Jerónimo Martins (JM) sales grew 21.5% to €25.4 billion in 2022, the Pedro Soares dos Santos-led group said in a statement sent to the Commission on the Securities Market (CMVM).
In the document, Geronimo Martins writes that “over the course of the year, higher food inflation was also a factor in the recorded performance.”
“While not ignoring the role of inflation, I am very pleased to have recorded exceeding the €25 billion sales mark in the year that Geronimo Martins celebrated 230 years in business,” the JM president wrote in the statement, “in the year that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine added to the pressure.” on supply chains as well as the upward trend in prices that has been recorded since the second half of 2021. The Polish Biedronka chain once again becomes the aircraft carrier of the Portuguese group, with a net turnover of 17.6 billion euros, which is about 70% of the total.
In Portugal, Pingo Doce also earned more: net sales amounted to 4.5 billion, an increase of 11.2% compared to 2021. Growth was greatest in the Cash & Carry Recheio chain, which saw sales increase by 27.7% to 1.16 billion euros. JM writes that “in Portugal, a general rise in prices, which has led to food inflation reaching 13.0%, put pressure on household disposable income and led to lower volumes of food consumption and a strong trend towards ‘downward trading’”.
In terms of percentage of sales development, the star of the company was the Colombian Ara, jumping 60.5% to €1.77 billion.
The group president writes that “in Colombia, the focus on growth has led Ara to consolidate its price position, invest in the quality and differentiation of the offer, and accelerate the expansion of the store network, having already opened this past quarter its 1,000th symbolic store”.
The results are therefore in line with figures presented last Wednesday by Bloomberg Intelligence, which in a research note predicted growth of more than 20% to around 25 billion euros. For 2023, estimates point to a further increase of up to €28 billion.