Annual report 2023/24: a brief overview
View a brief overview of the Annual Report for the 2023/24 financial year and download the parts that interest you most.
Word from the Chairman
Chairman of the Board of Directors Jef Colruyt looks back with satisfaction on financial year 2023/24, in which Colruyt Group has undergone a drastic but successful transition and came back on track. “We are convinced that we can continue to play a pioneering role in many areas and keep on making a meaningful difference for our customers, our employees and all our partners.”
Word from the CEO
CEO Stefan Goethaert also looks to the future with confidence. “Over the next few years, we will continue to invest in our staff, in cost efficiency, Colruyt’s lowest price promise, constructive relationships with partners and the implementation of our long-term strategy. At the same time, we remain on the alert, given the challenging macroeconomic environment.”
Word from the Chairman – Word from the CEO - Who are we? – Our strategy – Our vision on sustainability – Management report – Key figures
Who are we?
Colruyt Group is a family business that has grown over four generations into a retail group with over 33.000 employees. The biggest activity is and remains our supermarket Colruyt, which has delivered on its brand promise of ‘Lowest Prices’ for 50 years. Over the past decades, we have considerably diversified our activities. Even so, we remain true to retail, which still accounts for over four fifths of our revenue. Today, we operate in retail with around ten business formats in the domains of Food, Health and well-being and Non-food, with both physical outlets and online shops in Belgium, Luxembourg and France. We are also active in wholesale, including as a partner for the independent Spar stores and through the Solucious food service. As a dedicated partner, we also continue to believe strongly in the renewable energy activities of Virya Energy.
Shared values, complementary brands and sustainability
Each in their own, authentic way, our complementary brands express the ‘simplicity in retail’ that we represent as a group. In this way, each brand helps achieve our common mission. Each brand also embodies the same group values, a familiar foundation for ourselves, for our partners and customers. So everyone knows what we stand for and this creates trust.
As a value-driven company, we want to make a positive difference with everything we do. Sustainability therefore remains the common thread running through everything we undertake. We also always start with a positive view of people and invest in our employees. After all, as the people grow, our company will grow.
Word from the Chairman – Word from the CEO - Who are we? – Our strategy – Our vision on sustainability – Management report – Key figures
Activities
We divide our operational activities into retail, wholesale, foodservice, other activities and group support activities. We generate the majority of our revenue in Belgium, but we also have commercial activities in France and Luxembourg, and corporate services in India.
Retail
In the financial year 2023/24, revenue from the retail activities grew by 10,9% to EUR 9.435 million (excluding Dreamland and Dreambaby). The retail activities accounted for 87% of the consolidated revenue in 2023/24.
Retail trade includes our stores and web shops in own management. Colruyt Lowest Prices, Collect&Go, Okay, Bio-Planet, Cru, Colruyt Prix Qualité, Bike Republic, the fitness chain Jims, the online pharmacy Newpharma and the fashion retail chains Zeb, PointCarré and The Fashion Store. Retail trade also includes the export activities of Colex and our participations in amongst others Yoboo, Robi, Foodbag and Scallog.
Wholesale and foodservice
In the financial year 2023/24, revenue from the wholesale and foodservice segment increased by 19,3% to EUR 1.385 million. These activities accounted for 12,8% of the consolidated revenue in 2023/24.
Retail Partners Colruyt Group groups all wholesale activities in Belgium: the deliveries to Spar, Alvo, Mini Market stores and to smaller independent storekeepers. In France, Codifrance and (the integrated activity) Degrenne Distribution deliver to the affiliated stores of amongst others Coccinelle, Coccimarket and Panier Sympa, and to other independent storekeepers. Food service exists of the activities of Solucious and Culinoa in Belgium.
Other activities
In the financial year 2023/24, revenue from other activities amounted to EUR 25 million and primarily concerned external revenue from printing and document management solutions by Symeta Hybrid.
Group support activities
This concerns the production departments of Colruyt Group Fine Food and our other supporting services: People & Organisation, Operate & Improve, Learning & Development, IT, Technics, Real Estate, Corporate Marketing, Marketing Communications Services, Retail Services Centre, and Customer Services. In this chapter, we also present our Collibri Foundation.
Retail trade – Wholesale – Foodservice – Other activities – Group support activities
Corporate governance
This chapter contains information about the governance, operation, and internal controls of Colruyt Group and about all aspects of corporate governance. We divide ‘Corporate Governance’ into three main sections. One about governance, supervision and management, another about sustainable corporate governance and a third about share ownership.
Governance, supervision and management – Good/sustainable governance – Shareholding
Corporate sustainability
The heart of our mission is 'Together, we create sustainable added value'. Sustainability is and remains the recurrent theme of all our activities, where we want to set in motion a positive spiral from our economic position in the environmental and social spheres as well. For the fourth year in a row, we link our sustainability reporting to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. We selected seven objectives and explain our vision, approach, and specific results in this chapter.
SDGs 2 – 3 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 12 – 13 – Sustainability indicators – EU Taxonomy - Audit Report
Financial report
In this chapter, you will find all consolidated financial results of the past financial year such as the consolidated income statement, the overview of the achieved and unachieved results, the balance, the cash flow statement, the statement of changes in equity, the management responsibility statement, and the report of the auditor.
