Ahold has released its results for the first quarter of the year, a period that proved to be strong in terms of both year-on-year sales and income.
The Dutch retailer announced that its sales climbed up 5.9 per cent on the same period of 2010, coming in at €9.3bn, or growth of 6 per cent at constant exchange rates.
Operating income jumped 8.6 per cent to €444m, the group revealed, with net income also rising, by 6.2 per cent to €291m.
In the US, sales were up 7.4 per cent to US$7.6bn, with identical sales up 5 per cent and operating income standing at US$350m.
Domestically, Dutch sales rose 3.9 per cent year-on-year to €3.2bn, with operating income of €200m, while across the rest of Ahold's European operations sales increased by 9.8 per cent to €538m.
'We delivered solid results and increased volumes in all our markets despite challenging market conditions with customers continuing to focus on value,' noted CEO Dick Boer. 'In the United States we had particularly strong sales and margins, partially due to the timing of Easter. In the Netherlands margins were impacted by increasing inflation which was not fully passed on to customers.
'We will continue to manage the balance between sales and margins in a challenging environment of inflation and intense promotional activity, especially in the United States,' Boer added.
