Strong sales growth in emerging markets helped boost half-year profits at discounter Dia and offset lower underlying sales in Iberia and France.
Dia saw like-for-like sales in its emerging markets, which include Brazil, jump 17.8%. LFLs sales in Iberia fell 2.3% amid challenging economic conditions, although Dia said it had increased its market share. Total revenue from Dia’s Iberian operations were up thanks to the integration of the local stores of German firm Schlecker, which the business acquired last year.
However, revenue and like-for-like sales fell in France as Dia continued to struggle to turn its business there around. LFL sales in France were down 9.1%.
Dia’s group net sales increased to EUR4.86bn (US$6.43bn), up from EUR4.76bn in the comparable period of last year.
“The faster expansion in emerging markets and the deployment of the new complementary proximity formats are being successfully executed. We remain very optimistic about our ability to continue growing the business based on these pillars,” CEO Ricardo Curras.
Adjusted EBITDA rose 5.5% to EUR274.6m and underlying net profit increased 1.5% to EUR83.6m. The bottom line was impacted by higher non-recurring items, income taxes and discontinued operations.
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