Cencosud expands

The home improvement division of Cencosud, a Chilean retail group, achieved sales growth of 18.8 per cent in the first quarter. Together the 82 stores in Chile (29 under the Easy banner), Argentina (39 Easy and 10 Blaisten outlets) and Columbia (4 Easy stores) recorded sales of CL $ 227 bn. The increase amounts to 27.9 per cent after a currency conversion based on the US dollar. There was a noticeable rise in like-for-like sales, which came to 11.2 per cent in Chile, 28.0 per cent in Argentina and 6.7 per cent in Columbia.