EARNINGS POLL-Ahold profit seen down, eyes on Foodservice plans
25-11-2005 19:56 por Reuters
By Wendel Broere
AMSTERDAM, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Retailer Ahold is expected to report a lower third quarter profit on Tuesday but investors will zoom in on the unveiling of a new strategy for its U.S. Foodservice business (USFS).
The Dutch company, which generates 70 percent of its sales in the United States, where it owns the Stop & Shop, Giant and Tops stores as well as the USFS catering supplies business, will announce results and its strategy at 0700 GMT (2.0 a.m. EST).
Tough pricing from competitors including grocery chain Albertson Inc. , and disappointing sales growth at Stop & Shop announced last month are expected to lead to disappointing profit figures, analysts said.
Third quarter profit at Ahold, the world's fourth-largest food retailer and a leading food services group, is expected to drop 12 percent to 114 million euros ($134 million) from 130 million in the previous quarter. The company will release comparative year-ago figures under IFRS on Tuesday.
"Third quarter results ... are likely to disappoint due to margin pressure in U.S. food retail and slow progress at USFS," ABN AMRO said in a research note on Thursday.
Several analysts said Ahold may abandon its retail targets for 2006, which the company reiterated earlier this month.
Under its "5-5-14" plan, Ahold seeks an EBITDA margin of five percent of its retail activities, annual sales growth of five percent and a 14 percent return on assets.
Although Ahold generated more than 3 billion from an asset-sale and debt-reduction plan that was completed ahead of schedule, analysts said the company should continue disposals to improve its profitability.
Portuguese supermarket company Jeronimo Martins in which Ahold has a 49 percent stake and Swedish supermarket chain ICA, of which it holds 60 percent, were seen as obvious candidates for disposal, ABN AMRO said.
But Ahold will not divest USFS, which was at the centre of a 1 billion euro profit overstatement scandal that emerged in 2003. CEO Anders Moberg said earlier this month Ahold would stick to USFS's targets in the new strategy.
CLOSING THE GAP
USFS is targeting an operating margin of at least 1.7 percent in 2006, behind its larger competitor Sysco Corp which is in the midst of an overhaul of its supply chain, and a sector average of 3 percent, a gap Ahold wants to narrow.
"Rationalisations might include both loss-making accounts and underperforming facilities/regions and involve some 20 percent of the current sales base of 19 billion euros," Rabo Securities said in a research note.
Delta Lloyd Securities analysts expected management to focus especially on inventory and transportation management and private labels.
ING said it saw no reason why the number two player in the foodservice industry should not be able to achieve margins in excess of 3 percent in a three-to-five year horizon, if it focuses more on private labels and cost cutting.
Part of Ahold's valuation relies on improvement at USFS, which analysts valued at 4-5 bilion euros.
"We will talk about what we did with U.S. Foodservice over the past two years including governance control and integrating it ... and that we paved the foundation for the future. Now we will see how we can build on that foundation," Moberg said earlier this month about the 2006-2008 strategy for USFS.
Ahold trades at 18 times estimated earnings, making it cheaper than Sysco, which trades at a multiple of 22 and a food distributor sector average of about 25.
Ahold shares are almost flat at 6 euros since January, in line with the pan-European DJ Stoxx retail index .
Following are analysts forecasts for third quarter results (figures in millions of euros, earnings per share in euros):
Net income Operating income Earnings per share Average 114 255 0.07 Median 110 248 0.07 Highest 144 300 0.10 Lowest 93 225 0.06 Q2 2005 130 248 0.08 No.1 of forecasts 16 16 16
(Additional reporting by Paulinka Schipper)
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