French group Carrefour has invested 20 million euros in the opening of its first hypermarket outside Bucharest.
"We want to have 15 stores in Bucharest and other large cities by around 2010," announced Jean Michel Arlaur, general manager of the Hyparlo group, which manages Carrefour Romania.
Carrefour Romania is a joint venture between the French Carrefour group and Hyparlo, one of its main franchisees. It currently owns three stores in Bucharest. In the first nine months of this year, the three stores had a combined turnover of 160 million euros, 117% higher than for the same period last year, when it had only one store.
"It is only natural for our turnover to grow quickly, considering we have been opening two stores per year since 2004," explained Francois Oliver, executive manager of Carrefour Romania. Earlier this year, company officials forecast a doubling in turnover from last year. According to Finance Ministry data, the company's turnover was around 118 million euros in 2003. This year will also be the first time the company makes a profit since it entered the market. As early as last year, the company began to turn in balanced results.
The store opened to the public yesterday in Brasov covers an area of 19,000 square metres, 8,000 square metres of which will be used for selling to the public.
"It is slightly smaller than Carrefour Orhideea, but the investment was lower, too," said Francois Oliver.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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