REWE Group (also owned of the discount retail chain Penny) has cracked the 75 billion euro (US$ 91billion) mark for the first time.
The REWE Group benefited from the Corona restrictions in 2020 and sees itself on the verge of becoming the second largest grocer in Europe. In the past financial year, the Cologne-based cooperative trading and tourism company reportedly broke the 75 billion euro mark for the first time.
“This will make us the second largest food retail group in Europe, behind the Schwarz Group (owner of discount retail chain Lidl). We are likely to have overtaken Carrefour and discount retail chain Aldi in Europe,” said Rewe CEO Lionel Souque of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
The Schwarz Group, which operates more than 12,000 stores worldwide with its Lidl and Kaufland divisions, recently achieved sales of more than 110 billion euros (US$ 134billion).
According to the information, the takeover of Lekkerland accounted for 12 billion euros (US$15Bn) of REWE's sales growth. “In terms of earnings, too, we will compensate for the losses from other areas such as tourism,” announced Souque, with a view to the sales losses of the subsidiary DER Touristik.
The REWE boss is critical of the state aid for the competitors FTI and Tui: “We will not allow the loan to be waived in the end. Many agreements are not transparent, which is why we also speak to the EU Commission.” DER Touristik has not yet had to apply for any government loans and is not planning to.
