Ahold Delhaize, one of the world's largest food retail groups, has reported on a strong opening quarter of the year, with solid sales growth and higher margins resulting in marked growth of operating income and strong growth of net income at constant exchange rates.
The group revealed that net sales came in at €14.9bn, growth of 2.5 per cent at constant exchange rates, while operating income rose 10.5 per cent.
'We are pleased with our performance during the first quarter, proving that the execution of our Better Together strategy continues to bear fruit, delivering sales growth and synergies throughout the business,' said CEO Dick Boer. 'Benefiting from our scale and building on our leading positions on the US East Coast and in Europe, our great local brands demonstrated their capabilities and agility to meet rapidly changing consumer needs and preferences.'
US brands reported improved comparable sales growth, the group noted, while there were positive sales results in the Netherland, Belgium and Romania.
'With Frans Muller succeeding me as CEO on 1 July, I am confident our strong leadership team will continue to drive innovation and growth in stores and online as we create value for all our stakeholders and live up to our promise to be a better place to shop,' Boer added.
