ZAANDAM - Through increased price investments, new own-brand assortments, and strong operational execution, our brands created value for customers in disruptive times. To invest in these activities, our teams delivered over €1.35 billion in cost savings. This commitment to strong and consistent performance further enabled a kick-start to several Growing Together strategic initiatives, which will fuel accelerated growth in 2025.

• Q4 net sales were €23.3 billion, up 0.6% at constant exchange rates and up 1.0% at actual exchange rates. Excluding the impacts from the divestment of FreshDirect, the closure of Stop & Shop stores and the cessation of tobacco sales in the Netherlands, net sales growth would have been 2.1 percentage points higher.
• Q4 comparable sales excluding gasoline increased by 1.4% for Ahold Delhaize, up 1.4% in the U.S. and 1.2% in Europe. Comparable sales excluding gasoline were positively impacted by 0.2 percentage points in the U.S. due to weather and calendar shifts, and negatively impacted by 3.4 percentage points in Europe due to tobacco and calendar shifts.
• Ahold Delhaize online sales increased by 5.8% in Q4 at constant exchange rates and by 6.1% at actual exchange rates. This was driven by double-digit growth in online grocery excluding FreshDirect. The divestment of FreshDirect had a negative impact of 5.1 percentage points.
• Q4 underlying operating margin was 4.1%, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points. Continued strong performance in Europe was offset by price investments and lower non-recurring items in the U.S.
• Q4 IFRS operating income was €607 million and IFRS diluted EPS was €0.41. IFRS results were €351 million lower than underlying results. This was mainly due to an amendment to, and additional funding for, the Dutch pension plan, resulting in derisking of the balance sheet (see Note 10 of the full Interim Report).
• Q4 diluted underlying EPS was €0.69, a decrease of 6.6% compared to the prior year at actual rates.
• 2024 full year Ahold Delhaize net sales were €89.4 billion, underlying operating margin was 4.0% and diluted underlying EPS was €2.54, in line with initial expectations for the year.
• 2024 full year IFRS operating income was €2,784 million and IFRS diluted EPS was €1.89. IFRS results were mainly impacted by the costs associated with the Belgium Future Plan, Stop & Shop store closures and an amendment to the Dutch pension plan.
• 2024 free cash flow was €2.5 billion, which is above our guidance of around €2.3 billion.
• Management proposes a cash dividend of €1.17 for the full year 2024, which is a 6.4% increase compared to 2023 and in line with our dividend payout policy.
• For 2025, with our Growing Together strategy and our growth model as a guide, we will invest at a steady pace to enrich our omnichannel capabilities, drive growth in customer loyalty and expand our reach. We will prioritize and add to the scope of price investments, accelerate new store openings and remodels, and scale technologies that have a proven and successful track record.
• 2025 outlook: underlying operating margin of around 4%; mid- to high-single-digit underlying EPS growth; free cash flow of at least €2.2 billion; and gross capital expenditures of around €2.7 billion.

Comments from Frans Muller, President and CEO of Ahold Delhaize

"I would like to thank our dedicated and passionate associates for living our values and continuously feeding our winning culture over the past year. Our customers and our business can really count on their relentless focus," said Frans Muller in a recent press release. "Their actions to keep stores and supply chains running in all kinds of conditions, their proactive and collaborative work with vendors to protect customers from unjustified price increases, the innovative solutions they are bringing to market through our own-brand assortments, and the rigor and energy they are applying to our transformation and brand revitalization projects are just a sample of all the things our associates can be proud of in 2024.

“Without a doubt, 2024 has been a dynamic year with a lot to deal with: inflation, volatility in commodities and supply chain, social and political tensions and fast-paced changes due to new technologies that impact how we work and how we live. Creating value for customers and catering to their local circumstances and specific needs continues to be a tangible differentiator for our business. The great thing about being a grocery retailer is that we are in constant connection with our customers. Through our steady and growing market shares and strong relative brand strength indicators, we can see we are clearly doing the right things for them. This gives us confidence as we look to accelerate growth and earnings momentum in 2025.

"The strength of our value creation model is highlighted by the solid and consistent financial performance we delivered in 2024. For the full year, net sales increased by 0.9% at constant rates, while comparable sales excluding gas increased by 1.2%. We delivered an underlying operating margin of 4.0% and diluted underlying EPS of €2.54. Our Save for Our Customers program once again served as the fuel to drive this success, with savings of over €1.35 billion. Our deep expertise and understanding of local markets, paired with the scale and best practices we share across the Ahold Delhaize family, enables us to create and use these savings annually to re-invest in our customer value proposition. Our full year results were capped off with strong cash flow delivery of €2.5 billion. While capital expenditure was slightly lower than we originally planned for the year, we did take the opportunity to optimize our future pension obligations in the Netherlands with additional funding to the Dutch pension plan of €105 million. This, again, shows our prudent management of capital.

“From an operations perspective, our Q4 performance is equally promising, and provides a good indicator of where we are heading in 2025. In Q4, net sales increased by 0.6% at constant rates, while comparable sales excluding gas increased by 1.4%. Excluding the impacts from the divestment of FreshDirect, the closure of Stop & Shop stores and the cessation of tobacco sales in the Netherlands, net sales growth would have been 2.1 percentage points higher."

Read the full press release here.