Ahold Sales Rise in US, Netherlands
Ahold announced consolidated net sales of €7.8 billion for the fourth quarter of 2012, an increase of 7.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. At constant exchange rates net sales were up 5.1%.
18 Jan 2013 --- For the full year 2012, consolidated net sales were €32.8 billion, an increase of 8.5% compared to 2011. At constant exchange rates net sales were up 3.5%.
In the United States sales were up 4.3%. 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. 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 15 Genuardi’s stores we acquired in 2012 performed in line with expectations. Furthermore we opened another four pick-up points, bringing the total to eight in the United States.
The sales growth of 7.7% in the Netherlands was mainly driven by progress on our growth initiatives, including the addition of 15 former C1000/Jumbo stores that were converted during the second half of the year. Identical sales growth was impacted this quarter by the timing of year end and a disappointing performance from Etos in a very competitive health and beauty segment. Albert Heijn was able to further increase its market share. We opened our first three pick-up points for online grocery shopping in the Netherlands, and their initial performance is exceeding our expectations. We continue to be pleased with the performance of our Belgian stores. We opened three Albert Heijn supermarkets during the quarter, bringing our total number of Belgian stores to eleven. Bol.com showed a strong sales performance and continued to strengthen its position in the Netherlands.
In an ongoing tough environment in Other Europe, the VAT increase earlier this year continued to impact net sales. We continued to drive sales ahead of the competition and gained market share.
