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Swedish food retail and wholesale company Axfood remains on course to achieve its target earnings for 2010 after reporting consolidated sales of SKr8.58bn (€932.1m) for the period July–September, an increase of 6.6 per cent on the year-earlier figure of SKr8.05bn (€874.2m).

Retail sales for the group's own stores rose 2.7 per cent during the period, while like-for-like sales rose 0.3 per cent, the company said.

Operating profit for the period, meanwhile, was SKr364m (€39.5m), up 8.7 per cent on July-September 2009.

The group's net profit for the period also rose, by 9.2 per cent to SKr262m (€28.5m).

Axfood chief executive Anders Strålman attributed the stable performance to favourable sales growth, a positive operating result for all of the company's subsidiary businesses, and good efficiency and cost control.

'In line with our strategy we have also further developed and improved our various concepts and advanced our positions step by step,' he commented.