HyperPanda set to invest Dh3bn in UAE expansion: CEO

Saudi Arabia-based Azizia Panda United Co. is set to expand its HyperPanda stores in the UAE with investments to the tune of Dh3 billion over the next three years and also foraying into supermarket segment, its CEO said.

Muwaffaq Jamal said: “The plans are in place to expand to Abu Dhabi, Ajman and Sharjah... We are negotiating specific sites and intend to open between 8 and 12 stores in the next 3 years with an investment of Dh3 billion; new stores are planned in 2015 in Dubai, towards the later part of 2015 in Sharjah and hopefully in Abu Dhabi in 2016. We’ll do both formats – supermarkets and hypermarkets.”

He said the expansion plan is to have half supermarkets and half hypermarkets.

“We are in negotiations with specific malls here which are under development. We can also have a warehouse of our own when we reach 8 to 10 stores here in the UAE,” he said.

The company has just a sole store in the UAE in Dubai Festival Centre. Jamal was speaking to Emirates 24l7 after announcing the refurbishment of HyperPanda hypermarket in Dubai Festival City at a cost of Dh6 million.

“We just improved customer shopping experience by providing more touch and feel experience for the customers. We have improved electronics, textile, general merchandise and health and beauty sections. Investment in the current relaunch activities is costing us Dh 5-6 million. In 6 to 12 months, we’ll carry out further investments in this store,” Jamal added.

Azizia Panda is part of Savola Group which is the largest conglomerate in the Mena region with turnover is in excess of 28 billion riyals.

The company is a major player in Saudi Arabia’s retail sector with more than 250 stores including 118 supermarkets, 55 hypermarkets and 82 convenience stores operational in the kingdom.

“In Saudi Arabia, we will open around 21 new super and hyper format stores by the end of year, exceeding 300 stores,” he added.

Currently, HyperPanda has more than 19,000 employees in UAE and Saudi Arabia. Jamal expects numbers will exceed 27,000  in the next three years.

“This year we are investing Dh3 billion in Saudi and hopefully we’ll average Dh1-2 billion investments in the next 4-5 years. These investments are not just in new stores but also in infrastructure such as warehouses and fleet expansion. Today, we have more than 400 trucks that are on road 24x7,” he added.

Azizia Panda has a state-of-art warehouse in Riyadh city and is building two more on east and west coasts.

“We are also currently building a warehouse in the west coast in order to serve that region’s customers which should be operational in the first half of 2015. We will start building another warehouse in the east coast which should be operational in 2015 with each costing 400 million riyals as part of our 1 to 2 billion riyal investments annually over the next 5 years,” Jamal elaborated.

The company, according to Jamal, has 8.9 per cent market share in Saudi Arabia’s  142 billion riyals market and has been growing at 12-13 per cent for the last six months. It posted annual turnover of more than 12 billion riyals last year.

Jamal said the group is looking to expand into other Mena countries but refused to divulge details.

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