power and continuing to put pressure on our margins and costs," it said in a statement. Consolidated sales in the last quarter of 2022 rose 23% to 7 billion euros, driven by the company's market-leading Polish supermarket chain Biedronka, which posted a sales increase of 24% to 4.9 billion euros. Although Polish consumers have grown more cautious and price-sensitive, spending on food has outpaced food inflation, which rose throughout 2022 to reach an average of 15.4%. At home, supermarket chain Pingo Doce posted a 13.7% rise in sales to 1.2 billion euros, while in Colombia, its Ara stores booked 477 million euros in sales, up 38.5% from a year earlier. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 14.8% to 506 million euros in the quarter. The EBITDA margin fell to 7.2% from 7.8% a year earlier. "Although a disinflation scenario is expected for this year, it is still difficult to anticipate the level of disinflation for the second half of the year," the company said. For the full-year 2022, Jeronimo Martins' profit rose 27.5% to 590 million euros, while EBITDA increased 17% to 1.85 billion euros. Sales grew 21.5% to 25.4 billion euros. The company added its capex programme is expected to be in line with 2022, with 45% of it in Poland.
($1 = 0.9211 euros)
(Reporting by Patricia Vicente Rua; Editing by David Latona and
Richard Chang)
