MUSGRAVE GROUP RESULTS YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2007

17 April 2008

Musgrave Group, partner to entrepreneurial food retailers and foodservice professionals in Ireland, the United Kingdom and Spain today 17 April 2008 announces its ninth year of consecutive profit growth for the year ended 31 December 2007.

Key Financial Highlights
• Sales of €4.9 billion, up 6%
• Profit before tax of €94 million up 16%
• Net debt reduced by €90 million to €96 million

Commenting on the performance for the year, Mr. Chris Martin, Group Chief Executive Musgrave said: “We delivered a satisfactory set of results for 2007 with retail and wholesale sales increasing. Through our strategy of developing our business for the long term we have worked hard with our retail partners to develop strong brands and a differentiated offer to which consumers have responded to.

This has resulted in strong sales growth in the Republic of Ireland while there were also a number of important developments in the United Kingdom. These included the completion of the sale of Budgens stores to independent retailers 12 months ahead of schedule and the acquisition of J&J Haslett in Northern Ireland. Both are important milestones in the development of the business in the UK.

Our cash and carry and delivered foodservice business continues to meet the needs of the independent retail and growing foodservice sector through investment in our ‘Market Street’ concept in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. We will continue to support the growth and development of our cash and carry and delivered foodservices business in 2008.

Musgrave Group now supports more than 3,400 stores across the combined markets of the UK, Ireland and Spain. Our focus over the coming year will be on ensuring that our retail partners have the right consumer offer and support from Musgrave to sustain their long-term growth as we enter a more challenging economic environment”.

Musgrave Group’s Retail Brands

Musgrave Group supports nine retail brands across the Republic of Ireland, the UK and Spain. The Group’s retail partners operating under these brands reported strong growth in 2007 with combined turnover of €7.2 billion, up 7% on the previous year.

Republic of Ireland
• Musgrave’s retail brands in the Republic of Ireland grew sales to €3.9 billion up 12% reflecting a positive consumer response to ongoing brand development work, the growth of the store network and our offer which provides consumers with value, range and choice. This offer has been independently recognised by the most recent National Consumer Agency survey as providing real “competition to the multiples”;

• Centra retailers achieved combined sales of €1.4 billion, up 15% with like for like sales growth of 8%;

• SuperValu had another record year of growth with sales in excess of €2.2 billion, up 10% and like for like sales growth of 8%;
Nine new SuperValu stores, 47 new Centra stores and 33 Daybreak stores were opened across the country.

United Kingdom

• In 2007, retail sales of our independent retail partners grew by 13% to €2.9 billion (Stg £2 billion);

• Substantial capital investment spend in excess of €51 million (Stg £40 million) on IT and logistics over the next three years;

• Completion of the sale of Budgens stores to independent retailers 12 months ahead of schedule;

• In Northern Ireland, acquisition of J&J Haslett which includes the Mace brand, XL Stop and Shop and Holmes cash and carry.
UK store numbers increased by 9% to 2,544 stores.

Spain

• SuperValu and Dialprix retailers achieved sales of €121 million, up 7% on 2006.

Investment in Ireland in 2007

Musgrave’s retail partners are embedded in the communities where their stores are located. They own their own stores, employ local people, source from local suppliers and support local communities through charity and sponsorship work thereby contributing to the social and economic well being of those communities. Musgrave Group is committed to supporting its retail partners in delivering community based retailing. The Group and its retail partners make a significant contribution to the national economy as well as local economies across the country and are committed to continuing with this investment in the future.

• In 2007, Musgrave and our retail partners created 2,000 jobs bringing to 35,000, the total number of people employed in the Republic of Ireland;

• Musgrave and our retail partners invested €200 million in the opening of new stores, the revamp of existing stores and the expansion of Musgrave logistics and infrastructure with much of this investment in Irish goods, supplies and labour;

• 75% of everything sold by our retail partners in 2007 was either produced or sourced in Ireland, representing a commitment to Irish suppliers of more than €2.9 billion at retail level;

• Sustainability is also central to the business with a focus on reducing the environmental and economic costs of our operations. In 2007, 66% of waste was diverted from landfill to recycling. We recently signed a green energy deal which will mean all of our warehouses and office facilities in the Republic of Ireland will emit zero carbon from an electricity perspective. We have also reduced annual transport movements by more than 1 million kilometers – the equivalent of removing 30,000 cars from our roads annually.

Outlook
Commenting on the outlook for the Group in 2008, Chris Martin said: “We face a more challenging economic environment but remain confident for our business. We are continuing to focus on our strategy of delivering long term sustainable growth.

Although, each of our brands is different there is a common theme to their uniqueness in that they are all rooted in the local community. This means that as well as delivering local services they also support local ownership, local employment and local sourcing.

For 2008, our investment priorities will be focused on our brands and the people and logistics which support our retail partners enabling them to deliver quality, honestly priced food to consumers everyday”.

Ends

For further information please contact:

Joe Carmody/Mark Cahalane
Edelman
01 6789333
086 8058764/087 2302737

Edel Clancy
Musgrave
Director of Communications
021 452 2123/086 8523998

Notes to editor:

About Musgrave

The Musgrave Group is partner to entrepreneurial food retailers and foodservice professionals in Ireland, the UK and Spain. The company was founded in Cork in 1876 by brothers Thomas and Stuart Musgrave, and is today one of the largest and most successful companies in Ireland. In the UK, Musgrave Group acquired the Budgens chain of convenience stores in 2002 and Londis in 2004. In 2007 it acquired J&J Haslett in Northern Ireland, which includes the Mace brand, XL Stop and Shop and Holmes Cash and Carry. This brings to more than 3,400 the number of stores the company supports in Ireland, the UK and Spain.

• SuperValu and Centra – the leading network of supermarkets and convenience stores in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The network comprises a total of 746 outlets which are owned by progressive independent food retailers.

• Budgens and Londis – in Britain there are 183 Budgens and 1,858 Londis stores all of which are independently owned.

• Daybreak and Mace – network of independently owned convenience stores. The Group currently partners retailers in 127 Daybreak stores in the Republic of Ireland and 200 Mace stores in Northern Ireland.

• DayToday and XL Stop and Shop – two delivered retail networks comprising of 175 DayToday stores in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and 70 XL Stop and Shop stores in Northern Ireland.

• Musgrave Cash & Carry – provides delivered retail and cash & carry services to more than 34,000 customers from nine depots in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

• Musgrave Foodservices – the first company offering a full multi-temperature range of products for the professional caterer across the 32 counties of Ireland.

• Dialsur, SuperValu, Dialprix and Dicost – the Group’s Spanish operation of supermarkets, convenience stores and cash & carry outlets.


Recent Awards

• IGD ‘Global Ten to Watch’
• Chambers Ireland award for overall outstanding achievement in CSR
• Top 50 Best Companies to Work for 2008
• Excellence Through People
• Northern Ireland Business in the Community Company of the Year