Tengelmann's CEO Karl-Erivan Haub is satisfied

The retailer has announced the full-year results from its European operations for the 2007/08 financial year ended 30 April 2008. Sales in Europe increased by 2.5% to reach almost EUR20 billion, with sales coming from a total of 7,426 outlets.

 As usual the company did not reveal any
profit figures, although CEO Karl-Erivan Haub said that he was
“satisfied all in all”, and that “the group has been operating
profitably”.

As for Tengelmann’s food operations,
the Plus discount division increased sales by 3.9% to nearly EUR10
billion, including a 2.7% increase in Germany to EUR7.06 billion. In
Germany, the merger of Plus with Edeka’s Netto discount banner is
expected to become effective on 1 January 2009, pending the final
go-ahead from the competition commission.

In the non-food arena, Tengelmann
continued to push into the growth markets of Central & Eastern
Europe, which helped its DIY store operator OBI to outweigh an
extraordinarily difficult year in its home market through sales
growth of 14.6% abroad. International OBI sales reached EUR5.76
billion, coming from a total of 515 stores. Meanwhile, clothing
discounter KiK saw sales grow by 7.2% to EUR1.44 billion, coming from
2,504 stores.