// Iceland sales rose 22% to £1.7bn in the 24 weeks to September 11
// Profits rose to £13.4m during the period compared with a loss of £21m in the same period a year ago
// Iceland has been expanding its online capabilities through its pick-at-store model
Iceland has reportedly seen a sales rise in the six months to September as consumers increasingly stocked up on frozen food.
Sales at the frozen food retailer rose by 22 per cent to £1.7 billion in the 24 weeks to September 11, Financial Times reported.
Profits rose to £13.4 million during the period compared with a loss of £21 million in the same period a year ago.
READ MORE: Iceland’s The Food Warehouse & Bargain Booze unveil partnership
The £5.8 million costs of providing protective measures against Covid were essentially offset by the net benefit of the UK government’s business rates holiday for retailers.
Chief executive Tarsem Dhaliwal said its combination of smaller Iceland stores on local high streets and its rapidly expanding Food Warehouse presence at retail parks “proved in tune with changing customer priorities”.
The retailer has 855 Iceland stores and more than 130 Food Warehouse fascias across the UK.
Iceland said it has been expanding its online capabilities through its pick-at-store model and can now manage 750,000 deliveries a week.
Sales in the most recent third-quarter continued to be “exceptionally strong” but Iceland warned on the effects of a no-deal Brexit, which could lead to increased prices for consumers after January.
It said a no-deal “poses additional challenges both to the supply of goods from the EU to the UK and to our ability to maintain supplies to our stores in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland from Great Britain”.
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