2024-05-23 18:11

May 23 (Reuters) - Supermarket group Ahold Delhaize (AD.AS) New Tab, opens new tab said on Thursday it will close an undisclosed number of underperforming Stop & Shop grocery stores in the U.S. this year. Ahold Delhaize declined to disclose the number of shops affected, saying it would do so later in the year. "Stop & Shop has already evaluated its overall portfolio and will make difficult decisions to close underperforming stores to create a healthy store base for the long term," the group's U.S. CEO JJ Fleeman said during a call with analysts. Stop & Shop, a chain located in the U.S. northeast, is one of the group's five brands in the country and operates nearly 400 stores. Ahold Delhaize earns more than half of its revenues in the United States. In 2023, it reported U.S. sales of 54.54 billion euros. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/ahold-delhaize-close-underperforming-us-stop-shop-stores-2024-05-23/

2024-05-23 18:07

May 23 (Reuters) - Supermarket group Ahold Delhaize (AD.AS) New Tab, opens new tab expects to grow underlying earnings and boost savings over the 2025-2028 period, it said on Thursday, helped by higher automation of its back-end operations and driving more customers to its digital apps. The group, which operates the Stop & Shop, Giant, Food Lion and Hannaford chains in the U.S. and the Albert Heijn and Delhaize chains in the Netherlands and Belgium, is targeting compound annual growth in underlying earnings per share at a high single-digit rate from 2024. Supermarket firms are struggling to maintain margins as food price inflation eases. Ahold Delhaize reported an underlying operating margin of 4.1% in 2023 with a forecast of 4% or higher for this financial year and a target to maintain an average 4% until 2028. "We are a 4% margin company," Chief Financial Officer Jolanda Poots-Bijl said in a statement. The group, which held strategy days on Wednesday and Thursday, said it expects 5 billion euros ($5.41 billion) in cumulative savings by applying AI and automation in its logistics, distribution, store operations and back office, while steering loyalty scheme customers towards its apps. "We intend to funnel loyalty customers from physical cards to our digital apps, which should yield a rapid increase in monthly active users where we target 30 million by 2028," the group said in its statement. It said its omnichannel approach, which integrates physical shops, apps and websites, results in shoppers spending between 1.5 and 3 times more in the group's most mature markets. The supermarket group also wants to increase sales of its own-brand products to 45% of total shop sales during the period, as squeezed shoppers turn to private labels to reduce their spending. "While our own brands have served a critical role in our growth path so far, I can assure you the story won't end here post inflation," President and CEO Frans Muller said while presenting the strategy. The group also expect its additional income streams, including consumer data services and ad sales on its supermarkets' websites, to be around 3 billion euros by 2028. ($1 = 0.9249 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/ahold-delhaize-bets-ai-digital-boost-earnings-savings-2024-05-23/

2024-05-23 17:57

WARSAW, May 23 (Reuters) - The US ambassador to Poland on Thursday criticised the country's broadcast regulator for questioning the ownership structure of US company TVN Style. TVN Style is owned by U.S.-based Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.O) New Tab, opens new tab, whose other channels - including news channel TVN24 - have previously experienced delays to licence renewals in Poland. The Polish National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) said on Wednesday that a vote on TVN Style's licence renewal was inconclusive. "According to the chairman of KRRiT, granting a licence for the TVN Style program could involve breaking Polish and European law. For this reason, the company's capital structure will be subject to a detailed analysis by independent experts," it said. "Anything that undermines faith in the predictability of the investment climate in Poland, such as yesterday's statement by KRRiT questioning the legitimacy of an American company operating in Poland, undermines our common values, bilateral interests and the rule of law," US ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski said on X on Thursday. TVN said in a statement that its ownership structure raises no doubts, as confirmed by court judgments, numerous legal opinions and previous decisions of KRRiT granting licences to its channels. "The failure to extend the licence for TVN Style and the comments of the head of KRRiT are another unlawful attack on the American investor and the values that unite our countries," it said in a statement on Thursday. TVN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery via a firm registered in the European Union to adhere to the requirements of a ban on non-European firms owning more than 49% of Polish media. TVN24 was criticised by Poland's former nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government which alleged that it distorted public debate by representing foreign interests. PiS lost power last year, but some of KRRiT members were nominated by the previous parliament where the PiS party had a majority in the lower house. On Thursday, parliament members of the country's ruling coalition submitted a preliminary motion to bring the head of KRRiT before the State Tribunal - an arm of the judiciary whose main task is to enforce compliance with the constitution by the highest state bodies and officials. The members of parliament alleged that the head of KRRiT, Maciej Swirski, has blocked financing for public media and licences for private broadcasters, including TVN24, among others. Swirski was not immediately available for comment. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-criticises-polish-broadcast-regulator-over-treatment-tvn-style-2024-05-23/

