The BWG Group continued to deliver strong results for the year and reported euro-denominated turnover growth of 4.2% to €1.5 billion.
This number was boosted by the inclusion of the 4 Aces business from May – if adjusted, the comparable group grew by 2.8%, according to its recently published Preliminary Summarised Results for the year ended 30 September, 2018.
'Both the extreme weather conditions experienced in March and the above average warm summer brought significant sales benefits to the convenience sector as consumers bought larger quantities of food and beverages,' the group said in a statement.
Hospitality Sector
The hospitality sector remained strong and again boosted the sales of the BWG Foodservice and BWG Wines & Spirits divisions, which reported turnover growths of 14.7% and 5.5% respectively.
Compared with last year, all retail brands recorded positive growth, with the Londis brand increasing turnover to 4.9%, MACE growing by 4.4% and XL reporting growth of 4.5%.
The Irish wholesaler and retail grocery franchise operator said that 'it was just as pleasing to report that all retail brands reported positive like-for-like growth'.
Distribution Volumes
The group’s distribution volumes continued to show strong increases and record case movements continued to be handled in the Kilcarbery distribution centre which reported a sales increase of 6.9%, the results indicted.
Price Measures
However, the recent results showed that price measures over the financial year indicate that the grocery food and non-alcoholic drinks category declined 2.2%, while alcohol and tobacco increased by 3.2%.
Looking Ahead
In a statement the group outlined that 'BWG remains positively cautious about the future prospects and is expected to deliver in line with expectations.'
© 2018 Checkout – your source for the latest Irish retail news. Article by Donna Ahern. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
