Supermarket company Ahold raised by much better results

August 11, 2022: -On Wednesday, Supermarket company Ahold Delhaize grew its whole-year guidance after posting better than expected quarterly results, sending its shares up 7%.

The company operates the Stop & Shop, Giant, Food Lion, and Hannaford chains on the U.S. east coast, which announced the postponement of a planned initial public offering (IPO) of non-food retailer Bol.com, which cited weak equity markets.

Ahold said a second-quarter underlying operating income of 880 million euros beat an 815 million euro estimate in the poll of 16 analysts of the company.

Sales increased by 15% to 21.4 billion euros, in line with the company-compiled analyst consensus.

A lot of Ahold’s business is in the U.S, where a stronger dollar increased second-quarter earnings and 7.7% sales to increase.

Across the board, “we beat consensus, but the lead is with a solid U.S. business,” Chief Executive Frans Muller said.

The company nudged up its full-year earnings for each share outlook for the second time. It had increased its forecast from a slight percentage decline to flat in May. It expects “mid-single-digit growth” from 2021 levels.

KBC Securities are hoping analysts will increase earnings forecasts for Ahold after saying it was “a very nice set of results, beating estimates all  the board.”

Ahold looks forward to listing Bol.com in the year’s second half but said it would revisit the decisions when equity market conditions are “more conducive.”

Net consumer online sales at Bol.com refused by 2.1% in the quarter, Ahold said, having vaulted 24.2% in a similar period in the previous year when the COVID-19 pandemic boosted e-commerce.