Portugal’s Jeronimo Martins’ quarterly profit jumps 52%, outlook uncertain

LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s No. 2 retailer Jeronimo Martins on Thursday posted a 52% jump in first-quarter net income as its key market Poland led a rise in sales, but warned of uncertainty ahead due to the conflict in Ukraine, inflation and other factors.

The company booked a net profit of 88 million euros ($92.35 million) between January and March, up from 58 million euros a year earlier, when it was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and also included the Easter holiday season.

“Significant uncertainty prevails, linked to the developments of the war in Ukraine and the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic”, chief executive Pedro Soares dos Santos said in a statement.

Consolidated sales in the first three months of the year rose 15.2% to 5.5 billion euros, driven by its market-leading Polish retail chain Biedronka, whose sales increased 13.4% to 3.8 billion euros.

In Portugal, sales at the Pingo Doce supermarket chain rose 6% to 985 million euros.

Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 15.5% to 372 million euros in the quarter.

($1 = 0.9529 euros)

(Reporting by Patrícia Rua; Editing by Andrei Khalip)