Portugal: Jeronimo Martins sales growth marred by weak performance in Poland

Retailer Jeronimo Martins has reported an 11% increase in sales for 2013, but declining growth in its largest market of Poland, Just Food reports.

Compared to EUR10.68bn (approx. $14.55bn) in 2012, Jeronimo Martins reported total sales of EUR11.83bn (approx. $16.18bn), with like-for-like sales increasing 3.5%. The retailer attributed the increase to sales volume growth combined with year-on-year falls in inflation.

In Portugal, sales at the retailer’s Pingo Doce supermarket chain were up by 2.8% (excluding fuel), while at its Recheio warehouse business sales rose slightly by 0.8%. The domestic results were a “positive surprise”, an industry analyst is quoted as saying.

The relatively strong performance in Portugal, however, was in marked contrast to results from Poland, which accounts for 65% of Jeronimo Martins’s revenues. Annual sales at the company’s Biedronka chain were up by only 4.2%, described as the slowest rate of growth since the Portguese firm entered the Polish market in 1995.

2013 had been a “challenging year” in its two major markets of Portugal and Poland, Jeronimo Martins admitted. Shares in the company were down by 2.93% shortly after the results were announced.

Source: Just Food