Japanese retailer Aeon has posted a 9% increase in first-quarter operating profit on the back of improved sales.

Aeon reported operating profit of JPY30.88bn (US$388m) for the three months to the end of May, up 9.1% on a year earlier. Sales increased 10.5% to JPY1.33trn.

Net profit more than doubled to JPY13.1bn. The retailer kept its forecast for annual net profit of JPY68-73bn, which would equate to a 1.9-9.4% increase on last year.

Last month, Aeon announced a deal to take control of Tesco’s stores in Japan. The company has stores in 12 Asian territories and in March said it was expanding its business in Vietnam, Malaysia and into smaller cities in China.