Retailer Fona struggling in Denmark

It has been a hard year for many retailers in Nordic. Media Markt and SIBA are struggling in Nordic to show profits and the Danish retailer Fona had a hard year as the economic crisis is causing consumers to hold on to the money and go for the cheapest deal. Fona parent company F Group, faced a deficit of nearly 32 million DKR. Revenue increases, however, with 4% or about 70 million DKR for a total of 2.1 billion DKR. The problem is that the increased revenue will be eaten up by increased costs of supplies, which have gone up by more than 100 million DKR. F Group CEO Michael Kjaer explains the disappointing result that the consumer electronics market is still characterized by "price competition and consumer restraint". In October last year Fona forced about 750 employees to take a pay cut of between 5-10% by the prospect that the company would come out of the 2012/13 with a loss of 20 million DKR. The alternative was extensive store closings and mass layoffs. The majority of employees agreed to take a pay cut but the savings plan, however, brought the closing of four stores and laying off about 30 employees. We will now see if Fona can turn around for 2014 and become profitable again. For more information, visit Fona.dk