Spar highlights outlets in Republic for 'impressive' sales growth in latest update

Also, Musgrave is to supply more products to a large supermarket chain in the United Arab Emirates

The Spar Group has owned an 80% stake in license holder BWG in the Republic since 2014. File photo

Spar Group has said the 1,400 outlets it controls in the Republic and the South West of England have had "an impressive" start to the year.

The group is listed on the stock market in Johannesburg and controls or owns outright Spar operations in its home country and in a number of European locations. Those outposts include Switzerland and Poland, as well as in the Republic where it has owned an 80% stake in license holder BWG since 2014.

BWG supplies Spar and Eurospar outlets in the Republic, as well as Mace, Londis, and XL stores. Minority stakes in BWG are held by its group chief executive Leo Crawford; group finance director John O’Donnell, and group property director John Clohisey. The Spar business in the North is owned separately, by Henderson Wholesale.

BWG also operates stores in the South West of England, under the Appleby Westward name.   

"In euro terms, the Irish business increased turnover by an impressive 6.9% for the period," Spar Group said in an update, referring to trading in the 18 weeks to the end of January. 

"The retail brands delivered a mixed but overall strong performance," it said as the Covid restrictions affected year-earlier comparisons. 

Spar is one of the retailers that compete for a slice of the €13bn grocery trade in the Republic. The five largest chains, Musgrave-owned SuperValu, Dunnes, Tesco, Lidl, and Aldi — account for 90% of the €13bn sales. 

Meanwhile, Musgrave said it will supply more products to a large supermarket chain in the United Arab Emirates. It plans to supply around 500 SuperValu products to 40 Choithrams stores. It already supplies 250 products to Noon Grocery, a large online supplier.       

“Tremendous progress has been made in recent years in expanding the reach of Irish food to consumers across the globe," said Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, who was speaking at an industry event in Dubai.