Northern Ireland’s Henderson Group has posted a turnover of £1.389bn for 2024 - an increase of 3.8% on 2023.
The report from Companies House says the increase in turnover is driven by solid like-for-like performance in both independent and company owned stores, supported by investments throughout its retail estate.
The Group also attributes the positive results to its continuous focus on customer service, as well as more frequent missions by shoppers who wish to minimise waste, while strong stock availability and the Group’s investment in pricing makes them an attractive wholesale partner, it says.
Neil Gamble (above), chief financial officer, said: “The grocery market remains highly competitive, therefore in 2024, we concentrated on investing profits back into the business to maintain our competitive position despite various economic challenges. Our co-investment strategy with retail partners has been key to establishing a best-in-class portfolio of forecourts and convenience stores, which has facilitated the strong sales performance across all our brand formats.”
In total, the Group invested over £26 million across new and existing retail and property locations in 2024, with Henderson Wholesale continuing to supply to Maxol’s company owned service stations under the Spar brand for the next five years on an exclusive basis.
Henderson Retail opened five Eurospar supermarkets in 2024, ahead of celebrating the brand’s 25th anniversary in Northern Ireland this year. The year ended with the company operating 110 Spar and Eurospar stores in Northern Ireland.
Gamble concluded: “The impact of inflation, higher interest rates and general deterioration in consumer sentiment made for a more challenging start to 2024. The directors continued to invest in retail and wholesaling prices to deliver better value for both retailers and shoppers, while our store refit, development and new openings, logistics, IT infrastructure and people development investments built a good foundation for future sustainable growth.”
The Group’s employee numbers at the end of 2024 reached 5,354, with a wage bill of £147m and almost 20% of employees engaged in Payroll Giving.
Henderson Group continued to fundraise for key charity partners in 2024 including Marie Curie, Cancer Fund for Children, Age NI, Tearfund, FareShare, Action Mental Health, NI Children’s Hospice, PIPS and Jack & Jill Children’s Foundation, raising approximately £1.7 million in total.
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