Swedish supermarket group ICA has posted a 8.1% increase in consolidated net sales in the first quarter of its financial year, to SEK 30.4 billion (€2.84 billion).
The group said that operating profits for the period totalled SEK 1.31 billion (€120 million), up from SEK 1.13 billion the previous year.
Sales Drivers
The group said that the coronavirus played a part in its strong performance, with customer hoarding of products in March boosting growth for the entire quarter, according to chief executive Per Strömberg.
"Despite significantly higher volumes than normal, we managed to handle the flows in a good way and with good control, even though a few items were periodically missing on store shelves," he said. "We managed this situation with the help of immense efforts by ICA retailers and our employees in various parts of the supply chain."
Around The Group
At ICA Sweden, earnings were 'strong', the retailer said, with the coronavirus situation positively influencing some stores and negatively impacting others.
It said that its large proportion of small and medium-sized stores meant that growth wasn't as pronounced as the overall market during the 'hoarding' phase.
Rimi Baltic, meanwhile, saw 'favourable volume growth', as well as rolling out online capabilities in Lithuania and Estonia. It noted that development in each of the banner's three markets is 'quite varied', due to the structure of the store network in each.
Elsewhere, ICA said that its Apotek Hjärtat banner has been 'most affected' by the coronavirus pandemic, with high volume growth, high pressure in e-commerce and a large earnings effect.
"The time after COVID-19 will entail changes," Strömberg said. "We are now dedicating quite a bit of time to understand what these may entail and what the consequences will be.
"It is likely that the playing field will look different than before – not because an entirely new trend has arisen, but because the weighting between the various trends that already exist is changing."
Environmental Strategy
The group also used the Q1 earnings release to outline details of its new climate ambition strategy, which will commence in 2021 once its current climate targets expire.
The business is aiming to achieve at least zero net GHG emissions from its own operations by 2030 and cut the climate impact of its customers grocery purchases in half by the same date.
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
