SPAR International reports global sales growth of 7.4%
SPAR International saw its sales climb by 7.4% to €39.8 billion in 2020 as it continued to expand into new markets.
At the end of the year, there were 13,501 SPAR branded stores operating across 48 markets worldwide in five regions.
In the 16 Western European markets where SPAR has a presence, sales grew by 12% to €25.48 billion to account for 64% of SPAR’s global turnover. Some of the best performing countries included Austria and the Netherlands where sales rose by 16% and 23.5% respectively.
Continued expansion by the 11 SPAR countries operating across Central and Eastern Europe helped like-for-like sales increase by 8.9% on 2019 in the region. Like-for-like sales grew by 6.8% in Russia with the success driven by a multi-format expansion.
Meanwhile, sales in Africa and the Middle East edged up 2.8% to €6.2 billion after the retailer deepened its presence in the region. The Asia Pacific region also put in a solid performance after SPAR Australia achieved revenue growth of 16.5%.
Tobias Wasmuht, chief executive of SPAR International, said: “The response to the COVID-19 pandemic succeeded in highlighting the collective strength of the SPAR worldwide organisation, the competitive advantages of the SPAR multi-format strategy and the critical role of independent retailing in societies and communities across the globe.
“Our continuous compound annual growth of 5.64% in the period between 2016 and 2020 creates a strong platform to build from for the future and indicates that our ‘Better Together’ strategy continues to deliver sustainable growth.”
