Mercator’s Retail Revenues Increased for the First Time Since 2011, Confirmed Loss of 184 Million Euros

Last year, Mercator achieved a 2.5% increase in retail revenues for the first time since 2011, reaching 1.6 billion euros, but due to a one-time revaluation of real estate, it recorded a net loss of 184 million euros, the Slovenian retail chain, majority-owned by Agrokor, announced on Thursday.

In conjunction with the announcement of last year’s business data, Mercator noted that the company had to conduct a new valuation of all its properties in accordance with accounting policies under international standards, where the downward revaluation amounted to 145.8 million euros, and the upward revaluation to 126.9 million euros.

“The value of Mercator’s real estate still amounts to nearly 1.4 billion euros. The revaluation was conducted in accordance with international standards by an external consulting firm and was additionally verified by two external global institutions,” Mercator stated in its announcement.

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The one-time revaluation of real estate significantly impacted the reported results for last year, but the operations of the Mercator Group were considerably better than in 2016, the report states.

Retail revenues increased for the first time since 2011, amounting to 1.6 billion euros. Without the negative impact of the real estate value write-down, Mercator would have recorded a profit of 6 million euros last year, it is emphasized.

Last year, Mercator also had a normalized EBITDA of 90.6 million euros, which is 28 million euros or 45% higher than a year earlier.

“Mercator will continue to focus on its core business and the successful implementation of a new business strategy, along with cost optimization and further growth, reducing debt, differentiating its offerings, and strengthening long-term cooperation with suppliers in developing a new concept,” the company stated in a notice on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange website.