MW Merge with Kroger? The owner of Giant and Stop & Shop doesn't say no.

By Steve Goldstein

William Wood, an analyst at Bernstein, decided to throw something of a hand grenade during the analyst call to discuss fourth-quarter results at supermarket operator Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V., which operates stores including Stop & Shop and Giant.

"There's been changes at the [Federal Trade Commission]. There's been changes in the M&A environment in the U.S. Why don't you take advantage of that and merge with Kroger," Wood asked, according to a transcript provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Chief Executive Frans Muller didn't entirely dismiss the question.

"On your kind suggestion and recommendation on this otherwise boring Wednesday, maybe, you talked about Kroger. We always shared with you that we have an open view on expanding our business also inorganically when opportunities arise, which are in line with our strategy," Muller said. He added that it has the firepower in the form of a strong balance sheet.

A judge in December blocked Kroger Co.'s $(KR)$ $25 billion acquisition of Albertsons Cos. Inc. $(ACI)$, after a lawsuit filed by the FTC under Lina Khan, who left the agency after President Trump's victory.

Ahold Delhaize reported that it was strengthening its own-brand strategy, and in the U.S. its own-brand sales outpaced the rest of the store in both dollars and units.

It reported fourth-quarter comparable-store sales, excluding gas, of 1.4% in the U.S. and 1.2% in the European Union.

It is targeting mid-to-high single-digit underlying earnings-per-share growth on margins of around 4%. Analysts at UBS said that in previous years the company guided for margins of at least 4%, which suggests to them a willingness to invest in prices in the U.S.

Ahold (NL:AD) shares slumped 5% in Dutch trade.

-Steve Goldstein

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February 12, 2025 08:12 ET (13:12 GMT)

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