Emanuel Parvulescu, Mega Image: “The Deposit-Return System is a great achievement for Romania and for the retail sector”

“The actions of retailers, but also the regulations of the authorities, have as their objective an increasingly smaller footprint on the environment. The trend of having a greener environment is increasingly evident both in Romania and in Europe, because we all want to breathe cleaner air.

Retailers now use technological solutions in stores with fewer CO2 emissions. We make these efforts both out of respect for nature and out of respect for consumers. These are actions that are not always promoted, but which we consider necessary to be closer to the communities we serve, because we want communities that are as healthy and clean as possible,” Emanuel Parvulescu, ESG | Health | Sustainability Lead, Mega Image – Ahold Delhaize Group said at Retail Forward 2025 organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest.

Key statements:

• The Deposit-Return System is a great achievement for Romania and for the retail sector. Last year we collected over 4 billion packages, an absolutely fabulous result for our industry.
• Retail has managed to become that point of contact between the need of consumers and the solution to get rid of that waste in a sustainable way. Sustainability can only exist in a company if that company is financially sustainable. A financially sustainable company brings added value to teams, shareholders, the state and communities.
• Speaking about the social component of ESG, diversity is something natural and should not be imposed according to strategies that may sometimes seem unnatural to us. This diversity is present in retail companies, regardless of whether we are talking about gender, age, people with disabilities or other criteria.
• The Ahold Delhaize Group has founded a company in Romania called AD/01, an IT hub that will develop solutions for both online commerce and physical stores. We are talking about technological solutions that will allow customers to make purchases easier. There will be over 250 colleagues who will develop these solutions in Romania for the local market, but also for other countries in Europe.

Ahold Delhaize announced in January the completion of its acquisition of Romanian grocery retailer Profi Rom Food SRL (Profi) from MidEuropa for approximately 1.3 billion euros Enterprise Value. The acquisition doubles Ahold Delhaize’s retail footprint in Romania, which currently operates nearly 1,000 stores under the Mega Image brand.

Profi is a leading traditional grocery retailer in Romania, operating around 1,700 supermarkets and convenience stores. In the twelve months ending June 2024, the company generated 2.7 billion euros in net sales. Ahold Delhaize expects Profi to add around 3 billion euros in net sales to its financial results in 2025.

The intention to acquire Profi was announced on 30 October 2023 and recently approved by the Romanian Competition Council (RCC), subject to post-closing obligations regarding the relationships with suppliers in the Romanian retail market as well as the divestment of 87 stores.