Ahold Delhaize Second-Quarter Net Profit Up 68%; Merger on Track

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize NV (AD.AE) on Wednesday reported a 68% rise in second-quarter net income, and said its merger integration was on track with net synergies of 117 million euros ($137.5 million) delivered in the first half of 2017.

The grocer, which was formed last July through the tie-up of Ahold and Delhaize Group, added that it expects underlying operating margin, which strips out exceptional and other one-off items, for the year to be broadly in line with the first half of the year, with EUR220 million in net synergies.

For the quarter ended June, Ahold Delhaize's revenue was EUR16.12 billion ($18.94 billion), compared with EUR9.64 billion for the second quarter of 2016. Analysts had expected revenue of EUR16 billion for the period, according to 23 forecasts taken from the company's website.

Net profit for the quarter rose to EUR355 million from EUR211 million the previous year. Analysts' consensus was for EUR369 million, based on 18 forecasts taken from the company's website.

Pro-forma underlying operating margin for the first half was 3.9%, up 0.3 percentage point from last year. The pro-forma margin assumes the merger had been completed for the full period.

Ahold U.S. net sales rose to EUR6.0 billion from EUR5.93 billion, while Delhaize Americas net sales were EUR3.99 billion in the quarter. No comparable figures were disclosed for Delhaize Americas as the merger was only completed last July.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 09, 2017 01:41 ET (05:41 GMT)