© MARC HERREMANS – MEDIA HOUSE
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Supermarket chain Colruyt expects that the profit in the current financial year will be “significantly lower” than in the previous financial year. CEO Jef Colruyt said this on Wednesday evening following the general meeting.
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Source: BELGIAN
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The reason is clear: the corona pandemic. “At the end of the 2019-20 financial year and throughout the 2020-21 financial year, the global pandemic also had an unprecedented impact on our group, which can be felt in sales as well as in production, logistics and administration,” emphasized Jef Colruyt.
Colruyt expects that the consolidated operating result, and consequently the consolidated net result, for the 2021-22 financial year will be “significantly lower” than the previous financial year. “This evolution will be more pronounced in the first half of the year, as the first half of last financial year was particularly affected by the COVID-19 crisis,” said the supermarket chain’s CEO.
Colruyt’s group turnover increased by 3.7 percent to more than 9.9 billion euros. Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to EUR 523 million or 5.3 percent of revenue. The supermarket chain closed the financial year with a net profit of 416 million euros.
Retail turnover has grown
Colruyt proposed a gross dividend of 1.47 euros per share to the general meeting of shareholders.
The retail trade accounted for 84 percent of group turnover this year. Retail turnover grew by 5.2 percent to more than 8.3 billion euros. Turnover in the food stores rose mainly due to expansion, and due to offline and online volume increases during the COVID-19 crisis. And Colruyt saw, also due to the corona crisis, online sales in food and non-food rise sharply.
Digitization
Jef Colruyt also had a message for the political governing bodies in Belgium. He expects policymakers to work towards a more efficient government, with administrative simplification as a basic pillar and the use of digitization for the benefit of people. “Policy makers must fully implement the European Green Deal and invest in a more sustainable society with ambitious climate goals for the benefit of the next generations; opt for a thorough tax reform that strives for fiscal simplicity without increasing the tax burden and eliminating the tax causes of border trade; focus on an agile work organization for e-commerce activities. This gives us a chance to continue to create Belgian added value in a rapidly changing international economy.”
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