Belgium-based retailer Delhaize has announced that overall group profit fell 7 per cent to €227m (US$291.1m) through the second quarter (Q2) of 2010, impacted by tougher than anticipated trading conditions in the southeast US market.

Revenues remained 'stable' through the quarter, down 0.1 per cent to €5.3bn, and increased by 4.7 per cent at actual exchange rates, although comparable store growth dropped 3.6 per cent in the US.

Belgian comparable store sales climbed by 5 per cent, the group noted, with Alfa-Beta in Greece enjoying a revenue increase of 5.5 per cent and Romanian and Indonesian operations seeing revenue growth of 19.9 per cent at identical exchange rates.

'While we are disappointed in our southeast US sales numbers, we believe they are not reflective of the underlying strength and the long-term growth potential of the business,' said group president and CEO Pierre-Olivier Beckers. 'We are committed to our strategic price investments started at the beginning of the year at Food Lion, and believe that we have the right value proposition to respond to the needs of pressured consumer.

The group noted that it would adjust operating profit growth guidance to between -2 per cent and 2 per cent, compared with previous estimates of 2-5 per cent.

'As a consequence of our commitment to continued price investments, the lower than expected outlook on US inflation for the rest of the year, and the persistently difficult and volatile economic environment we are facing in the US southeast and the increasingly tough environment in Greece, we now expect operating profit growth to range between -2 per cent to 2 per cent at identical exchange rates for the full-year 2010,' Mr Beckers added.

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