German group Metro, the largest player in the Romanian trade sector, has posted sales worth 1.95 billion euros, an increase of almost 30% on the previous year.
Metro, which was the first on the list of foreign investors in consumer goods trade in Romania in 1996, registered its second billion-euro turnover in 2007 after it introduced its second division, Real Hypermarket, three years after the group derived its first billion in Romania.
"The local market is very dynamic and that is why we don't have any concrete plans for Real's expansion in Romania after 2010, although we probably won't stop at 21 hypermarkets, but instead look for new opportunities to expand our network," Eckard Cordes, CEO of Metro Group said.
Cordes added the group was looking at new markets in Eastern Europe for the Media Market and Saturn consumer electronics stores, whose sales were driven higher by foreign markets last year
"If we decide to enter the consumer electronics retail segment in Romania, we won't make any acquisitions, because our strategy entails the organic development of this division," Metro Group's chief executive explained.
The Metro Cash & Carry network posted an 11.3% turnover increase last year, to 1.59 billion euros, while Real hypermarkets posted five times higher sales than in 2006, after the retailer derived a 367 million-euro turnover, as a result of network expansion by six hypermarkets.
"We have expansion plans for Metro Cash & Carry for 2008. There are areas we still don't cover, which is why we are looking for opportunities to expand the network on the Romanian market," said Frans Muller, CEO of Metro Cash & Carry; however, he did not reveal any more details about future locations or the number of stores. Potential locations include Deva, according to local authorities quoted by Mediafax on a previous occasion, or mountain areas that have high potential for growth, as previously stated by Francois Oliver, Metro Cash & Carry Romania's CEO.
The newest Metro Cash & Carry was opened in Baneasa, Bucharest, in the autumn of 2005. Frans Muller says that the investment in a new Metro Cash & Carry store will amount to 15-20 million euros, which includes land, equipment and infrastructure work around the store. Other Metro investments, which the officials of the group estimate at 14-20 million euros, will go towards the modernisation of four Metro Cash & Carry stores this year.
At the end of 2006, only two companies boasted more than 2 billion euros in turnover, Petrom and LukOil. Metro Group was seventh among the biggest players in the economy in 2006.
The Metro Cash & Carry network currently numbers 23 stores. The group owns 85% of its Romanian branch, with the rest held by businessman Ion Tiriac.
"We don't anticipate any changes in the shareholder structure," Frans Muller said.
According to the "Most valuable companies in Romania" ranking published by ZIARUL FINANCIAR last autumn, based on 2006 financial data, Metro's value stands at 1.2 billion euros.
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