2024-05-23 15:51

Rate decision due at 1300 GMT on Monday Inflation rate edged higher to 2.8% in April, within 1-3% target Central bank cut rate by 25 bps on Jan. 1, first cut since 2020 Q1 GDP recovers, grows 14.1% after war-induced Q4 drop JERUSALEM, May 23 (Reuters) - The Bank of Israel (BOI) will leave short-term interest rates next week for a third straight meeting and further rate reductions the rest of 2024 are in jeopardy due to re-emerging inflation pressures, a Reuters poll forecast. All 15 economists polled said they expect the central bank to hold its benchmark rate (ILINR=ECI) New Tab, opens new tab at 4.5% when the decision is announced on Monday at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT). The annual inflation rate continued to edge higher in April to 2.8% after easing to a 2.5% rate in February. It still remained with a 1-3% target. "Since Governor Amir Yaron tends to act cautiously ... he will wait until the picture of the inflation environment becomes clearer," said Rinat Ashkenazi, chief economist of the Phoenix Investment House, also pointing to improved economic data, fiscal and security uncertainty and delays in U.S. rate cuts. The monetary policy committee (MPC) in January reduced its key rate by 25 basis points, which followed 10 straight rate hikes in an aggressive tightening cycle from an all-time low of 0.1% in April 2022, before a pause last July. Analysts, including the central bank's own economists, had expected rates would fall about one percentage point in 2024 to as low as 3.75% - especially as Israel's war against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas hit the economy hard in the fourth quarter. The war has raged since Hamas gunmen stormed Israel on Oct. 7. Yet, after a steep contraction in the October-December period, the economy rebounded an annualised 14.1% in the first quarter from the prior three months. At the same time, the budget deficit - on the heels of higher defence costs - has surged to 7% of gross domestic product, above a 2024 target of 6.6%. "Expansionary fiscal policy, upside inflation surprises and persistent geopolitical risks mean that this is not a good time to think about easing. We don't see rate cuts appearing on the BOI table before autumn this year," said Morgan Stanley economist Alina Slyusarchuk. Ahead of the last policy meeting on April 8, seven of the 12 economists polled had expected a quarter-point rate cut to 4.25%. "Without significant downward surprises in inflation later this year and without a significant improvement in the geopolitical situation and a decrease in the economy's risk premium, it appears that the window for reducing interest rates has closed at this stage," said IBI Investment House chief economist Rafi Gozlan, who sees no more reductions the rest of this year as a "reasonable" scenario. Minutes of the April decision showed that policymakers were uneasy about the extent of geopolitical uncertainty and that the BOI was "focused on stabilization of the markets and reduction of uncertainty, alongside price stability and support for economic activity". With the prospects of rate cuts waning, the shekel has appreciated to 3.66 per dollar - its strongest level since late March - after weakening to 3.80 a month ago. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/bank-israel-rate-cuts-seen-hold-next-week-possibly-all-2024-2024-05-23/

2024-05-23 15:12

May 23 (Reuters) - Ralph Lauren (RL.N) New Tab, opens new tab on Thursday forecast annual revenue growth below market expectations despite beating quarterly results, as it grapples with subdued demand in the United States. The company also named insider Justin Picicci as its new chief financial officer, replacing Jane Nielsen, who will continue as Ralph's operations head. The apparel maker's shares reversed course to rise 2% in morning trade as the company forecast strong margins for the year. The stock fell as much as 3% before the bell. Ralph Lauren expects annual gross margin to increase up to 100 basis points, as lower cotton costs and better full price sales help offset pressures from labor and freight costs related to Red Sea disruptions. "Ralph Lauren has a history of issuing conservative guidance. The margin improvement is more important than the sales growth," said David Swartz, senior analyst at Morningstar Research. The company has also been working to attract more customers to its stores and to digital sales, instead of wholesale channels as retailers cut back on orders due to choppy demand. As a result, Ralph Lauren's direct-to-consumer channel now comprises about two-thirds of the company's total revenue. Its fourth-quarter revenue of $1.57 billion edged past LSEG estimates of $1.56 billion, benefiting from robust demand in Europe and Asia, as well as a pullback in discounts due to leaner inventory. Sales in China grew more than 25%, with Ralph Lauren adding on a post-earnings call that its business in the key luxury market has more than doubled versus pre-pandemic levels. Excluding items, Ralph Lauren reported better-than-expected earnings of $1.71 per share. The company added that its new CFO, Picicci, most recently served as Ralph Lauren's Enterprise CFO. He succeeds Nielsen who joined the company as CFO in 2016, and took on the additional role of COO in 2019. "While promoting internally will likely aid the transition, we do note that Nielsen is a tough act to follow," said Wedbush analyst Tom Nikic. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/ralph-lauren-names-justin-picicci-cfo-forecasts-dull-annual-revenue-2024-05-23/

2024-05-23 13:28

BRUSSELS, May 23 (Reuters) - A new standard to settle trades in stocks and corporate bonds more quickly has the power to be transformative for European markets, Valerie Urbain, chief executive of Euroclear said on Thursday. The new system - known as T+1 - will see U.S. stocks and corporate bonds settle one business day after trading instead of two, starting May 28. Markets in Canada and Mexico are also adopting the reforms, which have been designed to reduce counterparty risk and improve market liquidity, but T+1 does not yet apply in Europe. "This has the potential to become transformative for the European markets," Urbain told an audience at the annual general meeting and conference of the International Capital Market Association in Brussels. She said with the U.S. migration coming soon, Euroclear was ready to support the move in Europe. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/t1-has-potential-be-transformative-europe-euroclear-ceo-says-2024-05-23/