Belgium-based retailer Delhaize has announced that overall group revenue climbed by 6.6 per cent through the third quarter of 2011, or 0.4 per cent at actual exchange rates, up to €5.3bn.
Group operating profit came in at €238m, a yearly increase of 1.8 per cent at identical exchange rates, but a drop of 4.7 per cent at actual rates.
In the group's largest market, the US, revenue climbed in dollar terms to US$4.9bn, growth of 3.5 per cent, although this actually represented a drop of 5.5 per cent in euro terms, down to €3.5bn from €3.7bn last year
Belgian sales remained relatively flat, up just 0.2 per cent on the third quarter of 2010 by 0.2 per cent, to a fraction under €1.2bn.
There was strong revenue growth in Delhaize's Southeastern Europe and Asia segment, with sales rising 49 per cent year-on-year to €664m.
“The third quarter was a period of accelerated top line growth,' said Pierre-Olivier Beckers, president and CEO of Delhaize Group. 'We are particularly pleased with the performance of our operations in Southeastern Europe where Alfa Beta in Greece and Mega Image in Romania generated strong profitable revenue growth in a difficult environment.
'That we are pulling the right levers is evidenced by the momentum in the rebranded Food Lion markets that continue to deliver excellent results and outperform the rest of the network,' he continued. 'At the same time, the economic environment, especially in the Southeast of the US, continues to weigh on customer sentiment and their spending behaviour.
'It is strategically important for us to continue executing the long-term choices of the New Game Plan,' Beckers added. 'However, looking ahead, we need to be mindful of the fact that business conditions across our markets became tougher towards the end of the quarter as it is increasingly difficult to pass on higher cost inflation to retail prices. We expect this environment will continue to have an impact on the remainder of the year.'
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