"Not only did we continue to grow after the exceptional coronavirus year 2020, we even exceeded our targets," said REWE International AG Management Board members Marcel Haraszti and Christoph Matschke, expressing their satisfaction with the economic development. The food retail business segment (Billa, PENNY, Adeg) recorded an increase in turnover of 1.25 per cent, while drugstore retail (Bipa) grew by 2.99 per cent. REWE Austria Travel and Tourism recorded an increase in turnover of 44.25 per cent in 2020 following the coronavirus-related slump in turnover. REWE Group invested 224 million euros in Austria in 2021 and employed 45,338 people. Of these, around 2,200 are trainees, 200 more than in 2020.

Marcel Haraszti "We want to become No. 1 with customers. We continued to pursue this goal with full commitment in 2021 and systematically implemented the next and most important step: the merger of our two successful sales formats Billa and Merkur under the Billa umbrella brand. This milestone has made us simpler and even more effective for our customers. We have scored points with the biggest price reduction in the history of the company and our regionality offensive in the product range. And this has been honoured by our customers - we have exceeded our targets," says Marcel Haraszti, looking back on a successful financial year. Billa (Billa/Billa Plus) increased its revenue by 1.58 per cent in 2021, employed 31,198 people and increased the number of stores by 17 to 1,270.

Bipa, on the other hand, once again recorded very pleasing sales growth in 2021 - and for the fourth time in a row - with an increase of 2.99 per cent. "This proves that we are on the right track. The improvements and efforts for our customers are bearing lasting fruit," says Haraszti.

Travel and Tourism was also able to grow again in 2021: following the massive slump in sales in the 2020 financial year due to coronavirus (-73 per cent compared to 2019), Travel and Tourism recorded an increase in sales of 44.25 per cent.

After an extremely successful 2020, which was driven by the effects of the pandemic, PENNY Austria suffered a 2.69 per cent drop in sales at a high level in 2021. However, the company performed significantly better than the discount sector average in the highly competitive Austrian discount market (sales share of the overall market fell from 24.9 to 23.1 per cent according to preliminary industry estimates).

The Human Resources department was also called upon in 2021. REWE International AG Management Board member Christoph Matschke: "The coronavirus pandemic has significantly changed our labour market. We have also made our recruiting even more effective, in particular by setting up our own IT recruiting task force for the prevailing war for talent on the IT labour market." in 2021, the number of employees - adjusted for staff who only worked temporarily during the pandemic in 2020 - increased by 62 "and we would have liked to take on significantly more," emphasises the REWE International AG Management Board member, "we can currently offer job seekers 3,000 vacancies and more than 600 trainees an attractive apprenticeship position immediately." A total of 800 new trainees are to be taken on in the current business year.

"This means that gross revenue in the international retail business increased once again by 1.98 per cent from 18 billion euros to 18.41 billion euros after the already strong corona exception year 2020 - adjusted for exchange rate effects and the sale of Billa Russia, adjusted for discontinued operations," says REWE International AG Management Board member Christoph Matschke, "all three business segments, which operate in a total of 9 EU countries, contributed to this positive development." Full-range Austria (Billa, Bipa, Adeg) grew by 2.14 per cent to 8.34 billion euros, PENNY International increased by 1.75 per cent to 6.47 billion euros. Full-range CEE (Billa, IKI) achieved revenue of 3.60 billion euros, up 2.01 per cent from 3.49 billion euros (figures adjusted for exchange rate effects and discontinued operations). Retail International employed 89,223 people in 9 countries in 2021, with an investment volume of EUR 660 million.

Represented in Austria, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania, PENNY International acts as a local discounter in each individual country. With a share of national products in the product range that is more than 50 per cent in each country or even significantly higher - for example in the Czech Republic with over 70 per cent. The company also works predominantly with regional suppliers for its successful own brands.

"Following the strong growth in 2020, which was driven by the pandemic, PENNY International is doing a lot of things right for its customers in the long term as a national discounter. Especially thanks to our high proportion of regional products and the top price-performance ratio," says REWE International AG Management Board member Michael Jäger, who is satisfied with the development of PENNY International in the past business year. The number of employees increased by 444 to 24,998, and the store network was expanded by 48 stores to 1,636 locations.

The growth leader in 2021 was once again PENNY Romania with an increase in turnover of 11.79 per cent, followed by PENNY Hungary with + 4.45 per cent and PENNY Czech Republic with + 0.22 per cent (all figures adjusted for exchange rate effects). Following the turnaround, PENNY in Italy is now also recording stable positive development. Romania is a key strategic growth market for PENNY International, where the number of stores will double to 600 by 2029.

Full-range CEE (Billa, IKI) successfully reached a milestone in its realignment in 2021 by leaving the Russian market and now fully focussing on its EU markets of Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic with Billa and Lithuania with IKI. "We now want to achieve sustainable growth in all of our markets. To achieve this, we are focusing precisely on the wishes and needs of our customers in each market - with regionalised product ranges as well as in customer communication and at the POS. We worked hard on this in 2021, laid the groundwork and in 2022 we will start implementing it," says REWE International AG Management Board member Espen B. Larsen.

