Q4, Full-year Sales Looking Up at Ahold

Ahold has posted consolidated net sales of 7.8 billion euros (US $10.4 billion) for the fourth quarter of 2012, an increase of 7.5 percent over the year-ago period. At constant exchange rates, the international retail conglomerate’s net sales were up 5.1 percent. For the full year 2012, Ahold’s consolidated net sales came to 32.8 billion euros (US $43.6 billion), an 8.5 percent rise from 2011. At constant exchange rates, net sales increased 3.5 percent.

In the United States, the Amsterdam-based company posted a sales uptick of 4.3 percent, to $6.1 billion. “Our strong performance was partly driven by the exceptional efforts of our teams during Hurricane Sandy, which enabled our stores to remain open and to serve our customers during these difficult times,” noted Ahold. “The positive sales impact of Sandy was partly offset by a negative calendar impact due to the timing of year-end. We continued to gain market share in all our divisions.”

The company added that the 15 Genuardi’s stores it acquired last year “performed in line with expectations,” and that it had opened another four pickup points, for a total of eight in the United States.

Fourth-quarter identical sales for Ahold’s U.S. stores rose 2.4 percent (1.4 percent excluding gasoline), while comparable sales for the quarter grew 2.8 percent. Full-year net sales at the company’s U.S. banners were $25.8 billion, a 3.1 percent increase over 2011, while identical sales grew 1.4 percent (0.5 percent excluding gas) and comps were up 1.9 percent.
 

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