By John Ensor • Published: 12 Mar 2024 • 23:53
Rising supermarket costs. Credit: Maxx-Studio/Shutterstock.com
In a year that saw weekly food bills creeping higher and higher and unprecedented price hikes for staples such as olive oil, one company has bravely announced its record-breaking profits.
Last year proved to be a highly successful year for Mercadona. In 2023, the grocery giant Mercadona reported a remarkable 40 per cent increase in its net profits, soaring to more than €1 billion accompanied by a sales jump of 15 per cent.
The announcement came from Juan Roig, Mercadona’s president, during the firm’s yearly press briefing, detailing the 2023 financial outcomes and looking ahead to 2024.
The conference saw the presence of top executives, including Vice President Hortensia Herrero, underscoring the significance of these staggering profits.
The company has notably expanded its footprint, with sales in Spain nearing €34 billion and Portugal contributing €14 billion, marking its first profitable year there since entry.
Mercadona’s market dominance in Spain has edged up by 0.6 per cent, reaching a 27.6 per cent share, while in Portugal, it has climbed to eight per cent.
The company’s growth is not limited to financial statistics, it has also grown its workforce by 5,000, offering permanent contracts and bringing the total number of employees to 104,000 across both countries.
Additionally, Juan Roig revealed plans for a substantial €5 billion investment over the coming five years.
Amid the agricultural sector’s unrest, Roig voiced his support for farmers, emphasising the importance of sustainability in food production.
‘Farmers work hard and it has to be profitable to produce products’, he stated, addressing concerns over fair pricing and the viability of farming.
He acknowledged the complexities of pricing within the supply chain, especially for fresh goods, from harvest to shelf.
‘When a watermelon is in a field, it is not the same. First, the price is set in the field, you have to pick it, transport it to the warehouse, clean it, select it, transport it, put it on the shelves and then sell,’ he explained, affirming, ‘We do not abuse prices.’
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Originally from Doncaster, Yorkshire, John now lives in Galicia, Northern Spain with his wife Nina. He is passionate about news, music, cycling and animals.
You have to laugh at Mercadona´s comment, ´´‘We do not abuse prices.´´ but that is exactly what you do. I don´t even understand why they bother to make such a stupid comment. Yes, you are in business to make money but you clearly know what you are doing when you raise prices, you know what you bought the product for and you know how much you sell it for so it is no ´´accident´´, there is no Oops, look darling we make hundreds of millions of Euros profit by mistake moments, your customers are not that stupid. Well lets hope you can now afford to dicount some of your rip-off profit prices and also give your staff a big bonus this year to ease the managements guilt of ripping off the public during a cost of living nightmare.
We all know of the yearly 20% price hikes for the past two years, with the same rises of food to plastic brushes. Quite terrible and matching Consum and Lidl´s price changes to the cent. Please restore prices to that of 2021/2022 by giving such profits back to the customers.
Sadly that will never happen, it is all ´´up, up and away´´ in Spain. Spanish companies appear to be among the greediest on the planet, it gets worse every year.
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