Holiday sales boost Ahold in fourth quarter

Friday 16 January 2009

Retailer Ahold, which operates supermarket chain Albert Heijn, said on Friday it booked net sales of €6.6bn in the fourth quarter of 2008.

This is an increase of almost 6% on the same year-earlier figures based on constant exchange rates.

Full-year net sales were € 25.7bn, up almost 7% compared with 2007 excluding currency effects. Sales growth, including the effect of the strong dollar, was 12.9%. Ahold makes almost half its sales in the US.

The Netherlands' leading supermarket group Albert Heijn booked turnover of €2.2bn in the last three months of 2008, a rise of 11.6% on the previous year.

In a statement Ahold said it has booked ‘a solid sales performance in all of its major markets, with strong holiday sales in the United States and the Netherlands’.

For the full Ahold statement, Click here