UAE-based LuLu Group, which runs the LuLu chain of supermarkets, has been named among the fastest growing retailers in the world over a five-year period.

The company, headed by Indian businessman Yusuffali MA, was ranked 197th in a list of the world's 250 biggest names in the sector published by Deloitte.

Deloitte said the retailer averaged compound annual growth rate of more than 25 per cent between 2007-12. It added that the group's revenues in 2012 was more than $4.5 billion, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

Deloitte said that despite tough economic conditions, revenues for the world's 250 largest retailers reached $4.3 trillion for the last fiscal year (June 2012 through June 2013).

The top 10 global retailers on the basis of retail revenue are Wal-Mart Stores ($469 billion), Tesco -UK $101 billion), Costco Wholesale Corporation -US ($99.1 billion) Carrefour - France ($98.7 billion), The Kroger - US ($96.7 billion), Schwarz Unternehmens Treuhand KG - Germany (87.2 billion), Metro AG - Germany ($85.8 billion), The Home Depot - US ($74.7 billion), Aldi Einkauf GmbH & Company - Germany ($73 billion) and Target Corporation - US ($71.9 billion).

The average size of the top 250 retailers exceeded $17 billion according to the 2014 Global Powers of Retailing report from Deloitte.

"The global retail industry got off to a difficult start last year," said James Babb, clients and industries leader at Deloitte Middle East. "However, it is encouraging to see that the world's leading retailers were able to plough on through the difficult period."

Emke Group has said it plans to open 42 new LuLu Hypermarkets in the next two years.

Yusuffali said his Abu Dhabi-based company was planning to launch seven new hypermarkets in the UAE in 2014-15, six in Oman, four each in Qatar and Kuwait, three each in Bahrain and Egypt and 15 in Saudi Arabia.

New markets were also being pursued in Malaysia, Indonesia, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco and Libya, he stated.

To beef up its retail and exports business, the group was also investing heavily in developing a logistics centre and cold storage facility in Kochi.-TradeArabia News  Service