PG Group, the company which owns and operates the PAVI and PAMA shopping malls and supermarkets, has announced a pre-tax profit of €10.1 million for the six months ended 31st October 2023. This represents an 18.6 per cent increase from figures from the same period last year (2022: €8.5 million).

The results were shared in PG plc’s – the group’s trading company – half-yearly report on Monday, as the supermarket and retail group continued to attempt to contain the impact of inflationary pressures on customers.

The increase in profitability largely came as a result of an upturn in turnover for PG Group, with revenue soaring to €96.2 million, significantly higher than the €80.8 million that was recorded in the corresponding period in 2022.

PG Group’s Board of Directors stated that over the past few months, the group has continued to try to enhance the scale of its direct buying in its supermarket and associated retail segment, seeking to ensure it offers an “entry-level product that can match the alternatives available on the market, even if this means that cost increases may not be fully passed on to clients, at the expense of margins”.

Similarly, its franchise operations, ZARA and ZARA Home, continued to experience an increase in turnover, as the two brands “maintained their popularity with local customers”, the Directors continued.

Finance costs and share of results of associates remained relatively stable at €769,000 and €49,000, respectively.

The Board of Directors stated that the strong performance in the first half of the year “exceeded expectations”, particularly when compared to the opening six-month period of the previous year, which was “relatively quiet”.

“Exceeding the group’s strong performance in the second half of last year will be more challenging, although the Board is pleased to note that early indications are positive,” it continued. However, it also acknowledged that the broad economic outlook is positive, yet it is still subject to a number of uncertainties, including the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, both being “a cause for great concern and further uncertainty”.

Looking ahead, the Directors stated that that company is “encouraged” by the influx of new customers that it has enjoyed in recent months, attributing this to the group’s efforts to “dampen the impact of higher prices”.

The group’s total assets and liabilities expanded during the six months in question, growing to €132.7 million from the €127.6 million that was registered at the end of the previous reporting period, ended April 2023.

During the past two years, PG Group has edged closer to fulfilling its objective of expanding its operations, leasing a substantial land site adjacent to PAMA, while it also acquired land next to PAVI for €7 million in 2022. The group has since applied to the Lands Authority to procure a change of permitted use for the leasehold property.

Earlier this year, PG Group announced plans for the site located next to PAMA in Mosta to be turned into an underground parking and shopping complex with an overlying public garden. This resulted in mixed reactions from the public, yet CEO Charles Borg stated that the idea behind the project is to continue to broaden the group’s offering in line with its expectations. The garden also forms part of its “ESG contribution to the Maltese community”, a responsibility that PG Group takes “very seriously”, Mr Borg added.

In its half-yearly report, the group also confirmed that the net interim dividend of €2.75 million, announced last month, was fully paid on 11th December to the ordinary shareholders registered on the books of the group as at 2nd December 2023.

PG Group is an investment company with a number of ventures spread across the Maltese Islands. It has steadily grown its operations over the years, and now has around 350 employees. Aside from PAVI and PAMA in Qormi and Mosta respectively, it is also the franchisee of ZARA and ZARA Home in Sliema and Mosta.