Polish NEWS: Żabka Group, which has built a modern convenience-store network, has scaled up its operations, improved profitability and is steadily reducing its debt. By the end of June 2025, nearly 12,000 stores bearing the Żabka logo were operating in Poland—an increase of almost 11 percent year on year. The Group intends to accelerate its expansion and, in 2025, open more than 1,300 additional outlets in Poland and Romania, up from the previously announced plan of 1,100 openings.
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Has the expansion of Żabka Group’s modern convenience-store network improved its financial performance?
Żabka Group’s financial results for the first half of 2025 are optimistic and better than expected. Despite a high comparison base in Q2 2024 and unfavourable weather conditions in May 2025, like-for-like (LFL) sales grew by 6.1 per cent in H1 2025. The development of digital channels and continued strengthening in Romania (the Froo chain, also built on a modern-convenience concept similar to Żabka stores in Poland) supported this growth. As a result, consolidated sales to end customers reached PLN 14,800,000,000, up 14.4 per cent year on year, while revenue totalled PLN 12,800,000,000 (+14.7 per cent).
The network expansion, improved LFL performance and tight cost discipline lifted adjusted EBITDA by 18.2 per cent to PLN 1,654,000,000 at the end of H1 2025. The adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 0.4 percentage points to 11.2 per cent. Following the usual seasonal pattern, Q2 2025 generated strong cash flows, reducing the net financial debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio by 0.5× year on year to 1.2× at the end of the first half of 2025.
How does Tomasz Suchański comment on Żabka Group’s financial results?
“The strong financial performance we achieved in the first half of 2025 confirms the effectiveness of the growth strategy we presented to investors—one that revolves around a modern-convenience retail ecosystem,” says Tomasz Suchański, CEO of Żabka Group.
“Żabka is steadily scaling up, both by expanding its store network and by broadening its digital offering, which is reflected in our like-for-like growth and total end-customer sales. We are accelerating expansion: in just the first six months of 2025 we opened more than 800 new outlets, putting us on track to exceed our new target of 1,300 openings for the full year. We are also growing rapidly in Romania, where the Froo chain has rolled out more than 100 stores just a year after its debut. In the near term, Żabka Group will focus on boosting efficiency and on delivering our strategic objective of doubling end-customer sales value between 2023 and 2028,” Suchański adds.
How does Tomasz Blicharski view Żabka Group’s financial results?
“The first half of 2025—and Q2 in particular—was a strong period for Żabka Group. According to Nielsen data, we grew more than twice as fast as the overall market, lifting our share to 10.6 per cent from 9.9 per cent a year earlier,” notes Tomasz Blicharski, Group Chief Strategy & Development Officer at Żabka.
“In June 2025 we completed a strategic project to install hot-food ovens in every store, allowing us to roll out the nationwide ‘Fresh from the Oven’ menu. That drove double-digit growth in ready-meal (QMS) sales and contributed to the 6.1 per cent like-for-like increase in the first half.
We continue to invest systematically in a product range that meets customers’ expectations. We expanded our breakfast line-up with hot items such as ham toasties and scrambled-egg panini, selling one million units in the first month alone. On the digital side, Żabka Ads is growing, making it easier for shoppers to discover and use our promotions, while the assortment available for rapid online purchase and delivery has widened significantly. Customers can now order more than 10,000 different products via delio+, Żabka’s new online platform.
For full-year 2025 we expect solid like-for-like growth in the mid- to high-single-digit range, fuelled by ongoing innovation and the expansion of our digital solutions, which will further reinforce our leadership position.”
“Rising sales, which translated into positive economies of scale, boosted our direct profitability,” explains Marta Wrochna-Łastowska, CFO of Żabka Group.
“Together with strict cost discipline, this delivered a 20 per cent increase in adjusted EBITDA in Q2 2025 and widened the adjusted EBITDA margin by 0.6 percentage points to 13 per cent. Free cash flow grew 15 per cent thanks to effective spending control and cost efficiency. In line with the seasonal pattern, the second quarter generated strong cash inflows, enabling us to cut the net financial-debt-to-adjusted-EBITDA ratio by 0.5× year on year to 1.2× at the end of the first half. These results provide a solid foundation for keeping the adjusted EBITDA margin in the 12–13 per cent range by year-end 2025 and for further improving the adjusted net profit margin to around 3 per cent in the near term,” Wrochna-Łastowska adds.
