainly due to the purchase of the EMTÉ stores, and their conversion, which is ongoing.
The EMTÉ acquisition has given Coop 'an excellent geographical fit, which further strengthens the supermarket organisation's position in the Netherlands', the retailer said in a statement. Some 19 stores had been converted as of the end of 2018.
'On The Map'
“2018 was an investment year for Coop," the group's financial director, Herco Boer, said.
"We managed to put Coop even more firmly on the map last year and are now visible with more than 300 stores throughout the country. That forms a good basis for redeeming the investments we have made in the coming years. ”
The remaining EMTÉ stores are scheduled to be converted in the first half of 2019, to be completed by 1 June.
Coop broke the 300-store mark this spring, and plans to please out the EMTÉ brand once the conversion process is completed, approximately one year after the takeover.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
