Auchan Hungary reports surprising figures for 2024
The company's net revenue from domestic sales in 2024 was HUF 366.3 billion, which marks a 0.63% decrease compared to HUF 368.6 billion in the previous year. Other revenues also fell significantly, to HUF 7.9 billion from HUF 11.9 billion. This was mainly due to revenue from the cancellation of short-term loans falling to HUF 3 billion from HUF 7.35 billion.
The largest item, the cost of goods sold (COGS), decreased to HUF 251.5 billion from HUF 259.3 billion. This means that
Auchan's margin edged up to 31.3% from 29.7%.
To calculate this, simply subtract the cost of goods sold from the net sales revenue, then divide this figure by the sales revenue. One disadvantage of this method is that services contracted by retailers from suppliers, such as packaging and logistics, can make comparisons difficult, but it still provides a good indication of how each chain operates.
Material costs decreased by 12%, to HUF 9.6 billion from HUF 10.95 billion. A significant factor in this was the installation of solar panels in stores.
In contrast, the value of services used increased from approximately HUF 28 billion to HUF 30.9 billion, primarily due to increased expenditure on online marketing and market research.
Wage costs, staff changes
Personnel expenses increased by 3.3% to HUF 37.8 billion, up from HUF 36.6 billion the previous year. This increase occurred despite a fall in the average number of employees to 5,400 from 5,610. The decrease in the number of employees — 210 in total — affected both white-collar and manual labour roles, with
- the number of white-collar employees falling to 1,421 from 1,460 and
- the number of manual labourers falling to 3,979 from 4,150.
Rising after-tax profit
Auchan's operating profit decreased by 34.5%, to HUF 6.1 billion in 2024 from HUF 9.3 billion in 2023. Meanwhile,
after-tax profit grew substantially to HUF 6.9 billion from HUF 586 million.
Management is proposing to transfer the current year's profit after tax to the profit and loss reserve.
Cover photo: Petegar via Getty Images
