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Burgwedel (dpa) - The drugstore chain Rossmann got through the Corona year 2020 comparatively well.

Overall, the group achieved a sales increase of 3.5 percent to 10.35 billion euros.

Unlike many retailers, Rossmann was able to keep its branches open during the two shutdowns because, like supermarkets, these are seen as important for the basic supply.

The group of companies, headquartered in Burgwedel near Hanover, did not provide information on profit in the past financial year on Thursday.

If you include the effect of the lower value added tax, with which the federal government wanted to boost consumption by the end of the year, the revenue growth at Rossmann was a little more than 6 percent.

According to figures from the consumer research company GfK, drugstores in Germany were able to increase their sales by 4.1 percent in the first eleven months of 2020.

The plus of Rossmann, dm and Co. was significantly weaker than in the grocery trade, where the discounters grew by more than 8 percent and the supermarkets by almost 16 percent.

One reason for this is that the demand for cosmetics fell sharply as a result of the shutdowns and increased home offices.

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At the beginning of the pandemic, Rossmann also had to temporarily cordon off some product ranges and customer areas in the shops after hamster purchases of hygiene articles had also occurred here.

The photo terminals were also temporarily closed in many places - as well as test stations, toilets and changing tables.

Additional security guards were deployed in some branches.

The company activated special logistics plans to ensure the supply of goods.

Rossmann intends to continue expanding its branch network in 2021.

75 branches are to be opened in Germany and 120 abroad.

The management wants to invest 200 million euros.

For companies in other countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey, Albania and Kosovo, the consequences of the pandemic in 2020 were stronger because there were also closings here.

Foreign sales rose by an average of 2 percent after adjustment for currency effects, while 4.7 percent was reported for Germany.

More than 70 percent of the business recently came from the home market.

Rossmann currently has more than 4,200 branches and 56,000 employees.