Finnish retailer Kesko has booked a drop in first-quarter group profits as earnings in its food retail division slid.

For the three months to the end of March, group net profit fell 27.1% to EUR26.3m (US$34.8m), the company reported today (26 April).

Operating profit excluding non-recurring items was EUR23.6m, a drop of 26.3% on last year. The figure was negatively impacted by the expansion of the store site network and the expansion of Russian operations, and exceptional write-offs of around EUR8m.

However, net sales amounted to EUR2.32bn, a 10.2% increase on the prior-year period.

In the firm’s food retail division, operating profits dropped 15.7% to EUR34.9m, impacted by costs related to launching business operations in Russia and the expansion of the store site network.

Sales in the division, however, climbed 6.5% to EUR1.01m.

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In Finland, net sales increased by 9.1% and in “other” countries by 16.5%. International operations accounted for 15.4% of net sales.

Click here to view the full earnings release.