US: Aurora Grocery Group names Julio Ibáñez as new CEO
Hispanic grocery chain Aurora Grocery Group announced the appointment of Julio Ibáñez as the new CEO of the company, which operates 38 supermarkets under the Compare Foods, Gala Foods, and Gala Fresh banners, effective May 16.
Source: abasto.com
Couche-Tard in talks to combine with U.K. retailing giant: Report
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. is reportedly exchanging proposals in a multibillion-dollar combination with a British retailing giant that would feed its growth ambitions. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that talks between the owner of Circle K and privately held EB Group would value the latter at about US$16bln or more including debt. That's about US$1bln more than was suggested in September when the deal was first reported.
Source: canadiangrocer.com
US: Publix starts off fiscal 2022 with strong Q1 sales
Publix Super Markets tallied double-digit growth in both net and comparable sales for its fiscal 2022 first quarter, building on prior-year gains. Publix said that, for the quarter ended March 26, net sales came in at $13.2bln, up 13.5% from $11.7bln in the fiscal 2021, when the Lakeland, Florida-based grocer reported a 3.9% increase atop pandemic-fueled double-digit growth a year earlier. Same-store sales in the 2022 quarter climbed 11.7% year over year, combining with the 2021 quarter’s 2.4% uptick for 14.1% comp-sales growth on a 2-year stack.
Source: supermarketnews.com
US: Weis Markets reports first quarter 2022 results
Weis Markets, Inc. reported its financial results for the 13-week first quarter ended March 26, 2022. Net sales totaled $1.1bln for the 13-week first quarter ended March 26, 2022, compared to $1.0bln for the same period in 2021, up 9.7%. First quarter comparable store sales increased 9.4% on an individual year-over-year basis (accelerating sequentially from the fourth quarter 2021 increase of 6.9%) and increased 10.8% on a 2-year stacked basis. The Company's first quarter net income totaled $31.4mln compared to $24.3mln in 2021, up 29.4%. First quarter earnings per share totaled $1.17 compared to $0.90 per share for the same period in 2021.
Source: prnewswire.com
Mexico: FEMSA reports 12.7% drop in Q1 earnings, revenue grows
Mexican bottler and retailer Femsa posted a 12.7% decrease in first-quarter net profit, tallying 3.99bln pesos ($200mln) as it was hurt by the depreciation of the Mexican peso. Quarterly revenue for the company rose 18.6% year-over-year to 147.6bln pesos driven by a growth in all of its business units.
Source: reuters.com
How a Chinese e-grocer is delivering fresh foods fast in the world’s most competitive grocery market
Beijing-based Missfresh has built a robust business in China’s largest cities that relies on state-of-the-art dark stores and AI forecasting, but faces a challenging path as it looks to make money. Missfresh runs a fleet of “distributed mini warehouses” - strategically located fulfillment centers known as DMWs that serve as the foundation for the company’s efforts to rapidly bring fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and ready-to-eat foods to time-pressed consumers - in Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
Source: grocerydive.com
Australia: Woolworths says inflation is its main concern as Q3 sales jump
Australia's largest supermarket chain Woolworths Group Ltd said that managing the effects of inflation remained its main concern after fuel prices and supply chain blockages contributed to a surge in the value of third-quarter sales. The Sydney-listed grocer posted a 4.4% jump in food sales for the March quarter to A$11.4bln ($8.1bln), bettering rival Coles Group, as Australia's inflation grew at its fastest pace in 2 decades.
Source: reuters.com
New Zealand: Countdown prices increase by 3.6% on a year ago
Grocery prices have increased an average 3.6% across Countdown stores over the last year, as suppliers increased prices, the supermarket chain says. In the 3 months to March Countdown’s grocery prices rose an average 3.6% compared with the same period a year earlier, parent company Woolworths said in a statement to the ASX. Woolworths Group chief executive Brad Banducci said it had been a challenging quarter for the New Zealand part of the business.
Source: stuff.co.nz
Britain's McColl's set for shares suspension
Struggling British convenience shop chain McColl's said it is likely to request the listing of its shares be suspended on June 1 as it will not meet a deadline to publish its annual results by the end of May.
Source: reuters.com
Holland: Ahold Delhaize announces that Cycloon and bol.com received approval for strategic partnership
Ahold Delhaize announced that bol.com, its online retailer in the Benelux, and delivery expert Cycloon completed the transaction for a strategic partnership in which bol.com has become a majority shareholder of Cycloon. The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets has approved this transaction. Bol.com and Cycloon can now work towards the first joint delivery of a bol.com package, which is expected to happen in the second half of this year.
Source: aholddelhaize.com
Portuguese retailers seek VAT reduction on essential goods
The Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies (APED) has called on the government to reduce VAT on essential products. Speaking to Economia Online, the director general of APED, Gonçalo Lobo Xavier, said that the 2022 state budget proposal does not “adhere to reality”, as it was prepared in October and November 2021. In terms of consumer trends, Lobo Xavier notes an increasing appreciation of Portuguese products, which is especially visible in the fresh fruit and vegetable segment.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Alibaba looks to expand Southeast Asian arm Lazada to Europe - sources
Alibaba Group plans to expand its Southeast Asian arm Lazada to Europe, 2 sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as the Chinese e-commerce company seeks further overseas growth amid slowing opportunities at home.
Source: reuters.com
Denmark: Coop sees profits down in 2021, cites tough comparatives
Coop Denmark has reported a net profit of DKK585mln (€78.6mln) in its financial year 2021, a 24% decline on the previous year due to the elevated sales seen during the pandemic. In 2020, Coop Denmark reported a net profit of DKK777mln (€104.4mln). Its 2021 result is well up, however, on its 2019 profits of DKK392mln (€52.7mln).
Soource: esmmagazine.com
UK: Forgotten food costing families approx. £800 a year
New estimates show that the average British family is wasting approximately £800 worth of edible food a year with staples including bread, bananas and milk topping the bill of most binned items. A nationwide study by Tesco reveals 3 quarters of UK households (77%) say they throw away unopened or unused food, more than a third (37%) doing so on at least a monthly basis and a staggering half a million people are throwing away food they forgot to eat or never opened on a daily basis.
Source: tescoplc.com
Indian grocery startup Zepto raises new funds at $900mln valuation
Indian grocery startup Zepto said it has raised $200mln in fresh funding that values the company at around $900mln, signalling growing investor interest in a sector where companies are luring customers with quick 10-minute deliveries. Its latest funding round was led by an existing investor Y Combinator, a prominent Silicon Valley fund. It also saw participation from a new investor, U.S.-based healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente, and all of Zepto's key existing investors including Nexus Venture Partners, the company said in a statement.
Source: reuters.com