Belgium news and analysis

We round up the latest news from Ahold Delhaize-owned Albert Heijn as it reports growth in turnover and market share in the Netherlands, expands its store presence in Belgium and launches digital saving. Increased turnover and market share CEO Marit van Egmond said AH had a “difficult year” but is seeing revenue and market share growth in the Netherlands. According to van Egmond, this is ...

We visited the first Carrefour Bio store of Belgium that opened in July 2019 in Brussels. Carrefour operates more than 20 Bio stores in France and plans to expand the concept to other European countries. The Carrefour Bio concept focuses on food with a more limited offer of household and health and beauty products. 1. Encouraging sustainable shopping The store has an area of 200sq m and ...

We look at how Colruyt is improving store efficiencies using an AI solution. Meanwhile, Ahold Delhazie-owned Delhaize is working in partnership with M&S to expand its range. Colruyt trials AI solution for automatic recognition According to Colruyt, it is the first Belgian supermarket to trial an AI solution for automatic recognition of fruit and vegetables at checkouts. The solution, develo...

We round up the latest news from Ahold Delhaize as its subsidiaries bol.com and Delhaize extend their partnership in Belgium. At the same time, Albert Heijn launches a production chain of its private labels online. Meanwhile in the USA, the retailer’s banners roll out new innovative technologies in-store. Delhaize Belgium and bol.com expand partnership Ahold Delhaize’s Belgium subsidiaries ...

As reported in Belgium-based newspaper L’Echo, Louis Delhaize has announced its FY2018 results, revealing a net loss of €929m (US$1.04 bn). The retailer said its operating income also declined from +€204m (US$228m) in 2017 to a loss of €833m (US$932m) in 2018. Louis Delhaize’s revenues remained stable at €8.7bn (US$9.7bn). Loss due to goodwill, restructuring and dispute settlements The reta...

Netherlands-based Albert Heijn (AH), part of Ahold Delhaize, has partnered with Belgian salad company Foodmaker and is testing selling part of its range on bol.com. The retailer has also renamed its Bakery Café and Deli Kitchen. Albert Heijn partners with Foodmaker… For ten weeks, AH will test Foodmaker’s salad bars at its head office in Zaandam and at the Albert Heijn Foodplaza in Amsterda...

We look at the latest results posted by Netherlands-based Sligro and Jan Linders. Sligro: weak H1 sales… Sligro reported a slight sales increase of 0.4% to €1.14bn (US$1.27bn) in H1 2019. However, operating profit and net profit fell by 43.3% to €18m (US$20m) and 48.7% to €13m (US$14.5m) respectively. The retailer attributes this to the tough economic conditions in the Netherlands. …Due ...

Carrefour continued to spotlight the positive effect of its strategic initiatives as it announced its Q2 results, which showed an acceleration in group like-for-like sales growth. The retailer said like-for-like sales growth was 3.9% in Q2, versus 3.2% in Q1, driven by its supermarkets and convenience stores in France and operations in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Hypermarkets hold back p...

Germany-based Metro reported like-for-like sales increased by 3.4%, while total sales rose by 2.8% to €7.6bn (US$8.47bn) in its third quarter. The company said the growth was driven by all regions, excluding Russia. EBITDA, excluding earnings contributions from real estate transactions, totalled €316m (US$351.2m) in the same period, a rise of €11m on the previous year. Delivery sales account f...

Netherlands-based Jumbo has announced its H2 2019 results, posting an increase of 16.5% in turnover to €4.63bn (US$5.2bn). The retailer’s market share also rose during the period to 21.6%. Growth driven by store network Jumbo’s organic growth is above the market share at 7%, which is attributed to the exiting store network. The retailer also attributes its growth to the opening of 44 new su...