Jumbo expects very good results for the first 6 months of the current financial year
As we are in the middle of exaggeration in the stock exchange and of unofficial information the management of Jumbo Group would like to officially inform the shareholders-partners that: The financial statements of the first six months pertaining to the year from 1 July 2006 to 31 December 2007 will be published soon. In these first 6 months the group as well as the whole market faced the supply interruptions in the almost “closed” country’s ports due to the strike of quayside workers, with the well-known effect of hundred pent containers of new products in different ports of Mediterranean The Group due to its consistent policy for on-time supply of products, especially of seasonal items, had the chance to have on time in its warehouses - and before the beginning of the strike- almost all the seasonal items which intended to supply the Christmas period. Despite to the huge problem in the normal supply of new as well as classical products of invariable flow, due to the first estimations, the rates of sales will be increased about 22% with a parallel increase in the rates of profitability. The Group, due to the complexity in the process of customs clearance in addition to the diversity of the routes and pick-up, cannot accurately, for the time being, costing any drayage and estimates that will need about 2 months in order to fully restore the product supply chain of the 41 stores, after the end of the strike in the beginning of the new year It is remarkable that the about 22% increase in the turnover was realized without increasing the points of sales. The Group’s next steps include the opening of 2 new metropolitan stores during the last quarter of the financial year. The up to now impressive results of the Group fulfill the management’s plans for a fully reconstruction of its network in Attica area. In accordance with the above and with the establishment of the 5 huge metropolitan shops in Attica within the next 36 months the management would like to announce the immediate close of the stores of Ekali and Psychiko in addition to one more during the last quarter of the current financial year. The stop of the operations of the above stores will not affect management’s estimations for the growth of sales for the current financial year The investments of the Group in the Balkans are steadily progressing. The first Jumbo store in Sofia of Bulgaria will be completed the later during the next October (2007). Furthermore the acquisition of a second land, with an aim to be also completed by the end of 2007 or within the first quarter of 2008, will be completed soon. Finally, the subsidiary of the Group in Cyprus has already made advanced payments for the acquisition of 55.000 sq in the Bucharest of Romania