Supermarket group Ahold faced difficult conditions in the third quarter of 2012 but managed to increase overall sales by 3.7% to €7.6bn, the company said on Thursday.

The growth in sales was pressured by the US, where sales were up 1.9%. In the Netherlands, the company achieved 8.1% growth, of which half was attributable to the consolidation of online retailer Bol.com.
Operational profit was down by 3.7% at €289m while net profit fell almost 50% to €139m, largely due to a €90m write-off, the company said.
‘We remain cautious in our outlook and expect market conditions to continue to be difficult,’ chief executive Dick Boer said in a statement. ‘We will closely monitor the potential impact of rising food commodity costs, particularly in the United States.’