Swedish retailer Axfood has reported 10.4% year-on-year growth in net sales to SEK 81.1 billion (€7.2 billion) in its full financial year 2023.
Axfood Group's adjusted operating profit saw double-digit growth of 11.5% to SEK 3.6 billion (€320 million), while adjusted operating margin was 4.4%.
'Stable Earnings Trend'
President and CEO of Axfood, Klas Balkow commented, "Thanks to a large influx of new customers and robust growth, Axfood delivered a stable earnings trend during the year, despite higher costs at all levels that have not been fully passed on to consumers.
"At an exceptional time of historically high inflation and changing consumer behaviour, we are closing the books on a successful year in which we strengthened our market positions and took major steps to improve our competitiveness in the long term.”
Retail sales for the full year increased 14.3% to SEK 63.7 billion (€5.6 billion) compared to the previous financial year.
Online sales amounted to SEK 3.3 billion (€290 million), up 4.6% compared to full-year 2022, accounting for 5.2% of total retail sales.
The share of retail sales attributable to private-label products increased to 32.5%, from 31.2% in the previous financial year.
Divisional Performance
The Willys supermarket chain reported retail sales worth SEK 43.8 billion (€3.9 billion), up 13.9% on the previous year.
Balkow added "Willys has a unique concept on the market and continues to attract customers with the ambition to offer Sweden's cheapest bag of groceries, modern stores and a wide and attractive assortment.
"In the fourth quarter, Willys continued to gain market share through robust volume growth, and the loyalty of existing customers remained strong."
Hemköp continued to consolidate its position in the traditional food segment and succeeded in outperforming market growth.
The grocery chain's retail sales amounted to SEK 19.94 billion (€1.8 billion), up 7.9% on a like-for-like basis.
