SPAR International, the world’s largest voluntary retail chain, has announced global retail sales for the year ending December 31, 2014 of €31.9bn, a like-for-like rise of 1.2% on the previous year.
Sales were driven by entry into 10 new territories which includes five new countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe in addition to new regions in Russia and China.
The the organisation also announced that, following 22 years of leading SPAR International, Dr Gordon Campbell will step down as Managing Director at the end of the year.
Campbell commented, “SPAR is positioned for sustained expansion in 2015. The strong performance in core SPAR countries such as Austria, South Africa and the United Kingdom combined with the impressive growth in retail sales in Russia and China, give confidence in the continued growth and expansion of the SPAR business.
'Despite what remains a challenging operating environment for many of our partners we can be confident that the momentum will be maintained in 2015 and beyond.”
Tobias Wasmuht, Managing Director SPAR China and Head of Marketing and Retail SPAR International has been appointed to succeed Campbell as the next Managing Director of SPAR International and will take up his position in January 2016.
SPAR International’s multi-format strategy sees its Partners operate over 12,300 hypermarket, supermarket, neighbourhood and convenience stores serving the needs of 13 million customers daily.