City Markets suffered close to a $14 million operating loss during its recently-ended 2011 financial year, Tribune Business was told yesterday, with the supermarket chain targeting a break-even position as “a huge success” for 2012.
Philip Kemp, chief financial officer for the grocery store chain and its publicly traded operating parent, Bahamas Supermarkets, said that under new 78 per cent majority owner, Trans-Island Traders, most of the legacy issues inherited from the disastrous BSL Holdings reign had been dealt with.
However, he confirmed that the nine-store supermarket chain remained deeply immersed in turnaround mode, and also told Tribune Business that City Markets had shut all its deli departments as it prepares to upgrade those sections across the company.
Adding that everything had gone “as expected” during Trans-Island Traders’ first eight months in charge, since acquiring BSL Holdings’ stake in early November 2010 for $1 plus assuming some liabilities, Mr Kemp said: “It was a tough year, a transition year, a turnaround year.
