Greek Company Buys A 12 Million Euro Plot In Sofia For The First Ikea Unit In Bulgaria

The Greek group Fourlis has signed a 12.081 million euro preliminary contract for the purchase of a plot in Sofia where it plans to develop the first IKEA hypermarket in the country, investor.bg reported.

Negotiations for the land started in November last year, Fourlis officials said, but they refused to give details about its size and location.

The Greek holder of the rights for the development of the Swedish furniture chain plans to start construction of the hypermarket later this year. Completion is scheduled for 2009.
Prices in the Bulgarian outlet will be lower than those of its Greek counterpart because Fourlis’ policy is to comply with the market situation and the purchasing power (GDP per capita) of the country they are entering, company representatives noted.

Fourlis intends to open three IKEA outlets in Bulgaria by 2011, two of which will be outside Sofia. Currently, the group has two hypermarkets in Greece - one in Athens and one in Thessaloniki. A third store will open in Athens at the end of March and there are plans for building four more units by 2011, one of them again in the Greek capital. The company will also open an outlet in Cyprus.

Fourlis, which also operates the Intersport shops in Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, intends to increase their total number across the four countries from the current 32 to 50 or 60 by 2010. In Bulgaria, the Greek group has one Intersport shop in the Mall of Sofia and plans to acquire a portfolio of five or 10 outlets in Bulgaria and 15 in Romania.

Fourlis' revenue for the 2006/2007 financial period exceeds 670 million euro, as compared to 482 million euro for the previous year. Its profit before tax in 2006/07 is 65.2 million euro – against the 48 million euro posted the year before.

IKEA was set up in Sweden in 1943. To date, it has 260 shops in 34 countries, posting a 20.7 billion euro turnover in 2007. The registered footfall (the number of visitors) for last year was more than 583 million, 60 per cent of which fell to women.

Fourlis, which also operates the Intersport shops in Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria, intends to increase their total number across the four countries from the current 32 to 50 or 60 by 2010. In Bulgaria, the Greek group has one Intersport shop in the Mall of Sofia and plans to acquire a portfolio of five or 10 outlets in Bulgaria and 15 in Romania.