The agri-food group BonÀrea Corporació is in full expansion phase and, today, stands out as the only Catalan distributor with plans to grow strongly throughout Spain. The intense development planned for this year will be accompanied by an investment effort of 110 million euros, as approved by its General Shareholders’ Meeting this afternoon. The body approved the annual accounts and the management report presented by the group’s president, Jaume Alsina, and the CEO, Ramon Alsina. In 2023, BonÀrea stagnated sales, with a slight drop in turnover of 3.6%, to 2,720 million euros, but obtained a record profit of 81 million, 17% more.
Most of the 110 million investment (35.5 million) will be allocated to the purchase of new premises to fulfill its opening plan. This includes 23 new BonÀrea supermarkets this 2024, ten of them in Catalonia. Aragón, Navarra and La Rioja will be other communities where the group will expand its commercial presence. It currently has 435 stores in Catalonia, 83 in Aragón and 56 in La Rioja, Navarra, Madrid, the Valencian Community, Castilla-la Mancha and Andorra. The company will also increase the range of products with its own brand, with a total of 30 new references, expanding on the general distribution trend of prioritizing the distributor’s brands over those of the manufacturer, which has taken the white label to its heights. highest in Spain.
The largest business project, the mega food center of Épila, in Aragon, will absorb another 30 million euros. The item will be used to begin work on the future liquid and petfood warehouses, as well as the facilities, structures and machinery for the logistics warehouse in the first phase. The corporation has already invested 200 million in this construction – it will be completed in 2029 –, a cornerstone of its future growth throughout Spain.
“In a challenging socioeconomic moment, we continue to make a strong investment effort to reinforce our fully integrated business model within the rural area,” highlighted the president of bonÀrea, Jaume Alsina. Improvement processes in the Guissona meat center and the Gavà logistics platform or the opening of five new gas stations, among other projects, will take the rest of the 110 million euros.
The board also agreed to a dividend of 24 euros per share, 14.3% more than the previous year. A part of said dividend (10 euros per share) was already paid in January of this year and the rest will be paid after the General Meeting. The remuneration that the 4,100 current shareholders will receive reaches a total value of around 20.7 million euros, which represents 25% of the net profit for the year.
