Swedish retailer Axfood has posted a 5.7% increase in consolidated net sales in the third quarter of its financial year, to SEK 12.73 billion (€1.19 billion).
The group said that operating profit was up 15.4% in the period, with operating margin of 5.6%.
IFRS16 Benefit
It noted that the new IFRS16 accounting standard had a positive effect on operating profits, of SEK 43 million, as well as a 0.3 percentage point effect on operating margin.
“With 6.7% growth in store sales and a full 38% growth in online, I can affirm that this quarter we continued to outpace growth in the market in both channels," commented Axfood president and CEO Klas Balkow.
Balkow added that the group's Willys banner "continues to distinguish itself with tremendous performance", benefiting from an increased online rollout, while Hemköp has also seen "favourable growth".
Hemköp has also benefited from the addition of nine former Östenssons stores, from the start of September.
Logistics Investment
On the logistics front, Axfood has signed a long-term lease with NREP Logicenters on the development of its new automated logistics centre in Bålsta.
"Operating profit for the third quarter exceeded last year’s strong result, even without the effect of IFRS 16. The improvement can be credited mainly to favourable sales growth for all of our chains," Balkow added.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
