Ahold Delhaize to sustain South-Eastern European expansion | Progresiv
Chief executive Dick Boer and members of the retailer’s local management teams discuss expansion plans for Romania, Greece and Serbia. According to reports in the Romanian local press, Mega Image is set to maintain its pace of expansion in 2017, after adding 50 stores in 2016. The expansion is expected to see the retailer open in the city of Cluj for the first time, taking it outside the 250-km radius around Bucharest in which it has so far operated. The retailer believes that rising consumption in the country will be maintained in the short term, which will support its sales growth. 
In an interview in the local press, AB Vassilopoulos’s COO, Leonidas Vrettakos, has said that it will continue to expand, following a positive 2016. AB Vassilopoulos benefited in 2016 from the slow collapse of Marinopolous and through its investment in price. However, Vrettakos noted that the former point would be lessened in 2017 following its acquisition by Sklavenitis. Vrettakos said AB Vassilopoulos will invest 100 million euros in 2017 to add new 30 stores and on the construction of a new warehouse. He did not rule making small, opportunistic acquisitions if they arose, especially if they strengthened the company’s position in Crete and Thessaloniki.
Ahold Delhaize’s chief executive, Dick Boer, meanwhile, has been quoted in local media as saying that the company plans to continue its expansion in Serbia. The statements came after a meetings between Boer and Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic. (www.igd.com)
