The European grocery sector has a very different look and feel to the UK. There are generally a lot more smaller but still material businesses, often with a limited local market (often a single nation or region), but the most notable difference is that the market leaders are privately owned – most of the largest European operators are not listed. Indeed, in the top 10, two are British, and only one is listed – (Carrefour (FR:CA)).
And unlike the UK, where some leading businesses (Morrisons and Asda) were taken private from a public listing, the likes of E.LeClerc, Auchan, Edeka, REWE and the market leaders Lidl and Aldi remain largely under family ownership. There are also sizeable franchise operations such as the Netherlands' Spar or large co-operative organisations such as Coop across the continent or Système U in France.
This can make for very different operational and investment (capital allocation) dynamics, with businesses able to take longer investment time frames – would external shareholders in a listed Aldi or Lidl have been happy to support a drive to tear a 15 per cent hole in the UK grocery market? Probably not.