Sligro profits tripled

The Dutch Sligro Food Group has tripled its profits in the past year, thanks to the sale of its supermarket branch to Jumbo and Coop. On a comparable basis, the company’s results are at the same level as last year.

Net profit: 276 million

The wholesaler has made a net profit of 276 million euros in 2018: well over three times the 81 million of the previous year. On the other hand, profit from continuous business activities went down from 76 million to 46 million. The company’s EBIT was 53 million euros: down 42 % as there were one-time costs such as the sale of the Emté supermarkets. Discounting those, it comes down to 82 million euros: slightly lower than 2017’s 91 million, but that amount included a non-recurring income of 9 million euros.

Sligro had already announced that they had a 2.35-billion euro turnover last year: that is 9.5 % more than the year before (of which just +1.0 % was an organic sales growth).

6 to 8 new locations in Belgium

Dutch market share grew quite a bit last year (+ 9 %), and market share in Belgium grew even faster (+ 14 %). The group confirms its plans to accelerate growth in Belgium: “After a After a difficult permit process in Antwerp and what is expected to be the same route in Bruges, we will accelerate and step up the search for locations and start permit processes. We envisage six to eight additional locations for the coming years. In addition, we will design the further merger and integration of the existing activities and organisation in Belgium.”

According to management, market circumstances remain advantageous, despite the rising costs of transport, energy and wages. Sligro maintains that the company is able to carry those additional expenses thanks to increased efficiency. “After a year with a lot of focus on ‘non-core activities’, which we feel was the right thing to do, in 2019 we will redirect our focus back to operations and trade,” says Sligro’s top executive. “Our theme for the year is ‘Back to Business’ and we cannot wait to get started!”