Carrefour sales touch Dh3.67b in Mideast

French retailer Carrefour reported more than Dh3.67 billion ($1 billion) in sales revenue last year making it the largest retail chain in the region, through 13 outlets in the Middle East serving 35 million customers, according to MAF Hypermarkets.

This translated into a Dh105 sale per customer.

MAF Hypermarkets, a 75:25 joint venture with Carrefour in which MAF holds a majority stake, will open five more hypermarkets by the end of this year. It currently operates 13 hypermarkets in the region.

Lulu Hypermarket, operated by the Abu Dhabi-based EMKE Group, which reported Dh2.75 billion in ($752 million) retail sales last year, is catching up fast in the region's organised retail race through 47 retail outlets across the GCC.

It has another 12 hypermarkets scheduled to open by December 2006, an official said.

Lulu Hypermarket is one of many brands operated by the EMKE Group, owned by non-resident Indian businessman Yousaf Ali M.A.

MAF Hypermarkets is one of the four divisions of Dubai-based diversified business conglomerate Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Holding, and owns rights for the brand in the Middle East.

"We own the Carrefour franchaise for the Middle East region. The plan is to open three to four outlets every year and we are on track with the development programme," Ahmad Bin Brek, chief executive of MAF Ventures, another division of MAF Holding, told Gulf News recently.

"By end of 2006, we shall operate 22 Carrefours in the region."

MAF Holding employs 7,000 people.

MAF Holding opened their first hypermarket in the region in 1995 at the Deira City Centre, then known as Continent.

It currently operates two Carrefour in Dubai, two in Abu Dhabi and one each in Sharjah, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah.

The UAE, with seven outlets, represents Carrefour's largest market in the region.

Its third outlet, being set up in the Mall of the Emirates, will open in September. A fourth is planned at the Century Mall and a fifth near the International City in Dubai, close to the Emirates Road.

MAF Hypermarkets has set up a Carrefour outlet in Saudi Arabia. The second will open later this year. The brand will make a foray into Kuwait with a joint venture in the coming years.

According to a recent report, Carrefour tops the retailers' list of eight local and regional players who cumulatively contribute about 13 per cent to the region's Dh165.15 billion retail market.