Haluk Dortluoğlu, the company’s CFO, announced BİM’s 2009 figures at a press conference yesterday. The share of private-label products in the company’s total sales increased from 55.6 percent to 58.4 percent, he said, adding that they expect this figure to rise above 60 percent this year. Last year BİM spent TL 133 million on investments; of this figure, TL 5 million went to investments made in Morocco, Dortluoğlu stated. The number of employees also had risen from 13,680 in 2008 to 14,904 by the end of 2009. Currently this figure exceeds 15,000, he added.
BİM’s average daily customer numbers reached 1.9 million, up from the previous year’s 1.5 million. Dortluoğlu said they expect this figure to exceed 2 million this year. BİM opened 343 new stores in 2009, increasing its number of stores to 2,628 by the end of last year. This figure is 2,675 as of today, Dortluoğlu said.
“We plan to open more than 300 new stores in 2010. We also plan to make investments valued at TL 130 million in Turkey and TL 10 million in Morocco. Forty more stores are expected to be opened in Morocco, increasing the total number to 65 by the end of the year. We also plan to employ 1,500 more people this year,” said Dortluoğlu, adding that they expect to see turnover rise 25 percent this year over 2009. However, BİM foresees its net profit margin dropping slightly this year due to their low-price policy. He forecast the company’s 2010 net profit to be TL 220 to 230 million. BİM also plans to expand into several new countries.
