Ahold Delhaize Reports Fourth-Quarter Sales

By Hugo Lhomedet, Alban Kacher and Helen Reid
(Reuters) – Dutch supermarket group Ahold Delhaize reported fourth-quarter sales in line with market expectations on Wednesday, but its performance in the key U.S. market and its 2025 operating margin forecast disappointed, causing a decline in its shares.

The group anticipates an operating margin of around 4% in 2025, aiming to maintain price competitiveness in the U.S. and expand further in the European market.

Major U.S. retailers, including Target and Walmart, have been striving to keep prices of essential items low as many Americans are opting for discount shopping due to persistent inflation.

Ahold, which owns the supermarket chains Food Lion and Stop & Shop and earns over half of its revenue from the U.S., plans to invest more in reducing product prices this year and targets cost savings of 1.25 billion euros ($1.30 billion).

The forecast margins for 2025 fell below the historical average of “at least 4.0%”, as noted by analysts at KBC in a research note. According to Degroof Petercam analysts, there is a “historical fear” regarding the sustainability of Ahold’s margins in the U.S. The group has been working to preserve profitability in this market while dealing with sluggish volume growth and aggressive pricing strategies from competitors.

The group announced an increase in capital expenditure for 2025, projected at around 2.7 billion euros for new store openings and investments in technology. Despite shares in the company gaining around 30% over the past year, they were trading 4.9% lower at 1133 GMT, at the bottom of the Amsterdam Exchanges Index.

The U.S. performance was noted as “materially below expectations” because of increased pharmacy sales and wage inflation, while the European division performed much better than anticipated, with sales and underlying operating profit respectively 0.6% and 9.6% above consensus, according to ING analysts in a research note.

Ahold reported fourth-quarter sales broadly aligned with analysts’ expectations, at 23.28 billion euros, thanks to strong holiday sales at its U.S. grocery stores and market share gains by its Dutch chain Albert Heijn.

($1 = 0.9653 euros)
($1 = 0.9642 euros)