Alisuper reduced to sixteen shops
6/3/2010

As of Monday this week, the Algarve’s biggest supermarket chain has been reduced to only sixteen shops and around fifty employees in order to control the Alicoop/Alisuper Group debts of €80 million.

A total of 65 of the 81 shops of the Alicoop/Alisuper Group have been closed through the enforcement of a cost reducing plan, with thirteen of the Algarve stores and three in the Lisbon area staying open until creditors reach a decision regarding the future of the company.

The majority of the 380 workers ended their contracts on Monday, with their “income being guaranteed by the Unemployment Fund” said José António Silva, Chairman of the Board of Alicoop. “Of course we would prefer if things hadn’t reached this point, but they ended up occurring smoothly” added the Chairman.

Alicoop, the company which owns Alisuper, Macral and Geneco, was forced to reduce the Group’s activity by 90%, after its negotiations with creditors collapsed regarding the standardization of the Algarvean retail Group’s logo.

Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the State owned bank, refused to provide a further €1.2 million to finance the Group, having stated that Alicoop had already “taken its support level to the limit.” On the other hand, Millenium BCP supported the idea.

Alicoop’s administration must now wait for the creditors to find a solution and vote favourably for the plan in order to reopen all the shops with the company’s new business philosophy.

Edition: 1051

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