Retail giant Jerónimo Martins shares up 4%

Portuguese supermarket group Jerónimo Martins saw shares rise 4% after €85 million profits in Q1, a result buoyed by strong sales over Easter and a strong performance from its food retail operations in Poland, Biedronka. Profits for the same period last year were €78 million.

 

“Strong sales performance has generated good results for the first quarter of the year for all our trade marks, with particularly strong performance over the Easter period”, said the President of Jerónimo Martins, Pedro Soares de Santos in a communiqué to the securities and markets commission CMVM.

Group sales totalled €4.2Bn, 14.2% up on Q1/2017 (+12.1%) at constant exchange rates, with €85 million profits, +9.1% on the same period in 2017.

This strong growth in sales also reflects the group’s business in Poland through its Biedronka supermarkets. In the first quarter of 2018, 11 shops were opened.

Total sales in Poland increased 15.6% in euros while the contribution of new stores drove sales in Q4/2017 when 70 new stores were added to the Biedronka portfolio.

Looking at the group as a whole, its Ebitda stands at €215 million, an increase of 12.2% like-for-like on 2017.

Jerónimo Martins operates in three international markets in the food retail and distribution areas: Portugal, Poland and Colombia. It has 3,800 stores and 4.7 million daily consumers.