Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn‘s Belgian stores made a profit in 2015, for the first time since their launch. CEO Dick Boer and CFO Jef Carr confirmed the information after the pair had revealed Ahold‘s financial results.
No statement about Albert Heijn’s Belgian future
It remains to be seen whether the stores will continue to be profitable this year, because the proposed Delhaize merger may force 8 stores to close if the Belgian Competitive Authority’s stance stays the way it is.
“Only when the official ruling comes in and after Ahold and Delhaize have merged, will we work on our future Belgian strategy. We do not have an insight into each other’s performance just yet, but we will maintain what we said in June 2015 when we announced the merger: Delhaize will still be Ahold Delhaize’s main brand in Belgium“, CEO Dick Boer told De Tijd. However, he refrained from any statements regarding the chain’s Belgian expansion or about a possible Albert Heijn withdrawal from Belgium after the merger.
Ahold is not concerned about Bol.com either, even though the platform still is not profitable. “Bol.com’s business model is profitable, but we are still making any because we keep investing into the platform. In 2015 and 2016 alone, we will invest 60 million euro to increase the brand’s name, to improve the website and to add new products to our portfolio”, CFO Jef Carr said. He did not say when Bol.com should start turning a profit, but there are no plans to expand the web shop’s reach to other countries at this time.
