Bander Hamooh, CEO of Panda Retail Co.
Panda Retail Co. CEO Bander Hamooh said the executive management is actively preparing for the company’s initial public offering (IPO).
The timing of the offering will be a collaborative responsibility between Savola Group and the Capital Market Authority (CMA), he told Argaam on the sidelines of the 2024 Retail Leaders Circle MENA Summit.
The company is seeking to improve profitability in the next two years after a notable performance in Q4 2023 following six to seven years of losses, the CEO stated.
Hamooh said Panda’s transformation journey started after it reported losses in 2018, as it works on problem diagnosis, development efforts, halting expansion, branch reassessment, and launching a customer experience program.
During the past five years, Panda closed over 50 branches and over 350 Pandati branches. In contrast, the company started developing 188 branches, of which 75 are already completed.
Expansion resumed in 2023 with the opening of
seven new branches in Riyadh, as well as southern and western regions, Hamooh said, adding that the company plans to open
10 to 15 new branches in 2024.
The company aims to enhance its retail experience, mainly due to customers’ preference to e-shopping post-COVID-19 pandemic. He added that the size of the e-commerce market in the Kingdom is nearly SAR 2 billion and is expected to reach SAR 9 billion within five years.
Panda aims to establish a robust e-commerce presence, offering more than 20,000 product types to customers, he added.
Hamooh revealed that the company decided to hold a strategic partnership with United Electronics Co. (
eXtra) to manage electronic device space within Panda markets, given the latter’s extensive experience in the electronics segment.
Meanwhile, he stated that the company is working to expand the idea of space management for other products, noting that the matter has been discussed with companies specialized in various fields except electronics.
Savola Group owns 100% of
Panda, which operates in the retail trade of food products, household appliances and electronics.
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