Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal, Dec. 10, 2025 (Lusa) - MC Sonae, the food retail arm of the Portuguese Sonae group, plans to invest €1 billion by 2030 in opening 100 new Continente stores and refurbishing 150 others in Portugal, chief executive Luís Moutinho announced on Wednesday.
"We are talking about 100 new stores by 2030, 150 refurbishments by 2030, and more than 3,000 new hires by 2030," Luís Moutinho told journalists, explaining that an investment of "€1 billion by 2030 is planned for expansion, refurbishments, and digital transformation."
As part of the 40th anniversary of the first Continente store in Portugal, which opened on 10 December 1985 in Matosinhos, in the district of Porto, Luís Moutinho said that the expansion plan will move forward this Thursday with the opening of a Continente Bom Dia store in Alijó, in the district of Vila Real, and next week another Continente Bom Dia store in the parish of Guia, in the municipality of Pombal, in the region of Leiria.
In early 2026, it will continue with the opening of stores in "Queluz, Alcântara Terra, Campo de Ourique" and a "Continente Modelo in Malveira", all in the districts of Lisbon, he announced.
The expansion plan does not include opening hypermarkets or internationalising the Continente brand in the next five years.
"Five years and, despite being an operator of excellence in food retail and being “best in class” on a global scale, we also respect the fact that this is a very local business and, as we do not want to venture into anything crazy that could harm us, we currently have no plans to internationalise the food retail business we have in Portugal".
Luís Moutinho stresses that they are neither sad nor "asleep" for choosing this strategy, countering with "a great deal of energy to continue on their path."
On the other hand, MC Sonae has plans to internationalise in the health and beauty sector over the next five years, with the Druni brand (selective perfumery) being the most "well-suited and capable" for this purpose.
"We believe that this health, beauty and wellness business is the one that is best placed to internationalise," he said, adding that they are in a phase of consolidation of Druni, Wells (parapharmacy) and Arenal (larger scale and a hybrid of parapharmacy and perfumery) and that the plan is to reach more countries over the next five years.
Luís Moutinho declined, however, to mention which geographical areas would be targeted for the internationalisation of the health and beauty sector.
The MC Sonae portfolio currently has "49% in the food area" and "51% in the health and beauty area", i.e. there are more health and beauty stores than food stores, although if measured in "square metres", the food retail area wins with 80% of the area.
When asked whether the expansion plan for the Continente brand is also to compete with Spanish operator Mercadona, Luís Moutinho acknowledged that the Spanish leader, which has been opening stores in Portugal, is forcing them to improve, but he emphasised that the strategy to expand the number of stores is linked to the fact that they feel the Continente brand "has to reach places it has not yet reached".
"We have a 27% market share and there are places where there are still no stores," he explained, referring to "knowledge of the country" and "market studies", the great opportunities identified "are in the interior of the country and in large urban markets such as Lisbon".
Luís Moutinho said that the food retail market in Portugal is "very competitive, marked by the presence of major international players" and with the "growth of the presence and affirmation of the value proposition of discounters in Europe", but he states that the brand's ambition is to continue to satisfy "all customer needs through a multi-format and proximity approach".
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