Valora looks back positively on the first half of 2023. The Group achieved net revenue of CHF 1,047.0 million, which is +11.0% (+12.7% in local currency) higher than in the prior reporting period and +4.2% above the pre-pandemic level of 2019. The favourable sales development was mainly driven by the improved B2C customer footfall, the increased number of stores, inflation-related price increases and the leverage of its B2B production capacity.
Based on this growth, Valora reached an EBIT of CHF 23.2 million. This corresponds to an improvement of CHF 15.1 million versus the prior period. Excluding special costs mostly related to the FEMSA transaction, EBIT more than doubled to CHF 25.3 million compared to CHF 11.1 million in the first half of 2022. The EBIT margin improved by +1.4%-pts to 2.2%. Higher investing activities versus the prior period – driven by Moveri and the B2B expansion in the US – were largely financed by the improved operating cash flow.
Valora also pushed ahead with the implementation of its foodvenience strategy, putting a strong focus on network expansion. In this context, the integration of the Moveri and Oel-Pool service station shops progresses as planned, and Valora is well underway of becoming the convenience market leader in Switzerland with avec by the end of the year. Furthermore, Valora completed the rollout of BackWerk at Dutch railway stations together with HMSHost and is now strongly represented at the country’s central high-frequency locations. In the USA, an additional B2B pretzel production line was installed and will go into operation in the third quarter of 2023. The popular Frittenwerk concept continues to expand successfully in the German market. Overall, the Group’s network grew by +2.2% versus the prior period to a total number of 2,784 sales outlets.
Looking at the coming months, Valora will work on the further integration into its new parent company FEMSA, creating synergies by learning from each other and taking a win-win approach for both businesses. Also, the last few SBB locations secured in the SBB tender will be converted by the end of the year so that this key project will soon be fully completed. At the same time, Valora will continue to further expand its footprint across all of its business units and advance its sustainability initiatives.