Strong Christmas trading in the bag for Nisa
Convenience retail specialist Nisa has reported a strong Christmas trading period, driven by an increase in the numbers of stores served and a positive like for like performance.
The Scunthorpe-based business, whose shareholders approved a £137m takeover by the Co-operative Group in November, saw sales rise by 17.7% to £277m in the 10 weeks to 31 December 2017.
Nisa said the strong trading performance reflected an increase of 269 stores served in the period, with substantial organic growth of 106 stores, and two new contract wins totalling 163 stores.
The retailer invested in seasonal promotions to drive member sales in the festive period and saw like for like sales increase by 1.7%.
Nisa’s fresh range registered an overall 23.1% increase in sales to £43.1m, which it said demonstrates the business’s increased strength in this category.
It highlighted that pre-pack fruit sales were up 38.1%, pre-pack vegetables up 38.6% and ready meals up 43.7%.
In addition to the 140 Costcutter stores that recently started trading with Nisa, a further 1,090 are now expected to start trading from January 2018.
Arnu Misra, CEO Nisa Retail, said: “We successfully invested in promotions to assist our members over the key festive trading period, resulting in positive like for likes and good organic growth in store numbers.
“The total number of stores served by Nisa was also increased by two large new contract wins. Nisa has delivered a strong programme to help drive sales and footfall in our members’ stores, and with the support of our members, we have built a solid foundation for 2018.”
