The S Group’s online store is booming, but hotels and restaurants are suffering from the interest rate crisis





© Magazine image
The S Group’s operating result for January – June fell to EUR 35 million from EUR 106 million in the corresponding period last year. MAGAZINE IMAGE / Vesa Moilanen

The S Group’s operating result for January-June fell to EUR 35 million from EUR 106 million in the corresponding period last year, the S Group says in a press release.

SOK Corporation’s operating profit decreased from last year by approximately EUR 43 million to EUR 1 million.

The S Group’s tax-free retail sales fell by one per cent in the first half of the year to just under EUR 5.6 billion.

Grocery sales started to grow by more than 10 percent in March and have remained growing on a monthly basis.

According to the S Group, the largest relative growth has been in e-commerce, where grocery sales have in some months more than tripled compared to last year.

Restrictions knock on restaurants

In the tourism and catering trade, sales fell by about half from last year during the first half of the year.

According to the S Group, the sales of restaurants were reduced by their closures and the restrictions that continued afterwards. According to the cooperative group, hotels are still suffering from a partial loss of customers, especially in the Helsinki metropolitan area due to, among other things, the lack of foreign tourists.

– We hope that the interest rate crisis will be managed with secure practices, and that new business restrictions will no longer need to be used, says SOK’s President and CEO Taavi Heikkilä in a press release.