Dutch wholesale group Sligro has posted a net profit of €276 million for its financial year 2018.
Net sales for the fiscal grew 9.5% to €2.35 billion from €2.14 million in 2017.
'Significant Market Share'
Commenting on the group's performance, chief executive Koen Slippens, said, "With growth of almost 9% in the Netherlands and just over 14% in Belgium, we have gained significant market share in both countries."
EBIT amounted to €53 million, down 42.3%, from €91 million in 2017. EBITDA for the financial year dropped by 20.9% to €114 million.
Excluding the non-recurring expenses in relation to the sale of EMTÉ and the organisational changes, EBIT was €82 million, the company said.
The wholesaler's gross margin rose by €72 million to €566 million or 24.1% of sales (2017: 23.1%).
'Testing The Limits'
The performance was driven by the acquisition of Heineken’s wholesale activities, as well as the logistics services for Heineken’s beer and cider sales.
However, both net sales and gross margin were affected by changes in the IFRS standards, the company added.
"An incredible amount of hard work has gone into the sale and carve-out of EMTÉ, the successful first year of our partnership with Heineken, the design of our new organisation and management model, the integration and expansion of our activities in Belgium and all the preparations for our new international ERP landscape, testing the limits of our organisation," Slippens added.
Outlook
Commenting on the outlook for the new fiscal, Slippens said that redirecting focus on operations and trade in 2019 would be the "right thing to do."
"Excelling in a tight transport market, after a year of defending, we can get back to attacking in the delivery sector, the cash-and-carry of the future and in addition to the battle for permits, above all the battle for customer ratings in Belgium," he added.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
