Ahold U.S. Banners Fighting Margin Pressure - AMSTERDAM

Ahold here on Friday said it would accelerate introductions of its value improvement program in its Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover banners after reporting that weak economic conditions and increased competitive activity led to a "very tough" fiscal third quarter and expectations for more of the same for the fourth quarter. Identical-store sales fell by 1.3% at Stop & Shop (1.8% excluding gasoline) and by 0.5% at Giant-Landover during the quarter, officials said. Giant-Carlisle posted a 4.8% identical-store sales gain, but Tops' ID sales fell by 6.2%. Profits as a percentage of sales at all four banners suffered as well, prompting officials to predict that overall annual margins would be at the low end of prior estimates of 4% to 4.5% of sales. Overall quarterly profits of $278.5 million increased 7.5% from a year ago, excluding the effect of a lawsuit settlement in the year-ago period. Overall quarterly sales of $13.7 billion increased by 0.7%. Ahold stock was down by nearly 3% Friday.