Dutch retail group Ahold reported today a 10.4% decline in fourth quarter profit, sparked by lower income yield as a result of discontinued businesses and weak sales in the US. The company also announced a higher dividend payout.
The company say Q4 net profit for 2013 was €215 million compared to €240 million a year earlier.
Q4 results included a loss of €10 million from discontinued operations, primarily related to its former Scandanavian joint-venture ICA.
The international Group released their sales figures in January, so today's announcement focused solely on its profits in Q4 as well as FY 2013. Quarterly operating profit grew 1.6% to €311 million, while operating income fell 10% to €320 million.
For the full year, net income came in at €2.54 billion, while operating income was down 7.3% to €1.24 billion.
CEO Dick Boer said, "While we expect economic conditions to gradually improve, we remain cautious in our outlook for the food retail sector in 2014. Our ongoing focus on expanding our online businesses is expected to continue to result in strong sales growth. We will continue to look for ways to simplify our business in order to reduce costs …."
However, there are some good signs coming out of Ahold. Shares rose 4.4% to €13.88 and Sanford Bernstein's Bruno Monteyne said Ahold's operating profitability was "a substantial beat on consensus estimates".
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
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