Published in On Economía , 11 - August , 2023 Franchises of Spain

Dia remains immersed in the transformation of its business towards a proximity model in all the markets where it operates to return to profitability. The supermarket chain has already completed this strategic shift in Spain and Argentina and is now seeking to complete the process in Brazil, while in Portugal it will stop operating after the announcement of the sale of the entire business to Auchan for 155 million euros. In this strategic plan, the franchise is one of the most important pillars that the group has been promoting for some time and has accelerated in the last year.

Divestments, store closures and remodeling are aimed at returning the group to positive numbers, which, according to the latest accounts presented, lost 67 million euros in the first half of the year. This is 35.8% less than in the same period of 2022, when the red numbers stood at 105 million.

This reduction in losses has been mainly due to the sale of the 223 large format stores to Alcampo in Spain, which it recently completed. As for its other major divestment, the sale of the Clarel perfumeries, it will look for another option after canceling the operation with the C2 Private Capital fund. Following these operations, the group led by Martin Tolcachir has assured that it will not make any further sales of its business, focused on completing its transformation.

This is a process in which the franchise model, with which they have been working for 30 years, is increasingly relevant within the company, already accounting for a large part of its network of Dia stores. Thus, according to the latest data published, at the end of June, the company had a total of 5,435 establishments in the four countries in which it operates, of which 2,934 are franchises (2,722 excluding Clarel), that is, 62 % (54% if Clarel's are taken into account) of the network.