April 12 (SeeNews) - Greek toy retailer Jumbo on Tuesday announced a 12% year-on-year decrease in sales in Bulgaria in the first quarter of 2022, despite a 45% annual jump in turnover in March following the lifting of COVID-19 green certificate requirements for indoor activities in the country at the end of February.
Jumbo's nine stores in Bulgaria, of which four in the capital Sofia, remained closed for about a third of the total number of trading days in March, the Greek retailer said in its 2022 outlook guidance.
The company posted a 19.87% rise in turnover to 831.9 million euro ($904 million) last year, it said in its 2021 annual report also published on Tuesday. In Bulgaria alone, net sales inched up 0.5% to 81 million euro compared to 2020, accounting for 9.74% of the total turnover.
Earnings before tax in Bulgaria came in at 25.5 million euro last year against 21.8 million euro in 2020. Jumbo's total earnings before tax amounted to 263.1 million euro in 2021.
Earlier this month, the Greek company completed a 20 million euro capital decrease at its wholly-owned Bulgarian subsidiary, Jumbo EC. B. Ltd, returning capital to the parent company. The unit, which employs 751 staff, now has total share capital of 32.62 million euro.
In light of current market conditions, Jumbo forecast an annual increase of between 2% and 5% in total sales for the current year. The company's earnings before tax are expected to be in the range of 210-240 million euro, with net income projected to amount to 175-195 million euro.
"Despite the outstanding results of 2021 and the topline growth rate in the first quarter of 2022, the challenges and the uncertainty for the new year remain. There is no clear indication of improvement in the supply chain front while the freight cost remains at prohibitively high levels," Jumbo said in a separate statement.
With the group deriving 28% of its sales during the Christmas period, potential renewed restrictions due to resurgent COVID-19 waves in winter months, in particular in a low vaccination rate country such as Bulgaria, could negatively affect its results, the company noted.
Jumbo currently operates 82 stores, including 53 in Greece, 5 in Cyprus and 15 in Romania. A new store is scheduled to open in Romania by the end of 2022.
($1 = 0.9202 euro)