Israeli supermarket operator Blue Square saw first-quarter revenues fall by 3.1% to NIS1.76bn (US$421.4m), from NIS1.82bn in the first quarter of 2008.
 
EBITDA fell to NIS102m (5.8% of revenues), from NIS114m (6.3% of revenues) in the corresponding quarter of last year. Gross profit for the first quarter of 2009 reached NIS503.1m, more or less on a par with the NIS503.6m reported for the first quarter of 2008.
 
The company said same-store supermarket sales had fallen by 7.1% in the quarter as a result of stores being converted to the Mega Bool discount format.
 
Blue Square’s president and CEO, Zeev Vurembrand, said: “In this quarter, we present better results considering the increasing competition and the prevailing recession, due to the material strategic actions we have taken.”
 
Vurembrand said the company planned to introduce a new membership card later in the year and would also be reorganising the headquarters of its BEE Group subsidiary, resulting in additional synergies and reduced costs.

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