Delhaize announces restructuring

The supermarket group Delhaize will close 113 stores in the United States and 20 in southern Europe.

Delhaize, which has 65% of its sales in the United States plans to close 113 stores and convert 64 Bloom and Botton Dollar Food stores into Food Lion. These closures will result in the loss of 5,000 jobs. Delhaize America operates more than 1,600 stores in fifteen states in the eastern United States.

In Europe, the group will close 20 supermarkets and hypermarkets in Bulgaria, Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina.

These measures aim to better deal with increased competition and improve the group's growth. The turnover of Delhaize was up 7% over the last 3 months of 2011 to reach 5.64 billion euros.

source : reuters, la tribune com