Discount Retail Chain Lidl made a profit of 1.7 billion dinars (about 14 million euros) in Serbia in the last business year. Lidl took second place in terms of profits, after Delhaize. They are followed by Mercator S, Aman, Univerexport, Gomex and Metro.
However, unlike retail chains Delhaize, Mercator S, Aman and Gomex, which recorded double-digit profit growth in 2023 compared to 2022, Lidl's profit last year was lower by 276.3 million, which is about 13 percent less than in 2022.
Looking at sales revenues, Lidl, like other retail chains, recorded double-digit growth in turnover, and ended its last business year (March 1, 2023 - February 29, 2024) with 103 billion dinars. This is 10 million dinars more than in 2022, which they ended with revenues of 93 billion.
When looking at the results of sales revenues, the first is Delhaize with 153 billion dinars, the second is Lidl with 103 billion, followed by Mercator S with 100 billion dinars collected, Univerexport with 37 billion dinars, Metro with 35 billion dinars, Amman with almost 30 billion, and the list of the seven most successful is concluded by Gomex with approximately 22 billion dinars of sales revenue.
According to the financial report submitted to the Business Registers Agency, the largest financial expenditures for Lidl in Serbia last year were interest expenses. Out of 1.22 billion expenditures, interest expenses are 1.04 billion dinars. Compared to 2022, that's almost three times more. Last year, the retail chain took out an additional loan from the German Investment Bank. These funds will most likely be directed to the construction of Lidl's third distribution center, the construction of which is planned south of the Bubanj Potok interchange, on the Belgrade-Niš highway.
"Lidl increased its debt last year by almost 20 percent a year. This, combined with the rise of the Euribor, has led to a significant increase in interest costs. The fact is that the euribor was negative for practically half of 2022 and averaged about 0.23 percent, and the average for 2023 is about 3.35 percent. Although Lidl does not provide details about interest rates in its reports, i.e. whether they are fixed, variable and to which benchmark they are linked, a strong jump in interest costs indicates that it is an exposure to variable interest rates," explains Matteo Mošnja, analyst at BBA.
Fewer employees, but the highest salaries
Over the past year, Lidl has also reduced the number of employees. It ended the business year with 3,415 workers, which is 147 fewer than in 2022. The average gross salary at Lidl last year was 160,488 dinars. With this amount, Lidl ranks first among retail chains in terms of average gross earnings.
More than €550 million has been invested in Serbia
Lidl, part of Germany's Schwarz Group, operates in 32 countries around the world, with around 12,200 stores. It opened its first stores in Serbia in October 2018 and currently has more than 70 retail stores. Since its arrival on the Serbian market, Lidl has invested more than EUR 550 million in Serbia and exported Serbian goods worth more than EUR 30 million.
In Lapovo, they have invested EUR 70 million in the construction of a distribution center of 60,000 square meters, on a plot of land of 40 hectares, which is one of the largest distribution centers in the Balkans. Prior to that, in 2018, they opened a logistics center in Nova Pazova, which covers 45,000 square meters and has 30,000 pallet spaces.
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