Swedish retailer ICA has posted a 9.8% increase in sales in March 2018, compared to the corresponding month the previous year.
Sales on a like-for-like basis rose by 9.3%, to SEK 10,246 million (€1 billion), excluding VAT.
The group’s Maxi ICA Stormarknad business saw the best like-for-like performance, with an increase of 12.8%.
ICA Kvantum saw its like-for-like sales rise by 9.7%, while its ICA Nära operation posted a sales increase of 7.4%.
ICA Supermarket posted a like-for-like sales increase of 6.5%.
First-Quarter Performance
The group said that sales during the period from January to March amounted to SEK 27,874 million – an increase of 5.2% compared to the previous year.
ICA Gruppen estimates the calendar effect for February to be +5.4%.
As of the end of March 2018, ICA boasted a portfolio of 1,286 stores. The retailer is set to host its annual general meeting this Thursday, 12 April.
In 2017, ICA posted net sales of SEK 106.5 billion and an operating profit of SEK 4.6 billion.
‘In 2017, ICA Gruppen strengthened its positions in both grocery retail and the pharmacy market in Sweden,’ the group wrote in its annual report, published last month. ‘The Baltic operations also developed well and the creation of ICAx marked an important step forward along the digitalisation path.’
© 2018 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.
