COLRUYT GROUP N.V. 
Dear shareholders,
In a highly competitive and promotional market, Colruyt Group still accomplished satisfactory results in the past financial year. The difficult economic climate impacted the consumers' purchasing power causing their spending pattern to increasingly shift towards a cheaper product and price mix. In this context, our revenue did however increase by 4.1 % to 8.65 billion euros.
Apart from the slackening revenue growth, our gross profit margin was also pressured particularly by the increased price investments. We were able to slow down this decrease of the gross margin by keeping the operational costs in line with the revenue. As a result, the operating cash flow decreased by only 1.9 %. However, we kept investing in the future which resulted in an operating result that decreased by 5.3 % to 488 million euro. Finally, thanks to better financial results the net result (group share) decreased by just 1.1 % to 349.8 million euro.
The profit per share remained almost the same, and amounted to 2.24 euro. Considering these results, we propose an unchanged gross dividend of 1 euro per share.
In retail, revenue rose by 3.6 % whereas the operating result went down by 5.2 %. Retail represents three quarters of the group's revenue and comprises Colruyt, OKay, Bio-Planet, Dreamland, Dreambaby and ColliShop in Belgium. In France, the group has 2 Dreamland stores and about seventy Colruyt-operated stores.
Wholesale and foodservice represent 17 % of the group's revenue and comprise Spar Retail and Solucious in Belgium, and Pro à Pro and Coccinelle in France. By continuously focusing on assets such as quality, service and reliability, wholesale and foodservice increased their revenue by 8.0 %.
Finally, the remaining activities DATS 24, Symeta and WE-Power represent 8 % of the group's revenue. Their revenue slightly increased to 764 million euro.
Satisfactory results all things considered, and we were able to realise them thanks to the confidence of our customers and business partners.
In the name of the Board of Directors, I wish to thank all of them very much.
In the past year we welcomed 1,274 new colleagues which means we exceeded the mark of
27,000 employees at the end of March of this year. A clear sign that Colruyt Group contributes its social added value in the current socioeconomic order.
In this rapidly changing world, more than ever Colruyt Group wants to offer all its stakeholders 'Simplicity in retail'. This means for instance that we help the consumer shop efficiently and comfortably. For this purpose we expand our network of pick-up points for online orders and we invest in smaller local shops, closer to the customer. Choosing has become easier as well since we simplified our product range with 3 clearly different brand layers: the national brands, our cheapest private label Everyday and, in between, our recent "home brand" Boni Selection, which replaces some fifty former private labels.
We are determined to continue to supply added value in a sustainable way. To realise this, we count on the craftsmanship and commitment of our employees and on your trust. Colruyt Group for its part made considerable investments in the future again: more than 320 million
1
euros in stores, distribution centres, production departments, IT technology and sustainable energy projects.
It proves that Colruyt Group clearly labours for sustainable entrepreneurship. To make our endeavour more explicit and our initiatives public, we developed the simplysustainable.be website. The site contains a first selection of views and concrete stories about People, Products and the Environment. Simple stories showing that sustainable entrepreneurship runs in our blood.
The net added value of the group in Belgium amounts to 1.8 billion euro. About 50 % of this added value Colruyt Group creates in Belgium flows back to the community through the government. This calls for an efficient and effective government that does not further
increase the burden of value added taxation. We ask the government to provide a framework for sustainable growth, focusing on mobility and reducing the tax burden to boost purchasing power, thus allowing the economy to start to fundamentally grow again.
The coming financial year promises to be a challenging one, with persistent pressure on revenue and margins. The group will continue to keep its operating costs under control and to consistently realise its lowest prices strategy.
We do not expect the economic climate and consumer confidence to recover in the short
term and we assume price deflation will persist. In this context we still expect the net result of
2014/2015 to match or slightly exceed that of the past financial year.
Jef Colruyt
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Colruyt Group
2
|
distributed by
|