At +6.87 per cent, IKI Lithuania achieved the strongest sales growth in 2021, followed by Billa Bulgaria with +3.82 per cent (all figures adjusted for exchange rate effects). Full-range CEE employed 21,052 people in the past financial year and the store network comprised 775 locations (figures adjusted for the Russian business).

In the 2022 financial year, Retail International will continue to invest in increasing customer satisfaction, expansion and modernisation in all 9 of its markets. An investment volume of almost 1 billion euros has been budgeted for this purpose

"We want to become No. 1 with our customers. We have continued to pursue this goal with full commitment in 2021, and have consistently implemented the next and most important step: the merger of our two successful sales formats Billa and Merkur under the umbrella brand Billa. With this milestone, we have become simpler and even more effective for our customers. Have scored with the biggest price reduction in the history of the company and our regionality offensive in the product range. And this has been rewarded by our customers - we have exceeded our targets," says Marcel Haraszti, looking back on a successful business year. Billa (Billa/ Billa Plus) increased its turnover by 1.58 percent in 2021, employed 31,198 people and increased the number of stores by 17 to 1,270.

Bipa, in turn, again recorded very pleasing turnover growth in 2021 - and for the fourth time in a row - with an increase of 2.99 per cent. "This proves: the course is right. The improvements and efforts for our customers are bearing fruit in the long term," says Haraszti.

Tourism was also able to grow again in 2021: after the Corona-related massive drop in turnover in the 2020 fiscal year (-73 per cent vs. 2019), Tourism recorded a 44.25 per cent increase in turnover.

PENNY Austria, after an extremely successful 2020 driven by pandemic effects, suffered a turnover decline of -2.69 per cent in 2021 at a high level. In the massively competitive Austrian discount market (share of turnover in the overall market fell from 24.9 to 23.1 percent according to preliminary industry estimates), however, the company performed significantly better than the discount industry average.

The Human Resources division was also challenged in 2021. REWE International AG Management Board member Christoph Matschke: "The Corona pandemic has greatly changed our labour market. In response, we have also made our recruiting even more effective, in particular installing a dedicated IT recruiting taskforce for the prevailing war for talent on the IT labour market." In 2021, the number of employees - adjusted for staff who were only working temporarily during the pandemic in 2020 - has increased by 62 "and we would have liked to take on significantly more," emphasises the REWE International AG Management Board member, "currently we can offer job seekers 3,000 vacancies and more than 600 apprentices an attractive apprenticeship immediately." A total of 800 new apprentices are to be taken on in the current business year.

Represented in Austria, Italy, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania, PENNY International acts as a country-specific discounter in each individual country. The share of national products in the assortment is more than 50 per cent in each country, or even significantly higher - as in the Czech Republic, for example, with more than 70 per cent. The successful private labels also work predominantly with regional suppliers.

"Following the pandemic-driven strong growth in the Corona year 2020, bringing in another plus shows that PENNY International, as a country-specific discounter, is doing a lot right for its customers on a sustainable basis. Above all, our high share of regional products and the top price-performance ratio", says REWE International AG Management Board member Michael Jäger, who is satisfied with the development of PENNY International in the past business year. The number of employees increased by 444 to 24,998, and the store network was expanded by 48 stores to 1,636 locations.

The growth leader in 2021 was once again PENNY Romania with an increase in turnover of 11.79 per cent, followed by PENNY Hungary with + 4.45 per cent and PENNY Czech Republic with + 0.22 per cent (all figures adjusted for exchange rate effects). PENNY in Italy is now also recording stable positive development following its turnaround. Romania is a key strategic growth market for PENNY International, where the number of stores will be doubled to 600 by 2029.

Vollsortiment CEE (Billa, Iki) successfully reached a milestone in its realignment in 2021 by leaving the Russian market and now focusing fully on its EU markets Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic with Billa and Lithuania with IKI. "Now we want to grow sustainably in all our markets. To achieve this, we are focusing precisely on the wishes and needs of our customers in each market - with regionalised product ranges as well as in customer communication and at the POS. We have been working on this at full speed in 2021, we have created the prerequisites and in 2022 we will start implementing it," says REWE International AG Management Board member Espen B. Larsen.

With + 6.87 per cent, IKI Lithuania achieved the strongest increase in turnover in 2021, followed by Billa Bulgaria with + 3.82 per cent (all figures adjusted for exchange rate effects). In the past financial year, Vollsortiment CEE employed 21,052 people and its store network comprised 775 locations (figures adjusted for the Russian business).

In the 2022 financial year, further investments will be made in all 9 Retail International markets to increase customer satisfaction, expansion and modernisation. An investment volume of almost 1 billion euros has been budgeted for this purpose.