Ahold Delhaize reports strong Q2 but Covid-19 takes toll

Supermarket group Ahold Delhaize, its parent company Albert Heijn and network retailer Bol.com from the Netherlands made a net profit of €693 million in Q2 2020. This is twice as much profit as last year for the same period, but costs rose to €260 million. The company had to invest additionally in logistics and security due to the coronavirus pandemic. Bol.com especially benefited from the switch to online shopping, with Q2 sales up almost 70% to €1.34 billion.

The biggest growth, however, was achieved in the US, where the company operates several large supermarket chains. Total net sales of Q2 reached €19 billion, an increase of about 16% over the same period last year. The company said in a statement that Covid-19 continues to create significant uncertainty for its 2020 outlook. But it said the company's earnings per share and free cash flow were increasing and should continue in the second half of 2020.