Confirms FY guidance (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Amsterdam, 07 Aug - The Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize said that in the second quarter diluted earnings per share grew 10.4% to 0.53 euros and diluted underlying EPS rose 4.5% to 0.65 euros.

Reported earnings were 143 million euros lower than underlying results, largely due to costs related to the Belgium Future Plan.

Net sales were 22.3 billion euros, up 0.7% at constant exchange rates and up 1.2% at actual exchange rates.

Comparable sales excluding gasoline increased by 0.6% for the group, with a decrease of 0.4% in the US and an increase of 2.4% in Europe.

Online sales increased by 3.4% in the second quarter at constant exchange rates and by 3.9% at actual exchange rates.

Online sales were negatively impacted by 8.0 percentage points due to the divestment of FreshDirect.

Underlying operating margin was 4.2%, up 0.1 percentage points due to strong performance in both the US and Europe.

The company announced an interim dividend of 0.50 euros per share, up from 0.49 euros a year earlier.

It reiterated its full-year outlook. Ahold expects underlying operating margin of at least 4.0%, underlying EPS at around 2023 levels, a free cash flow of around 2.3 billion euros and net capital expenditures of around 2.2 billion.

"The strong performance in H1 2024 provides opportunities to initiate further actions in support of our Growing Together strategy in H2 2024," it noted.

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(RADIOCOR) 07-08-24 18:45:17 (0601) 5 NNNN