Flamingo takes restructuring further

Flamingo International, the second biggest retailer of electronics and electrical home appliances on the market in terms of turnover, has given up the Future Shop store network and sold the last 6 stores to MCS Communications after it shut down another 12 shops this year. Flamingo representatives chose not to disclose the value of the deal. MCS Communications is part of the group of firms that also includes HAT Romania and Boom TV companies. “We made this decision in spring, after we assessed activities last year and made the decided to sell the stores in Serbia and Macedonia, where turnovers amounted to several million euros; a far too small value for the group’s overall activities. We had to review our activity and focus on Flanco and Flamingo,” stated Jiri Rizek, Flamingo International CEO. After operating for eight years on the markets of Macedonia and Serbia, Flamingo decided to sell the stores and distribution activities to a local player and invest in the development of the Romanian network. Rizek estimates the investment budget required to open a new Flanco World store is more than five million euros, with the number of stores expected to reach 19-20 by the end of the year. In the first six months of this year Flamingo posted losses of 4.8m euros, amid a 7.4% drop in turnover, to 67.9m euros.