Colruyt N.V.

Audit Report / Information • Aug 26, 2024

EY Bedrijfsrevisoren EY Réviseurs d'Entreprises Kouterveldstraat 7b bus 001 B - 1831 Diegem

Tel: +32 (0) 2 774 91 11 ey.com

Independent auditor's report to the general meeting of Colruyt Group NV for the year ended 31 March 2024

In the context of the statutory audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements of Colruyt Group NV (the "Company") and its subsidiaries (together the "Group"), we report to you as statutory auditor. This report includes our opinion on the consolidated statement of financial position as at 31 March 2024, the consolidated income statement, the consolidated statement of comprehensive income, the consolidated statement of changes in equity and the consolidated statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 March 2024 and the disclosures including material accounting policy information (all elements together the "Consolidated Financial Statements") as well as our report on other legal and regulatory requirements. These two reports are considered one report and are inseparable.

We have been appointed as statutory auditor by the shareholders' meeting of 28 September 2022, in accordance with the proposition by the Board of Directors following recommendation of the Audit Committee and following recommendation of the workers' council. Our mandate expires at the shareholders' meeting that will deliberate on the Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ending 31 March 2025. We performed the audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Group during 8 consecutive years.

Report on the audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements

Unqualified opinion

We have audited the Consolidated Financial Statements of Colruyt Group NV, that comprise of the consolidated statement of financial position on 31 March 2024, the consolidated income statement, the consolidated statement of comprehensive income, the consolidated statement of changes in equity and the consolidated statement of cash flows of the year and the disclosures, including material accounting policy information, which show a consolidated balance sheet total of € 6.571,2 million and of which the consolidated income statement shows a profit for the year of € 1.050,7 million.

In our opinion, the Consolidated Financial Statements give a true and fair view of the consolidated net equity and financial position as at 31 March 2024, and of its consolidated results for the year then ended, prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union ("IFRS") and with applicable legal and regulatory requirements in Belgium.

Basis for the unqualified opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing ("ISA's") applicable in Belgium. In addition, we have applied the ISA's approved by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board ("IAASB") that apply at the current year-end date and have not yet been approved at national level. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the "Our responsibilities for the audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements" section of our report.

We have complied with all ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements in Belgium, including those with respect to independence.

We have obtained from the Board of Directors and the officials of the Company the explanations and information necessary for the performance of our audit and we believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Key audit matters

Key audit matters are those matters that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements of the current reporting period.

These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the Consolidated Financial

Société à responsabilité limitée RPR Brussel - RPM Bruxelles - BTW-TVA BE0446.334.711-IBAN N° BE71 2100 9059 0069 *handelend in naam van een vennootschap:/agissant au nom d'une société

Statements as a whole and in forming our opinion thereon, and consequently we do not provide a separate opinion on these matters.

Compensations received from suppliers

Description of the key audit matter

The Group receives significant amounts of discounts and compensations from its suppliers, mainly for promotions in the stores, joint publicity, introduction of new products, and volume- based incentives.

The determination of such supplier discounts is mainly based on the actual supplier purchases of the related period, which are also confirmed by the Group with the concerned suppliers. In order to be able to determine these discounts accurately and completely, management needs to have a detailed insight in the contractual arrangements and extent to which the conditions of certain promotional programs are fulfilled. A change in these contracts and/or conditions could have a material impact on the Consolidated Financial Statements. For these reasons, and because of the magnitude of the related amounts, the recognition of the compensations from suppliers is a key audit matter. We refer to note 1 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for the valuation rules in this respect.

Summary of the procedures performed

• We gained an insight in the company's internal processes around supplier interventions;
• Substantive procedures on settled compensations from suppliers: these procedures consist of a reconciliation, on a sample basis, to supplier contracts and/or equivalent supporting documentation such as invoices, credit notes, receipts or supplier confirmations of the received compensations from suppliers;
• Substantive procedures regarding the correctness and completeness of the outstanding compensations from suppliers: these procedures include the evaluation of the appropriateness of applied purchase or sales volumes, as well as the discount rates applied by reconciling these, on a sample basis, to the Group's underlying supplier agreements and accounting records;

• Evaluation of the presentation of the compensations from suppliers in accordance with the valuation rules included in note 1 of the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Impairment of goodwill and property, plant and equipment

Description of the key audit matter

The Group operates stores in Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The carrying amount of the property, plant and equipment mainly relates to the stores and related assets as detailed in note 11 of the Consolidated Financial Statements. The total net book value amounts to € 2.951,2 million as of 31 March 2024. In addition, as a result of various acquisitions in the past, the Group recorded goodwill, for which the book value amounts to € 415,3 million as at 31 March 2024. The valuation of goodwill is described in note 9 of the Consolidated Financial Statements, the valuation of property, plant and equipment in note 11.

