Ahold Delhaize Cuts Guidance After Cyber Incident Hits Online Sales

Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch-Belgian grocery group, lowered its 2026 profit and cash flow guidance on November 4, 2026, after a cybersecurity incident in October disrupted its online shopping services in the United States and the Benelux. The company expects the incident to cut fourth-quarter sales by €200 million to €250 million. Its third-quarter results, covering the period before the attack, showed online sales still growing strongly, especially in the US.

What happened in the cyber incident?

In early October 2026, Ahold Delhaize was hit by a cybersecurity incident that affected online capabilities at its businesses in the US and the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg). It also disrupted supply-chain operations in the Benelux.

The company took some systems offline as a precaution. It said Bol, its online marketplace, was not affected. Supermarket News reported that most of the disruption was contained within two weeks, although work to fully restore systems was still going on.

The company did not name which of its US or Benelux store brands were affected in its results statement.

How much will the incident cost?

Ahold Delhaize gave its first estimate of the financial impact, all of which will fall in the fourth quarter:

• Net sales: reduced by €200 million to €250 million.
• Underlying and IFRS operating income: reduced by €75 million to €100 million.

It said the costs of fixing the systems will have only a marginal effect on its 2026 IFRS operating income.

Chief executive Frans Muller tried to put the incident in context, saying in the results statement that “the incident does not define our business.” Chief financial officer Jolanda Poots-Bijl told analysts, as reported by Grocery Dive, that “For now, Q4, we are recovering from the cyber incident.”

How did Ahold Delhaize change its guidance?

The company revised three parts of its 2026 outlook:

• Underlying operating margin: now “approaching 4.0%”, compared with “around 4.0%” before.
• Diluted underlying EPS growth: now low single digits, down from mid to high single digits.
• Free cash flow: now about €2.1 billion, down from at least €2.3 billion.

What were the Q3 results?

The third-quarter results showed steady growth before the incident:

• Group net sales: €23.1 billion, up 1.9% at constant exchange rates and 2.6% at actual rates.
• Comparable sales excluding gasoline: up 1.2% for the group, 0.5% in the US and 2.1% in Europe.
• Underlying operating margin: 4.1%, down 0.1 percentage point.
• Diluted underlying EPS: €0.69, up 1.4% at constant rates.
• Free cash flow: €445 million.

In the US, net sales were about $15.3 billion, up 1.1% at constant rates, and the underlying margin was 4.3%, according to Supermarket News.

How fast are online sales growing?

Online grocery is one of the company’s strongest areas. Group online sales grew 8.2% at constant rates in the third quarter. In the US, online sales rose 14.2%, the 10th straight quarter of double-digit growth. Online sales at Food Lion grew by more than 20%. In Europe, online sales rose 3.1%.

That makes the timing of the incident especially painful, since it hit the online channels that had been growing fastest.

Why it matters

The incident shows how much large grocers now depend on digital systems, from online ordering to warehouse and delivery operations. When those systems go down, the cost shows up quickly in lost sales and profit.

It also comes at a time of big moves in US online grocery. DoorDash, for example, recently agreed to buy Instacart, as covered in our report on the DoorDash–Instacart deal.

What happens next?

Ahold Delhaize will report fourth-quarter and full-year results in early 2027, which will show the full effect of the incident. Shoppers and investors will be watching for any further details about what happened and whether online sales growth recovers quickly once services are fully restored.