Kesko reports record Q1 2020 results

Finnish retail giant Kesko Group recorded its all-time best first quarter (Q1) results this year despite the situation the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, the company said in its financial report released on Tuesday.

Between January and March this year, Kesko's net sales totaled 2,540.4 million euros, 5.8 percent up from the same period in 2019.

Operating profits were 65.1 million euros in Q1, compared to 57.5 million euros in the same quarter of last year, rising by 13.2 percent.

In March this year, grocery sales increased in all Kesko chains by 9.8 percent.

Kesko noted that its online grocery store is now the biggest in Finland.

"At their highest, our online grocery sales have grown at a pace of over 800 percent a week. The closures of restaurants, schools and workplaces have pressed Kespro's sales to approximately 50 percent of normal levels in recent weeks," said Mikko Helander, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Kesko, in the financial report. The wholesale company Kespro is part of Kesko's grocery trade division.

The group expects its overall operating profit for the full year of 2020 to amount to 400-450 million euros, falling somewhat short of the 461.6-million-euro figure registered in 2019.

The weaker full-year results are due to the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the company's car trade, building and technical trade divisions, and to the decline in sales in the Baltic countries, primarily in Lithuania, where stores remain closed.

"Although there are ongoing efforts worldwide to stop the epidemic, we must prepare for the possibility that these exceptional circumstances will last for some time," Helander noted, adding that Kesko has taken the necessary steps in all its businesses.