נעמי אנוך: "דאגו לבנקים - אבל איש לא דאג להגן על כספי הציבור"

The recession is apparent in Supersol (NYSE, TASE: SAE)¿s first quarter results. The supermarket chain announced a drop of 11.2% in revenues for the quarter to NIS 1.59 billion, in comparison to last year. Same store sales were down 14.6% compared to last year.

The company blames the drop in sales on: the deepening recession, the real fall in food prices, the timing of the Passover holidays, and the growing competition in the supermarket sector and in particular the opening of new stores by competitors.

The sharp fall in sales caused Israel¿s largest retailer a net loss of NIS 3 million, in comparison to a profit of NIS 57 million last year. The chain also moved into the loss column for operations. Operating losses were NIS 4 million, compared to profits of NIS 79 million in the same quarter last year.

The move into operating losses shows that the firm did not reduce its costs enough in relation to the drop in revenue.

In spite of attempts at cost cutting, Supersol was only able to reduce costs of sales by 7% to NIS 1.59 billion, as opposed to NIS 1.71 billion last year.

The results were also below analysts¿ expectations.

SuperSol revenues down 11%