Jumbo: Entering Israel in September and four new stores

By George Lampiris

After September 2022, the franchise agreement concluded by the Jumbo group with the retail company, Fox-Wizel, regarding the activation of the trademark of the Greek consumer goods company in Israel, will begin to be implemented, as specifically stated by the president of Jumbo, Apostolos Vakakis, on the sidelines of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. “In Israel the agreement is in the form of a franchise, so we do not have any investment activity there. We have assigned the franchise and if everything develops based on what our partner said, after September 2022 we will have opened the first store in Israel.”

As for the Capex of the group, this amounts to 50-60 million euros per year, with Apostolos Vakakis pointing out that it remains “active and intact”. He added that Capex is in place and active to give growth when market conditions normalize, while stressing that the group’s dividend policy is not affected by Capex, noting that the management intends to continue with the same distribution policy. high dividends in the years 2022 and 2023. We remind that for the year 2021 the dividend was 0.77 euros gross per share, while the group proceeds to the extraordinary cash distribution of profits from previous years with a gross amount of 0.3850 something that decided in yesterday general meeting of shareholders.

Two new stores in Romania, one in Mytilene and one in Cyprus

Investmently, Jumbo is going to create two new stores in Romania within 2022, with Apostolos Vakakis considering the opening of the eshop in this country quite possible. He noted that the operation of the online store in Romania has been suspended so far, due to a lack of sufficient goods due to the global crisis in the supply chain. At the same time, he stated that the basic condition for its activation is the delivery of the machines related to this investment and added that “it is something out of our control”. “We have received promises that we will be able to participate in the eshop in our turnover during the last quarter of the year, however we should not take it into account in cash and take it for granted. These are answers that will be given after the third quarter of the current financial year. year “.

In addition, the group plans to operate two physical stores, the first of which will be located in Mytilene and will open its doors at Easter and the second in Cyprus.

The container industry in 2022 will have more profits than Google and Microsoft combined

Mr. Vakakis spoke, among other things, about the serious disruptions in the supply chain from last November until now. He even said that his company chooses to stop buying up to 25% of the products imported from the Far East, when they do not meet a satisfactory price-product ratio and the price increases are beyond reason.

As he put it: “When it comes to foreclosure, where price-to-product ratios are not in the consumer’s favor, it is a choice that goes hand in hand with the quintessence of the Jumbo strategy. It is certainly a parameter, but just as important is the desire of the partners in the supply chain to enjoy profits beyond any logic for the activity they provide. To give an idea, the container industry in 2022 will be more profitable than Google and Microsoft together, simply maintaining a basic technology of a cargo ship, with a box machine. we believe that market forces and the final consumer will react “.

Up to 25% less products from the Far East

Mr. Vakakis said that the group will reduce the number of products that show strong price increases from its range to the normalization of transport costs. “I do not know how long this will take and I would not be surprised if the interruption of supply of these codes was up to 25% of the products from the Far East. Some of them will be replaced by products from other countries with lower transport costs and for another “part of products will be postponed their reactivation in the Greek market, when logic and ‘fair price’ return to the system”, he noted characteristically.

The turnover of 2021 is at 832 million – The turnover of 2019 is at 848 million euros

It is noted that sales on a consolidated basis for the Jumbo group in 2021 increased by 19.87%, as a result of the defense policy pursued in its markets as well as due to the management of existing inventories. This practically means that the sales amounted to 831.9 million euros, but less than those of 2019 by about 16 million euros.

Recall that respectively the turnover during the year 2020 for the group was 694.03 million euros, reduced by 18.15% in a period when the stores were closed for a long time due to restrictive measures against Covid- 19. Also in 2019 sales were 847.94 million euros.

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