BRUSSELS — Delhaize Group here said yesterday that it took an impairment charge of $18.6 million for the value of 25 Sweetbay stores, indicating those locations are not meeting financial projections. “We continue to work our way toward profitability [at Sweetbay],” said Craig Owens, chief financial officer, Delhaize, citing recent sales gains and expense reductions at the banner. “We continue to be very optimistic about Sweetbay in the long term.” Owens made his remarks during a fourth-quarter earnings call in which the company projected U.S. comp-sales growth in the range of 2.5% to 3.5% for 2008. The declining value of the U.S. dollar led Delhaize to post a 0.5% decline in net income for the fourth quarter, to about $175.2 million, on a 3.4% decline in sales, to about $7.2 billion. At identical exchange rates, net income was up 7.5% on a sales gain of 5%. For the year, net income rose 16.5% (23.5% at actual rates) to about $630 million, on a sales decline of 1.4% (up 4.9% at actual rates), to about $29.1 billion. In the U.S., fourth-quarter operating profit was up 1.3%, to $268.1 million, on a 5.1% increase in revenues, to $4.59 billion. For the year, U.S. operating profit rose 6.4%, to about $1.02 billion, on a 5.1% gain in sales, to $18.17 billion.

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