Half-year profits at Dansk Supermarked, the company behind discount chain NETTO, fell by over 9% on the back of lower sales, the retailer’s parent said today (21 August).
EBIT generated by Dansk Supermarked, a unit of Danish conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk, reached DKK1.11bn (US$213.7m) for the six months to June, down 9.5% on the year.
Revenues from the business, which also runs the Fotex and Bilka chains, fell 1.8% to DKK27.5bn.
A.P. Moller-Maersk said the trend for consumers to switch to the discount sector during the recession had slowed during the latter part of the six-month period.
A.P. Moller-Maersk chief executive Nils S. Andersen said the group had seen a “slight change” in the trend of falling sales at “full-assortment” supermarkets and hypermarkets with a significant non-food portfolio.
“It has been less pronounced in the latter part of the second quarter so Fotex and Bilka are seeing, hopefully, some kind of bottom.”
