Monday, February 24, 2014

AEON sets aside RM700m for new outlets, refurbishment


Posted on 21 February 2014 - 05:38am
Premalatha Jayaraman

KLANG (Feb 21, 2014): AEON Co (M) Bhd plans to allocate RM700 million as capital expenditure (capex) in 2014 to open three new stores, two new MaxValu supermarkets and refurbishment of selected existing stores, said its managing director Nur Qamarina Chew.

She said some RM450 million of the amount will be spent for the opening of three new stores, RM10 million for the planned two new MaxValu supermarkets while the remaining will be used for the refurbishment of existing stores as well as for future outlets that are in the planning stages.

Nur Qamarina said the company plans to open its new stores in Bukit Mertajam in Penang, Taiping in Perak and Eco City in Kuala Lumpur by the second half of this year.

Currently, she said AEON has 27 outlets, 22 shopping centres and four MaxValu supermarkets across the country. Last year, she said the company spent RM500 million as capex.

She said the company also plans to open two new MaxValu supermarkets in Klang Valley. Its existing four MaxValu supermarkets are located in Kota Kemuning, Desa Park City, Damansara Damai and Petronas Ampang.

"We are also refurbishing some of our existing stores in order to provide convenience to our customers. This is part of our effort annually to provide better shopping experience for all our customers," Nur Qamarina told reporters at the AEON 30th Anniversary held at AEON Bukit Tinggi Shopping Centre here, yesterday.

Asked on its price cutting strategy, she said AEON has introduced its price cut campaign to provide affordable prices to customers.

She said the company has already reduced prices for some 200 items including household items, apparels and other selected items. This year, Nur Qamarina said the company plans to reduce prices for some 1,000 items.

She said the company is committed to providing the best value, quality and variety to its customers by offering lower prices under its price cut campaign.

On its preparation for the goods and services tax (GST), Nur Qamarina said it is in progress.

"Our preparation is going on well. We have set-up a project task team to look into the GST implementation and we hope to get it ready before year-end, so that we can run our business smoothly," she said.

Nur Qamarina declined to comment on its FY13 financial results, which will be released next week.

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