Even terugblikkend op het commentaar van Dick Boer op de afgelopen cijfers:
"2016 was not only a year where we brought together two strong food retailers," said CEO Dick Boer in a statement. "It was also a year in which our great local brands drove solid performance, serving our customers both in stores and online."
He later told CNBC Europe television that Ahold had been able to offset a deflationary environment with volume growth but said he thinks the industry "we will come back to an inflaionary, or at least neutral, environment later this year."
He was also confident that the group would see-off new discount grocery groups in the U.S. market, including Alidi and Lidl: "We have a lot of comp in the US, that is true, but we have great locations and our real estate is state-of-the-art in the northeast and we are priced correctly, so we are able to sustain new entrants."
Hiermee geeft hij aan vertrouwen te hebben en weerbaar te zijn tegen de huidige marktontwikkelingen. Ik verwacht dat hij deze boodschap doorzet tijdens de presentatie van de Q2 cijfers. Tot die tijd blijf ik rustig zitten.