First results Ahold Delhaize encouraging, online sales boom

Belgian-Dutch Ahold Delhaize has published its third quarter results, the first since its merger became official. The merger resulted in a huge spike in sales, including online sales that went up 25 %.

Pro forma turnover also increases

Officially, Ahold’s turnover grew 64.2 % to 13.9 billion euro, while net profit grew 24.9 % to 236 million euro. This is mostly due to the method of calculation, as this year’s figures include Delhaize’s results while last year’s were only Ahold’s turnover). The pro forma turnover, which is a comparison with Ahold and Delhaize’s combined third quarter turnover in 2015, still grew 2.6 %. The most remarkable number was the online consumer turnover, which grew 25.1 % compared to the pro forma turnover from 2015.

“We are pleased to announce a solid performance in our first full set of quarterly results since completing our landmark merger in July”, CEO Dick Boer said. “Despite challenging conditions in certain markets, Ahold Delhaize has delivered growth in sales.”

Lukewarm performance in the US

The company still struggles with the lower prices in the United States, but increased volumes offset the price drops. Ahold USA’s pro forma turnover grew 2 % to 5.21 billion euro, while Delhaize America grew 0.6 % to 3.89 billion euro.

Dutch turnover grew 4.3 % to 2.9 billion euro, but its online sale growth was extensively bigger, up 30 % thanks to excellent performances from bol.com and ah.nl. Since the start of the year, bol.com has managed one billion euro in turnover, which is a record for a Dutch web shop. However, that still has not made it profitable as Ahold Delhaize continues to invest heavily in the online store’s expansion, with sixty million euro planned as an investment for this year – equal to the amount it invested last year.

Delhaize is mostly responsible for Belgian turnover, which increased 1.7 % to 1.21 billion euro. Its franchise stores performed well, while its own stores’ performance was rather weak. Bol.com also grew a lot in Belgium, mainly thanks to the advances for the Plaza platform. In the rest of Europe, Ahold Delhaize generated a 1.34 billion euro turnover, an 8.4 % increase. Particularly in Greece and Romania, the concern did very well.

Ahold also had other positive news to share yesterday, because it won a court case against its Dutch franchisees who wanted better margins, something the court refused entirely. However, the judge did order both sides to reopen negotiations.