In the context of presentations organized by the Association Of Greek Institutional Investors, the presentation of "ALFΑ-ΒEΤΑ" VASSILOPOULOS S.Α. took place today. The Chief executive officer Mr. Macheras and the Chief assistant to the C.E.O. Ms. Kuhkalani presented the activities and the financial results of the Company for the fiscal year 2008 as well as its strategy and objectives.
"ALFΑ-ΒEΤΑ" VASSILOPOULOS S.Α. is a food retail company. It was established in December 1969 and in 1990 it was listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. Since July 1992 it has become a member of Delhaize Group.
During the presentation, there was a reference to the current economic environment, the consuming trends as well as to Greek food retail market evolution and its main characteristics.
According to the published financial figures of the fiscal year 2007, "ALFΑ-ΒEΤΑ" ranks second in terms of turnover among the Greek food retailers.
Company's consolidated key figures for 2008 are as follows:
- 201 stores
- Revenues: 1,337 million EUR
- Operating margin: 3,4% on sales
- 8.821 employees
- 202.171 sq.m. selling area
The consolidated financial results for 2008 are as follows:
"ALFA-BETA" VASSILOPOULOS S.A. 1 Jan-31 Dec 2008 1 Jan-31 Dec 2007 Change Consolidated Results (in thousand EUR)
Revenue 1.337.074 1.174.883 13,8%
Gross Profit 302.644 268.711 12,6%
On Revenues 22,6% 22,9%
Operating Expenses 263.693 222.821 18,3%
On Revenues 19,7% 19,0%
EBITDA 70.542 71.781 -1,7%
On Revenues 5,3% 6,1%
Operating Profit 46.038 51.504 -10,6%
On Revenues 3,4% 4,4%
Profit before Tax 40.983 50.004 -18,0%
On Revenues 3,1% 4,3%
Profit after Tax & Minority Rights 32.696 36.980 -11,6%
On Revenues 2,4% 3,1%
In 2008, Revenues amounted to 1,337.1 million EUR, showing an increase by 13.8%, due to company's commercial policy, the continuous efforts of the Company upgrading its stores network as well as to the contribution of new stores and the stores of the acquired HOLDING AND FOOD TRADING COMPANY SINGLE PARTNER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY & CO LIMITED PARTNERSHIP.
Gross Profit reached 302.6 million EUR, an increase by 12.6% that is lower than this of sales due to Group's price policy.
During 2008, the Group reinforced its value-for-money concept for its products and particularly, during Q2 and Q3 2008, following the pressure for further pricing improvement, the Group responded by lowering the price of 2,000 items in basic product categories by 5%-8%, for all customers that use company's loyalty card, AB Card Plus. The impact of the lowering of prices was mainly absorbed by optimizing inventory management.
Operating Expenses reached 263.7 million EUR showing an increase by 18.3%. This increase reflects the investments for remodeling and upgrading the stores of HOLDING AND FOOD TRADING COMPANY SINGLE PARTNER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY & CO LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, which are not yet affected by the expected economies of scale.
Operating Profit amounted to 46.0 million EUR, showing a decrease by 10.6% due to the increase of operating expenses.
In 2008, Group's capital expenditures amounted to 88,1 million EUR and were disposed for the expansion and enhancement of its sales' network.
As regards its organic expansion, the company continued its organic development activity with the opening of eight new supermarkets and five affiliated stores.
In Q3 2008, the construction of a new modern storage and distribution centre of fresh products that will facilitate the logistic needs of "ALFA-BETA" has started.
Moreover, during 2008, the stores of the acquired HOLDING AND FOOD TRADING COMPANY SINGLE PARTNER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY & CO LIMITED PARTNERSHIP have been upgraded and converted to the "ALFA-BETA" banner, while in parallel the storage and distribution centre in Thessaloniki, which caters the needs of the stores in Northern Greece, was in full operation.
Furthermore, in Q4 2008, the first two "Lion Food" stores were inaugurated.
This particular type of store has sales area of approximately 900-1000 square meters and is offering 3.000 basic products at very low prices. Depending on the clients' responsiveness, this new type of store will be further expanded in other areas inside and outside of Greece. At the end of the year the Group's sales network numbered 201 stores of which 121 are company operated retail stores, 29 retail stores of the company HOLDING AND FOOD TRADING COMPANY SINGLE PARTNER LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY & CO LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, 41 are franchise stores and 10 are wholesale stores operating under the banner ENA Cash-and-Carry.
Corporate Social Responsibility was and remains the Company's fundamental value. Protection of the Environment is an important manner of expressing the "ALFA-BETA" social role. The Company increased to 38 the number of stores where Recycling Centres are installed while in parallel it launched a campaign supporting recycling. Furthermore, in 2009, AB launched the first Mobile Recycling Center, which will tour 18 cities of Greece in order to inform citizens on recycling.
Finally, Croup's perspectives for 2009 fiscal year were presented:
Revenue Growth, through:
- Optimizing Assortment and Services
- Competitive Price Policy
- Dynamic Network Expansion. For 2009, "ALFA-BETA" VASSILOPOULOS plans an acceleration of its organic store-opening program. It will add 16 new stores to its network, extending it to 217 stores.
Executional excellence to reinvest in the growth of the business and support profitability, through:
- The "Smart Retailing" programme in stores, aiming to enhance management of shelf replenishment, to reduce inventory and shrinkages and to increase productivity.
- The application of this methodology in all Group's operations aiming to increase productivity and decrease operating costs.
- Decrease of overhead costs through economies of scale, further improvement of working capital by increasing inventory rotation and efficient credit policy.