Romanian retailer Profi's turnover rises 11% in 2023

Profi's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation as per the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) climbed by an annual 17% last year, reaching 690 million lei, the retailer said in a press release on Tuesday.

Profi opened 87 new stores in 2023, the most among Romanian retailers.

"As mentioned every year, for us the net result is not significant, as it is influenced by the factors specific to a company that has gone through successive waves of M&A, with a very high goodwill that only according to local accounting standards is amortized and has an artificially negative impact of hundreds of millions of lei on the net result. However, according to international IFRS standards, this goodwill is not amortized and therefore does not negatively influence the net result," explained Andrei Bica, chief financial officer at Profi Rom Food.

In October 2023, private equity firm MidEuropa agreed to sell Profi Rom Food for about 1.3 billion euro to Netherlands-headquartered grocery retailer Ahold Delhaize, which owns the Romanian Mega Image supermarket chain. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in 2024. Profi was acquired by MidEuropa in 2017.

Profi is the largest private employer in Romania, with almost 28,000 staff working in more than 1,713 own stores and partner stores.

(1 euro=4.9745 lei)