What are the key highlights of Żabka Group’s performance after the first half of 2025?
Sales revenue in H1 2025 rose 14.7 per cent to PLN 12.8 billion. In Q2 2025 alone, revenue grew 16.2 per cent to PLN 7.1 billion. This strong result reflects solid organic growth driven by robust like-for-like (LFL) sales and the ongoing expansion of both the store network and digital channels.
End-customer sales for the six-month period reached PLN 14.8 billion, up 14.4 per cent year on year; in Q2 they advanced 14 per cent to PLN 8.1 billion. LFL sales increased 6.1 per cent in both the first half and the second quarter, despite a high comparison base from Q2 2024 and unusually cool weather in May 2025. Growth was fuelled largely by commercial innovation and an expanded product line-up—especially in ready meals (QMS).
Improved gross margins and continued cost discipline lifted adjusted EBITDA by 20.1 per cent year on year in Q2 to PLN 1.057 billion; for the full half-year, adjusted EBITDA rose 18.2 per cent to PLN 1.654 billion. The adjusted EBITDA margin widened to 13 per cent in Q2 (up from 12.4 per cent a year earlier) and to 11.2 per cent for H1 2025 (versus 10.9 per cent in 2024).
How is the modern-convenience network expanding?
As of the end of June 2025, Żabka Group—operator of Europe’s largest modern-convenience chain—counted 11,793 outlets in Poland and Romania, a 10.8 per cent increase from 10,640 a year earlier. In Q2 alone, the Group opened 368 new stores. According to the assumptions outlined at the IPO, the addressable market offers capacity for roughly 19,500 stores in Poland and about 4,000 in Romania, underscoring ample headroom for continued expansion.
How are Żabka Group’s additional sales channels progressing?
Digital commerce operations (DCO) delivered a 26 per cent year-on-year increase in end-customer sales in H1 2025—and 28 per cent in Q2 alone—giving a meaningful lift to the Group’s overall performance and moving it closer to the IPO pledge of quintupling DCO revenue by 2028. The main drivers were:
- Enhancements to Żabka Ads, enabling brands to target customers more effectively and boosting monetisation;
- Expansion of the q-commerce range to more than 10,000 items on delio+, Żabka’s new online platform for rapid delivery.
These initiatives continue to deepen customer engagement and diversify the Group’s revenue streams.
What are Żabka Group’s financial results?
Adjusted net profit totalled PLN 144 million in the first half of 2025, an 82.9 per cent increase versus 2024. In the second quarter alone it reached PLN 221 million, up 25.5 per cent from PLN 176 million a year earlier.
Free cash flow amounted to PLN 1.165 billion in H1 2025, compared with PLN 1.260 billion in 2024; in Q2 it rose by more than 14 per cent to PLN 1.074 billion, thanks to tight spending control and cost efficiency.
Capital expenditure (CAPEX) came to PLN 740 million in the first half—a 14.7 per cent year-on-year increase—funding network expansion and store modernisations, including the rollout of hot-food ovens that support a new street-food offer.
Żabka’s leverage continues to fall: the net financial-debt-to-adjusted-EBITDA ratio dropped to 1.2 × at the end of Q2 2025, down 0.5 × over recent months. The Group intends to pursue further deleveraging.
Summary of results for H1 2025 and Q2 2025
| (figures in PLN million) | 2Q 2025 | 2Q 2024 | Change | IH 2025 | IH 2024 | Change |
| Sales revenue | 7124 | 6133 | 16,2% | 12791 | 11148 | 14,7% |
| Gross profit on sales | 1327 | 1111 | 19,4% | 2141 | 1829 | 17,0% |
| EBITDA | 1 002 | 866 | +15,7% | 1 547 | 1 379 | +12,2% |
| Adjusted EBITDA* | 1 057 | 881 | +20,1% | 1 654 | 1 399 | +18,2% |
| Net profit | 192 | 157 | 22,4% | 67 | 58 | 14,8% |
| Adjusted net profit** | 221 | 176 | 25,5% | 144 | 79 | 82,9% |
* Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as EBITDA before recognising lease costs and margins calculated on end-customer sales.
