Supermarket group Ahold on Tuesday announced net profit of €291m in the first quarter of 2011, an increase of 6.2% on year earlier figures. Sales rose 5.9% to €9.3bn.

The rise in net profit was higher than analysts had expected, with Bloomberg forecasting a profit of €279m.
‘We delivered solid results and increased volumes in all our markets despite challenging conditions,’ CEO Dick Boer said in a statement.
In the Netherlands, where operating income was down €14m at €200m, margins were affected by increasing inflation which was not fully passed on to customers, the statement says.