More than eight months after opening, Romania's biggest hypermarket, Cora, was left without a single top manager.
The top managerial team (some 5-6 people) of the French group Cora in Romania, including the company's general manager Regis Mougel (who was also the head of the hypermarket located in the Pantelimon area of Bucharest) and the marketing manager Frederic Bout, was discreetly dismissed four weeks ago, market sources say. According to such sources, the local branch is now being managed from Hungary.
Market rumours have been suggesting two reasons why the top managers were fired.
In the first scenario, the move was triggered by high-level conflicts between the group managers, who are engaged in a war over influence, given the medical problems of Cora president Philippe Bouriez after his surgery last year. His brother, Jacques Bouriez, took over the reins in May this year, whereas Philippe's son, Pierre Bouriez, is now heading the supermarket network.
The second scenario suggests that the managers of the Romanian arm were fired because they adjusted too easily to the ways of the Romanian market.
"For the time being, this is an internal issue for Cora. The first unit opened in Romania posted excellent results and, perhaps, this made our colleagues in Central and Eastern Europe jealous," Regis Mougel, the former general manager of Cora Romania told Ziarul Financiar. In fact, in the months that passed since the hypermarket was launched last October, Cora Romania officials have said that they achieved results beyond expectations, both in terms of traffic and sales. Original estimates had pointed to annual sales of 100 million euros and four million visitors.
Cora officials in France made no comments on the situation in Romania at the time of going to press.
According to market sources, this will not stop here and it is very likely that a lawsuit will be filed.
Cora is the second French group specialising in hypermarkets to enter the Romanian market, encouraged by the Romanians' positive reaction to the new type of store, which allowed Carrefour to post sales that tripled initial estimates during its first year in business.
However, whereas Carrefour opted for stores covering 8,500-10,000 square metres, Cora started with a hypermarket of 16,000 square metres, investing 50 million euros in each hypermarket.
Cora's development plans for the Romanian market aimed to open 14-15 units in the medium-term, located in the main cities. A second hypermarket, also located in Bucharest, had been scheduled for this autumn and was supposed to be located in the Lujerului area, but it looks like the opening will be postponed for next spring. If Cora maintains the estimated growth rate, the French company's investments should exceed 500 million euros by 2010.
ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro ; laurentiu.ispir@zf.ro
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