Q2 sales up at Ahold U.S. segments

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

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

“In the United States, the Value Improvement Program has now expanded beyond price repositioning to marketing and branding,” Ahold chief executive officer John Rishton said. “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.”