French retailer Carrefour came out second, pushing Metro Cash&Carry to third place in the sixth edition of the “Top 100 Most Valuable Companies in Romania” report compiled by ZF and boutique investment bank Capital Partners.
This ranking includes five retailers (Kaufland, Carrefour, Metro Cash&Carry, Selgros Cash&Carry, Cora), put at EUR1.7 billion together. German-held Kaufland, part of the Schwartz group, became the most valuable company in Romanian retail this year, leaving Metro Cash &Carry behind.
Moreover, while the valuations of its rivals were also lower than in 2010 (Metro), the same as last year (Carrefour) or caused them to even leave the chart (Real), Kaufland was put at EUR496 million, 17.8% higher than in 2010.
This comes after the German-held company took the lead from Carrefour as the largest retail network on the local market, posting 4.67 billion lei (EUR1.07 billion) in revenue, up 26% on the previous year.
Therefore the company became the second leading player in the modern retail. Still, Metro Cash&Carry remained in the lead by sales, EUR1.256 billion.
Kaufland was also the most profitable modern retailer last year, as its profit reached RON172 million (EUR39.5 million) in 2010, more than the double the 2009 level, about RON79 million (EUR18.1 million).
The company is one of the most discreet on the local market, and the only information available about its financial performance can be found on the Finance Ministry’s website.
Kaufland has been among the most aggressive retailers this year, opening over 10 stores for a total of almost 70.
The retailer entered the Romanian market in 2005 and has managed to cover most of the counties until now. It has the largest chain of large format stores (hypermarkets and cash&carry stores). Kaufland, which operates on the hypermarket segment (an about EUR3.5 billion market) along with Carrefour, Cora, Real and Auchan has a network three times the size of Carrefour’s and ten times the size of Cora and Auchan’s. Unlike the other networks, Kaufland’s stores are discount hypermarkets.
The second most valuable retailer, Carrefour, the company which operates the hypermarkets by the same name, chose a wait and see attitude over the last three years and the number of openings dropped significantly compared with the boom years.
Whereas in 2008, the last year of economic boom, the company opened ten stores, it had only one opening in 2009 and 2010 and three announced for this year.
This cautious expansion policy will end next year, considering Francois Melchior de Polignac, the new general manager of the French retailer on the Romanian market, announced big plans for expansion, similar to those during the boom years.
Metro Cash&Carry lost the position of most valuable company in Romanian retail this year, as it was put at EUR351 million, about one third less than in 2010. The value of the retailer in 2008 was EUR1 billion.
Metro decided to shelve expansion plans in the current economy, so that it did not open any new store in the first eleven months of the year. Still, it did announce it would open two smaller stores, Metro Punct, by the end of the year.
The main rival for Metro on the cash&carry market is Selgros Cash&Carry Romania. The company resumed expansion on this market after almost two years and opened its nineteenth store in this country in Constanta, which is also its second in the city.
Selgros has been one of the most cautious retailers on the market since its entry about a decade ago, during which time it only opened 18 stores, that is fewer than two stores a year. Its chief executive, Alexandra Vlad, says it will continue to move slowly, having only two stores planned for the next five years.
Last among the most valuable retailers in Romania is Cora, which owns the most profitable stores in the country, though. The French-held company plans to open 20 to 25 stores in the next three or four years, so that it would catch up with the top hypermarket operators by network size.
Cora was valued at EUR112 million, reentering the most valuable company ranking after a one-year hiatus. It posted EUR327.8 million revenue last year, down almost 1% from 2009. (EUR1=RON4.3534)