Sonae is a multinational business group based in Porto, Portugal. It is present in 90 countries, operating in several sectors, including retail, financial services, shopping centres management, software and information systems, media and telecommunications.

It is the largest private employer in Portugal, with 53,794 employees.

Sonae is listed on the Euronext PSI-20 in Lisbon, under the code SON.

In the first quarter of 2018, Sonae’s turnover amounted to 2,680 million euros, with net results in the order of 98 million euros, more 34.2% than the same period last year.

Organization

From 2009, Sonae (Sonae SGPS, S.A.) holds a portfolio of businesses grouped into different business areas, where its subholdings are included:

Core Businesses

• Sonae MC – Portuguese leader in the area of food retail, with a set of different formats: Continente (hypermarkets), Continente Modelo (supermarkets), Continente Bom Dia (convenience stores), Continente Ice (specialised in deep frozen food), Meu Super (franchising format of close-by stores), Bom Bocado (restaurant services), Book.it (bookshop) and Well’s (drugstores).
• Sonae SR – Responsible for Sonae’s non-food related retail area, particularly sports, clothing and electronics, through the brands SportZone (sports), MO (textile), Zippy (Kids clothing and accessories), Worten (household appliances, consumer electronics and entertainment), Worten Mobile (mobile telecommunications), Pets&Plants (garden supplies and articles for pets).

Core Partnerships

• Sonae Sierra – International specialist in shopping centres. Founded in Portugal in 1989, it is owned by Sonae in 50% of the shares. The remaining 50% are owned by Grosvenor Group (United Kingdom)
• Sonaecom – Partnership in the areas of telecommunications, software, information systems and media, which develops an active role in the integrated management of the business units. The universe of companies that are connected to this area is formed by: NOS^[6] (telecommunications), Biztech (commercialization of multi-brand IT solutions), WeDo Technologies (supplier of software solutions) and Saphety (simplified solutions and processes automation). In the media area, Sonaecom also owns Público, a reference daily newspaper.

Related Business

• Sonae RP – Created in 2009, Sonae Retail Properties is focused on the management and development of its real estate assets as a way to provide support to its retail business growth goals.

Active Investments

• Investment Management – Business branch responsible for Sonae’s mergers and acquisitions. Part of this area are businesses like MDS, Cooper Gay and Herco (in the Insurance sector), Geostar (a travel agency that is a joint-venture with the RAR group) and Maxmat (bricolage in a joint-venture with CRH).

With autonomy since 2007, there is Sonae Capital, presided by Cláudia Azevedo, daughter of Belmiro de Azevedo, with three main business areas:

• Sonae Turismo: Business developer in the resorts, hotel and fitness areas.
• Energy: Management of the co-generation centrals and photovoltaic parks.
• Spread SGPS: Promotions of refrigeration, AVAC and maintenance management and financial participation.