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Zabka Group SA (Żabka)Zabka grocer stoked with reception of its stores in Romania; acquisitions not ruled out
Listed convenience store chain Zabka is very pleased with the reception of shops in Romania and does not rule out acquisitions in this market, group representatives told a conference following the release of Zabka's financial report for the first quarter of 2025.
"We are constantly refining our offer in Romania in order to best adapt the shop format to the needs and expectations of our customers. We can now confirm with full confidence that our format in Romania has been very positively received," CEO Tomasz Suchanski said.
"We are very pleased with the reception of our shops by customers in Romania, especially when it comes to QMS. We are developing this concept. We are giving ourselves until the holidays, the third quarter of this year, when we want to make a decision to end the test phase and move on to the rollout if the results are positive, and it seems like they will be," he added.
According to the CEO, the chain currently has around 90 shops in Romania.
"The chain is growing. We are opening almost one shop every three days. It is one of the fastest growing chains in Europe," Suchanski stressed.
Asked whether the group is planning acquisitions in the Romanian market and whether there are retail chains there that fit the Fro shop concept, the CEO replied: "There was quite recently an acquisition between Ahold and Profi. We are looking at what is left of this acquisition after the decision of the local antitrust and consumer protection regulator (...) Moreover, we are already doing very small acquisitions in the local market, taking over single or very small chains of several stores. This is all happening."
Zabka group's CEO assessed that the Romanian market is very similar to the Polish one 10-15 years ago.
"This is a perfect place for a network like ours to grow, whether through acquisitions or organic growth," he added.
The group's Chief Strategy & Development Officer Tomasz Blicharski, when asked if the group was thinking about entering more foreign markets, reiterated that Zabka remains focused on "bringing the business in Romania to a level when it is on a stable growth path".
At the end of March 2025, the Zabka group's shop network had a total of 11,460 locations in Poland and Romania, against 10,370 at the end of the prior year period. The group estimates the market potential at nearly 19,500 shops in Poland and around 4,000 shops in Romania.
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