Annual report & review 2006 - Shopic.com

Review of 2006
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Our business in the Republic of Ireland
In 2006 our SuperValu and Centra brands generated
combined retail sales growth of 13 per cent to
€3.2 billion – a strong performance including growth
in market‐share in competitive trading conditions – and
during a year of just 1.8 per cent food price inflation in the
marketplace.
These results are, as ever, the outcome of hard work and
innovation from our local retailer partners, coupled with
even greater emphasis on offering consumers excellent
product range and choice, excellent value for money
and local, fresh, quality produce. They also reflect our
success at evolving our brands, store environments,
products and our community focused retail model, to
match the changing needs of Irish consumers.
In 2006 we greatly extended our fresh food offer
in response to the needs of time‐pressed and
health‐conscious consumers, along with introducing
in‐store innovations including smoothie and juice bars,
soup and salad bars, wokeries, hot ciabattas, a summer
eating range, electronic menu boards and free WiFi
access to name but a few.
Our business is all about responding to the rapidly
changing lifestyles of today’s consumer, to meet their
demand for easily accessible and convenient stores,
innovative local service and high‐quality food at the most
competitive prices.
A number of important milestones were achieved in
2006, including the opening of our 400th Centra store
– one of 47 new Centra outlets opened during the year.
These new businesses, along with the revamp of a further
64 Centra stores, represent an additional 141,000 square
feet of retail space and combined annual retail turnover
of €120 million, bringing more choice and convenience
to local communities and enhancing our overall buying
power and competitiveness. All in all, 2006 has been a
highly successful year for Centra – reflected in the 17 per
cent growth in retail sales to €1.2 billion.
SuperValu also had a record year with sales passing
the €2 billion turnover mark for the first time, an
increase of 11 per cent. This performance milestone
reflects our success at differentiating the SuperValu
brand. SuperValu’s strength in fresh food – particularly
Irish meat and produce – its honest and consistent
pricing resulting in a consistently keen value offer for
consumers, and the passion, expertise and flair of
our retail partners and their staff has delivered a very
satisfactory performance in 2006.
The continued appetite of our retailers to invest in
upgrading their store standards saw 16 existing stores
extended, adding 86,000 square feet of retail space at a
cost of €63 million.
In 2006, six new SuperValu supermarkets opened
in Lusk and Swords, County Dublin, Belgard Square
West, Tallaght, Dublin 24, as well as in Beechmount in
Navan, County Meath, Nenagh, County Tipperary and
Ballyconnell, County Cavan. These new stores represent
an investment of €36.5 million from a combined 70,000
square feet of new retail space. Our reach and scale was
further strengthened when the Pettitt’s supermarket
group joined the SuperValu family in January 2006.
Pettitt’s five stores mean an additional €85 million retail
turnover and 80,000 square feet of food retail space.
Our commitment to Irish based
producers is clear from combined
Irish retail sales of €1 billion of
fresh food over the past year.
Across our entire range, 75 per cent of everything
sourced was either produced or manufactured in Ireland
– representing a commitment to Irish suppliers of more
than €2.3 billion at retail level in 2006.
Our business in Northern Ireland
In a decade of trading in Northern Ireland with SuperValu
and Centra, we have established a network of more than
120 stores, all of which are now owned and operated by
independent retailers.
The performance of our business model, together with
our comprehensive range of retailer support services,
continues to attract progressive retailers to the Group,
with an additional 12 new stores and 13 new off licences
having opened in 2006. The business was further
strengthened by an additional £14 million investment in
new and existing stores during the year. ‡
Musgrave Group Plc Annual Report & Review 2006