Ahold Delhaize sold more in supermarkets in the first three months of the year. Despite the loss of tobacco sales in the Netherlands, the turnover of Albert Heijn’s parent company rose to 21.7 billion euros.
The turnover of Ahold Delhaize, which in addition to Albert Heijn, Etos and bol, also has many supermarkets in Belgium and the United States, increased by 1.6 percent. Gas is not taken into account and exchange rates are taken into account. The sales increase was even 2.8 percent in Europe and 0.8 percent in the US.
The company performed particularly well with the Belgian supermarkets. Ahold Delhaize also managed to save a lot on energy costs. The timing of Easter, which fell in March this year, also contributed to good sales in supermarkets.
“These are strong results, especially if you keep in mind the end of tobacco sales in Dutch supermarkets,” said CEO Frans Muller in a response.
From July 2024, Dutch supermarkets will no longer be allowed to sell tobacco and smoking products. Albert Heijn stopped doing this at the beginning of this year. This means that Ahold Delhaize will lose 0.7 percent of global turnover and no less than 1.9 percent of European turnover. On an annual basis this amounts to hundreds of millions of euros.
Net profit at Ahold Delhaize collapsed. At 513 million euros in the first quarter, the company retained 8.6 percent less than a year earlier. This was partly due to the costs of reorganizations and the sale of 128 Belgian Delhaize branches to franchisees.
Tags: parent company sells tobacco sales Albert Heijn Economy
