Sales hold and profits up as Dutch giant continues recovery
Sales at Dutch grocery group Ahold declined 0.9 per cent in the second quarter of this year to E10.4 billion (£7.04 billion) but net income reached E130 million (£87.9 million) after a E28 million (£18.9 million) loss in the same period last year.

The embattled retailer also reduced net debt to E6.1 billion (£4.14 billion) from E6.5 billion (£4.39 billion) last year as its road to recovery finally begins to show results.

The company described the latest figures as a 'stable performance', with 'improved profitability' and underlined its value repositioning across European operations as the retailer defends turnover in the highly competitive central European arena.

The troubled US Foodservice division is two thirds of the way to achieving the improvements in gross margin targeted in the road to recovery plan and operating costs are down 10 per cent from 2003.

'We are halfway towards achieving our retail net cost savings target of E600 million [£405.9] by the end of 2006,' said Ahold chief executive Anders Möberg. 'We are pursuing our operating targets for our food retail business for full-year 2006 of 5 per cent net sales growth, 5 per cent operating margin and 14 per cent return on net assets.'

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