Positive organic sales development in national and international food retail sector
REWE independent merchants in Germany again see above-average growth
Modernisation and innovation with investment of 2.3 billion euros
Significant improvement in consolidated earnings
DER Touristik achieves 41 per cent of 2019 turnover prior to the coronavirus pandemic and halves losses
Cologne. REWE Group successfully concluded the 2021 business year with a strong turnover increase of around 2 billion euros, again delivering evidence of its performance strength in the challenging environment caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Total external turnover from continuing operations rose by 2.5 per cent from 74.6 billion euros to 76.5 billion euros.
Upon publication of the not yet audited business figures for 2021, Lionel Souque, CEO of REWE Group, said: We are very satisfied with the strong economic development of our retail and tourism company in Germany and abroad. Unfortunately, the past year was also impacted by the many problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Our Travel and Tourism division again suffered and the lockdown at the start of 2021 was also not without negative effects on the revenue of our DIY Stores division. It is therefore all the more gratifying that we have not only sustained but in some cases also improved on the extremely strong revenues recorded by food retail in Germany and our European markets in 2020. This was not a foregone conclusion when planning for the 2021 business year. We can therefore be all the more pleased that we have exceeded our planned budget. We are and remain on a dynamic course of profitable 2 growth. I would like to very sincerely thank our 380,000 employees in Germany and abroad who are the key to our Group’s success and have once more delivered an outstanding performance.
The business of REWE independent merchants in Germany again showed above average positive development, posting a turnover increase of 4.8 per cent in the past business year following growth of 20.5 per cent in 2020. Souque also emphasised the operational strength and innovativeness of the cooperative business group. In the second year of the coronavirus pandemic, we have again proved that our business model in Germany and abroad is very robust and that we are continuing to grow organically despite the many challenges. Among other things, the very positive performance of the Lekkerland convenience business was impressive. At the same time, we are working nationally and internationally on the continuous modernisation of our business, new business models and the extensive digitalisation of our company. Examples last year include the switch of MERKUR to BILLA Plus, the roll-out of the PENNY market hall concept, the many tests of innovations such as the first REWE Pick&Go market and the new generation of Green Building markets, the strategic investment in FLINK and the investments by our DER Touristik Group in Aldiana and DSR Hotels.
Investment by the Cologne-based retail and tourism company rose from around 1.9 billion euros in 2020 to 2.3 billion euros in the past business year. REWE Group is planning investment of 2.3 billion euros in the current year.
The turnover of REWE Group – not including independent retail and at-equity entities – from continuing operations rose by 2.5 per cent (2.4 per cent after exchange rate adjustment) from 67.7 billion euros to 69.4 billion euros.
REWE Group in Germany grew by 1.2 per cent to 47.2 billion euros and internationally by 5.5 per cent (5.2 per cent after exchange rate adjustment) to 22.2 billion euros.
Operating EBITA grew from 1.22 billion euros in 2020 to 1.49 billion euros. Consolidated EAT climbed from 415 million euros to 757 million euros. EBITDA of REWE Group amounted to 4.4 billion euros after 4.3 billion euros in 2020. 3 Investment in in tangible and intangible assets was 2.3 billion euros, around 400 million euros more than in the previous business year.
Equity capital climbed from 7.6 billion euros to 8.6 billion euros. As of 31 December 2020, the net financial debt without financial leasing totalled 2.2 billion euros.
The supermarket business segment in Germany achieved a turnover increase of 0.9 per cent to 26.7 billion euros. This included the retail sales of the REWE branches and wholesale revenue with merchants and other partners.
In the international supermarket business segment, BILLA in Russia was divested in the past business year. The supermarket and drug store activities in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia and Lithuania were retained. Turnover increased by a total of 2.6 per cent (2.2 per cent after exchange rate adjustment) from 9.8 billion euros to 10 billion euros.
In the supermarket store sector in Austria with BILLA, BIPA and ADEG, turnover rose by 2.3 per cent to 7 billion euros. In the CEE supermarket store sector, turnover grew by 3.2 per cent (2 per cent after exchange rate adjustment) to 3.1 billion euros.
In Discount National, PENNY Deutschland achieved revenues of 8 billion euros in 2021, on a par with the previous year.
In Discount International, PENNY achieved an overall turnover increase of 1.8 per cent (1.6 per cent after exchange rate adjustment) to 5.6 billion euros in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic.
The Convenience business segment with the national and international business of the Lekkerland Group grew by 4.4 per cent from 13.1 billion euros to 13.7 billion euros.
Compared with the very strong previous year, revenue in the DIY Stores business segment including toom Baumarkt DIY stores decreased by 11.4 per cent from 2.7 billion euros to 2.4 billion euros.
By contrast, following the drop in 2020, turnover in the Travel and Tourism business segment increased by 57.5 per cent in the past fiscal year from 1.3 billion euros to 2 billion euros. It thus achieved 41 per cent of the turnover in the 2019 business year prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
