Discount: Penny invests 200 million in its network and aims for 2 billion in revenue

“Not only is Penny not for sale, but Italia is one of the key markets in which we intend to continue investing heavily,” Arnd Riehl, who has been managing director of the Italian branch since 1 February, told *Il Sole 24 Ore*. “With the full support of the Rewe Group, a German multinational with €100 billion in revenue by 2025, we are ready to evaluate new opportunities for development and expansion, including through external growth initiatives, where these are consistent with our business strategy.”

Yesterday, in his first public appearance, Riehl presented the chain’s development plans for Italia, which will see an investment of around 200 million euros over the next three years, 72 million of which will be spent this year. The business plan envisages the opening of a further 15 discount stores in 2026, mainly in southern Italy – “Lazio, Puglia and Sicily, as these are areas offering greater potential because the presence of other retailers is not overwhelming,” the CEO continued. Between 2027 and 2028, around thirty new stores are scheduled to open. At the same time, work is underway to refurbish other stores – around seventy this year – incorporating, where possible, ‘service’ departments such as butchers and delicatessens, ‘which drive double-digit sales growth’, Riehl points out. There are also plans to close some stores – those whose performance is not in line with the German multinational’s targets. “Customer numbers are growing because we are managing to attract those who used to shop at supermarkets but now go to discount stores to save money,” emphasises the CEO. As a result, Penny holds a market share of close to 6 per cent and is seeing positive like-for-like sales growth.

By the end of the business plan in 2028, there will be 490 Penny discount stores, with the aim of achieving 2 billion in revenue. This represents significant growth, given that turnover in 2025 stood at 1.68 billion euros and the budget for the current year targets 1.8 billion. “We want to grow, strengthen our presence across the country and make a tangible contribution to the development of the national supply chain. Our commitment is clear: to create long-term value and demonstrate, through our actions, Italia’s central role in the Rewe Group’s strategies,” emphasises Arnd Riehl.

To speed up the network’s development, the CEO could focus on M&A deals ‘if we find opportunities that will help us consolidate our positions using resources from the parent company’. Essentially, the focus could be on local supermarket groups – small but well-established within the local community.

Private-label products are a mainstay of the range and, in terms of value, generated around 60 per cent of revenue in 2025 – more than 950 million. A plan to review and relaunch the range is currently underway and will run until next year. The focus is on food products and, according to internal data, Penny sources 90 per cent of its supplies from Italian suppliers, with a significant proportion being SMEs, and around 75 per cent of the products sold are made in Italy. Not bad for a brand owned by the Rewe Group, a multinational operating in 21 European countries with 2025 revenue of 100 billion and around 380,000 employees. The supermarket and hypermarket brands are Rewe, Billa (which withdrew from the Italian market in 2014), nahkauf, the Bipa chemists, and the Penny discount stores, whilst ‘toom Baumarkt’ focuses on DIY products and Lekkerland, another brand operating in Italy, specialises in wholesale. Between 2024 and 2028, the Rewe Group has launched one of the most significant investment programmes in the European retail sector, with a total budget of around 16 billion euros.