Axfood's sales, which also include Hemköp and Citygross, did not meet expectations, either those of the company itself or those of analysts. Revenues also increased more slowly than those of its competitors.
For Willys, which is described as a discount chain, revenue even fell, calculated on the same number of stores.
Is it true that Willys performs best in expensive times?
We have benefited a little extra during the inflationary years, CEO Simone Margulies tells TT, but adds that growth last year was 10 percent and that a comparison of individual quarters would be unfair:
I don't really share the view that low-price stores would fare worse in other environments, but we see that Willys does well in both boom and bust periods.
Halved food VAT
The quarter for the food industry has been marked by the halved food VAT, which was introduced on April 1. Axfood has not been keen on it and has raised prices under the radar, according to Simone Margulies.
No, on the contrary. In addition, we have deflation of 0.9 percent. So we have almost seven percent lower prices today than we had a year ago.
The VAT reduction has, after all, lifted sales in the food industry overall, measured in volume, although not as much as one might think.
Whether it is an effect of the VAT reduction that consumers have more money in their wallets or not, I think it is a bit early to draw any big conclusions, says Margulies.
Price pressure
Food producers have pointed out that this spring's energy crisis, in the wake of the Iran war, will force them to raise prices, something that could in turn be passed on to consumers via stores.
It is very difficult to give any forecast about how price developments will look going forward, says Simone Margulies.
Axfood's operating profit in the second quarter was SEK 964 million, compared with SEK 934 million in the same period last year.
Total revenue increased marginally to SEK 23.2 billion.
