Kaufland and G''market in the red in 2005

Kaufland and G”market, two of the international networks that are active on the retail market, closed last year in the red. The year 2005 had seen international players such as Carrefour and Praktiker turn a profit for the first time, while Metro, Selgros, Bricostore and Billa had been in the black for several years. The three stores opened by the German group Kaufland in Bucharest, Ramnicu-Valcea and Ploiesti posted turnover worth 15.6 million euros (56.6 million RON) last year, according to data published in the Official Gazette. The stores were opened in the last three months of last year and involved cumulated investments of some 27 million euros. This led to over 17 million euro (62.1 million RON) losses for Kaufland Romania, the company operating the stores. Whereas, in the case of Kaufland, the losses seen came as no surprise, the G”Market (formerly Gima) supermarket network went in the red in 2005, after posting profit a year before. Gimrom Holding, the company operating the G”market network, last year posted losses worth almost half a million euros, according to data published in the Official Gazette. ZF