Who owns SMS?
SMS is owned by Hagar (Iceland, Nasdaq Iceland: HAGA), which has owned the brand since 2024.[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Hagar hf. Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 28 February 2026, 29 April 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Hagar hf. reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇮🇸 Iceland, Reykjavík
- Origin
- 🇫🇴 Faroe Islands
- Founded
- 1977
- Category
- Home, garden & DIY › Retailer own brands › Grocery own brands
- Parent ticker
- Nasdaq Iceland: HAGA
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About SMS
SMS is the retail group Hagar owns in the Faroe Islands and describes as the market leader there. Founded in 1977, it runs 13 grocery stores, four specialty stores and seven restaurants, and also does its own meat processing, baking and confectionery production alongside property management. Hagar treats the whole of it as a single operating segment.
Ownership timeline of SMS
Where SMS sits in Hagar
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Hagar ownership tree →
See the full Hagar brand portfolio (11) →
Other brands owned by Hagar
Hagar controls 11 brands on Brandtree, 9 of them in home, garden & diy.
Also in home, garden & diy
Other brands in grocery own brands, and who owns them
The 170 brands in grocery own brands on Brandtree belong to 55 owners. The largest is Cencosud, with 12; Hagar has 5.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Bretas | Cencosud | 🇨🇱 Chile |
| Lucerne | Albertsons | 🇺🇸 United States |
| City Gross | Axfood | 🇸🇪 Sweden |
| Chalo | Empire | 🇨🇦 Canada |
| Checkers | Shoprite Group | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| Amanhecer | Jerónimo Martins | 🇵🇹 Portugal |
| K-Citymarket | Kesko | 🇫🇮 Finland |
| Farmer's Market | Loblaw | 🇨🇦 Canada |
About the owner: Hagar
Hagar is a publicly listed company headquartered in Reykjavík, Iceland. Brandtree records 11 brands under its control, and it is listed as Nasdaq Iceland: HAGA.
Hagar is the largest grocery retailer in Iceland and is listed on the main market of Nasdaq Iceland. It runs eight business units at home — 40 grocery stores, 22 Olís service stations, 45 ÓB self-service fuel stations, two warehouses, a production facility, a wholesale store and a specialty store — and owns SMS, the market leader in the Faroe Islands, along with an online alcohol shop in the Netherlands. That makes it central to the price of food in Iceland: when the country argues about the cost of groceries it is largely arguing about Bónus and Hagkaup. Group profit for the 2025/26 year was ISK 7,394 million on EBITDA of ISK 18,129 million.
🇫🇴 SMS and other Faroese brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 8 brands that began in Faroe Islands. 3 of them (38%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, SMS among them.
- 18 Islands — Bakkafrost 🇫🇴
- Atlantic Airways — Atlantic Airways 🇫🇴
- Bakka Salmon — Bakkafrost 🇫🇴
- Bakkafrost — Bakkafrost 🇫🇴
- Heimland — Bakkafrost 🇫🇴
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of SMS?
The parent company of SMS is Hagar, a publicly listed company headquartered in Iceland.
Is SMS Faroese or Icelandic?
SMS originated in Faroe Islands in 1977, but it is owned today by Hagar, which is headquartered in Iceland. So SMS is a Faroese-origin brand under Icelandic ownership.
Since when has Hagar owned SMS?
Hagar has owned SMS since 2024.
Is SMS still owned by Hagar?
Yes. As of 21 September 2026, SMS is still owned by Hagar. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Hagar hf. Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended 28 February 2026 — Hagar hf., Annual report, published 29 April 2026; retrieved 21 September 2026.
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