Squashed By The COVID-19 And PSBB Pandemic, Hero Supermarkets Loss Of IDR 339 Billion In The Third Quarter Of 2020

Illustration. (Photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - One of the country's major retailers, PT Hero Supermarket Tbk, recorded poor performance in the first nine months of this year. This issuer coded HERO shares suffered a loss of Rp. 339.46 billion in the third quarter of 2020.

Quoted from the disclosure of HERO information on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX) website Saturday, October 31, HERO President Director, Patrik Lindvall said, his party continued to face significant challenges throughout the third quarter.

"Due to the corona virus pandemic or COVID-19, the implementation of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) and changes in customer spending patterns, our sales decreased during the January-September period," he said.

During the nine months of this year, pandemic pressure has resulted in a decline in HERO sales. Noted, their income only reached Rp.6.86 trillion in the third quarter of 2020, or a 27.7 percent drop over the same period in the previous year which was valued at Rp9.49 trillion.

Patrik further said that the company's wholesale, health and beauty businesses were significantly affected by the pandemic in the third quarter.

"PSBB causes changes in customer shopping behavior and product demand patterns and also has an impact on decreasing visits to the company's stores in the mall," said Patrik.

On the other hand, he added, IKEA's home furnishings business increased slightly starting in the third quarter compared to the two previous periods. This increase was supported by the performance of e-commerce and the contribution of new stores in Sentul.

"All retail stores owned by companies such as Hero, Guardian and IKEA are affected due to reduced operating hours, closing several malls, tight trade restrictions on complementary businesses and limiting the capacity of customer visits," explained Patrik.

Changes in customer spending patterns, which are now only focused on spending on basic necessities as well as an increase in the price of goods have also contributed to the decline in HERO's performance in the past nine months.

"The company predicts that the performance for the remainder of this year will continue to be significantly affected by the pandemic. However, the company remains confident in its strategic plans for the business in the future," said Patrik.