–
The retailer Ahold Delhaize achieved strong growth in the third quarter, thanks to online shopping. The capacity of the Bol.com webshop will be increased by half.
–
Ahold Delhaize
saw sales in the third quarter grow by 6.8 percent to 17.8 billion euros. At constant exchange rates there was even a growth of 10.1 percent. Comparable store sales growth in the US and Europe was 12.4 and 7.5 percent respectively.
–
The group is increasingly selling online. In Europe (with Bol.com) online sales rose by 62.6 percent and in the US by 114.7 percent. The corona pandemic made people worldwide find their way to e-commerce.
–
Ahold Delhaize wants to pursue this further. ‘In 2020 and 2021 we want to increase our online capacity by 100 percent in the US and by 50 percent in Europe. By 2021, our aim is 1,400 Click & Collect locations in the US, which is double compared to 2020, ‘says CEO Frans Muller.
–
Ahold Delhaize posted an operating profit margin of 4.6 percent in the third quarter, 0.2 percentage points more than in the same period last year. For the whole of 2020, Ahold Delhaize is increasing its expected earnings per share growth to around 20 percent. ‘Although there is a lot of uncertainty in the market, our performance since the beginning of this year has been so strong that we can increase the annual profit forecast,’ says Muller.
–
1 billion euros
The department store chain is also announcing a new share buyback program. From 2021, Ahold Delhaize wants to buy back up to 1 billion euros of its own shares. ‘And in addition, we will continue to pay out 40 to 50 percent of our profit as dividend,’ says Muller.
–
–
