BULGARIAN NEWS

 The sales of the “Piccadilly” supermarket chain grew by 2.2% in 2014. The number of customers increased by 6%, compared to 2013, said the company in a media statement. The number of clients during the Christmas holidays grew by 10%. The sales in the same period rose by 6% year-on-year.Whiskey posted the highest growth in the period – by 73%, compared to 2013. Next are...

Panos Markis becomes the new general director of “Bella Bulgaria” in Bulgaria, Romania and Greece. He will be responsible for the fulfillment of the food holding's business plans, focusing on the food innovation and penetration in new international market.sMarkis has a significant experience in managing companies in Southeastern Europe. He has been executive and commercial...

The Czech Wine market is flooded by bootleg spirits, leading winemaker Bohemia Sekt says. In an interview with the Czech news agency ČTK, Bohemia Sekt’s marketing and sales director, Petr Černý said that between 20 and 30 percent of wine consumed in the Czech Republic comes from the black market. “The quality of such wine is often terrible and the product...

The Hungarian unit of UK retail chain operator Tesco will close 13 loss-makin shops, mainly outside of the capital, from February, conservative daily Magyar Nemzet said. Tesco Global Áruházak, which operates 222 units in Hungary, plans to close further shops later in 2015. Calculations show the 13 shop closures could lead to close to 1,000 lay-offs. The plans...

Marinopoulos, Carrefour’s exclusive franchise holder in Greece, has acquired 51% interest in Cretan Retail Management SA. The company operates 70 CRM Ariadne supermarkets, supplies 140 additional supermarkets in Crete and generated a total turnover of EUR 32 million in 2013. (www.kantarretailiq.com)

Leclerc has revamped the design and functionality of its drive eCommerce platform in Toulouse. The website groups a series of new features including: Categories on the home page were reduced to 12 and the old scrolling menus were replaced with hovering dropdown menus. A new menu called Express Order groups saved shopping lists, previous orders and pantry orders. Leclerc...

Retail sales across Europe were up in November, continuing the growth seen in the previous month, prompted by demand across the food and non-food sectors. For the month, sales were up 0.6% month-on-month in the 18-member euro area and by 0.8% in the 28-member EU bloc. Compared to November 2013, sales were up a stronger 1.5% in the euro area and by 2.6% in the EU bloc. Sales of...

The Metro Group has reported better-than-expected figures for its fiscal first quarter, as improvements at its Cash & Carry and Media-Saturn units helped offset weakness at Real and Kaufhof. For the quarter, sales were down 2.2% to €18.3bn, but rose by 0.4% on a constant-currency basis, even as like-for-like sales were up 2.1%. The figures marked a strong contrast to...