Centra sales surge 14% to over €1bn

A SURGE in convenience shopping saw sales at Centra stores grow by 14% last year, to over €1 billion.

This year Centra plans to create up to 900 jobs as it opens 40 more outlets, bringing the total number of shops in Ireland to over 400.

These announcements were made at the group’s national conference in Killarney by Centra managing director Donal Horgan.

Mr Horgan said the jobs created this year will be as a result of greenfield development and transfers from other symbol groups or non-aligned independent retailers.

An additional 40 new appointments in trading, marketing, fresh food development and customer service will also be made in the Musgrave Group, which owns the Centra franchise, this year.

“The lifestyle shift, with both partners in half of all households now working outside the home, continues to create demand for convenient, easily-accessible stores, with ready meal solutions and food-to-go,” said Mr Horgan.

“The once-a-week household shop is being replaced with multiple visits to convenient stores. The food-to-go market now accounts for a significant proportion of food sales.”

Last year, 43 new shops joined Centra, bringing the total number to 382.

Centra store owners invested €70 million in new stores and the refurbishment and development of existing stores, with around 525 jobs created, the conference heard.

Attendees also heard that Centra’s good-to-go range, which consists of instant meals and hot foods, will expand this year with the addition of juice and smoothie bars and ground coffee. Services such as touch-screen automated ordering of food-to-go are also being introduced.

Initiatives being tested in selected stores include a revised kiosk or front-of -store plan and new formats and merchandising for Centra off-licences.

Centra is backed by the family-owned Musgrave Group’s retail franchise division, Musgrave SuperValu-Centra (MSVC), which services over 550 independently-owned SuperValu and Centra stores in the Republic of Ireland.

Centra stores employ 11,000 people across Ireland, with a further 1,600 people employed by MSVC in distribution and retail support services.

Musgrave has operations in Ireland, Britain and Spain. In its latest published accounts in 2004, it reported record after-tax profits of €51.5m on sales up 13% to €3.76 billion.

Despite heavy investment and acquisitions in 2004, Musgrave managed to cut its debt by €12m to €383m.