Univers'all supermarket network posted a turnover worth over 23 million euros in the first six months of the year, a 30% increase against last year.
"We have budgeted a turnover worth over 51 million euros by the end of the year. After the first six months, we are on schedule, with a turnover worth over 23 million euros," says Lucian Onaga, financial manager of Univers'all.
Summer months have caused the sales to slow down, as has happened in the last few years, as well, explains Onaga. However, he expects business to pick up this autumn.
"We are expecting to see a net profit of 2% of the turnover at the end of the year, due to the investment programme that is being carried out," says the company's financial manager, specifying that things are "on schedule" in this respect, too.
The Univers'all network of stores currently operates 11 stores, in Bucharest and in other cities, both under the Univers'all brand and under the Uni'all brand (which includes neighbourhood, small-sized stores).
In the next few months, the network will expand by a further three outlets, according to the officials, to towns like Sfantu Gheorghe, Sighisoara and Tarnaveni. "Each store will have a surface area of 600 square metres on the average. Under the circumstances, the total cost of the project for all three stores will stand at approximately two million euros," explained Onaga.
He specified that the space would be rented, and that the funding of the investments would be covered both by means of bank credits and through contributions by the shareholders.
Onaga specified that they would also use a form of equipment leasing in order to provide the store with the necessary equipment, but did not offer further details. The Univers'all network has been developed and run since 2002 by businessman Razvan Petrescu, who controlled the GFS group, operating in the consumer goods business.
Later, the reigns of the company were turned over to expats like Patrick Iffly, who had been operations manager at Carrefour Romania for four years, or Serdar Savci, former general manager of the Gima store network. The supermarket is the most developed form of retail trade in Romania and last year accounted for 15% of the total consumption-related expenditures on a national level and 21% of total consumption-related expenditures in Bucharest, according to data from the GfK research company.
The biggest supermarket network on the local market last year was Billa, a part of the German group Rewe. The supermarket network posted a turnover worth 250 million euros last year, a 66% increase against the previous year.
Apart from Rewe, there are also other international players present on the supermarkets segment in Romania.
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