Coronavirus: operational status from Europris ASA

16 March 2020

Europris initiated its crisis plans at an early stage to deal with the extraordinary situation. No extensive infection outbreaks have been registered, but one shop has been temporarily shut down as a result of infection. The employees are being well looked after.

At the same time, a sharp rise in sales of groceries and other necessities from the chain stores in the wake of the virus outbreak emphasises the social role Europris is in a position to play at a critical time. Such commodities have accounted for 75-80 per cent of the chain's sales in the period.

Read a brief description of the operational status at 16 March below.

Wellbeing of the workforce

Europris has shut one of the 264 stores in the chain after an employee tested positive for the virus. This person's symptoms were mild. In line with applicable routines, the store was closed immediately and an external cleaning specialist will disinfect and wash it down before it reopens. Europris has a good dialogue with relevant government agencies, and the employees are being well looked after.

Employees working in warehousing, distribution and stores are doing all they can to ensure that customer receive what they need.

The cleaning frequency has been increased in all 264 stores, and strict routines have been introduced for cleaning all contact surfaces, such as trollies and baskets as well as touch screens.

Europris complies with the guidelines issued at any given time by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and has established good routines for informing employees, customers and other partners. 

Sales and warehousing

Europris has experienced an abnormal rise in sales as a result of increased customer traffic and hoarding of food and consumer necessities. The group has plentiful stocks, and the availability of most commodities from suppliers is good, but hoarding could result in some stores selling out of certain products for brief periods.

Flow of goods

The Norwegian government has identified logistics and retail operation as socially critical functions, and it is important to emphasise that hoarding is unnecessary. Europris would urge its customers to follow government advice to shop as normal.

In the time to come, Europris will devote great attention to maintaining a normal flow of goods and, within the parameters set by the Institute of Public Health, will go to the greatest possible lengths to maintain its operations as far as possible at normal levels.

Shops and opening hours

Some stores have reduced their opening hours because they are located in shopping centres which have introduced shorter opening. In all its other stores, Europris will try to observe normal opening hours so that the flow of customers can be spread over a longer period of the day.

Sourcing

Europris has maintained a good and close dialogue with its suppliers to safeguard the incoming flow of goods, and has so far only registered minor delays with certain commodity deliveries.

Suppliers in Asia are being followed up via the purchasing office in Shanghai, which has 25 local employees. This office reports that production in China is in the process of returning to normal, and that both land transport and ports are virtually in regular operation.

Financial status

Europris has a solid financial status and implemented a refinancing in January 2020 where long-term loans and revolving credits were secured for three years with options for two additional years.

At 29 February 2020, cash in hand and available credits amounted in total to NOK 978 million.

For questions or further information, please contact:

Pål Wibe,            CEO        +47 99 11 98 91,              paal.wibe@europris.no

Espen Eldal,       CFO        +47 48 29 24 24,              espen.eldal@europris.no           

About Europris:

Europris is Norway's largest discount variety retailer by sales. The company offers its customers a broad range of quality own brands and brand-name merchandise. Its merchandise is sold through the Europris chain, which consists of a network of 264 stores throughout Norway. Of these, 231 are directly owned by the company and 33 operate as franchise stores. The company's headquarters are at Fredrikstad, Norway.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.