Via Retail expects improving economic scenario in the country

The mobile company and electronics Via Retail expects Brazilian economic scenario improves in the second half, even taking into account the current context of weaker sales and slowing down, said the President of the company, Lebanon Barroso. The company, owner of the Casas Bahia shopping networks and Pontofrio and controlled by Grupo Pão de Açúcar-the largest retailer in the country, ahead of Carrefour and Walmart-claims that will keep their investment projections and stores opening in 2015, according to the Executive. Last year, the retailer has opened 88 stores in the country, and the forecast is 210 new establishments between 2014 and 2016, with an annual average of 70 openings. "We will continue expanding in shops and by increasing the capacity in the Northeast, Midwest and Southeast," said Barroso. In the first quarter of this year, net revenues of Via Retail 1 crash had% compared to the previous year, to $ 5.39 billion, second report of sales performance during the period. Shops if they are taken into account the 34 shops of the group that were closed or sold in 2014 due to the merger with Casas Bahia, since a determination of the Administrative Council for economic Defense (Cade), would then an increase of 0.1% in the first quarter. "For us, it was a quarter almost equal," said Barroso, minimizing the effects of the appreciation of the dollar against the real, inflationary pressures and the suspension of the program my house Better, the Caixa Economica Federal (CEF), which facilitated the purchase of buildings and appliances. Second semester Executive said that the company should invest in an upturn in the second half of this year, which likely will affect sales of the sector in Brazil. "The P is undergoing a moment of correction, which changes nothing to our vision of growth". Via Retail inaugurated yesterday in Ipanema, region in the southern part of the city of Rio de Janeiro, a concept store of Pontofrio named Premium Store, with more sophisticated products and personalized service. The investment in the new venture, which has highlights a 102-inch LED tv that costs about $ 270 million, amounted to r $ 5 million. The company had announced in March a process of reformulation of some stores Pontofrio to reach consumers of higher purchasing power in the mobile segment. /Reuters