“Jumbo already profitable in Belgium”, but CEO admits “we were ready to leave”

Jumbo may already reach operational profitability in Belgium this year, one year earlier than planned. Nevertheless, CEO Ton van Veen admits that the retailer had made plans to leave the country due to its troubled start.

400 million euros in sales

As the Dutch retailer plans to open its 37th shop in Belgium, it hopes to reach a revenue level that covers fixed costs. The ambition was to be operationally profitable in 2025, but it looks now that this milestone will already be reached this year, Van Veen and Director Belgium Peter Isaac told Belgian newspapers De Tijd and De Standaard this weekend. The retailer is heading for 400 million euros in annual sales, while customer loyalty is increasing and like-for-like sales growth is approaching 10 % (at shops open for at least twelve months).

Whether the retailer will be able to reach fifty stores in Belgium next year is far from certain, but: “We are no longer going to focus on numbers. If we only reach 45, that is fine by me.” The retailer admits that it should not have been so insistent on the importance of 100 shops. In De Standaard, Isaac also points out that Albert Heijn also only had 38 shops in Belgium after five years.

Withdrawing from Belgium “was an option”

Van Veen does admit that when he took office, all options were on the table – including a complete withdrawal from Belgium. However, the CEO now says “many signs are now good. We are growing 6 % this year, faster than the market. In the Netherlands, we are not worried about Belgium’s financial performance. On the contrary: if things were going as well in the Netherlands right now as they are in Belgium, Jumbo as a whole would be in a very different situation.”

The CEO also stresses again that the Van Eerd family selling its prized possession is totally out of the question. “The family is still extremely committed. I have been given no other task than to guide Jumbo through this period and to grow again.”