Continente pays out 79% of Sonae sales

The multi-sector Portuguese company Sonae closed 2023 with a turnover of €8.4Bn, up 9.2% on 2022. Sonae’s EBITDA was a record €990 million.

The growth was driven by MC, the owner of Continente, which saw revenues soar by 10.5% to €6.6Bn, slightly reinforcing its share to 78.5% of the group’s total sales turnover. Sonae is the largest private employer in Portugal (47,000 direct and 212,000 indirect jobs).
The group led by Cláudia Azevedo is focusing on reducing its great dependency on food retail, opening nee growth avenues to different businesses and countries while making clear that it will not be reducing its investment in Portugal.
After a period of divestments, the group based in Maia in the North of Portugal, currently has around €1Bn of investments underway overseas, including the Finnish pet products retailer Musti – a market leader in Scandinavia – which represents the biggest investment on a single asset in Sonae’s history, having acquired 80.65% of the company’s capital for €700 million.
The company has also invested in Sparkfood, which specialises in healthy, sustainable food products, and which will also integrate Diorren, a French company that Sonae acquired last month for €152 million.