Consumer Staples

Report by Iron Blue Financials

Iron Blue initiates coverage on Ahold with a score of 26/60, which is top quartile and fertile grounds for shorting. They highlight FY24’s spike higher in balance sheet vendor allowance receivables, with days outstanding hitting a 10-year high. The €147m Y/Y rise was the highest in 8 years and equated to 5% of FY24 PBT adj, or 0.2% EBITA margin. Ahold has consistently stripped out of earnings one-off restructuring charges and asset impairment expenses. FY24 earnings also saw a Y/Y benefit from lower inventories write downs. They also flag €2bn of additional debt not included in Ahold’s headline net debt calculation, including €1.3bn reverse factoring.

Consumer Staples

Report by the IDEA!

High inflation is leading to downtrading, both reflecting in consumers buying cheaper products and turning to cheaper supermarkets. AD has been a beneficiary. In Europe, its private label products account for over 50% of sales. With its ‘Price Favourites’ and other innovations (multi-channel strategy, personalised offers for loyalty programme users, etc.), its Dutch subsidiary Albert Heijn has hit the bull’s eye in its attempt to keep its customers coming to its stores. This strategy is increasingly being rolled out into other countries as well. This is one of the main reasons why the IDEA! has maintained their positive stance on AD despite reservations towards other consumer sensitive stocks.