Fourlis announced that during the company's annual general meeting of shareholders held on Friday, June 21, 2024, management presented the group's performance, its strategic objectives, and its retail forecasts for the year 2024.

Management presented the major milestones completed in 2023, including the completion of the sale of Intersport Turkey and The Athlete's Foot, the optimisation and expansion of the network at both IKEA and INTERSPORT, as well as the expansion in health and wellness through the first Holland & Barrett stores and the e-commerce platform. In addition, the Group successfully completed the public offering with a share capital increase of Trade Estates and its listing on the Athens Stock Exchange, as well as the acquisition of SMART PARK, the largest retail park in Greece. Finally, the group entered into a major partnership with Inter IKEA for the new International Distribution Center in Greece.

During 2023, the performance from the group's retail business, i.e., excluding Trades Estates, reflects a solid business model that drives profitable growth through operating leverage and operational efficiency.

Group retail sales increased by 10% to €521.3 million in 2023. The stable gross profit margin, operating leverage, rationalisation of operating costs, and de-escalation of inflationary pressures led to a significant improvement in EBITDA margin. As a result, EBITDA (OPR)  increased by 25.8% to reach €35.9 million in 2023 compared to €28.6 million in 2022, and the group's retail EBITDA (OPR) margin reached 6.9% in 2023 from 6.0% in 2022. In 2023, the Group's retail net debt was at its lowest level in a decade, reaching €84.8 million from €102.5 million in 2022, highlighting management's commitment to optimise the Group's capital structure.

Trade Estates SA, a subsidiary of the group, made a significant contribution to the group's consolidated results. Rental income in 2023 increased by 28.3%, showing a gross annual rental yield of 7.7%. As of December 31, 2023, its gross estimated value (GAV) increased by 65% to €477 million compared to 2022, while its net asset value increased by 41% to €298.4 million.

Management reaffirmed its commitment to a clear strategic roadmap that emphasises improving performance across the group's retail activities, leveraging digitalization, and expanding its presence in the markets in which it operates. 

The group's strategic plan comprises the following key pillars:

• Focus on quality and excellent customer service and experience.
• Focus on excellence and customer service and attention to customer experience and customer satisfaction, and on customer satisfaction and customer service excellence.
• Further development of multi-channel approaches and e-commerce.
• Focus on the group's digital transformation to improve the customer experience, e-channel capabilities, inventory management, and efficiency, as well as better strategic decision-making.
• Further development of specialized logistics services through new partnerships and expansion of activities in the SEE region.

Management remains optimistic about the group's outlook for the full year 2024, given the positive trends and improved profitability reported in Q1 2024. The group is on track to achieve increased profitability and operating cash flow generation.