By Sergio Goncalves
LISBON (Reuters) -Portugal’s Sonae, which owns the country’s largest food retailer, on Thursday said sales rose to a record level in 2024 and profitability improved.
The conglomerate, which spans retail and telecoms, announced consolidated net profit of 223 million euros ($243 million), substantially short of the 263 million average forecast by analysts polled by LSEG.
Excluding a 168 million euro capital gain booked in 2023 on the sale of sports goods retailer ISGR, consolidated net profit rose 18% last year.
The group said consolidated sales rose 18.4% to a record 10 billion euros. Analysts expected sales of 9.6 billion euros.
Sales at the food retail unit MC, which runs around 400 Continente hypermarkets and large supermarkets and other chains, increased 15.3% to 7.6 billion euros, with like-for-like sales rising 4.4%.
Chief Executive Claudia Azevedo said that “all businesses performed exceptionally well in a highly competitive context”. She attributed sales growth to higher volumes as inflation was low.
Azevedo said she saw opportunities in proximity and convenience stores as well as online sales.
Underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 26% to 908 million euros, while the underlying EBITDA margin – a key measure of profitability – improved to 9.1% from 8.6% a year earlier.
Shares were up 0.6% in morning trading on Thursday.
The board will propose to raise the dividend by 5% to 5.921 euro cents per share.
($1 = 0.9167 euros)
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Inti Landauro and Louise Heavens)
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