In accordance with IAS36 'Impairment of assets', these assets are reviewed by management at least once a year by cash-generating unit and examined for indications of impairment. This review is heavily influenced by the future expectations of management regarding the expected growth, in particular the turnover and the operating result, and by other assumptions, such as the discount rate and long-term growth rate. A change in these assumptions or the use of inappropriate future expectations could have a material impact on the Consolidated Financial Statements. For these reasons, the impairment of goodwill and property, plant and equipment are a key audit matter.

Summary of the procedures performed

• We gained an insight in the company's internal processes around the goodwill impairment exercise, more specifically management's review process of the discounted cashflow model;
• Evaluation of the mathematical accuracy and conformity with IAS36 of the valuation model used by the Group, with the support of a valuation specialist from our firm;

• Evaluation of the most important assumptions used (long-term growth rate and discount rate), with the support of a valuation specialist from our firm;
• Evaluation of the reasonableness of the projected cash flows, as well as the estimated future revenue growth and growth of the operating result by comparing with, and an evaluation of, the budget approved by the Board of Directors, and an assessment of the Group's historical forecasting accuracy;
• Verification of the existence of any additional impairment indicators, through reading the minutes of the Board of Directors, through an independent evaluation of publicly available market data, and through regular discussions with management;
• Evaluation of the adequacy and completeness of notes 9 and 11 of the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Valuation of transformation programs with a long-term character

Description of the key audit matter

The Group invests significant amounts in transformation programs with a long-term character, which are developed internally. The book value of the capitalized transformation programs with a long-term character amount to € 253,7 million as of 31 March 2024. The valuation is described in note 10 of the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Development costs are only capitalized in accordance with IAS38 if several conditions are met, including the capacity of the transformation program to generate future economic benefits that exceed the costs incurred. Management's estimates with respect to these expected future economic benefits are inherently complex. Changes in these estimates or the use of inappropriate future expectations could have a material impact on the Consolidated Financial Statements. For these reasons, the valuation of change programs with a long-term character is a key audit matter.

Summary of the procedures performed

• We gained an insight in the company's internal processes around the transformation programs with long-term character;
• Substantive testing, on a sample basis, for each of these programs, regarding the determination and allocation of the relevant development expenditure to the assets;
• Evaluation of the model used by the Group to determine the future economic benefits of these programs, in accordance with the conditions of IAS38, and of the main underlying assumptions;
• Periodical discussion of the estimated future economic benefits with management, as set out in the individual business cases of the relevant change programs, and comparison of earlier estimates with historical achievements afterwards;
• Verification of the existence of any impairment indicators, among others by reading minutes of the Board of Directors and through regular discussions with management;
• Evaluation of the adequacy and completeness of note 10 of the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Responsibilities of the Board of Directors for the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements

The Board of Directors is responsible for the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements that give a true and fair view in accordance with IFRS and with applicable legal and regulatory requirements in Belgium and for such internal controls relevant to the preparation of the Consolidated Financial Statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

As part of the preparation of Consolidated Financial Statements, the Board of Directors is responsible for assessing the Company's ability to continue as a going concern, and provide, if applicable, information on matters impacting going concern, The Board of Directors should prepare the financial statements using the going concern basis of accounting, unless the Board of

Directors either intends to liquidate the Company or to cease business operations, or has no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our responsibilities for the audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance whether the Consolidated Financial Statements are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to express an opinion on these Consolidated Financial Statements based on our audit. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with the ISA's will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these Consolidated Financial Statements.

In performing our audit, we comply with the legal, regulatory and normative framework that applies to the audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements in Belgium. However, a statutory audit does not provide assurance about the future viability of the Company and the Group, nor about the efficiency or effectiveness with which the board of directors has taken or will undertake the Company's and the Group's business operations. Our responsibilities with regards to the going concern assumption used by the board of directors are described below.

As part of an audit in accordance with ISA's, we exercise professional judgment and we maintain professional skepticism throughout the audit. We also perform the following tasks:

• identification and assessment of the risks of material misstatement of the Consolidated Financial Statements, whether due to fraud or error, the planning and execution of audit procedures to respond to these risks and obtain audit evidence which is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting material misstatements resulting from fraud is higher than when such misstatements result from errors, since fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions,

misrepresentations, or the override of internal control;

• obtaining insight in the system of internal controls that are relevant for the audit and with the objective to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control;
• evaluating the selected and applied accounting policies, and evaluating the reasonability of the accounting estimates and related disclosures made by the Board of Directors as well as the underlying information given by the Board of Directors;
• conclude on the appropriateness of the Board of Directors' use of the going-concern basis of accounting, and based on the audit evidence obtained, whether or not a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the Company's or Group's ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor's report to the related disclosures in the Consolidated Financial Statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on audit evidence obtained up to the date of the auditor's report. However, future events or conditions may cause the Company to cease to continue as a going-concern;
• evaluating the overall presentation, structure and content of the Consolidated Financial Statements, and evaluating whether the Consolidated Financial Statements reflect a true and fair view of the underlying transactions and events.

