Metro Cash & Carry plan to open 30 outlets in Pakistan

Pakistan News & Features Services

Metro Cash & Carry International (MCCI) has set a target of opening 30 stores in the next three years in Pakistan besides having a plan to invest in the stock exchange.

This was revealed by Jeroen de Groot, Chief Operating Officer, MCCI Germany, and Nadeem Rehmani, Director Operations, MCCI Pakistan, who called on Chairman Board of Investment (BOI), Mohammad Zubair, to discuss further investment plans of their company. 

During the meeting, the BOI Chairman shared the new government’s 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. 

Jeroen de Groot stated that the company was very much satisfied with its operations and existence in Pakistan. He said that before coming to Pakistan, they heard that it’s not the safe country due to the travel advisory, but now he suggested the foreign investors to visit Pakistan where the situation was not the same as portrayed in a section of press.

He further said that their company promotes the local market, 95% of the goods/items in the stores are produced in Pakistan and they export only five percent from Germany and other countries. 

“We have acquired the breakeven in only five years after our operations in Pakistan even our performance is better than Metro of India.,” he revealed, adding that the MCCI operates more than 700 stores in 29 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa and has workforce of over 100,000 employees with the sales in 2012 being approximately 66.7 billion Euro.

Metro Pakistan, it may be recalled, had opened its first Cash & Carry wholesale centre in Pakistan at Lahore in 2007. Thereafter, it expanded to five wholesale centers in a short span of 18 months with each centre having an investment of Rs. 2.0 billion on the average and directly employing over 320 persons and 150 for auxiliary services. Additionally about 200 persons remained employed at its head office. Metro Pakistan and Makro-Habib entered into merger for their wholesale businesses in 2012. Currently the company is operating nine wholesale centers, four of them in Lahore, three in Karachi and one each at Islamabad and Faisalabad.