French retailer Auchan to enter India with Landmark Group

Posted On: 25-06-2012 04:32:26 AM The French international retail group Auchan SA and the Dubai based Landmark group have signed an in-principal agreement for operations in India. Auchan and Landmark have been in talks since February for a JV, but in view of the FDI in multi brand retail not permitted as yet, the two are likely to enter a licensing agreement, akin to that between Max and Spar. Landmark runs the Max hypermarket chain in India, which partnered the Dutch grocery retailer Spar International to operate the Spar stores. Last month, Max and Spar have mutually agreed to discontinue the partnership as of 31 December, 2012, and will continue their India operations separately. As per media reports, Ramanathan Hariharan, director, Landmark group, said that Max was planning to open 8-10 hypermarkets every year in India. Auchan is a 44.4 billion company having 1,375 hypermarkets and supermarkets in 12 countries as of December 2011. It is one of the world's principal distribution groups. Both, Landmark and Auchan have been in talks with other India retailers before entering into the agreement with each other. Spar too is exploring other options with another partner to expand its business in India.

Spar opens its first store in Delhi

Posted On: 28-01-2011 00:00:00 11 Max Hypermarkets, the food retailing chain of Dubai-based Landmark Group is expanding its presence in north India, with the opening of its first hypermarket store, Spar, in Delhi. The outlet at Pacific Mall in west Delhi is spread over an area of 74,000 sq.ft. The company currently has three stores in Bangalore, and one each in Mangalore and Hyderabad. By the end of this fiscal, Spar plans to open one hypermarket each in Pune and Coimbatore. It will also open another hypermarket in Gurgaon in April this year. The company expects to close this fiscal with an annual revenue of Rs 300 crore up from Rs 152 crore (from 4 stores) in March 2010. Besides a branded offer, Spar offers private labels in several segments such as food products that includes staples, snack food and breakfast cereals to name a few. This apart, the company also has its own label across apparels, home linen, kitchen appliances and IT products. The Spar food private labels currently account for 16% of the total food sales. This is targeted to grow to 25% by March 2013.

Spar sets up Hypermarket in Hyderabad

Posted On: 18-10-2008 10:32:17 AM Global food retail chain Spar, which runs a series of supermarkets across 35 countries in four continents, started its Indian operations by opening the company's first supermarket at Hyderabad. The company has entered the market under a licence agreement with Landmark Group's Indian subsidiary Max Hypermarkets. Under the agreement, Max Hypermarkets will be responsible for the entire business operation- from capex. Outlay to day-to-day operations including the management of the supermarket, while Spar would provide knowledge transfer and technical expertise.

SPAR International to tie up with Kirana stores

Posted On: 19-01-2008 00:25:41 AM SPAR International, the Dutch retail giant which has tied up with the Landmark Group for its hypermarket foray in India plans to have sub-licencee arrangements with larger kirana stores to introduce the neighborhood supermarket format in the country. Globally, the neighborhood store or the local supermarket is the most widespread format of SPAR International. With focus on fresh food, these supermarkets aim at meeting local needs. Under the sub-licencee arrangement, SPAR will provide retail expertise on the store layout, technology know-how and merchandising to these local supermarkets. Besides local supermarket, the other three formats operated by the retail major are hypermarket, large supermarket and SPAR Express. In an effort to further expand its presence in India, the company also plans to unveil SPAR Express format in the long term. SPAR Express is the format for the areas of high consumer footfall such as railway stations and airports. SPAR International operates 13,700 stores in over 34 countries. It works with 82 local partners in these countries. Max Hypermarket is opening the second SPAR Hypermarket in Bangalore shortly.

Austria : SPAR reports 3.8% rise in sales in 2011, plans expansion in 2012
Posted On: 24-02-2012 00:00:00 12 The Dutch retailer SPAR has reported a 3.8% rise in its total group sales in the fiscal 2011. The sales for 2011 amounted to 12.15 billion, as compared to 11.71 billion in 2010. The figures include revenue generated through SPAR European Shopping Centres (SES). But even without SES, sales rose 3.8% to 10.51 billion in 2011, up from 10.13 billion in 2010. Domestic sales, excluding sport and leisure retailer Hervis, grew 4.1% to 5.36 billion from 5.15 billion. In Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia, sales Austria SPAR International AG, adjusted for currency effects, were up 4.2% to 4.7 billion from 4.52 billion. Hervis generated sales of 450 million, down 3% from 460 million. SPARs private label sales improved 10% in the year, now accounting for 35% of the total sales. SPAR plans for 2012 include expansion of its new convenience store format, Food in the City that was launched last year, opening of new stores in Vienna, Salzburg and Linz. SPAR Hypermarkets and supermarkets operate in India due to a license agreement between the Dubai based Landmark Groups Max Hypermarkets India and SPAR International. SPAR, trades from approximately 12500 stores in 34 countries worldwide and is the world's largest independent voluntary retail trading chain.

Spar opens store in Pune Max Hypermarkets, the food retailing chain of the Dubai-based Landmark Group, which is opening stores under the brand name SPAR has opened its eighth store in Pune. The group has a license agreement with SPAR International to open SPAR stores in India. The other seven stores are located in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mangalore and Delhi. The company has invested Rs 9 crore for the Pune store which occupies a retail space of approximately 50,000 sq.ft. Spar is continuing with its national roll out with stores scheduled to open in Indore, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Vijaywada and Delhi. Spar will invest a total of Rs 550 crore for its expansion plans, of which, about Rs 250 crore will be

equity and the rest will be obtained through debt. The company expects to close this fiscal with an annual revenue of Rs 300 crore. The Spar food private labels currently account for 16 % of the total food sales. The global food retailing major, with over 12,680 stores across 33 countries, opened its first store in India in 2004 in Bangalore.