Emperia to intensify growth with new owner

Emperia Holding S.A. has welcomed Maxima Grupė as its new strategic investor and is entering a new stage of even more dynamic growth across all of its business areas.

In particular, Stokrotka, the Group’s retail company, which currently operates a chain of 440 stores, will intensify its organic growth based on store formats successfully developed in recent years. At the same time, cooperation with the new investor opens up a path for Stokrotka to actively participate in consolidation processes on the Polish retail market. In 2017, Emperia generated PLN 2.57 billion in revenue from sales, up by 8% from the preceding year. During this period, Stokrotka opened 77 new stores. Its growth plans for 2018 include more than 100 new store openings. The company is consistently growing sales and improving productivity. In the first quarter of 2018, sales of goods went up by 15.6%.

Today’s information on the acquisition by Maxima of over 93% of shares in Emperia marks the end of a process that started over a year ago. The companies executed an investment agreement on 23 November 2017, while on 5 April 2018 the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection issued an unconditional approval for the acquisition of Emperia Holding by Maxima Grupė. Such a strong response from shareholders to the tender offer shows that Maxima Grupė’s proposal was attractive for them.

“This transaction will bring real benefits from the viewpoint of clients, employees, counterparties and all other stakeholders of Emperia,” said Dariusz Kalinowski, CEO of Emperia Group.

Information about Emperia Group:

Emperia is a dynamic and reputable Polish group focused on the FMCG retail segment. Founded in 1990, Emperia has been a fixture of Poland’s retail market for the past 28 years. Emperia Group operates in three areas: FMCG retail, IT and property. It employs more than 8 000 workers. The Group's operations are coordinated by Emperia Holding S.A., a company that has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange for 16 years. Emperia Holding S.A. is responsible for developing strategy and monitoring progress at all of Emperia Group's companies.

Retail segment – comprising Stokrotka Sp. z o.o. – a company with Polish capital and a wealth of tradition in Polish retail. Founded in Lublin in 1994, the company operates throughout the country. The first Stokrotka supermarket was founded in Łęczna near Lublin in 1996. Currently the company chain has around 440 Stokrotka supermarkets and markets, located in residential developments and mini-centres and shopping galleries. Typical locations range from 200 to 1 000 sqm sales space and feature 4 000 - 10 000 assortment items, including groceries, alcohol, beauty products and household cleaners, as well as fresh products: baked goods, meats, fruits and vegetables. The stores also feature local products, made in the regions where the chain is present, and own-brand products. In 2013, the company launched its in-house logistics network, with a distribution centre in Teresin near Warsaw. A second distribution centre was launched in Q1 2016 in Lublin.

Property segment – manages a portfolio of 91 properties, supports of growth of Stokrotka’s own stores. Invests in facilities for retail operations. The segment manages a property portfolio, acquires new locations and conducts property development activities through several special purpose vehicles. In line with the investment strategy, it focuses on facilities in the form of mini galleries or shopping parks. The main company in this segment is Elpro Development S.A.

IT segment – since the consolidation of the Group's IT companies, completed in 2012, the IT operations are carried out by Infinite, which offers a wide range of technological solutions for both large and small manufacturing and retail companies. The company develops solutions for supporting strategic business processes, electronic data exchange and document workflow. It provides B2B integration solutions for transaction optimisation through automating relations between business partners. Infinite is present in Poland and on foreign markets.

Additional information:

Urszula Herecka tel. +48 516 010 573, urszula.herecka@emperia.pl

MAXIMA GRUPĖ UAB is a holding company that owns the retail chains Maxima (in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia), T-MARKET (in Bulgaria), ALDIK (in Poland) and the online grocery store Barbora. The company's consolidated revenue in 2016 reached EUR 2.693 billion. MAXIMA GRUPĖ UAB employs approx. 31 000 people.