"Aldi to open doors to UK farmers | Auchan: "encouraging" first half"

Irish grocery market expands 3.5% with growth in sales of fruit and veg -
The latest supermarket share figures show total grocery market sales up 3.5% on last year. Meanwhile discounter Lidl’s share of the market has reached an all-time high, with the retailer now capturing 11.9% of grocery sales in Ireland. David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel which compiles the figures, explains: “Over recent months the price of groceries has increased slightly, with an average basket now costing 2.7% more than this time last year. Areas where we have seen the most significant increases include vegetables, fruit and beer – all major categories for the retailers.” (businesspost.ie)

Source: Kantar Worldpanel

El Corte Inglés reports its best performance since 2007
Spanish retailer El Corte Inglés has registered its biggest full year growth since 2007. Consolidated net profit for the retailer last year reached €158.13 million, an increase of 33.92% year on year. At the same time, the company's debt saw a reduction of €1,260 million. (esmmagazine.com)

Greece: Sklavenitis to take ownership of Marinopoulos
According to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, Sklavenitis is to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday with the creditor’s bank of its struggling rival supermarket chain, Marinopoulos. The paper reported that if approved, the agreement will give 100 percent ownership to Sklaventis of the struggling supermarket chain as well as enabling a new loan of €360m to be obtained. (greece.greekreporter.com)

Auchan: "encouraging" first half
Auchan has reported a 0.8% increase in revenue for the first half to EUR26,106m, at constant exchange rates, driven by expansion and positive sales trends in most of its markets. Consolidated revenue for Auchan Retail was up 0.7% to EUR25,369m. Auchan France's hypermarket had been struggling for some time, with trade press reports pointing to falling sales. Auchan said recovery was confirmed in Spain and Portugal, with strong like-for-like growth, while there are encouraging signs in Italy as the transformation plan begins to show results. In Poland, the transformation of the former Real hypermarkets has been finalised. Auchan continues to invest in Russia despite a slight decline in revenue. In China, revenue was up 4.4% at constant exchange rates, driven by expansion. (igd.com)

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Aldi to open its doors to UK farmers during Red Tractor Week
Members of the Red Tractor farm and food standards scheme will be visiting Aldi stores in Bramley, Caerphilly, Enfield, Irlams o' th' Height, Cowes and Edgbaston next month. Farmers from across the country will meet customers and talk about how products are farmed and produced. Red Tractor is the UK’s biggest farm and food standards scheme, covering food safety, traceability and environmental protection. (farminguk.com)

HappyFresh realigns its business in Asia
The Jakarta-based company HappyFresh has decided to close its business in Taiwan and the Philippines. Instead, it will concentrate on its three other markets: Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. HappyFresh CEO Markus Bihler says the decision to quit the two markets is because of the company’s “crucial goal” of focusing on its core markets to achieve sustainability and profitability across the region. (igd.com)

SPAR Georgia expanding through sub-licencing
After announcing its entry at the end of 2014, SPAR has announced that it will look to expand its store base in the country through sub-licencing the brand to independent store owners. The first location to be opened under such an agreement is in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country, where an independent store owner will run a 197 sq. m SPAR convenience store. (igd.com)

France: Leclerc's continued reinvention of hypermarkets boosts sales
Leclerc's sales in France in 2015 rose by 3.4% (excluding the deflationary effects of falling petrol prices). In contrast to the difficulties other retailers are experiencing with hypermarkets, Leclerc said the format performed strongly and accounted for 55% of growth. The renovation of more than 260 hypermarkets over the past two years has also helped, boosting customer traffic. Organic products are a growing focus for Leclerc both from a private label and a core range point of view. (igd.com)

US: Dollar Tree reports a sales miss
Net sales were up 66% to $5.0bn, but this is due to the Family Dollar acquisition not being counted in the majority of last year's Q2 sales and fell short of the $5.09bn forecast. Same store sales were up 1.2% on a constant currency basis, against an estimate of 2.4%. (igd.com)

US: Dollar General same store sales up 0.7%
Net sales for Dollar General were up 5.8% to $5.39bn, missing the estimate of $5.5bn. Compared to last year, same store sales were only up 0.7%, falling short of the 2.6% forecast. (igd.com)

Dutch Albert Heijn creates new options in 'Allerhande-Boxes'
Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn has launched two new additions to its homemade-dinner kit, the 'Allerhande-Box'. The new 'Family-Box' offers three meals for four people, with a selection of dishes aimed at families with children. The 'Inspiration-Box' contains more exotic recipes and include nuts, fresh fruit and vegetables. (esmmagazine.com)