Zabka cites everyday purchases as shield from instability

Zabka SA

20/03/2026 09:59

GDANSK, Poland, March 20 (Reuters) - Polish convenience store operator Zabka ZAB.WA can weather surging energy prices and geopolitical instability thanks to its reliance on small, everyday purchases and experience navigating past crises, top executives said on a Friday conference call.

Natural gas prices have jumped since the start of the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, as attacks on regional energy infrastructure have roiled global markets.

	• "This is something we have gone through before and we are able to deal with it," CEO Tomasz Suchanski said, pointing to instability the company has faced since the COVID-19 pandemic

	• CFO Tomasz Blicharski noted that even when inflation neared 20%, the impact on footfall was minimal

• He added that the nature of small purchases the company relies on shield the business from external shocks

	• Late on Thursday, Zabka reported full-year adjusted core profit of 4.07 billion zlotys ($1.10 billion), broadly in line with a company-compiled consensus of 4.06 billion zlotys

	• For 2026, Zabka expects mid-to-high single-digit like-for-like sales growth and targets an adjusted EBITDA margin at the upper end of its 12%-13% guidance range

	• The midpoint of the expected like-for-like sales growth topped expectations, Trigon analyst Grzegorz Kujawski wrote in a note

	• Like-for-like sales growth for the full year 2025 stood at 5.3%

	• Zabka plans to test a 24-hour, cashier-less Nano store at a Polish airport, exploring a new type of location where the chain was previously absent, Blicharski said

($1 = 3.6932 zlotys)

 (Reporting by Rafal Nowak; Editing by Matt Scuffham)

 ((RafalWojciech.Nowak@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 66 63;))