Superquinn sells properties for €142.5m

SELECT Retail Holdings, the owners of Superquinn, will cut its debt burden after selling off some of its properties to Friends First for €142.5 million.

Superquinn is owned by a consortium of property developers fronted by Bernard McNamara. It bought Superquinn for €420m from the Quinn family in 2005.

Superquinn yesterday sold five of its properties to investment firm Friends First for €142.5m. Superquinn will continue to operate the stores under lease from Friends First.

Superquinn has 21 stores, mainly in the Dublin area. Of the 21 outlets, 18 are directly owned by the company implying a value on its property portfolio of about €500m.

The supermarkets sold off were in Newbridge, Bray, Swords, Walkinstown and Bray.

Select plans to use part of the proceeds of the sale to pay down the company’s debt and also to grow the chain.

Superquinn chairman Simon Burke told the Irish Examiner yesterday that the retailer would be stepping up its expansion plans in light of an improved trading performance.

When Select Retail Holdings acquired Superquinn it planned to invest €100m on new stores and upgrading its existing outlets. Mr Burke said it was likely that up to €150m would not be pumped into business in the next couple of years.

Three new stores will open in the current financial year and five more are to undergo refurbishment.

Superquinn plans to target new shop openings in the Dublin commuter belt, but Mr Burke said he would also like to have outlets in Cork and Galway.

The chief executive said that in the year to end April 2007 Superquinn recorded the first rise in like-for-like sales — a key measure for retailers — in four years.

The company did not release any sales figures, but said that consumers are returning to its stores.

Mr Burke said there had been a marked improvement in the quality of products on offer and Superquinn was also taking on Tesco and Dunnes Stores in the price war.

He added that all of the 21 stores are on a sound financial footing after making a number of redundancies at two under-performing shops.