Albert Heijn store Ahold

Retailer Ahold has announced that net sales through the first quarter of the year increased by 15.2 per cent, or 6.2 per cent at constant exchange rates, to hit €8.7bn (US$11.6bn).

In the group's home market of the Netherlands, Ahold reported a net sales increase of 12.3 per cent to €3bn (US$4bn) at its Albert Heijn operation, with identical sales up 4.7 per cent.

Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover stores in the US saw net sales up 3.6 per cent to US$5.3bn (€3.96bn), with identical store sales growth of 3.1 per cent at the former and 3.6 per cent at the latter.

Sales at Giant-Carlisle during the period ended 19 April 2009 also climbed, up 3.4 per cent to US$1.5bn (€1.1bn).

'In Europe and the US, our performance remained solid and we continued to focus on striking a balance between sales growth, market share and margin,' the group said in a statement. 'We remain well positioned to meet our customers needs and to respond to competition in the current turbulent economic market.'

The only downside to the group's first quarter results was a drop in sales at its Albert/Hypernova operations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with net sales falling 3.9 per cent to €491m (US$657m).