The first Jumbo store in Israel is expected to open in March under a franchise agreement the Greek group has with the FOX group, with a plan to expand in that country with an additional 15 stores. At the moment, however, there are no other countries for expansion in the plans of the current management of Jumbo other than those in which it is already active, with an emphasis on Romania in the next period. However, in the long term, and in the event that the reins of the group are taken over by the second generation, namely the daughter of Mr. Apostolos Vakakis, there seem to be plans for Croatia and Slovenia. This was announced yesterday on the sidelines of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of Jumbo by the head of the company A. Vakakis.

On the most pressing issues, however, such as market conditions and prices, he estimates that deflation is already taking place. In fact, Jumbo, which raised prices by 20% in 2022, is expected to cut prices by 10% in 2023.

As for the group’s course, Jumbo’s management believes it will record a growth rate of 15% in 2023, an estimate Mr. and economic events can be triggered. “I say that in our work we have to do creative demolition, demolish and do something more creative, while remaining united and human. Economics is also psychology, and it cannot be said that psychology is not affected by what is happening, ”he added characteristically. However, if the above sales forecast is confirmed, then the group’s profit is estimated to be in the range of 270 to 275 million euros in 2023, with a gross margin of around 54%. Confirmation of the above forecast would also mean something else: the Jumbo Group will break the €1 billion barrier as it closed in 2022 with a turnover of €949 million.

In terms of investments for this year, the group plans to open two stores in Romania and Cyprus, as well as launching an online store in Romania, possibly in May.

However, the first two months of 2023 started off particularly positively for the group, with sales in Greece up 41% year-over-year, 36% in Cyprus, 36% in Romania and 45% in Bulgaria. %.

Finally, yesterday, the EGM approved an extraordinary cash distribution for 2023 of €1.1550 per share gross, to which Mr Vakakis replied that no additional dividend would be distributed.