Alibaba buys World First, eyes Metro China investment
Alibaba subsidiary Ant Financial says it plans to buy UK-headquartered money-transfer company WorldFirst. And in separate news, the Chinese e-commerce behemoth is in discussions over investing in the Metro China wholesale retail business. The WorldFirst deal will allow Ant Financial to gain market share in Europe’s fintech and payments industries and will give it an established retail network of currency-exchange stores covering cities including Sydney, Australia; London and Amsterdam, as well as throughout Asia. It has 600 employees in seven international offices and claims to have exchanged more than US$67bln for 130,000 customers since its launch in 2004. Meanwhile, Alibaba is in talks to buy a share of German wholesaler Metro AG’s Chinese business, according to several sources in contact with Reuters. Neither company has confirmed or denied the talks are underway and Reuters stressed they are at an early stage and may break down. Metro China operates 95 stores and struggled to achieve profitability in the market until recently. Metro sales in Asia rose 7% to US$1.17bln in the December quarter.
Source: insideretail.asia
Poland: Dino concludes investment loan agreements
Polish retail group Dino Polska has announced the completion of two investment loan agreements with PKO BP, the country's largest bank, of PLN 80mln (€18.5mln) and PLN 70mln (€16.2mln) respectively. The loans will finance the further development of the group's store network, as well as its logistics facilities, Polish trade publication dlahandlu.pl reports. The loans were granted for the period from February 11, 2019 to August 11, 2026. Dino Group previously announced its intention to have more than 1,200 stores in operation by the end of 2020, up from the 977 outlets it operated as of the end of 2018.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Investment firm Kinnevik buys into Swedish online grocer MatHem
Kinnevik is spending 900mln Swedish crowns ($97mln) to buy a 38% stake in MatHem, an online domestic grocery retailer that it sees benefiting from more Swedes shopping online for food items, the investment company said. The investment will include 400mln crowns in capital and 500mln in secondary shares and will give it exposure to a grocer that completed over 1mln deliveries last year, Kinnevik said as it fourth quarter results.
Source: uk.reuters.com
Amazon faces probe into treatment of sellers in Austria
Austria’s competition authority has begun investigating whether Amazon is exploiting its market dominance in relation to other retailers that use its website as a marketplace, it said. This follows a similar move by German authorities, which announced an investigation in November. The Austrian regulator said it would examine terms and conditions under which the U.S. online giant grants Austrian vendors access to its marketplace. “There is a suspicion that Amazon puts other retailers on a disadvantage on its marketplace, thereby trying to favor its own offerings”, it said in a statement.
Source: reuters.com
Hungary: MediaMarkt to enter nine Tesco outlets
MediaMarkt is to take over the electronics goods business in nine Tesco outlets in Hungary, following the decision by competition authorities to approve the partnership, according to reports. The move follows MediaMarkt's partnership with Carrefour Polska last year, as the group seeks to develop its store-in-store concept. Tesco operates 112 stores in Hungary.
Source: esmmagazine.com
France: The Casino Group signs an agreement with Compass Group to sell R2C, its contract catering services
The Casino Group announced the signature of an agreement with Compass Group providing for the sale of Casino's contract catering services, R2C. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the first half of 2019, subject to consultation with the employee representative bodies and the approval of the French Competition Authority. With this operation, the Casino Group is pursuing the initiatives already under way to significantly increase its profitability and strengthen its financial profile, in line with its strategic priorities.
Source: globenewswire.com
Italy: Carrefour online shopping is easy with Auto-Add
Carrefour Italia enriches the online shopping experience on Carrefour.it thanks to the Auto-Add feature, which allows the customer to set the frequency with which their favorite products will be added automatically to the digital cart. The new Auto-Add feature is added to the other services already available on e-commerce Carrefour.it and offers the customer a new customer journey, speeded up, optimized and simplified. Thanks to a simple click, the customer can in fact set the frequency (at every order, weekly, monthly) and the quantity of products without having to worry about adding them to the cart.
Source: internationalsupermarketnews.com
UAE supermarket chain Al Maya group to launch products from Woolworths Australia
Australian food and beverage products will be on the dinner tables of families across the UAE after the New South Wales (NSW) Government, Australia, assisted Australian supermarket Woolworths in securing an export partnership with the Al Maya Group. Australian Ambassador to the UAE, HE Arthur Spyrou, said Woolworths is launching ninety products - including sauces, condiments, biscuits, confectionery, canned fruit and juices - into the UAE, most produced by Australian manufacturers under the Woolworths brand. “This news will see world class Australian food and beverage products being sold in up to eight Al Maya supermarkets across Abu Dhabi and Dubai”, Mr Spyrou said.
Source: zawya.com
CEO Aldi Belgium promoted to board Aldi Nord
Current Aldi Belgium CEO Hendrik Van de Walle is promoted to the discounter's international level as he becomes a member of the board of Aldi Nord. This way, the board becomes ever more international. The 60 year old Belgian becomes a member of the board of directions on 1 March. Van de Walle has been working for Aldi for over 35 years, leading Aldi Belgium successfully for the last few years. His task in the international board will be stimulating the group's European development. The discounter is yet to reveal the name of Van de Walle's successor as CEO for Belgium.
Source: retaildetail.eu
Walmart in Mexico squeezes suppliers, profits jump in quarter
Mexico’s largest retailer Wal Mart de Mexico blew past analyst expectations to report an 11% rise in fourth-quarter net profit, citing growth in Mexico where efficiencies and cost reductions boosted profit margins. The company known as Walmex grew its quarterly gross margin, a metric of profitability and efficiency, in Mexico by 30 basis points, to 22.5%. “Our buyers are doing great work, and are negotiating in a more efficient way with our suppliers, which has allowed us to keep our leader position in price and improve profitability”, Walmex said in a statement. For Mexico and Central America, the quarter generated 11.8bln pesos ($598mln) in net profit and 177.4bln pesos in revenue. Analysts had only expected net profit to rise about 1.9%, according to a Reuters poll of five analysts.
Source: reuters.com
US: Hy-Vee has big plans for fresh-focused, small-format Fast & Fresh concept
Roughly two months after opening its first store under the format in Davenport, Iowa, Midwest grocer Hy-Vee Inc. has launched its first Fast & Fresh location in the Des Moines area, the Des Moines Register reported. And the West Des Moines, Iowa-based grocer has plans for more locations. In addition to the new store in Altoona, Iowa, Hy-Vee is planning to open two more locations "soon," the news outlet stated. One will be in West Des Moines, south of the freestanding Hy-Vee HealthMarket that opened last summer in the Jordan Creek Town Center, and the other in Des Moines.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
Amazon cancels plans for New York HQ2Amazon has pulled out of its plans to open one of two second-headquarters (HQ2) locations in New York, following local complaints, The New York Times has reported. The Seattle-based ecommerce giant canceled plans for a development in the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City after "facing an unexpectedly fierce backlash from some lawmakers and unions", the news outlet reported, noting that the company's promised $3bln in government incentives weren't deserved. Despite increasing support for the company of late, many critics opposed Amazon's New York entry due to its "anti-union practices and for the changes they feared it would bring to [the borough of] Queens," including gentrification and damage to the borough's identity.
Source: progressivegrocer.com