Ahold Delhaize Misses Forecasts on Higher Costs
By Ian Walker
Ahold Delhaize reported a 44% fall in fourth-quarter net profit after it booked higher costs, missing market forecasts.
The Dutch grocer said Wednesday that net profit for the quarter fell to 451 million euros ($483 million) compared with EUR809 million for the comparable period a year earlier and expectations of EUR550 million, according to a consensus forecast provided by the company and based on the estimates of 16 analysts.
Net sales slipped to EUR23.02 billion from EUR23.36 billion. Within this, U.S. sales fell 1.5% at constant exchange rates to EUR13.815 billion while Europe sales increased 7.5% to EUR9.21 billion.
The operating margin fell 2.1 percentage points to 2.9%, while the underlying operating margin slipped to 4.3%. Ahold targeted an underlying operating margin of around 4.0% for the year ahead.
The board declared a dividend of EUR1.10 for the year.
Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 14, 2024 02:20 ET (07:20 GMT)
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