It has been known for a while that the supermarket chains CBA and Coop want to take over the Hungarian branches of the Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize together. If this actually happens, CBA will be the new number 1 among the Hungarian supermarket chains. The food branch didn't make much profit in 2010, only Tesco and Penny managed to end in the black, as per the Hungarian company information service Opten.

In four out of the ten investigated hypermarkets, supermarkets and discounters turnover was lower in 2010 than in 2009. Tesco had the largest turnover, namely 583.6 billion forints (Hungarian currency). This is an increase of 1.8% compared to the year before. CBA and Coop were in second and third place, but are hard to compare to other shop chains, as they consist of multiple small businesses and have no concrete figures of the whole group they wished to reveal to Opten. But CBA has revealed a yearly turnover of 555 billion forint (+1.3%). Coop has improved its turnover to 510 billion forint. When Coop and CBA actually take over the Delhaize supermarkets, CBA would be the new number 1 among Hungarian supermarkets. Plans have already been made concerning the dividing of the branches, if this division remains CBA would be the new market leader, just above Tesco.

Financial experts of the Crédit Agricole Corporate and the Investment Bank predict that the smaller town shops, supermarkets and discounters will have the largest turnover increase in the long term. Hypermarkets at the edge of town however will have difficulties. Due to the increasing gas prices it's no longer profitable to drive to the edge of town for lower prices. But this isn't the only reason, hypermarkets are also losing attractiveness because consumers are spending less money on non-food items and sustainable consumer goods. Special offers and cheap prices will therefore attract less people. 2010 was everything but a good year for the food trade. Only two out of ten investigated supermarkets handed over positive results to Opten: Tesco and Penny. But their profits were also lower than in 2009.

Source: www.budapester.hu