Mercator's Net Profit Down 21.6% in 2011
Ljubljana, 19 January (STA) - The group around Slovenia's No 1 retailer
Mercator made a EUR 23.8m net profit in 2011, down 21.6% year-on-year,
while its sales revenues increased by 5.4% to EUR 2.93bn. The group's net
profit is expected to decrease by further 34% this year, the company said
on Thursday.
The group's net profit decreased in 2011 because of the increasingly
difficult economic situation in the second half of the year, the negative
trend of the Serbian dinar and the Croatian kuna in the last quarter of
2011, and because of the extra investments needed for price
competitiveness, the company said.
The supervisory board of Mercator,
which was in session today, moreover adopted the group's business plan for
2012, which will be adjusted quarterly because of the uncertain situation
on the markets.
The group expects to make EUR 15.7m in net profit in
2012, which is 34% less than last year, because of the strained economic
situation which will also lead to fewer investments. The retailer curbed
its investment plan, which will amount to a total of some EUR
88.5m.
Net sales revenues, on the other hand, are to exceed EUR 3bn,
up 3.3% year-on-year, this being in line with Mercator's marketing
activities and business plans of the company's subsidiaries in
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia.
Planning on selling EUR 250m-worth of
its real estate, the company said today that it would spend that money to
reduce its debt.
The Ljubljana-based group, which employed 24,267
people at the end of 2011, more than 12,000 of them in Slovenia, is not
planning major changes in the number of workers this year.
