Review of <strong>2006</strong> 16 Our business in the Republic of Ireland In <strong>2006</strong> our SuperValu and Centra brands generated <strong>com</strong>bined retail sales growth of 13 per cent to €3.2 billion – a strong performance including growth in market‐share in <strong>com</strong>petitive trading conditions – and during a year of just 1.8 per cent food price inflation in the marketplace. These results are, as ever, the out<strong>com</strong>e 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 <strong>com</strong>munity focused retail model, to match the changing needs of Irish consumers. In <strong>2006</strong> 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 <strong>com</strong>petitive prices. A number of important milestones were achieved in <strong>2006</strong>, 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 <strong>com</strong>bined annual retail turnover of €120 million, bringing more choice and convenience to local <strong>com</strong>munities and enhancing our overall buying power and <strong>com</strong>petitiveness. All in all, <strong>2006</strong> 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 <strong>2006</strong>. 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 <strong>2006</strong>, 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 <strong>com</strong>bined 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 <strong>2006</strong>. Pettitt’s five stores mean an additional €85 million retail turnover and 80,000 square feet of food retail space. Our <strong>com</strong>mitment to Irish based producers is clear from <strong>com</strong>bined 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 <strong>com</strong>mitment to Irish suppliers of more than €2.3 billion at retail level in <strong>2006</strong>. 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 <strong>com</strong>prehensive 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 <strong>2006</strong>. The business was further strengthened by an additional £14 million investment in new and existing stores during the year. ‡ Musgrave Group Plc <strong>Annual</strong> Report & Review <strong>2006</strong>
Our business is all about responding to the rapidly changing lifestyles of today’s consumer, to meeting their demand for easily accessible and convenient stores 17 Musgrave Group Plc <strong>Annual</strong> Report & Review <strong>2006</strong>
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