Jeronimo Martins’ revenue affected by prices in Poland

The net profit of Portuguese retailer Jeronimo Martins, which manages the Biedronka discount store network in Poland, dropped by 12.4 percent year-on-year to €144.9 million in the first half of 2014, the company said in a press release. Net sales in H1 amounted to €6.05 billion compared to €5.64 billion in the corresponding period of 2013, the statement said. Sales of the Biedronka network grew by 9.1 percent year-on-year to €4.03 billion. Like-for-like sales in Poland declined by 1.2 percent y/y. “The performance of Biedronka in the first half of the year was below my expectations and impacted the group’s profits,” CEO Pedro Soares dos Santos was quoted as saying. The company cited a decline in food prices and a highly competitive environment in Poland as the most significant factors for the results.