The sales of S Group's supermarket trade increased exceptionally well during the first months of last year. However, the sales at the beginning of this year were impaired by Easter taking place in April instead of March and the large Prisma stores that were closed down in St. Petersburg. However, growth was derived from online grocery trade, in which sales at the beginning of the year were up by almost 25 per cent from the previous year.

− We are especially pleased with the positive sales development in the travel industry and hospitality business. The sales volumes of hotels and restaurants, which had an outstanding result last year, have continued to be high at the beginning of the year. There is also solid confidence in the future of the industry, as there is a large-scale hotel investment programme going on in the S Group. Several major modernisations or entirely new hotels will be completed during this and the following year, says Taavi Heikkilä, CEO of SOK.  

In addition, the S Group has continued its digital investments at the beginning of this year. The most important launch is the new S-mobiili mobile app, which offers customers an even broader range of services. In addition, new versions were introduced of many other mobile applications. One of the applications to be developed and expanded this year is the ABC-mobiili mobile app. In fact, the share of mobile payment has increased throughout the ABC chain for both car wash and fill-ups throughout the early part of the year. Payment methods are further diversified by MobilePay, which has been introduced in almost all of S Group's grocery stores at the beginning of this year.

S Group's tax-free retail sales 1-3/2019

Business areas

Sales (million €, entire S Group)

Change compared to1-3/2018 (%)

Supermarket trade*

1,870.7

-1.3

Service station store and fuel sales

381.6

+0.4

Travel industry and hospitality business*

189.2

+3.1

Department stores and specialised trade

67.6

-5.5

Other

139.9

+3.1

S Group total

2,648.8

-0.7

* The figure includes sales in Russia and Estonia.