Turkish Discount Retailer BIM to Expand into Egypt

Turkish discount supermarket BIM is set to enter the Egyptian market, expanding its current presence in Morocco and Turkey.

 The company will open its first Egyptian store in April and aims to be operating over 30 of them by the end of the year,” Galip Aykaç, BIM’s chief operating officer, said on March 6 during a meeting in which the company unveiled its financial figures for last year.

 Aykaç pointed to the gap in the Egyptian market for a more developed discount retail sector, especially in light of sharp rises in food prices since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.The retailer also plans to open 50 additional stores in Morocco and 375 in Turkey, as well as investing around $150 million by the end of 2013, according to Aykaç. BIM already owns 110 stores in Morocco and 3,720 stores nation-wide in its home market.

 BIM’s net profits rose by 10.8 percent to 331.3 million Turkish Liras, and sales climbed 21 percent to 9.9 billion liras in 2012. k HDN

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