Kesko's March Sales Decreased by 8.9%
Kesko reported an 8.9% decrease in total sales for March, reaching €1,002.9 million. Comparable sales fell by 11.8%, with declines across all business divisions.
Kesko's total sales for March amounted to €1,002.9 million, a decrease of 8.9% compared to the previous year. Comparable sales declined by 11.8%. Sales dropped in all of Kesko's business divisions, with the grocery trade seeing a 3.0% decrease to €543.7 million, and K-Group grocery stores sales down 2.7%. Kespro's sales decreased by 4.8%.
The building and technical trade division experienced a significant drop of 13.8%, totaling €362.1 million in sales. Comparable sales in this segment decreased by 21.7%. Within this division, building and home improvement trade sales fell by 3.5% (20.4% comparable), and technical trade sales decreased by 22.9% in comparable terms.
Car trade sales decreased by 19.3% to €98.8 million. The comparable sales in car trade declined by 17.0%. The sports trade segment saw a decrease of 23.7%.
Kesko attributed the sales performance partly to the timing of Easter, which reduced the number of delivery days by 2-4 days year-on-year depending on the business. The company noted that one fewer delivery day can impact wholesale sales by approximately 2-4 percentage points.