CJ Lang & Son, the family-owned Scottish Spar wholesaler and convenience retailer, reported another annual increase in underlying profit as it continues to execute its strategy for growth.
The Dundee business has published its financial statement for the period ended 28 April 2024, revealing group net turnover to be up 14.2% to £253m, and pre-tax profits increasing by 8% to £4m.
Speaking to Convenience Store, CEO Colin McLean and chairman Jim Hepburn said they were pleased with the latest results, although not entirely surprised. Colin said: “What you don’t see is that the results come on the back of years and years of hard work. Obviously, we knew that it might be a different type of year after acquiring the Eddy’s Food Station stores at the end of the last financial year - where we signed up three the day before the end of the year - but a bad summer and supply issues have also impacted the business.”
In fact, in the last year alone, CJ Lang has acquired 12 new company stores. This covered three former Eddy’s Food Station stores, together with the Scotfresh Group of nine convenience stores. All 12 are being converted to the Spar Scotland family.
The company has continued to further invest over the past year, with major store refits at Kilwinning, Lawthorn and Erskine. The roll out of the exclusive Barista Coffee offer, replacing Costa, together with digital screens and electronic shelf edge labels has helped modernise the overall customer shopping experience. Colin said: “The meal deal with the Barista offer are really good – a coffee and a pastry for under £5.”
There are, of course, the same challenges on the horizon for the company as those facing the wider retail business, McLean says. “We’ve had meetings in the last few weeks about what might happen with any new vaping legislation, and we’ve just had the new minimum unit pricing for alcohol introduced.” Jim added: “It’s early days, and perhaps people won’t shop in convenience for full litre bottles of spirits, but for much of the new unit pricing, we found we were selling a lot of lines that were over the new threshold already.”
McLean concluded: ““We have had another strong year, but we can’t rest on our laurels. As a genuine Scottish family business, we’re well positioned to meet the needs of customers with the best that Spar Scotland can offer. Our stores serve communities of all sizes and our customers are our neighbours. I’d like to thank them, along with our suppliers, independent retailers and all our colleagues, for their continued support.”
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