Food retailer Ahold doing well

Major food retailer Ahold has had a profitable fourth quarter despite the economic crisis. The Dutch company on Monday reported a 285-million-euro net profit, up from 262 million in the same quarter in 2007. The Albert Heijn supermarket chain was particularly successful, with annual figures showing a 12 percent increase in turnover.

Profit over the whole year decreased by 63 percent to nearly 1.1 billion euros, but the decrease is mainly the result of one-off profits due to the 2007 sale of a number of subsidiaries. Ahold has not published the expected results for this year, but chief executive John Rishton did say that consumer spending has not changed in the first weeks of this year.

Ahold was the only stock on the Amsterdam blue-chip index AEX to rise on Monday morning.