May 13 (SeeNews) - Slovenian retailer Mercator [LJE:MELR] said on Wednesday it turned to a consolidated net profit of 4.1 million euro ($4.7 million) in the first quarter of 2015 from a loss of 8.5 million euro a year earlier.
Consolidated revenues edged up 0.6% on the year to 628.7 million euro through March, the Slovenian retailer, which has operations abroad in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro, said in a financial report.
Mercator's revenue in Slovenia dropped by 0.5% while in Montenegro it was lower by 2.2% on the year in the first quarter of 2015.
Following the acquisition last year of a majority stake in Mercator by Croatian privately-held Agrokor, the Slovenian retailer took over the operations in Serbia of Agrokor's unlisted retail arm, Konzum, and now manages retail units there under the Roda, Mercator and Idea formats. Revenues in Serbia rose by over 77% on the year and accounted for a 35.2% share of the group's total revenues through March.
In Croatia and Bosnia, first-quarter revenue was notably lower as a result of the transfer of Mercator's retail units there to Konzum. Most of Mercator's revenue in these two markets was generated at the Modiana and Intersport units and from real estate activity.
At the end of March, Mercator Group - which expects to turn to a consolidated net profit of 59.6 million euro in 2015 on revenues of 2.8 billion euro, operated a total of 1,463 stores in Southeast Europe.
($=0.8797 euro)
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