One in three French-speaking Belgian franchisers operates at a loss

More than one third of independent franchise supermarkets in French-speaking Belgium (Brussels and Wallonia) posted losses in 2022. At Intermarché, this even concerns more than half of them.

No improvement expected

Aplsia, the professional association of Belgian French-speaking independent food retailers, analysed the accounts of 313 franchised supermarkets: 112 of them (or 35.8 %) ended the 2022 financial year with a loss, L’Echo reports. The average loss was 131,000 euros, significantly more than 2021’s 104,000 euros. The number of loss-making shops almost doubled compared to the previous two years. Moreover, 49 companies (15.7 %) had negative equity, which is often a sign of impending bankruptcy.

56.3 % of Intermarché franchisers found themselves below zero, at Mestdagh-Intermarché that figure was 52 % and at Proxy Delhaize this was 46.4 %. AD Delhaize (16.1 % loss-making) and Carrefour Express (17.9 %) performed a lot better. Aplsia does not expect any improvement for 2023: an analysis of fifty shops with a broken financial year that includes part of 2023 shows that average operating profit remains stable or improves only slightly.