Lower turnover for Delhaize Group in Belgium

Belgium slowly climbs back up

Belgian turnover dropped 2.4 % to 1.18 billion euro, while its like-for-like turnover dropped 2.8 %. Strikes after the announcement that the chain would close several Belgian stores were mainly the cause of the weaker results.

“We are implementing huge changes in Belgium, to revitalize Delhaize. Our first quarter results were impacted by price investments, discounts and marketing, but we have seen a steady turnover and market share improvement”, CEO Frans Muller said.

Huge blow to net profit

Delhaize’s American like-for-like turnover grew 2.5 %, while its total turnover grew 3.2 % to 4.36 billion dollars (3.9 billion euro). Excluding exchange rate fluctuations, Delhaize even grew 25.5 % in the US, thanks to the weak euro compared to the dollar. Southeast Europe managed a 5 % turnover increase to 768 million euro, but its like-for-like turnover did drop 0.8 %. The abysmal Greece economy is a burden on local turnover.

The group’s underlying operational profit dropped 11.2 % to 173 million euro (including exchange rates), while its net profit even dropped 75.8 % to 36 million euro.