Continuing Success Next stop: Romania!!

During the recent General Meeting of shareholders, management along with the shareholders- partners of the Group formulated the next strategic moves of the Jumbo Group, the largest retail company of toys, baby, stationary and other relevant products in Greece.

In Greece, the improvement and the enrichment of the product mix in combination with the opening of new stores will facilitate the increase of the Company’s market share and the better service of the consumer.

In Bulgaria and in Cyprus, the investments in new stores will be completed in the current financial year and the next target for JUMBO is the Romanian market which presents significant signs of improvement and maturity. Formal and more specific announcements are expected soon.

The management announces today that during the first quarter of the current financial year (July 2012- June 2013) the Group’s net profits reached € 17,15 mil. from € 17,90 mil at the respective period of the previous financial year implying a decrease of 4,23%. According to the previous announcement the sales for the Group during the first quarter reached € 123,97mil from € 120,55 mil, increased by 2,84% y-o-y.

This performance is attributed to the significant sales increase of the stores in Bulgaria in combination with the limited sales increase of the stores in Cyprus and the narrowed decrease of the sales in Greece. In July and August the Group opened two stores, the first at Nea Philadelphia (Attica) of total surface of 10ths sqm and the second at Palaio Faliro (Attica) of total surface 7,5ths sqm.

During the first quarter of the current financial year the Group’s gross profit eased at 46,36% from 47,96% from the respective period at the previous year. The reduction in the gross margin of less than two percentage points compare to the estimate of four percentage points for the year, although it is a great success it should be noted that concerns a small quarter while traditionally the second quarter is the one that determines the course of the financial year. Therefore, the management reserves its initial estimate for the year, for sales growth between 0% and +2% and a decline of the gross margin by four percentage points.

EBITDA reached €24,48mil vs € 25,58 mil at the previous year implying a small decrease of -4,04% which is attributed mainly to an extraordinary financial gain in the previous corresponding period due to contract modification. On a comparable basis the company managed to offset the decrease in gross margin by reducing the overhead and consequently to increase productivity, in highly strained environment.

With regard to the Group’ s network expansion it is noted that today is the opening day of the Group’s new rented store located in Thessaloniki of total surface 9ths sq.m increasing the number of the Group’s network at 61. It is reminded that until the end of December it is expected the opening of one more owned store in Sofia (Bulgaria) of total surface 12 ths sq.m while during the second half of the current financial year is expected the opening of two more stores in Greece.