Page 34 - Neal and Massy Holdings Annual Report 2012

32 2012
The Retail Line of Business currently operates over 40 stores in
four southern Caribbean markets—Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados,
St Lucia and St Vincent. Consistent with the Integrated Retail
strategy, the retail arm of Dacosta Mannings, our home specialist
operation in Barbados, was carved out and integrated into the
Retail Line of Business (LOB). As such the Retail LOB now extends
beyond food retail. This move has set the stage for more integrated
thinking among food, non-food and consumer finance, and will be
the springboard for future expansion of a new business model in
our core markets, and beyond.
The spin-off effect of a prolonged global economic slowdown
continues to hamper traditional retail formats. Our businesses have
not escaped the effects of this phenomenon. Although most of our
banners continue to maintain leading positions in their respective
markets, weak consumer demand continues to constrain top-line
growth.
Despite this, our business in Trinidad and Tobago performed
extremely well, and we expect this momentum to continue into
2013. In Barbados however, where economic activity has been
depressed and competition intensifying, the results have not been
as favourable. Our associate interest in the Eastern Caribbean,
Gablewoods Supermart Ltd., surpassed budgeted expectations in St
Lucia, but is facing some challenges in St Vincent, where we recently
expanded.
In general, the Retail LOB performed satisfactorily for the year,
posting modest year-on-year growth in revenue and profit. We
continue to focus on implementing the five-year strategic plan
developed in 2011 and this coming year will involve greater focus
on an integrated model which will not only transform our business
for sustainable growth, but also add greater value for our customers.
New site development in core markets, and regional expansion
within CARICOM remain important strategic themes within the BU.
Thus, we will continue to aggressively pursue these opportunities in
order to achieve our five-year aspiration.
TDL Retail (Hi-Lo Food Stores, LB’s, and Food Master) had
another successful year, experiencing commendable growth in both
sales and customer traffic. The past year saw continued focus on our
customers, through the further roll-out of Neal & Massy’s Customer
Service Management System.
Through our store modernisation programme, we continue
to offer customers a more exciting and pleasurable shopping
experience. The new Maraval store has delivered exactly that. After
the inconvenience of being closed for eight weeks, our customers
responded positively and were overwhelmingly impressed by the
new store experience.
Fiscal 2012 also saw renewed efforts in marketing and
promotional activity, which offered significant value to our customers
who responded positively to the various initiatives. We intend to
Frere DelmaS Group Senior Vice President & Executive Chairman
INTEGRATED RETAIL: RETAIL LINE OF BUSINESS
Hi-Lo Food Stores
Super Centre Limited
Sunset Crest Holdings Limited
DacostaMannings Retail Limited
Gablewoods Supermart Limited