Retailer Ahold says 2Q sales were euro5.78 billion

AMSTERDAM/NETHERLANDS: Royal Ahold NV, the Dutch operator of U.S. grocery chains Stop & Shop and Giant, reported second quarter sales of euro5.78 billion (US$9 billion) on Friday.

The figure is a decrease of 0.8 percent from euro5.83 billion in the same period a year ago, but up 7.3 percent, stripping out the impact of the weak dollar.

Analysts said the figure was ahead of expectations and shares rose 6.5 percent to euro7.80 (US$12.13) in Amsterdam.

The company is due to report full quarterly earnings Aug. 28. Among Ahold's largest operations, sales at its Stop & Shop stores rose 1.7 percent to US$4 billion (euro2.6 billion) and 12 percent to US$1.1 billion (euro706 million) at its Giant-Carlisle stores.

In all, U.S. growth was 3.7 percent in dollar terms and negative 10 percent in euros. In the Netherlands, sales at Albert Heijn stores grew 14 percent to euro2.1 billion (US$3.3 billion).

In a statement, the company repeated its full-year financial target of an operating margin of 4.8-5.3 percent.
``Today's sales figures and margin target confirmation illustrate that in total Ahold is doing excellent and that Stop & Shop is moving in the right direction,'' Petercam analyst Fernand de Boer said in a note on the report.