Ahead of the publication of its third quarter results next Friday 21 October, Barclays European Food Retail Equity Research has said that it anticipates Jerónimo Martins’ Polish operation, Biedronka, to have posted a strong period.
Barclays suggests that like-for-like sales at the Polish operation will rise by around 7.8%, with EBITDA up by 20 basis points to 7.4%. This is likely to be driven by a higher pricing structure at the retailer’s operations.
The Polish government’s decision to postpone a retail tax will also likely have benefited the retailer.
‘The Polish government decided to suspend the introduction of its retail tax project after the European Commission opened an investigation over concerns that the tax gives Polish companies with a lower turnover a selective advantage over their competitors,’said Barclays. ‘Although the Polish government is contemplating a new retail tax based on the size of the stores, this may also be delayed and not take effect on 1 January 2017 as planned.’
As for Jerónimo Martins home market of Portugal, Barclays said that it believes the retailer’s performance benefited from good weather conditions compared to the same period last year, with like-for-like sales expected to improve at both Pingo Doce (where Barclays anticipates an increase in sales of 0.8%) and Recheio (+3.5%).
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
