Belgian supermarket chain Delhaize The retailer is paying dearly for its plan to spin off its 128 stores. Last year, the retailer suffered losses of 400 million euros.

High costs

Delhaize’s sales fell by 1.8 percent to 5.3 billion euros in 2023. The operating result was minus 390 million, according to the Belgian daily De Tijd, based on the retailer’s annual report. The figures illustrate the high costs associated with the extensive restructuring that the supermarket chain carried out last year. However, the sales losses due to strikes are only part of the story.

The entire transaction has already cost Delhaize at least 476 million euros, the newspaper calculated. Part of this is due to the write-off of the affected stores, which Delhaize sold to the independent buyers at a price below their value. In the second quarter of this year alone, the retailer therefore wrote off 122 million euros. The elimination of 247 jobs at headquarters is also costing the company money, and other, unspecified costs are being added to the total costs.

Growing market share

Delhaize is now making great progress with its plan: earlier this month, the company had already transferred 108 of its 128 stores to independent operators. The transferred stores have shown very encouraging results, said Frans Muller, CEO of Ahold Delhaize. He says market share is growing faster than expected and is already higher than before the “future plan” was announced in March last year. However, the company did not provide any concrete figures.

Delhaize hopes that costs in the franchise system will fall significantly. The entrepreneurship of the stores should boost sales again. Another important factor is the fact that most stores are now open on Sundays – a clear advantage over competitors Colruyt, Aldi, Lidl and the Carrefour hypermarkets.