Jerónimo Martins posts a net profit of €312M in 2020

Pingo Doce and Biedronka’s owner reported a net profit of 312 million euros in 2020, representing a 19.9% decline compared to the previous year, according to a statement sent by the company to Portugal’s securities markets regulator (CMVM).

Nevertheless, the board proposes to pay a gross dividend of 28.8 cents per share, excluding own shares in the portfolio, for a total amount of 181 million euros (payout of 50%).

“The proposed dividend distribution preserves the Group’s full flexibility to accelerate its expansion plans and take advantage of any potential non-organic growth opportunities while maintaining a strong balance sheet,” states the FY2020 report, released this Wednesday.

The company’s consolidated results show that EBITDA fell 1% year-on-year to 1,423 million euros. The margin was 7.4%, a reduction of 0.3 percentage points: “The margin’s performance results from two forces. On one hand, the negative impact of operational deleveraging in the businesses with pressured turnover. On the other hand, the additional pandemic related direct costs incurred by the banners. The latter are estimated at 41 million euros,” explains Jerónimo Martins.

On the revenue side, sales and services grew by 3.5% in 2020 and totalled 19,293 million euros. Analysing by retail brands, in Poland, Biedronka grew 6.7% in sales to 13.5 billion euros. “In Poland, the consumer became more cautious with the start of the pandemic crisis. However, it showed some resilience and customers continued to react to attractive commercial proposals combining good price with quality,” highlights the retailer.

In Portugal, Pingo Doce’s sales fell by 1.9%, to 3.9 billion euros. The retailer explains that the brand was exposed “to the reduction in mobility, because of its very high sales density and number of visits. The lack of traffic also impacted restaurants, cafes and the takeaway category. These effects where further compounded, as of November, by the mandatory closing of stores on weekend afternoons.”

Jerónimo Martins’ operating costs also rose in 2020, growing by 6.3% to 2.8 billion euros. As for debt, Jerónimo Martins reached the year’s end, with a net debt of 509 million euros, a deterioration compared to the 196 million recorded in the previous year.