2Q sales up at Ahold U.S. segments

AMSTERDAM Ahold reported that net sales at its Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover segment were $4 billion for the second quarter, an increase of 1.7% over the same period last year. Identical sales were up 2.2% at Stop & Shop (1% excluding gasoline net sales) and down 1.5% at Giant-Landover (1.7% excluding gasoline net sales), impacted by lower pharmacy sales.

At Giant-Carlisle, net sales increased 11.5% to $1.1 billion for the quarter. Identical sales were up 7.0% (4.1% excluding gasoline net sales).

Ahold ceo John Rishton said “In the United States, the Value Improvement Program has now expanded beyond price repositioning to marketing and branding. We unveiled new logos and a number of brand initiatives for Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover last week as a further step in Ahold’s global strategy to build powerful local consumer brands. Giant-Carlisle continued to gain share in a highly competitive market.