** Adjusted net profit equals net profit plus EBITDA adjustments, after the tax effect.
Selected KPIs and performance metrics
(all margins calculated on the basis of end-customer sales)
| 2Q 2025 | 2Q 2024 | Change | IH 2025 | IH 2024 | Change | |
| Consolidated end-customer sales, PLN million*** | 8 133 | 7 126 | 14,1% | 14 751 | 12 893 | 14,4% |
| Number of stores at period-end which in Romania | 11 793 109 | 10 640 5 | +10,8% | |||
| Like-for-like (LFL) sales growth | 6,1% | 9,3% | -3,2 p.p. | 6,1% | 10,3% | -4,2 p.p. |
| New stores opened which in Romania | 368 22 | 313 5 | +17,6% | 804 51 | 714 5 | +12,6% |
| EBITDA margin | 12,3% | 12,1% | +0,2 p.p. | 10,5% | 10,7% | -0,2 p.p. |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin* | 13,0% | 12,4% | +0,6 p.p. | 11,2% | 10,9% | +0,4 p.p |
***Sales generated by stores operating under the Żabka banner and by the Group’s “New Growth Engines.” This figure is not identical to the Group’s reported sales revenue.
Is Żabka repurchasing its own shares?
According to a current report dated 31 July 2025, the Żabka Group Board of Directors has approved a share-buy-back programme to satisfy obligations arising from its 2025–2027 Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP), first outlined at the IPO. The programme will launch in August 2025 and will cover up to 4,200,000,000 shares. Purchases will be conducted on the regulated market in line with MAR rules, with brokerage firm Trigon appointed to execute the transactions.
The LTIP aims to deepen the long-term commitment of key employees by tying their incentive pay to the Company’s value creation over time, including growth in EBITDA, end-customer sales and improvements in ESG metrics.
How does Juliusz Bolek comment on Żabka Group’s successes?
“The Group’s financial achievements are only the tip of the iceberg—its relentless expansion is nothing short of impressive,” says Juliusz Bolek, Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Business Institute.
“Perhaps not everyone grasps or appreciates this yet. But Żabka’s successes are easy to benchmark against other players in the same sector. It is clear that the Group possesses unique know-how, brilliant ideas and, on top of that, an innovative business mindset. The company is leagues ahead of the competition, having built the largest food-service network in Poland and rolling out solutions no other business in the same space is offering,” Bolek concludes.
What is a modern-convenience store?
Modern convenience is an English term meaning “contemporary convenience.” In a retail context it describes a format of small stores, usually located in residential neighbourhoods or other convenient, high-traffic spots. In Poland the concept has been creatively developed by the Żabka chain.
These outlets focus on everyday essentials—food and drinks, many of them ready for immediate consumption—so mainly pre-packed, ready-to-eat products and beverages (frozen items, canned goods, packaged cold cuts and cheeses, ice-cream), plus personal and household cleaning products, newspapers, alcohol, cigarettes, matches, batteries and the like. You may also find lottery tickets.
Żabka goes further: its stores sell mobile-phone starter packs and top-ups, handle parcel drop-off and collection, offer insurance and even shoe-repair services. The chain features a broad hot-food menu—hot dogs, pizza, panini, fries and more—while its high-quality fresh coffee enjoys huge popularity.
What does Żabka Group comprise?
Żabka Group’s ecosystem centres on Poland’s leading convenience-retail network of more than 11,000 franchised stores. It is complemented by Żabka Nano, a chain of cashier-less autonomous outlets that let customers shop 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The portfolio also includes:
- Maczfit – a brand created for people seeking healthy yet convenient diets; it delivers restaurant-quality ready-made meals straight to customers’ homes.
- Dietly – Poland’s leading comparison platform for diet-catering providers.
- Jush! and Delio – e-grocery services that handle online food shopping and rapid delivery.
Across the Group, a continually expanding suite of advanced digital services underpins the entire offering.
How is Żabka Group expanding?
In 2024 Żabka entered the Romanian market by acquiring DRIM, the country’s leading FMCG distributor, and launched Froo, a new modern-convenience store chain in Romania. Since October 2024 Żabka Group shares have been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
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Polish NEWS – Economy /art, source: Agencja Informacyjna / 7 August 2025. Photo: press materials
