FACING up bravely to the intense competition, and lower spending in
the sector, Dundee supermarkets group Wm Low & Company opened another
major store near Glasgow yesterday.
It provided an impressive demonstration of chairman and chief
executive James Millar's determination to build a chain in keeping with
new generation standards.
Not an easy task it must be said, when increasingly in Scotland it is
becoming a battle for market share among giants such as Sainsbury,
Tesco, and Safeway.
Low has a heavy commitment to finance its extensive stores development
programme, which continues into the next financial year with six more
planned.
The latest opening is at Milngavie, where an existing town centre
store has been replaced with one offering full parking facilities and
25,000 square feet of sales space. Around 200 additional jobs have been
created.
Mr Millar said it was well placed to add to the increased market share
the group had achieved recently, following the opening of three other
stores in Scotland, plus refurbished space in Edinburgh.
''We have opened a total of 100,000 square feet of new and updated
space this year,'' he said, claiming that it was showing success ahead
of initial expectations.
A further supermarket opens in Whitehaven, Cumbria, next month, with
the next batch extending the territory as far south as Loughborough,
Leicestershire.
Mr Millar, who will be hoping to announce a strengthening of his
executive team along with final results this autumn, gave a warning as
long ago as February that current year profits would fall short of last
year's #23.6m.
That was followed by a poor interim in April, with analysts expecting
around #19m for the full year and bearishly putting out some ''sell''
ratings. The shares, unchanged at 202p, are on a 5.5% yield.
