'Metro Cash and Carry' aims to expand business in Pakistan

[Naveed Yaseen]

By M Farhan Zaheer
KARACHI: Metro has been successfully operating in Pakistan with its four centres despite tough economic conditions in the last six months and “now with our first centre in Karachi we aim to open many more outlets in the financial hub of Pakistan,” said James Scott, Regional Operating Officer Asia Pacific, Metro Cash and Carry.

He was talking to The News on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of its first Metro Cash and Carry wholesale centre here on Wednesday. He said: “We are already operating four centres in Pakistan, we have been successfully coping with the economic slowdown in the world economy, especially in the last six months. Our total investment in existing five centres is almost 100 million euros (Rs11.8 billion) with each centre 20 million euros (Rs2.3 billion). We are satisfied with our performance.

When asked why two weekly wholesale bazaars have been shut down recently in the vicinity of new Metro centre, he said “we are inaugurating this centre today and these bazaars have already been shut down so there is no possible connection between the two events, and we are open to all sorts of competition.”

Metro is already running four wholesale centres in Pakistan, two in Lahore, one in Islamabad and one in Faisalabad. It exclusively caters to professional customers like hotels, restaurants and small retailers like Kiryana stores.

Scott said: “We only deal with professional customers and do not sell products to private customers (in retail).”

Giovanni Soranzo, MD Metro Cash and Carry, Pakistan, said “with the population of over 170 million people and more than a million residents in eight cities, Pakistan is a very attractive and important market for our company, adding that we see a vast prospect for our business, and will continue to invest in Pakistan to grow in coming years.

Along with expansion, we aspire to contribute to economic growth of the country.” He said the average capital investment for this new Metro Cash and Carry outlet is Rs2 billion.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=169109