The agreement reached by Dutch supermarket group Ahold to settle a book-keeping fraud from the beginning of this century had a major impact on the company’s first quarter earnings.

Ahold posted Q1 net profit of €50m, compared with €1.95bn in the year earlier period. The settlement totalled €215m.

Turnover fell 2.5% to €9.8bn, Ahold said.

‘First quarter sales trends were similar to the previous quarter with a flat year-on-year performance, impacted by low inflation and volumes that remained under pressure in all our markets,’ CEO Dick Boer said in a statement.

Sales in the Netherlands reached €3.5bn, 1.2% more than a year ago. The increase is due to the opening of new shops and an increase in sales at online unit Bol.com. Like for like, sales were down 1.4% as customers bought fewer items, Ahold said.

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