The new boss of Spar's loss making German operation has announced a radical restructuring of the business to return the group to profitability by the end of the year. Fritz Ammann said the group will focus on the company owned Eurospar estate, the Netto discount chain and the delivered wholesale business to independent retailers. All remaining business will be either sold or "repositioned". The group is "exploring the options" for its 140 Kodi non food discount stores, 34 cash and carries, Spar Express forecourt stores and the internet home shopping channel Einkauf 24. "We are searching for intelligent solutions ­ that doesn't necessarily mean selling," emphasised a spokeswoman. French parent Intermarche has placed DM500m at the group's disposal to fund the restructuring. Three years after its launch, online portal Einkauf 24 is still only available to customers in Munich, Berlin and Hamburg, and the company has admitted that running the service was proving more expensive than it thought. The group is also rethinking the rationale behind converting the Eurospar stores to the format of French parent Intermarche and is now experimenting with EDLP in stores in Hamburg instead. About 60 of the 387 Eurospar stores have been remodelled to date, but the results have been mixed, said a spokeswoman. The process is now on hold for the group "to review the concept and to realise a few adjustments". Ammann has dismissed speculation that Intermarche is bolstering the business ahead of a sale, but warned that full year results for 2000 would show little improvement on the previous year's figures when they are published on July 16. In 1999, the group slipped 183m euro into the red, and management predicted it would take until 2002 to return to the black. Spar is the fifth largest food retailer in Germany. {{NEWS }}

Topics