Dutch food group Sligro's sales for the first quarter of 2017 were €669 million, an increase of 5.8% compared with Q1 2016. Excluding the effect of acquisitions, sales were up by 2.5%.
With Easter falling later this year, some €500 million in sales has been pushed into Q2, the company stated.
Foodservice
Foodservice sales were up 8.6% in the first quarter. Excluding the effect of acquisitions, sales increased by 3.8%.
The acquisitions of Java and De Kweker in 2016 resulted in non-organic additional sales of €20 million in the first two months of 2017. The acquisitions of Tintelingen and ISPC announced previously are expected to be finalised in Q2.
Food Retail
Food Retail's sales were down 0.2% in the first quarter. Like-for-like consumer sales at EMTÉ supermarkets declined 1.2% in the first quarter. The company said that the EMTÉ 3.0 stores were performing better than the EMTÉ 2.0 stores but were still not reaching expectations.
The company chose not to make any definite forecast of the half-year results, but announced plans to evaluate food retail trends in Q2 and report in more detail when it releases its half-year figures.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Gavin Ryan. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.