DIA (supermarket chain) — BrandWiki

DIA (supermarket chain)

Overview

Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación, S.A.

type	Sociedad Anónima
traded as	bmad: ES0126775032 DIA
isin	isin: ES0126775032
foundation	July 24, 1966
location city	Las Rozas
location country	Spain
locations	3,346 stores
num locations year	2024
area served	Spain Argentina Brazil
key people	Stephan DuCharme (CEO)
industry	Retail
revenue	€7.5 billion (2024)‡R1R‡
net income	–€78 million (2024)‡R1R‡
num employees	28,500 (2024)‡R1R‡
parent	LetterOne
homepage	diacorporate.com

Distribuidora Internacional de Alimentación, S.A. (DIA) is a Spanish multinational discount supermarket chain founded in 1979.

At the end of 2024 it had 3,346 stores, of which 2,310 were in Spain, 1,036 in Argentina and 590 in Brazil, with approximately 28,500 employees and a turnover of €6.9 billion.[2]

History

The DIA chain was created in Spain in 1979 with the opening of its first store on Calle Valderrodrigo 10, in the Madrid urbanization of Saconia.

In the 1990s, international expansion began with the acquisition of Minipreço in Portugal in 1993. It was followed by first Dia stores in Greece in 1995, in Argentina in 1997 and in Turkey in 1999.

Dia was acquired by Carrefour Group in 2000. The French Ed supermarket chain which it was acquired by Carrefour in 1999 has been integrated into the Dia discount group. In 2001 Dia entered Brazil. In 2003, Dia opened first stores in the China, where the number of openings in a year reached 300 stores.[3]

In 2010, Carrefour transferred Dia Greece (who was 80% owned by Carrefour) to the joint-venture Carrefour Marinopoulos in order to convert the stores under the Carrefour Marinopoulos or Carrefour Express brands.[5] In July 2011, Dia demerged from the Carrefour Group[6] and was followed by its debut in Madrid's IBEX 35 stock market on 2 January 2012.[7] In January 2013, Dia took over 1,127 stores in Spain, 41 stores in Portugal and 4 distribution centers for €70.5 million from the bankrupt German company Schlecker.[8] Most of the stores were converted into beauty and personal care stores under the new brand Clarel.[9] The Turkish subsidiary of Dia with 1,200 stores in Turkey was sold to Yıldız Holding in 2013 for €136.5 million.[10] In June 2014, three years after it split from the Carrefour group, Dia's 800 stores in France, which were in difficulty, were bought for €600 million by Carrefour.[11] The stores were converted to Carrefour brands or closed. In July 2014, Dia acquired the 455 regional supermarkets of El Arbor, the 8th largest supermarket chain in Spain, for 1 euro due to financial problems.[12] Most of the stores were rebranded in La Plaza de DIA.[13] In November 2014, Eroski sold 160 of its stores to Dia for €146 million, in the regions of Andalusia, Extremadura, Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha, with the aim of getting out of debt.[14] Following the acquisitions, Dia closed 700 supermarkets in Spain between 2015 and 2019 due to the proximity between them or low sales.[15] In 2018 Dia sold its Chinese subsidiary to Suning. Dia had nearly 400 franchised stores in Shanghai. In 2013 closed its 160 stores in Beijing as a result of continued losses.[16] In May 2019, the LetterOne investment firm increased its share in the Dia Group to 69.76%, effectively taking control of the company. After that, a new board of directors was appointed and the company launched a transformation plan to regain competitiveness and to make the Company profitable focusing on the operational excellence and on a new commercial offer.[17]

DIA (supermarket chain)

History

Operations

External links

References