Delhaize Q4 sales better than expected on strong US business

BRUSSELS: Belgian supermarket group Delhaize on Monday unveiled better-than-expected sales growth in the United States for the fourth quarter and a decline in Belgium, marred by industrial action, that was not as bad as feared.

Sales at stores open for at least a year grew 3.6 percent in the United States, where Delhaize operates the Food Lion and Hannaford chains, above the 3.2 percent expected in a Reuters poll.

In Belgium, where the quarter was disrupted by industrial action in company-owned stores, like-for-like sales fell 6.9 percent. Analysts had on average expected a 7.3 percent fall.

For the group as a whole, revenues rose 11.4 percent to 5.795 billion euros ($6.48 billion), above the 5.523 billion euros expected in a Reuters poll of seven analysts.