Metro spends 5 million euros on consolidation

Metro will invest 5 million euros in “consolidating” the stores it owns until next spring and will no longer rely on opening new outlets for growth.
“We intend to boost the number and quality of services, as well as the number of new products we will introduce in our store network. Therefore, we are going for a turnover growth that is based on this policy in 2006,” stated Delia Nica, corporate communication manager of Metro Cash & Carry Romania.
She added Metro Romania was expecting economic growth throughout the entire country, so that the number of customers targeted by Metro, that is professional clients who provide a large sales volume, would grow as well.
“The budget allocated to the consolidation of our stores is of up to 5 million euros and we will focus on consolidating the stores in Bucharest, Timisoara and Brasov, areas that have more professional customers,” Delia Nica explained. She says Metro’s turnover in 2005 rose by 20% while the company built its investment policy around new openings. The group expects at least the same growth for this year.
“Metro Cash & Carry’s turnover amounted to 1.039 billion euros in 2004 and to 1.245 billion euros in 2005. The growth occurred after the opening of three new stores, unlike this year, when turnover will have to go up without benefiting from additional sales area,” Delia Nica stated.
According to Metro Group’s report in 2005, the highest growth of the entire network was recorded by stores in SE Europe, among which Romania, given that Metro focused its expansion on the developing markets in this region, Russia and Asia.
Metro Group’s revenues last year stood at 55.7 billion euros. Metro’s Romanian network is currently employing nearly 6,800 people.