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German supermarket group Rewe claims to be the second largest food retailer in Europe: Thanks to the corona crisis, the group has reached a turnover of more than 75 billion euros, leaving only Lidl owner Schwarz Group behind.
Courtesy of Lekkerland
Rewe is getting closer to Schwarz Gruppe, owner of Lidl and Kaufland. In one year’s time – the critical corona year 2020 – the German supermarket group has overtaken both Aldi and Carrefour. At least that is what CEO Lionel Souque says in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Last year, the 75 billion euro mark would have been reached.
The growth was mainly caused by the takeover of wholesaler Lekkerland, which supplies neighbourhood and convenience stores: Rewe took over the company at the end of 2019 and last year it contributed 12 billion euros in turnover. With sales of 110 billion euros, Lidl’s parent company is still by far the largest in Europe.
Distorted competition due to state aid
This performance is all the more striking because Rewe is also active in the travel sector. Subsidiary DER Touristik saw its sales plummet as a result of the corona measures, yet it did not have to apply for state loans. “We will compensate the losses from other sectors, such as tourism, with our results,” Souque said.
Souque is nevertheless going to the European Commission to sue competitors, such as Tui, that did receive hefty state aid. According to him, many of these government deals are not transparent and can cause distorted competition. He especially wants to prevent the loans from simply being waived at the end of the day.
