Sweden’s ICA has posted a third quarter profit of SEK 1.1 billion (€112 million) a marginal increase on the same period last year (SEK 1.07 billion), boosted by capital gains on sales of non-current assets.
The group said that its consolidated net sales for the period were SEK 26.4 billion (€2.71 billion), an increase of 2.6% on the same period last year (SEK 25.8 billion).
The period saw the completion of a deal that will see ICA acquire the Lithuanian grocery chain IKI, with the condition that 17 stores be sold.
Integration Costs
The sale of its ICA Eiendom in Norway and costs ahead of the integration of the acquisition of IKI in Lithuania affected operating profit excluding nonrecurring items by a combined total of SEK -41 million, the retailer said.
“We continued to generate good and stable earnings performance also in the third quarter,” said CEO of ICA Gruppen, Per Strömberg. “Rimi Baltic delivered a very solid operating profit, and I am particularly happy to note that ICA Bank has turned upward, that Hemtex posted a profit for the quarter, and that our e-commerce business is growing with good momentum.”
Strömberg added that ICA currently is undertaking “many business projects of various types […] to ensure continued good performance.”
© 2017 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.
