American pensions make profits plummet
In the last quarter of 2012 Ahold had to invest
an extra 121 million euro for its pension fund in the US, where the company
uses a defined benefit pension plan for its employees. The amount was however
partly countered by an unexpected bonus of 33 million euro on the retirement
account in the Netherlands.
Moreover, Ahold had to enter some extra
write-offs into its accounts: one on software in the US cost the
concern 88 million euro and a depreciation of mainly Slovakian activities
amounted to a loss of another 26 million euro.
Sales volume rises (almost) everywhere
Operationally Ahold did perform well in the
fourth quarter: the quarterly turnover rose by
7.5% to 7.835 billion euro. “Sales rose and we gained market share in all our
markets”, exulted CEO Dick Boer.
In the Netherlands (which includes Belgium within
Ahold) sales rose by 7.7% in the fourth quarter to 2.7 billion euro, but
comparable growth was a mere 0.2%. The results of Bol.com accounted for three
quarters of that growth, but the first fifteen of the 82 Jumbo stores bought by
Ahold contributed their fair share. The sales growth of Albert Heijn was
countered by negative developments at Etos.
In the United States sales rose by 4.3% to 6.1
billion dollar, mainly thanks to successful promotions during the holidays. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia sales dropped by 3.0% because of
a rise in VAT in the Czech Republic.
Satisfied by 2012, cautious about 2013
Over the whole of 2012 the turnover of Ahold
came to 32.841 billion euro, a rise by 8.5%. This amounted to a net profit of
827 million euro, 19% less than the year before, mainly due to the American
setback on pensions.
When talking about 2013 Boer remains cautious. “Our
focus remains on simplifying our activities to cut costs. (…) We believe that
our companies are well positioned for the future and we continue to strive
towards a better shopping experience for our customers, in our stores as well
as online.”
