He points to 2026 as the date on which "to manage the business without the limitations that the debt has caused"
BILBAO, 27 Nov. (EUROPE PRESS) -
The president of Eroski, Rosa Carabel, has affirmed that after the "feat" that has meant bringing the debt below 1,000 million euros, the Group now has to "grow", to be able to be "bigger and create employment". "Now, what we have to do is consolidate our position in the northern perimeter, grow and extend throughout the national territory with the franchise business," she said.
In an interview with Radio Euskadi, collected by Europa Press, Carabel also referred to the recent sale of Viajes Eroski to World2meet (W2M), the travel division of the Iberostar Group.
In this sense, he has acknowledged having "mixed feelings" since there is a "sense of loss", but also satisfaction for being an operation that "absolutely reinforces the travel business and guarantees the future of the business by integrating it into a hotel group that has the most ambitious project in the sector".
"We have worked on it thinking a lot about people and taking care that the future was guaranteed," he detailed, adding that the money obtained from the operation will go to "reduce debt." Likewise, he has stressed that the jobs of cooperative members are guaranteed.
On the other hand, he has maintained that Eroski must "advance without rest but with head" and has recalled the "complex years" suffered between 2010 and 2015 with a "high volume of debt". "We had to make the toughest decisions. We divested an important part of the network, especially outside the northern zone...they were decisions that had to be made," she argued.
However, he stressed that thanks to the work carried out, the debt has gone from 3,500 to less than 1,000 million euros, which he considered to be "a feat". "We have done it alone, with very little help," he insisted.
In this way, he has assured that "now what we have to do is consolidate our position in the northern perimeter, grow and extend ourselves throughout the national territory with the franchise business."
"That is our fundamental objectives. We dream of growing again and recovering territory in the future," he indicated. Likewise, he has expressed that Eroski is open to any alliance that reinforces its "capacities".
"We don't like to talk about divestments at this time. We have reduced the food business to the extent that it was necessary and now what we have to do is grow and strengthen," he insisted.
In this context, he stressed that the cooperative members are aware that the road map that allows them to recover position and capital is "clear". "Putting ourselves in the place we deserve, managing the business without the limitations that the debt has generated for us and that still conditions us," he pointed out, while setting the year 2026 as the date on which all this is possible.
On the other hand, he has recognized that Eroski has the "ambition" of being a "bigger" group and generating employment. "One of our main objectives is that our partners have an adequate salary", he has finished her.
