Delhaize to invest EUR 40 million in its operations in Serbia

Belgium`s Delhaize intends to invest over EUR 40 million in its operations in the Serbian market this year, Delhaize Serbia CEO David Vander Skuren announced.

Skuren, the director general of Delhaize for Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro, said that most of the money would be invested in the opening of new facilities and the reconstruction of existing ones.

- We also plan to have a large distribution center built in Serbia, the work on which will commence until the year`s end and should be completed in the second half of 2013 - he added.

Belgium`s Delhaize last year acquired the Serbian market chain Delta Maxi for EUR 932.5 million. According to Skuren`s words, the plan for this year is to open 20 and renovate 40 facilities in Serbia.

- We are satisfied with the rate at which this plan is implemented, that is, with the opening of new stores in Cacak and Pancevo. A new facility will soon be opened in Sid, followed by the construction of few more stores, the first two of which will be built in Smederevska Palanka and Novi Sad - he explained.

He stressed that the most important of all was to create new jobs with the opening of new stores, thus constantly expanding the network of employees.

- The number of employees at our company in Serbia is close to 10,600 at the moment, and we expect it to grow even bigger until the year`s end - said Skuren.