The turnover of Tallinna Kaubamaja Group increased by 10.5% in the second quarter

The consolidated unaudited sales revenue of Tallinna Kaubamaja Group in Q2 amounted to 136.7 million euros, up by 10.5% in a year. The turnover of the first  half-year increased by 8.7%, net sales increased in all of the group’s areas of activity. The group’s net profit for the first half-year was 4.8 million euros.

“There is a good dose of optimism in today’s consumer behaviour. I dare to think that when customers’ expectations are taken into consideration and thought-out decisions are made in a specific situation, the merchant has no reason to be overly pessimistic,” said Raul Puusepp, the Chairman of the Board of Tallinna Kaubamaja AS. When commenting on the consumption during the first half-year, Puusepp pointed out that one cannot ignore the weather factor – the warm winter inhibited the purchase of winter clothes and footwear and the late arrival of summer, in turn, pushed forward the purchasing of summer goods. “We can be satisfied that the group’s sales are decent, despite of this,” noted Puusepp.

Puusepp said that the reason behind the growth of Selver supermarkets lies in previously launched development projects. ” By now, our customers have well embraced the new stores opened last year – the new gourmet goods section in Pirita has been successfully launched and in June, Astri Selver in Narva opened its doors. The new commercial software introduced in Selver supermarkets at the beginning of the year has also been launched effectively,” described Puusepp.

Department stores also showed good results. “Thanks to the effectively led price-setting and marketing campaigns, we have been able to grow both the net sales and profitability in the department stores segment,” complemented Raul Puusepp. The unfavourable weather hit the hardest on the footwear stores, the humble result of which was also affected by the restructuring in the Viru Centre – the ending of the lease of SHU and changing the location of the ABC King store, which needed a new start-up period after the business interruption. “By today, the new concept of the ABC King store in Viru Centre has been very well taken by our customers and we can also be happy for opening SHU in Astri Centre,” added Puusepp.

In both Q2 and the first half-year, the group’s EBIT has been affected by a nearly 15% increase in labour costs, which is due to both the increase in the growth in the number of employees (9%) related to the increase in the number of stores as well as the increase in the average labour costs per employee (5.7%). “The positive side of the growth in wage costs is the decrease in staff turnover and the resulting increase in competence,” added Puusepp.

In the second half-year, the aim of the Tallinna Kaubamaja Group is to start the construction of a shopping mall in Viimsi and to continue working on the preparation for future development projects. In addition, we will also update our brand portfolios throughout the year and continue upgrading and developing services offered to loyal customers. By the end of the first half-year, the Partner card loyalty program has over 594 000 members, up by 15.5% in a year. The group also keeps an eye on developments in e-commerce and has launched a number of web solution development projects.

The consolidated sales revenue of Selver supermarkets in the first half of the year 2014 was 176.1 million euros, up by 7.3% compared to the previous period. The net profit of the Selver supermarkets in the first half-year was 0.3 million euros, the net profit in Q2 was 1.3 million euros.

The sales revenue of the department stores segment in the first six months of 2014 was 40.9 million euros, up by 3.9% compared to the same period last year. The EBIT of the department stores in the first six months of 2014 was 1.3 million euros, which is 67.7%, or, 0.5 million euros better than last year’s result.

The sales revenue of OÜ TKM Beauty Eesti that operates the I.L.U. cosmetics shops was 2.052 million euros in the first six months of 2014, up by 1.7% compared to the same period in 2013. The loss in the first half of 2014 was 0.239 million euros, which is 0.05 million euros less than the loss in the comparable period of 2013.

The group’s car trade segment’s sales revenue in the first half-year was 28.6 million euros. Net sales exceeded the revenue of the same period last year by 29.5%. During the first half-year, a total of 1517 vehicles were sold, 879 of which were sold in Q2. The segment’s net profit for the first half of 2014 was 0.2 million euros and the net profit for Q2 was 0.7 million euros. The profit of the first half-year of 2014 was 27.2% less than in the same period last year.

The group’s footwear stores’ revenue was 6 837 002 euros, an increase of 1.0% in the first six months of 2014. The loss of the first half-year was 0.7 million euros.

The external revenue of the real estate segment was 1.6 million euros in the first half of 2014, which is 0.1 million euros or, 6% more than in the same period last year. The real estate segment’s EBIT in the first half of 2014 ended up being 4.4 million euros, which is 0.14 million euros or, 3% more than during the same period of the previous financial year.