We communicate with the Audit Committee within the Board of Directors regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

Because we are ultimately responsible for the opinion, we are also responsible for directing, supervising and performing the audits of the

subsidiaries. In this respect we have determined the nature and extent of the audit procedures to be carried out for group entities.

We provide the Audit Committee within the Board of Directors with a statement that we have complied with relevant ethical requirements regarding independence, and to communicate with them all relationships and other matters that may reasonably be thought to bear on our

Report on other legal and regulatory requirements

Responsibilities of the Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is responsible for the preparation and the content of the Board of Directors' report on the Consolidated Financial Statements and other information included in the annual report.

Responsibilities of the auditor

In the context of our mandate and in accordance with the additional standard to the ISA's applicable in Belgium, it is our responsibility to verify, in all material respects, the Board of Directors' report on the Consolidated Financial Statements and other information included in the annual report, as well as to report on these matters.

Aspects relating to Board of Directors' report and other information included in the annual report

In our opinion, after carrying out specific procedures on the Board of Directors' report, the Board of Directors' report is consistent with the Consolidated Financial Statements and has been prepared in accordance with article 3:32 of the Code of companies and associations.

In the context of our audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements, we are also responsible to consider whether, based on the information that we became aware of during the performance of our audit, the Board of Directors' report and other information included in the annual report, being:

• Key figures over 5 years (page 37)

independence, and where applicable, related safeguards.

From the matters communicated with the Audit Committee within the Board of Directors, we determine those matters that were of most significance in the audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements of the current period and are therefore the key audit matters. We describe these matters in our report, unless the law or regulations prohibit this.

• Condensed (non-consolidated) financial statements of Colruyt Group NV (page 252 and following)

contain any material inconsistencies or contain information that is inaccurate or otherwise misleading. In light of the work performed, there are no material inconsistencies to be reported.

The non–financial information required by article 3:32, § 2, of the Code of companies and associations has been included in the Board of Directors' report on the Consolidated Financial Statements. The Company has prepared this nonfinancial information based on Sustainable Development Goals. However, we do not comment on whether this non-financial information has been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with Sustainable Development Goals.

As requested by the Company, we have issued a separate limited assurance report on a selection of sustainability Key Performance Indicators ("KPI's") in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements ISAE 3000. We do not express any assurance on the KPI's not covered by our separate limited assurance report.

Independence matters

Our audit firm and our network have not performed any services that are not compatible with the audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements and have remained independent of the Company during the course of our mandate.

The fees related to additional services which are compatible with the audit of the Consolidated Financial Statements as referred to in article 3:65 of the Code of companies and associations were

duly itemized and valued in the notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

European single electronic format ("ESEF")

In accordance with the standard on the audit of the conformity of the financial statements with the European single electronic format (hereinafter "ESEF"), we have carried out the audit of the compliance of the ESEF format with the regulatory technical standards set by the European Delegated Regulation No 2019/815 of 17 December 2018 (hereinafter: "Delegated Regulation").

The Supervisory Board is responsible for the preparation, in accordance with the ESEF requirements, of the consolidated financial statements in the form of an electronic file in ESEF format (hereinafter 'the digital consolidated financial statements') included in the annual financial report available on the portal of the FSMA (https://www.fsma.be/nl/stori).

It is our responsibility to obtain sufficient and appropriate supporting evidence to conclude that the format and markup language of the digital consolidated financial statements comply in all material respects with the ESEF requirements under the Delegated Regulation.

Based on the work performed by us, we conclude that the format and tagging of information in the digital consolidated financial statements of the Company per March 31st, 2024 included in the annual financial report available on the portal of the FSMA (https://www.fsma.be/nl/stori) are, in all material respects, in accordance with the ESEF requirements under the Delegated Regulation.

Other communications.

• This report is consistent with our supplementary declaration to the Audit Committee as specified in article 11 of the regulation (EU) nr. 537/2014.

Diegem, 29 July 2024

EY Bedrijfsrevisoren BV Statutory auditor Represented by

Eef Naessens * Partner *Acting on behalf of a BV/SRL

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