Colruyt (slightly) more optimistic after market share gains

Colruyt Group expects profit for the past financial year to fall slightly less sharply than initially feared. The retailer is regaining market share and has costs under control.

“Strong to considerable decrease”

Only in June will Colruyt Group publish the figures for the full 2022/23 financial year, which ended at the end of March, but the company already announces that the numbers will not be as negative as initially estimated. Back in December, the retailer had indicated that year-on-year consolidated profit would fall in the same order of magnitude as in the first half of the financial year – when operating profit fell to 123 million euros (2.3% of sales) and net profit fell to 89 million euros (1.7% of sales).

“Colruyt Group still expects the consolidated net result of the financial year 2022/23 to show a strong to considerable decrease compared to the financial year 2021/22, but not of the same magnitude as in the first half of the financial year 2022/23,” the retailer reported in a press release.

Market share up slightly

While it is true that the Belgian retail market is still characterised by declining volumes and high competitiveness, preventing the company from fully passing on cost price inflation to customers, there are also positive signs. For instance, the retailer saw its market share increase slightly again over the whole financial year, from 30.9% to 31.0%.

Like Carrefour, Colruyt may be benefiting from the problems at Delhaize. Moreover, the company is focusing even more strongly on controlling operating costs, while energy prices appear to increase less strongly than expected. In short, Colruyt Group still expects a sharp drop in operating profit, but somewhat less severe than first feared.