BinDawood Holding plans to open 7 stores in 2023: CEO

Ahmad Abdulrazzaq BinDawood, CEO of BinDawood Holding

BinDawood Holding Co. plans to open six to seven new stores, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, and Express stores in 2023, Ahmad Abdulrazzaq BinDawood said in an investors presentation.

During the meeting, which was attended by Argaam, the CEO said the company’s strategic focus is on the main cities in the central and western regions, including Riyadh, Jeddah, Makkah, and Madinah.

The number of stores increased from 78 in 2021 to 84 in 2022, including other 22 dark stores, the CEO noted.

He added that the 84 stores comprise 54 hypermarkets, 27 supermarkets, and three Express stores in 17 Saudi cities, in addition to only one store in Bahrain.

BinDawood Holding is exploring international opportunities to achieve geographical diversification, the top executive said, indicating that the strong liquidity and debt-free position allow for acquisitions whenever attractive opportunities are available.

The Loyalty Program, in which the number of registered customers exceeded three million, helps enhance the strength and flexibility of the brand.

The program will have a positive impact on sales and margins in 2023, and this started to appear in the first quarter.

The management decided to temporarily absorb part of the inflation increase in light of fluctuations in the global macroeconomic environment as a result of inflation and geopolitical developments, the CEO said. He added that any marginal losses in the future will be compensated through the growth in customer base and market share.

The firm took strict cost rationalization measures, including size restructuring and store relocation based on strategic and technical research for customer demand. This also includes improving operational efficiency, which will help gradually near the sector's profit margins, similar to 2019 levels.

BinDawood Holding is working to increase its online business through adding a dark store, and it invested in a fleet of vehicles to reduce the express delivery time from one day to an hour.

Speaking about the recent acquisitions of the International Applications Trading Co. (IATC) and France's YKONE, the CEO said their performance was better than expected after the acquisitions.

After three difficult years for the retail sector, it is expected to boost the company's revenue and profits in the future, the CEO concluded.

The company reported a net profit of SAR 118.8 million for 2022, a 51% slump from SAR 240.6 million in the previous year. The fourth-quarter net profit soared to SAR 59.3 million compared with a year before, according to data compiled by Argaam.