Arena Group, start of plan to increase productivity by 20 per cent

Increasing productivity, i.e. the value of sales per square metre, the launch of a new industrial plan for the three-year period 2025-2027 as well as two key objectives: to reach 2 billion in turnover in 2030 and to make the Deco and Superconveniente supermarket brands national. These are the key points of the new development lines of the Arena Group, which Giovanni Arena, CEO, fourth generation of the family business and Cavaliere del Lavoro, anticipates to Il Sole 24 Ore from the headquarters in Catania together with the 2024 results.

"Productivity will increase with the modernisation of the shops, the renewal of the assortments and the continuous development of products with the Distributor's Brand (Mdd ndr) under the Decò and SuperConveniente brands," explains the CEO and Knight of Labour. "Thus we have achieved an excellent performance in 2024 close to 8,200 euros per square metre against the average of 5,700 euros in Sicily. The goal for 2027 is to reach around 9,900 euro (+20%) per square metre, according to a trend based not only on expanding the sales area but above all on improving the quality of the assortment, services, and the careful interpretation of consumer needs".

Another pillar of the business plan is the 185 million investment planned over the three-year period. "The development plan is a mixed one and envisages on average the opening of 10 Decò or SuperConvenient supermarkets per year, 3 or 4 of which will be owned and built from scratch, others will be openings after restructuring,' Arena continues.

A preparatory plan to gradually make the Decò brand a national player, starting in northern Italy. "We are continuing to look for a target company to take over because I believe that our business model will be able to establish itself outside Sicily,' says the CEO. 'We can also focus on SuperConveniente, a supermarket format that attacks the discount store bigwigs and will be able to reach the whole of Italy. In any case, with the presence in Sicily alone we will reach 2 billion in revenues in 2030'. The Group is strongly rooted in the region with a network of 186 outlets between Decò and SuperConveniente in which approximately 3,650 employees work. The market share, according to NielsenIQ surveys, in Sicily is 27% in the hypermarket, supermarket and free service segment. "In the region, the growth of discount shops is exponential and unstoppable, with a market share of more than 35 per cent, above the national figure," Arena recalls. "The SuperConveniente brand now has 36 shops and will continue to grow in the coming years.

2024 for the Group ended with a consolidated revenue of EUR 1,292.6 million, +9.22% compared to 2023, and an Ebitda of EUR 84 million (+16.6%). Important results in a year marked by the drop in consumption due to the loss of purchasing power of families and in which the large-scale retail sector saw a +1.9% increase in revenues. In this context, the Arena Group achieved results above the market average, with a +3.4% increase in turnover on a like-for-like network and an overall growth in sales of +7.8%, also thanks to the contribution of the Mdd, which reached a 22.1% share of the FMCG turnover and "when possible is developed and produced by companies on the Island," Arena explains.