The duo Bronze Properties and GA Europe buy the Belgian Makro and Metro stores. The management announced this to the unions on Wednesday morning. The property will remain in the hands of the German Metro group.
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The management of Makro and Metro Belgium, which had been loss-making for years, had convened staff representatives on Tuesday evening for a special works council on Wednesday morning. At that meeting, they were informed that Bronze Properties and GA Europe are acquiring the company from Metro Group. That German company does keep the eleven retail properties that the company already owned.
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The Makro and Metro brand names will not disappear in the near future. However, the question arises as to what will happen in the longer term to the 2,000 employees and the 17 stores.
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This sale has not solved the company’s revenue and profit problems. The future does not look bright for the workforce.
Wilson Wellens
Union ACLVB
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The investor GA Europe has a reputation for being a sanitizer. It also bought the bankrupt German outdoor chain McTrek from AS Adventure. It also supervised the closing program for 62 Blokker stores in Belgium. Bronze Properties is a Luxembourg fund about which little information can be found. The unions asked the Belgian management for more information about Bronze partners, but did not receive a clarifying answer.
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The unions fear the worst. ‘A new period of uncertainty is dawning for the staff,’ says Wilson Wellens (ACLVB). “This sale does not solve the company’s revenue and profit problems. GA Europe’s reputation is alarming. We don’t have an appointment with the new owners until next week.’
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The company does not let its cards be looked at. ‘We emphasize continuity’, says Belgian CEO Vincent Nolf. ‘We can continue to use the Metro and Makro brands, the IT systems and the private labels.’ Striking: he does not want to say how long the collaboration between the Belgian company and its old parent company will last. “That’s confidential.”
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Lost for years
The Belgian Metro branch has been in the red for years. In the 2020-2021 financial year (until the end of September), the Belgian branch took a loss of 42 million euros on a turnover of 646 million – a tenth less than the year before. In 2019-2020 there was a loss of 44 million on a turnover of 714 million and the previous financial year the net result turned red at 67 million on 738 million euros in turnover.
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Makro in particular made the company bleed. Makro is suffering from competition from classic chains and from new retailers such as Albert Heijn and Jumbo. E-commerce is also putting pressure on the chain.
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Since 2015, the German parent group had already had to make up for losses for more than 420 million euros.
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Japan
Metro Belgium is not the first foreign subsidiary to sell the Metro group. She has been scrutinizing her international activities for some time now. In August last year, the Germans withdrew from Japan, a month later news came of a departure from Myanmar.
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Metro Belgium has eleven Metro catering wholesalers and six Makro supermarkets. The group owns a large part of the real estate itself.
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