SPAR INTERNATIONAL ENJOYS GROWTH OF 7.4% IN 2020

PUBLISHING DATE
May 25, 2021
CATEGORIES

Global supermarket chain Spar International grew by 7.4% to €39.8 billion in 2020 according to its latest sales figures.

Its strong performance, the brand said, was driven by its operations in Western Europe, where sales grew by 12% in the 2020 calendar year.

Despite the challenging operating environment brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, Spar continued to expand in new and existing markets. By the end of 2020, there were 13,501 Spar stores in 48 countries, figures aided by its entry into Ghana during the year.

Sales up strongly in Western Europe
Spar International reported that in its 16 Western European markets, sales grew 12% to €25.5bn, accounting for 64% of its global sales. 

The organisation highlighted the strength of its local operator in Austria, which enjoyed food sales growth of 16%, while this was supported by operations in the Netherlands, where sales rose 23.5%, Italy, +8.4%, and Spain, +7.2%.

Positive sales in Central and Eastern Europe
Positive like-for-like sales growth, of 8.9%, underpinned the performance of operations in Central and Eastern Europe.

Spar Hungary saw sales advance by 9%, while in Russia its multi-format strategy continued to win over shoppers, driving like-for-like sales growth of 6.8%. The pandemic’s influence and the fast turnaround of local operators in Slovenia and Hungary helped drive online sales of 150% and 250% respectively.

Other regions enjoyed varied growth rates, country-by-country
In Africa and the Middle East, where revenue increased by 2.8%, and in Asia Pacific, where sales rose by 1.5%, Spar operators saw a difference in performance. Strong growth was seen in the brand’s key markets such as South Africa, where sales growth was 2.8% in 2020, and in China, where like-for-like sales increased 7.9%.

Elsewhere, Spar International highlighted the exceptional growth enjoyed by some of its local operators: Spar Cameroon (+15%), Spar Mozambique (+14%), Spar Oman (+25%) and Spar Qatar (82.5%), Spar Pakistan (+38%) and Spar Sri Lanka (+63%).

Tobias Wasmuht, Spar International’s CEO, said: “Our continuous compound annual growth of 5.64% in the period 2016-2020 creates a strong platform to build from for the future and indicates that our ‘Better Together’ strategy continues to deliver sustainable growth. 

“Since 2016, this strategy has delivered Spar global sales growth of 24.5%, global store footprint growth of 956 additional stores and a total retail sales area increase of 3%.”|


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