ZAANDAM, Netherlands — Ahold here said Thursday it has reached an agreement to sell its Slovakian division to local retailer Condorum.
Ahold Slovakia operates 24 stores, with sales of about $214 million. Terms of the sale were not disclosed, and Ahold said the sale would not have a material impact.
“An exit from this country enables management to focus on its continued successful improvement of the Czech Republic business where the company operates 283 Albert stores,” which had 2012 sales of about $2.4 billion, Ahold said in a statement.
Separately, the company said net income for the third quarter was up about 17%, to $221 million, on a sales gain of 0.6%, to about $10 billion, at constant exchange rates.
The company said its home market of Netherlands experienced pressure from the economy, and the U.S. held its ground. “In the United States we continue to operate in a very competitive environment with low inflation,” said Dick Boer, chief executive officer. “With limited sales growth we gained market share in the supermarket segment and maintained our share in the all-outlet market. We were able to maintain a solid underlying operating margin, supported by continuous cost savings.”
As previously reported, in the third quarter, U.S. sales were $5.9 billion, up 0.2%. Identical-store sales growth was 0.1% (0.6% excluding gasoline). Operating income was $237 million. Underlying operating margin was 4%, vs. 4.1% last year.
| Suggested Categories | More from Supermarketnews |
 |
|
|
|