Spain's DIA to close more than half its stores in Brazil

Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentacion SA

15/03/2024 07:08

March 15 (Reuters) - Spanish food retail group DIA
 DIDA.MC  said on Thursday it will close 343 stores and three
warehouses in Brazil following negative results for its business
in the South American country last year.
    DIA is betting on divestitures to reduce its net financial
debt, which shrank 22% to 422 million euros at the end of 2023
from the prior year.
    The aim is to direct the group's resources towards more
profitable markets with better growth potential such as Spain
and Argentina, DIA said in a filing to Spanish stock market
regulator CNMV.
    DIA began its business in Brazil in 2001, where it currently
has around 600 stores.
    It posted a loss of 154 million euros ($167.5 million) in
Brazil in 2023, more than twice that of the 72-million-euro loss
the year before, due to strong competition that led to large
promotional investments, it said last month.
    Last August, the retailer announced it would leave Portugal
by early 2024, selling nearly 500 supermarkets there to Auchan
Portugal for 155 million euros.

    
    ($1 = 0.9194 euros)

 (Reporting by Matteo Allievi; Editing by David Latona and
Janane Venkatraman)
 ((matteo.allievi@thomsonreuters.com;))