Ahold Delhaize reports improved results in Q3 | Progresiv

Ahold Delhaize reported an improved set of results for its fiscal third quarter, building on momentum in the previous three months, helped in particular by the performance of its US operations.

For the quarter, net sales were up 5.8% to 16.7 billion euros and grew by 2.9% on a constant-currency basis.  Meanwhile, underlying operating profit was up 3.7% to 724 million euros (+0.8 constant-currency).

The results were driven by a 6.7% rise in sales across the US (+2% constant-currency), with like-for-like sales (excl. fuel) up 1.8%. Online sales in particular did well, jumping up 32.1% in the quarter.

In The Netherlands, sales were up 4.4% on LFL growth of 3%, with consumer online sales surging up 30.7% (driven by the growth of both ah.nl and bol.com).  In Belgium, sales grew by 2.1%, on LFL growth of 2%, with online sales up by 17.2%. And in the rest of Europe, sales grew by 6.4% on a constant-currency basis, with LFL sales up 4.5%.

CEO Frans Muller noted: “We continue to make progress on the execution of our Leading Together strategy. We are well underway with our Save for Our Customers program, which is now expected to deliver 600 million euros in 2019, higher than our previous target of 540 million euros … We remain focused on health and sustainability, in line with our purpose: ‘Eat well. Save time. Live better.’” (www.kamcity.com)