Supermarket group Ahold booked sales of €7.1bn in the second quarter of 2010, an increase of 10.8% on the same period a year ago.

Excluding currency effects, the growth in sales was 4.4%
Operating profit was up 17.6% at €347m while net profit rose 3.1% to €202m.
“We continued to grow sales, volumes and market share in the Netherlands and the United States while delivering solid financial results,’ CEO John Rishton said in a statement.
However, ‘market conditions remained challenging with high levels of competitive promotional activity,’ he said.
In the US, net sales were up 5.5% to $5.5bn, due largely to acquisitions. In the Netherlands, net sales rose 4.4% to €2.3bn.