Growth despite lower prices

The Swiss Migros group achieved a retail turnover of Swfr 17.35 bn (€ 11.20 bn) in 2005. This amounts to growth of 0.6 per cent, or 1.2 per cent like-for-like. The retail area of the supermarkets, hypermarkets and specialist stores increased last year by 44 608 m² (3.8 per cent) to a total of 1 211 923 m². Nearly 25 000 m² of the increased space is attributable to the three new Obi stores in San Antonio, Bülach and Schönbühl. The overall total of specialist stores and M-Parcs was up by two to 41. The cooperative has announced that average sales/m² have fallen in comparison with the previous year. In the case of specialist stores, it has gone down by 5.7 per cent to Swfr 4 868 (€ 3 142).