Costco Wholesale Corporation (“Costco” or the “Company”) reported net sales of $10.81bln for the retail month of April, the four weeks ended May 6, 2018, an increase of 13.1% from $9.56bln last year. For the thirty-five weeks of fiscal year 2018 ended May 6, 2018, the Company reported net sales of $92.24bln, an increase of 12.2% from $82.24bln last year. This year’s four-week April retail month had one additional shopping day versus last year, due to the calendar shift of Easter. This positively impacted total and comparable April sales by an estimated 1 and 1,5 to 2%.Source: globenewswire.com
US: Supervalu completes sale and leaseback of 7 distribution centers
Supervalu Inc. announced it has completed the sale and leaseback of 7 of its distribution centers as part of the previously announced agreement to sell 8 of its owned warehouses. With the sale of these 7 facilities now complete, Supervalu has entered into lease agreements for each facility for an initial term of 20 years with five five-year renewal options. The sale and leaseback of the 8th property is expected to be completed by October as originally intended. The sale of all 8 facilities represents approximately 5.8mln square feet with an aggregate purchase price, excluding closing costs and taxes, of approximately $483mln. Net proceeds from the sales will be used to reduce outstanding debt including, and as required, the payoff of a mortgage related to one of the properties sold and a mandatory prepayment of Supervalu’s secured term loan. Supervalu also intends to use net proceeds for a partial redemption of its outstanding senior unsecured notes due in 2021.Source: businesswire.com
US: Online grocery shopping debuts in Cullman
Grocery shopping at either of Cullman's Walmart locations is now more convenient after both stores launched a free grocery pickup program. Customers can take advantage of the free service by going to walmart.com/grocery to fill their cart and reserve a pickup time for a store associate to bring the groceries directly to their car. In a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Olive Street Walmart Supercenter, store manager David Roberts introduced the program. "With grocery pickup, people will be able to save a lot of the time that they would usually spend in the store and will instead have their groceries waiting for them as soon as they get to the store", Roberts said.Source: cullmantimes.com
Lidl US store gets GreenChill platinum certification
German discounter Lidl, which began opening stores in the U.S. last year, confirmed that it has received platinum certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s GreenChill Partnership for a store in Kinston, Nort Carolina. Platinum is the highest certification that the GreenChill Partnership grants a supermarket, based on either extremely low charge and leak rates for HFC refrigeration systems or the use of refrigerants with a GWP under 150. GreenChill has typically awarded platinum certification to stores that use natural refrigerant systems like transcritical CO2.Source: hydrocarbons21.com
US: Ingles reports 'strong sales performance' in Q2
Crediting tax reform, a rise in gas sales and Easter’s occurrence in March, Southeastern regional grocer Ingles Markets Inc. reported "strong sales performance" during the second quarter of fiscal 2018. During the period, which ended March 31, net sales reached $984.6mln, a 4.1% increase from the $946.2mln logged last year. Net income totaled $9.3mln for the second quarter of fiscal 2018, compared with $9.2mln for the year-ago period. Net sales came to $2bln and net income was $54.4mln for the six months ended March 31, versus $1.93bln and $23mln, respectively, last year.Source: progressivegrocer.com
Costco China planning first store
Costco China plans to open its first store in China next year, even as other international retailers like Lotte and Tesco scale back because of market barriers and disappointing sales. The American wholesale giant has signed an agreement with state-owned Shanghai Pudong Kangqiao Group to set up the headquarters of its Chinese business in Kangqiao, in Shanghai’s Pudong district, according to local media reports. Costco is also opening a membership retail club store with Shenzhen-based real-estate firm Galaxy Holding.Source: insideretail.asia
UK: Co-op outlines plans for Nisa
The Co-op says Nisa members will have access to price reductions of up to 20% across some lines, have access to more than 800 Co-op own-brand lines, and 100 new branded lines following the merger of the two groups. Nisa members will also be given access to Co-op promotions, which will be specially selected to grow trade in their stores. The specific details of the price reductions will be shared with retailers in the coming weeks, the Co-op added. In addition, the new-look Nisa executive team will meet with retailers at six regional roadshows to be held in June. The roadshows will also look at the issue of new franchisees.Source: talkingretail.com
Italy’s retail sales drop in March
Italy’s retail sales decreased in March after recovering a month ago, the statistical office Istat showed. Retail sales value fell 0.2% month-on-month in March, reversing a 0.7% rise in February. Food sales grew 0.6% in March, while non-food sales decreased 0.7%. On a yearly basis, retail sales value advanced 2.9%, faster than the 0.1% drop in February. This was the biggest growth since September 2017.Source: hellenicshippingnews.com
Intermarché Poland posts 11.4% increase in turnover in Q1
Poland's Grupę Muszkieterów, which is part of the France-headquartered Mousquetaires Group, has announced that its Intermarché banner generated more than PLN1.2bln (€281.3mln) in turnover in the first quarter of 2018. This is an increase of 11.4% compared to the previous year. Marc Dherment, the business' director general, commented, “The calendar layout in the first quarter of this year strongly favoured our food business. The next three months will probably not be so favourable due to the number of Sundays where the trade ban will be applied.Source: esmmagazine.com
Sweden’s ICA sees domestic sales down in April
Swedish retailer ICA has posted a 3.2% decrease in like-for-like sales in April, reporting sales of SEK9.34bln for the month. Sales in the four-month period January to April 2018 were up 2.6% to SEK37.2bln, however. ICA Gruppen estimates the calendar effect for April to be -5.4%, owing to the earlier Easter this year. All of the group’s store banners posted like-for-like declines in the period; Maxi ICA Stormarknad was down 4.9% to SEK2.86bln; ICA Kvantum fell 2.7% to SEK2.28bln; ICA Supermarket saw a 3.3% decline to SEK2.8bln and ICA Nära saw a 0.5% decline to SEK1.4bln.Source: esmmagazine.com
Holland: Albert Heijn to ban plastic fruit & vegetable bags from supermarkets
Albert Heijn wants to stop using plastic bags in its fruit and vegetable departments. The Dutch supermarket chain will start experimenting with alternatives in 10 stores this summer, a spokesperson for Albert Heijn said to RTL Nieuws. "Reducing plastic has had our attention for some time", the spokesperson said. "The so-called loop bags at the cash register have become thinner and smaller, so we save about 10 percent of plastic, and containers with soft fruit now have plastic foil as a lid instead of a hard plastic lid."Source: nltimes.nl