News

Lidl prepares to conquer Romania. The German supermarket chain will open 20 stores in Hungary’s eastern neighbour; the first department stores will be in Bucharest.

German group Tengelmann sold its Plus networks in Bulgaria and Romania to Lidl. By this a total of 119 Plus stores change hands. The purchase price was not reported.

Carrefour prepares for the conquest of the Balkans. The leaders of the French hypermarket chain declared that they join forces with Greek real estate developer Marinopoulos Group, in order to develop hyper-and supermarkets in the Balkans.

Kraft Foods increased its after-tax profit nearly fourfold in the last quarter of 2009. Profit after tax was USD 710 million, 48 cents per share in the last three months, compared to USD 178 million and 12 cents per share a year earlier – reports ProfitLine.hu.

Wal-Mart reported larger-than-expected profits in the fourth quarter. Besides, its revenues were slightly below the expectations of analysts. The company reported a USD 1.17 per share result, eliminating the effects of single items. However, the 113.6-billion revenues of the company were slightly under the expectations of analysts.

Nestlé’s net profit in 2009 was CHF 10.4 billion. The company expects this year’s growth to be stronger than last year’s. Nestlé’s sales turnover increased by 4.1 percent, to CHF 107.6 billion.

Within a few weeks the first Burger King fast food restaurant will be opened in Slovakia; McDonald’s will open five new restaurants this year.

The fourth quarter profits of Carlsberg Brewery nearly tripled, increasing to DKK 383 million from DKK 111 million. Sales revenue decreased to DKK 13.62 billion from 14.52 billion.