Swedish retailer ICA has reported a 3.6% increase in sales across its store estate for the month of July, with its ICA Nära convenience store business seeing the highest growth.
On a like-for-like basis, sales were up 3.4% compared with the same period last year, the group said in a statement.
Performance Of ICA's Banners
ICA Nära reported a 8.1% increase in sales (+8.9% on a like-for-like basis) in the period, posting sales of SEK 1.99 billion (€190 million).
Elsewhere, the group's Maxi ICA Stormarknad banner reported a 1.9% increase in sales (+1.3% like-for-like) to SEK 3.69 billion; ICA Kvantum saw sales up 1.8% (+1.3% like-for-like) to SEK 2.73 billion; and ICA Supermarket saw sales up 4.5% (+4.5% like-for-like) to SEK 3.52 billion.
Overall, for the month, sales came in at SEK 11.95 billion (€1.17 billion), while for the period from January to July, sales totalled SEK 77.1 billion (€7.55 billion), which is an increase of 1.6% on the corresponding period last year (+1.5% on a like-for-like basis).
The calendar effect for July is estimated at +0.4%, ICA said.
Store Count
The group operates a total of 1,267 stores as of 31 July 2021. It will report its August sales data on 8 September.
Last month, the group reported that its June sales were up 1.4%, or 1.2% on a like-for-like basis.
ICA Gruppen saw sales in its first quarter rise by 0.8%, it said in April, boosted by the performance of its online business, although some parts of its operation continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
© 2021 European Supermarket Magazine. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. For more Retail news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
