"The Hungarian unit of Austrian retail chain Spar generated consolidated sales of HUF 397.3 billion in 2009, up 6.2% year on year. According to the parent company’s data, Spar Hungary posted EUR 1.47 bn turnover last year, 4.7% more in euro terms than in the base period.Spar Group aims to increase its market share from slightly above 14% to over 15% this year, Péter Feiner, managing director of the Hungarian arm, told a press conference last Friday.
Spar acquired 177 Plus stores in July 2008 and has completed their integration in 2009 at an expense of several hundreds of millions of forints, Feiner said. This process will continue in 2010, with costs expected to be largely on the same level, he added.
Spar Hungary, whose parent is the Amsterdam-based Spar holding founded in 1932, operates 367 supermarkets and 31 hypermarkets in Hungary and plans to open three to five supermarkets and one Interspar hypermarket this year.
The ratio of Hungarian products is 78-80% at the local Spar units, while the national average is around 70%. Spar’s own brands take up 21% of its total offering."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
03.03.2010