AFP, The Hague :
Dutch-Belgian food retailer Ahold Delhaize posted Wednesday soaring second-quarter net profits boosted by strong sales, particularly in the fast-growing online market.
A year after the two firms merged to create one of the world’s leading supermarket groups, net profits jumped by 68.2 percent to 355 million euros ($416 million).
The group raised its targets for cost savings by 2019 on the strength of its increased performance.
“We expect to achieve gross synergies of 750 million euros by 2019 of which 250 million will be will be reinvested in our brands,” said chief executive Dick Boer in a statement from the group’s headquarters just outside Amsterdam.
Second quarter sales jumped by 67.3 percent to 16.1 billion euros, Boer added.
Boer said the group has now built a “successful omni-channel strategy that combines a thriving network of brick-and-mortar stores with leading online businesses.”
“We are accelerating investments in our eCommerce operations to further unlock their promising growth potential,” Boer added.
The group expects close to 3.0 billion euros in online sales for 2017, putting it on track for sales of 5.0 billion euros by 2020.
Dutch-Belgian food retailer Ahold Delhaize posted Wednesday soaring second-quarter net profits boosted by strong sales, particularly in the fast-growing online market.
A year after the two firms merged to create one of the world’s leading supermarket groups, net profits jumped by 68.2 percent to 355 million euros ($416 million).
The group raised its targets for cost savings by 2019 on the strength of its increased performance.
“We expect to achieve gross synergies of 750 million euros by 2019 of which 250 million will be will be reinvested in our brands,” said chief executive Dick Boer in a statement from the group’s headquarters just outside Amsterdam.
Second quarter sales jumped by 67.3 percent to 16.1 billion euros, Boer added.
Boer said the group has now built a “successful omni-channel strategy that combines a thriving network of brick-and-mortar stores with leading online businesses.”
“We are accelerating investments in our eCommerce operations to further unlock their promising growth potential,” Boer added.
The group expects close to 3.0 billion euros in online sales for 2017, putting it on track for sales of 5.0 billion euros by 2020.
