Ahold profit slides despite sales growth

Retail group Ahold, parent company of among others Albert Heijn, Etos and bol.com, released its annual figures for the 2014 financial year today. The fourth quarter of 2014 brought Ahold sales of 8,061 billion euros, a 2.6 percent increased compared to the fourth quarter of 2013. Sales for the entire year amounted to 32,774 billion euros, a 0.8 percent increase compared to 2013. Despite the slight increase in sales, Ahold saw its profit decrease last year. The Underlying operating profit in the fourth quarter was 302 million euros, compared to 320 million euros in the same period in 2013 - a decrease of 10.1 percent. The profits for the entire year did not do much better with a 8 percent decrease - 1,267 billion euros in 2014 compared to 1,379 billion euros in 2013. The underlying operating margin for the fourth quarter was 3.7 percent compared to 4.3 percent for the same quarter in 2013. For the entire year the underlying operating margin amounted to 3.9 percent, a decrease of 0.3 percent compared to the 4.2 percent of 2013.