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The Al Meera Consumer Goods Company has expansion plans worth QR4bn in an ambitious five-year plan, which will see at least two more Géant hypermarkets and six new Al Meera stores in Qatar this year.
Guy Sauvage, Al Meera Consumer Goods Company’s chief executive officer, said yesterday the company would launch in the coming months two more Geant hypermarkets in Qatar, each around 5,000sqm.
The proposed six new Al Meera outlets will include three convenience stores and three super markets.
“Tenders for these six new projects will be announced in the coming days,” he told reporters yesterday while elaborating that Al Meera was looking for expansion, both abroad and in the local markets.
Referring to the funds for the expansion, Sauvage said they had QR950m from a rights issue which would be used for the local expansion in Qatar.
In January this year, Al Meera had selected Masraf Al Rayan to manage its rights issue and raised the amount through the issuance of 10mn ordinary shares at QR95 (including a premium of QR85 a piece) for subscription by its existing shareholders.
The rest of the global expansion of the company would be supported by QR900mn from Barwa bank and QR2bn from Masraf, he said.
In April, 2012, Al Meera had announced the formation of a joint venture with the French retailer, Casino Group, to operate hypermarkets under the banner “Géant” in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Jordan, in addition to the current franchise projects in Qatar and Oman.
Al Meera opened Qatar’s first Géant Hypermarket at Hyatt Plaza, Doha, on February 24. Sauvage said this venture may be expanded to other countries.
Al Meera had acquired five stores in Oman, including two hypermarkets. He said one of these hypermarkets would be rebranded as Géant soon.
However, the CEO stressed that even though there was a partnership with the French retailer, Al Meera’s policy would remain the same when it came to providing its customers the best price on food and non-food items. “Price is the base of a good business…across our network of stores, customers will find the same price even when they go to a Géant,” he said.
Currently, there are 34 Al Meera stores, out of which 29 are in Qatar and five in Oman.
About the company’s revenue projections for this year, Sauvage said he would not be able to reveal the exact figures. “All I can say is that this year too we are very optimistic about results because luckily we have very loyal customers.”
The company’s revenue had reached QR1.5bn in 2012, which was 29.2% higher compared with 2011.
