BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - Delhaize has announced its Q3 2015 financial report, and with it, its current progress on the company’s merger with Ahold.
“We continue to make progress with the proposed merger with Ahold and we are on track to complete the transaction by mid-2016,” Frans Muller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Delhaize Group, commented. Mueller also touched on the merger during a call with investors in which he discussed the Q3 financial results.
“Different work streams are working on topics like finance, legal, and operating models in order to pave the way to a smooth transition,” Muller told investors. “We have a number of key milestones ahead of us in the coming months, on which we plan to update you in due time. We also planned a number of road shows later this quarter during with [Ahold CEO] Dick Boer and myself will meet with investors together.”
In these shows taking place at the end of November and December, Mueller says he and Dick Boer will be sharing with the market how they will prepare for day 1 of the merger. In addition to the added progress of the company’s merger with Ahold, Mueller commented on Delhaize’s success in its U.S. stores.
“We continue to report robust sales in this third quarter,” said Mueller of the company’s U.S. performance. “We made significant progress with our key strategic initiative ‘Easy, Fresh & Affordable´ at Food Lion by further fine-tuning Wilmington and Greenville, relaunching 162 stores in the Raleigh market two weeks ago and preparing for our next market in 2016.”
In Delhaize’s Q2 2015, revenues for its U.S. operations increased by 3.2 percent to $4.5 billion. Comparable store sales increased by 2.5 percent, and both Food Lion and Hannaford experienced positive comparable store sales following their announcement they would lower prices for several categories, including fresh produce.
As of October 29 at 5:16pm EDT, Delhaize's stock was up 2.34% to $23.15.
Other highlights from the company’s Q3 2015 financial report include:
- Delhaize Group’s revenues increased by 14.5% and 2.3% at actual and identical exchange rates, respectively
- Comparable store sales growth of 1.7% in the U.S., 1.7% in Belgium and 5.1% in Southeastern Europe
- Group underlying operating profit of €218 million, underlying operating margin of 3.5%
- Gross margin was 24.3% of revenues, down 3 basis points at identical exchange rates.
Stay tuned as we continue to follow the Delhaize and Ahold merger, and follow AndNowUKnow for more industry financial news.
