Jumbo maintains investment plan for Romania despite lower H1 sales

Jumbo is focused on strengthening its presence in the Romanian market, and will open a hyperstore in Sibiu before this Christmas and will inaugurate two more units in 2023, as announced in April, it said in a press release on Monday.

Furthermore, the online store in Romania is expected to begin its operations.

Sales on the Romanian market were 7.2% lower on the year at 67.5 million euro ($67.3 million) during the first semester, while pre-tax profit was 2% higher year-on-year at 23.87 million euro.

Jumbo's sales in Romania represented some 19% of the group’s January-June turnover. The Romanian market generated 27.5% of its total earnings before taxes, financial and investment results in the first half of the year.

"For 2024, investment decisions have been postponed for now, due to the uncontrolled increase in costs and the likely side-effects this may have on the effect of any of our future investment options," Jumbo said.

At the end of June, Jumbo employed 1,249 in 15 hyperstores in Romania. The company operated 82 stores in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania and two online stores, in Greece and Cyprus, as at the end of June 2022.

The company is also present through collaborations, with 30 stores operating under the Jumbo brand in Albania, Kosovo, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro.

($=1.0028 euro)