Metro Habib Cash & Carry to open 30 new stores in 3 years time: Chairman BOI

 Metro Habib Cash & Carry to open 30 new stores in 3 years time: Chairman BOI

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (APP): Metro Habib Cash and Carry to open 30 new stores in 3 years time for one million population. This was stated by Chairman Board Of Investment (BOI) Mohammad  Zubair during a meeting with Jeroen de Groot, METRO Cash & Carry International, Chief Operating Officer, Germany and Nadeem Rehmani, Director Operations METRO Cash & Carry Pakistan who called on Chairman BOI here on Wednesday.

Both the sides also discussed further investment plans of the company.
Jeroen de Groot said that the company is very much satisfied with its operations and existence in Pakistan.
He said, “we promote the local market, 95% of the  goods/items in the stores are produced in Pakistan and we export only 5 percent from Germany and other countries”.
Jeroen de Groot also said, “We acquire the breakeven in only 5 years after our operations in Pakistan even our performance is better than Metro of India”.
“Our target is to open 30 stores in the next 3 years in Pakistan  for the one million population and company is also planning to invest in stock exchange”, he remarked.
During the meeting Chairman, BOI said that the new Government  policy initiatives and its top priority to overcome on energy crises, security issues and attraction of FDI promotion to put Pakistan on a fast track to attain sustainable economic growth.
The Government, he said that it is also focusing on manufacturing, retail businesses and infrastructure development to promote industries in Pakistan.
Jeroen de Groot said that METRO Cash & Carry International (MCCI)  operates more than 700 stores in 29 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa  and has workforce of over 100,000 employees with Sales in 2012 were approximately Euro 66.7 billion.
Metro Pakistan opened its first Cash & Carry wholesale center in Pakistan in 2007 in Lahore.
Thereafter, it expanded to 5 wholesale centers in a short span of 18 months in Pakistan.
Each wholesale center, on an average has an investment of Rs. 2 billion and directly employs over 320 persons and 150 for auxiliary services.
Additionally about 200 persons are employed at its head office.In  July 2012 METRO Pakistan and Makro-Habib entered into merger for their wholesale businesses in Pakistan.
Today the company is operating 9 wholesale centers in Lahore (4),  Karachi (3), Islamabad (1) & Faisalabad (1). METRO- Habib serves as a catalyst for growth as it relies on supply of up to 90 % locally procured goods as well as services.
In Pakistan, METRO established collection centres for local farmers providing them the opportunity to sell their produce directly at a fair market price. Metro has trained 56 Pakistani producer companies, to address gaps in knowledge and technical skills to promote local produce for export.