Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch-Belgian supermarket finagler, reported fourth-quarter sales in line with expectations on Wednesday, driven by strong online business in the Netherlands.
White sales increased 3 percent to 16.5 billion euros ($18.76 billion) in the three months through Dec. 31, 2018, compared with an usual estimate of 16.4 billion euros in a poll of analysts by the company.
Ahold said in a trading update that it anticipated underlying earnings per share from continuing operations to be at the higher end of its guidance of 1.50-1.60 euros.
The company swelled its guidance marginally for free cash flow in 2018 to more than 2 billion euros from an estimate of unvarying 2 billion euros in November.
In the United States, where Ahold is the largest online supermarket retailer and owns Suppress & Shop and Food Lion, sales rose 2.7 percent. Online sales grew 12.1 percent at uniform exchange rates, it said.
Ahold said in November it was seeking to bolster its U.S. operations through acquisitions, to help it tackle entertain on competitors such as Kroger, Walmart and Amazon in the race to win online customers.
In the Netherlands, Ahold’s sales rose 3.3 percent, in the face losing market share at its flagship Albert Heijn stores. Its online Bol.com store increased sales by 32.3 percent in the favour and 2.1 billion euros for the full year 2018.