The president of retailer Jerónimo Martins, Pedro Soares dos Santos, announced on Friday that the retailer’s Polish health and well-being chain Hebe will enter the markets of the Czech Republic and Slovakia this year, but did not go into detail.
On the investment and the number of units, Pedro Soares dos Santos, who was speaking in Lisbon at the press conference on the group’s results for 2019, gave no further information.
On the choice of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Pedro Soares dos Santos explained that it is due to the fact that they “border on Poland and therefore the logistical synergies are good”.
“We can’t forget one thing, we are online”, so “we are no longer in one country”, he added.
Hebe is expected to enter those two markets this year.
Hebe registered an increase in sales of 24.9% to €259 million (+25.9% in local currency) last year, “supported also by the encouraging start of the ‘e-commerce’ operation”, the group says in its statement of results.
“For Hebe, 2019 is marked as the year in which the company reached break-even in terms of EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation], as a result of a good performance in sales and the work carried out at the level of the margin mix”.
Jerónimo Martins is present in three markets – Portugal (Pingo Doce, Recheio), Poland (Biedronka, Hebe) and Colombia (Ara).
The Group recorded an increase in profit from 7.9% in 2019 to €433 million, with consolidated sales advancing 7.5% to €18,638 million.
