In Italy, large-scale distribution also suffers, but there is someone who manages to save himself. In the last year, the major groups recorded a drop in sales: Carrefour -5,8%, Auchan-SMA -1,3%, Gecos -0,6% and Coop -0,1%. The only exception is Esselunga (+4,5%), which does even better in the four-year period 2008-2012 (+21,1%). In the same period, Coop also recorded a good result (+4,7%), while Carrefour lost almost a fifth of the sales it made in 2008. Less marked were the declines of Auchan-SMA (-5,2%) and Gecos (-3%).
This is what emerges from the R&S-Mediobanca yearbook, which includes five of the major groups operating in Italy in large-scale distribution: Auchan-SMA (aggregate of Italian interests which in 2012 represented 10,9% of the group's worldwide turnover, equal to 46,9 billion euros), Carrefour (Italian interests, equal to 6,6% of the 76,8 billion worldwide), Gecos, the Pam brand (Bastianello family), Supermarkets Italiani, the Esselunga brand (Caprotti family) and aggregate of the major consumer cooperatives (11 companies, of which nine cooperatives) operating under the Coop brand.
Also in terms of turnover, Esselunga recorded the best variations (+4,5% between 2011 and 2012 and +21,1 between 2008 and 2012), followed by Coop (respectively -0,1 and +4,7%), Gecos (-0,6 and -3%), Auchan (-1,3 and -5,2%) and Carrefour (-5,8 and -19,1%).
On the other hand, the loss of turnover of the two French groups follows a significant downsizing of the commercial structures present in Italy. Carrefour has reduced its total points of sale (direct and franchised/affiliated) by 24,3% since 2008 (there were 1.218 at the end of 2012), with a simultaneous reduction in employees (-21,8% in the period, to around 16 in 2012) . Auchan-SMA also reduced its workforce over the four-year period, albeit to a lesser extent (-4,4%).
Despite the decline in sales, Gecos sustained employment (+7,6% on 2008) and the opening of direct stores (+12,1%, to 454 units). Esselunga confirmed in 2012 the highest revenue per m16.400 of surface area (calculated only on owned stores) at over 2008 euro/m2,4. It is the only operator to have increased it, both on 2 (+6.800%) and on the last year (+4%). The other groups fall between the 2008 euro/sqm of Coop (-1,6% on 2012, -4.800% in 11,9) and the 2008 euro/sqm of Gecos (-1,8% on 2012, -2008% in 16,1). Very important declines on 13,3 involved Carrefour (-XNUMX%), Auchan (-XNUMX%).
Even examining the turnover per store, the picture does not change: Esselunga excels at over 47 million in 2012 (+12,2% on 2008), or the annual turnover of a medium-sized Italian company, ahead of Auchan-SMA (14 million, - 7% on 2008), Coop (just under 10,8 million, -1,7% on 2008), Carrefour (9,4 million, -8,1% on 2008) and Gecos (5,3 million, -13,4, 3%). The levels are naturally influenced by the surface area per store: almost XNUMX mXNUMX on average for Esselunga, about a thousand for Gecos.
In 2012 Esselunga recorded much better margins on turnover, starting from the added value; labor costs have the lowest incidence (although Esselunga, as seen, has the highest number of employees per 1000 m2 of surface area) and depreciation also weighs relatively less (2012% of turnover). This translates into a roe that reached 21,9% in 2012 (out of curiosity: in 15,1 Armani's roe was 3,9%). Apart from Gecos (2012% roe), all the other groups closed 2,7 with a loss. In the last five years, Carrefour (1,6 billion, also following the write-down of GS goodwill for 2011 billion in 113), Auchan and Coop (around one hundred million each) have accumulated net losses. In profit Gecos (1,1 million) and Esselunga (XNUMX billion).
In the 2008-2012 period, the industrial management of the coops produced cumulative positive margins of 257 million, plus 474 million from financial management. In the same period, the portfolio of securities and equity investments totaled write-downs of just over one billion. Extraordinary items resulted in revenues of 648 million (of which 438 accrued in 2008). Taking into account taxes of 446 million, we obtain a cumulative net loss of approximately 100 million.
