Alex Trelinski
SPAIN’S biggest supermarket chain, Mercadona, recorded a record net profit of just over €1 billion last year- up 40% on the 2022 total.
Sales grew by 15% to €35.5 billion, according to annual results presented by the company in Valencia on Tuesday.
Mercadona chairman and main shareholder, Juan Roig, said it had been the company’s ‘best year’.
He said the figures were driven by improved productivity; good tourist numbers; growth in Portugal; and more users of their online service.
Mercadona increased its share of the market by 0.6% to 27.6% in Spain in 2023, well ahead of other supermarkets, with Lidl next at 6.4%.
Roig says they are reaping the rewards of €10 billion of investments made since 2016 to refurbish their stores and logistics centres to make them more efficient.
He stated that 1,364 of its shops have been renovated and renovated in recent years, and are twice as profitable as the old units.
“We have changed the location of 400 stores and closed 130,” Roig said.
“Closing or relocating sites is one of the bravest and sometimes unpopular and annoying decisions I have had to make to increase efficiency,” he added.
Mercadona’s record results come at a time where food price increases have been making the headlines.
Roig said the company, which raised prices by an average of 10% in 2022, made reductions in a thousand products between April 2023 and February 2024.
These price cuts have contributed, according Roig, to the retailer gaining a 0.6% market share rise last year.
“Having profits is now very reviled, but having profits is a very good thing,” said the Mercadona chief.
“We are the ones who generate the wealth and the well-being of society depends on the number of honest businessmen it has,” he added
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