Belgium-based retailer Delhaize has upped its US sales forecast after a third quarter of rising revenue but flat company profits.
The company, which operates under the Food Lion and Hannaford banners in the US, said it expects like-for-like sales in the US to climb by 3.5-4% this year, up from its earlier guidance of 2.5-3.5%.
The upbeat forecast after like-for-like sales in the US rose 4.6% during the third quarter.
“We are particularly happy with the excellent performance of our operations in the US,” said president and CEO Pierre-Olivier Beckers. “We realised 4.6% US comparable store sales growth, the highest since 2000 and continued to grow our US operating margins.”
At constant exchange rates, company-wide revenue rose 4.3% to EUR4.7bn (US$6.9bn) during the three months to the end of September.

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By GlobalDataProfits inched up 0.5% to EUR215.6m at constant exchange rates but, when the weak dollar is taken into account, earnings fell 6%.