The Mercadona chain yesterday presented its annual report corresponding to the past 2022. Its president, Juan Roighas been very direct in acknowledge that prices have risen both suppliers and the public, to avoid a “disaster” in the production chain. In an “unimaginable and unforeseen” difficult context, the annual balance sheet shows one of the lowest returns in the company’s history, which has not prevented it from obtaining 5% more profit compared to 2021.
In total, the Valencian chain has obtained in 2022 a net profit of €718 million, 5% more compared to the 680.3 million of the previous year. In addition, he has had a increased sales by 11%, rising to 31,041 million. However, Roig has shown his concern for the complicated economic situation current, derived from the increase in inflation, the war in Ukraine and other factors such as drought, the increase in production costs or bird flu.
“We have raised our cost prices to suppliers by 12%”, Roig acknowledged at the press conference, “and we have passed on a 10% to the public”. In this way, the president of Mercadona shows off his chest by admitting the rise in prices, but ensuring the great effort What does it mean for the company to mitigate the increase in benefit of “the bosses” by two points, as they call their clients.
“We don’t like raising prices”
What worries Mercadona the most regarding the serious problem posed by high inflation is how it affects customers of lower rentsand that it is “impossible” for a distributor to set the prices he wants.
Roig admits that prices have risen “a brutality”, but stresses that it was not by choice. “What we like the most in the sector is to annoy the competitor next door and sell cheaper than him, it’s our pleasure,” he says. Thus, he acknowledges that he would like to lower them, but if they have raised them, it has been due to a question of supply and demand, and the only thing they can do is alleviate the effects of these cost increases.
The leader of Mercadona thus excuses that his supermarkets have been among those that have raised the prices of all their products the most, according to data from the OCU study, assuring that if this had not been the case, the disaster generated on-chain would have been “awesome”.
This general rise in prices has left an impact that reduces the company’s margin by 0.6 points, thus leaving one of the lower returns in the history of the company, at 0.025 euros of profit per euro sold, compared to 0.027 euros in 2021, but which has not prevented the increase in Profits Mercadona for another year.
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