AMSTERDAM (dpa-AFX) - Dutch supermarkets and eCommerce company Ahold Delhaize N.V. (ADRND.PK, AHODF.PK) reported Wednesday that its second-quarter net income declined 18.2 percent to 334 million euros from 408 million euros last year.
Basic income per share were 0.30 euro, down 12.3 percent from 0.34 euro a year ago.
Operating income dropped 13.1 percent from the previous year to 560 million euros, and underlying EBITDA fell 4 percent to 1.27 billion euros.
Net sales, however, increased 5 percent to 16.32 billion euros from 15.53 billion euros last year. Net sales grew 1.5 percent at constant currency rates, impacted by the strike at Stop & Shop in the US.
Net consumer online sales climbed 31 percent and online sales grew 23.5 percent.
U.S. comparable sales excluding gasoline were up 0.2 percent during the quarter, with the strike impact offset by the strong performance of other brands, in particular Food Lion. Excluding the impact from the strike and subsequent period of sales recovery and the favorable timing of Easter, comparable sales excluding gasoline were up 2.3 percent.
In the Netherlands, the company reported 3.1 percent comparable sales growth, adjusted for Easter.
Frans Muller, President and CEO of Ahold Delhaize, said, 'As we continue to see sales performance improve at Stop & Shop, we expect no significant impact from the strike in the second half of the year.'
Further, the company reiterated its fiscal 2019 outlook, and continues to anticipate that underlying operating margin for the group to be slightly lower than 2018.
The company continues to expect underlying earnings per share growth for the year to be in the low single digits, due to the effect of the strike.
For the first half of 2019, the company plans to pay an interim dividend of 0.30 euro.
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