UAE: Will prices increase after launch of Lulu IPO? Retailer explains

Retail major Lulu will continue to maintain competitive prices across its outlets in the UAE and GCC even after the launch of the and later listing on the Abu Dhabi bourse, its chairman said on Tuesday.

In reply to a question while addressing a press conference in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Yusuffali MA, chairman and founder of Lulu Group, said the prices of products are determined by the international market.

“We want to fully support our consumers with the availability of uninterrupted supply. We source products from 19 countries and the first priority is the availability of products and the second is we want to bring competitive prices on good quality. Now we are doing that. We hope this will continue,” Yusuffali said.

On Monday, Lulu announced that it would sell 25 per cent shares through an IPO with a nominal value of Dh0.051 each.

The company will sell over 2.582 billion (2,582,226,338) shares through a three-tranche IPO which will commence on October 28 and close on November 5.

Lulu Retail Holding will be listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange. The listing is expected on November 14, 2024. The offer price range will be announced on the same day or before the opening of the offering on October 28.

Mohamed Althaf MM, group director for global operations and chief sustainability officer of Lulu Retail, said the group is “resilient to any geopolitical challenges in the region.”

He said: “We make sure that all products we bring here meet our religious and cultural food preferences.”

Lulu Group is the largest full-line retailer with stores in all GCC countries by selling space, sales and number of stores in 2023. The Group was the second-largest grocery retailer in UAE and largest in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait and the fastest-growing and largest pan-GCC retailer in Saudi Arabia, according to market consultants. It currently has a strong omni-channel presence in the form of 3 formats – hypermarkets, express stores and mini-markets.

Yusuffali said the company is expanding its products range such as gluten-free, diabetic-free and organic and chemical-free products.

“These are new innovations and transformations in the food market. We use 19 markets to source interrupted supply of food products. During Covid-19 pandemic, there was no shortage of food in the UAE, and no increased price because we managed it through out the global supply chain,” said Lulu chairman.