<p><strong>Amsterdam, The Netherlands</strong><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"> Ahold has released its interim report for the first fiscal quarter of 2012. First quarter sales were €9.7 billion, up 1.9 percent at constant exchange rates. The first quarter operating income reported by the company was down 6.3 percent to €416 million and net income for the quarter was down 3.1 percent to €282 million.The company has made quite a few acquisitions with 98 new stores, 16 Genuardi's stores and 82 C1000/Jumbo stores along with bol.com.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">CEO Dick Boer stated, “Sales growth in the first quarter was modest at 1.9 percent at constant exchange rates, reflecting the timing of Easter and challenging market conditions. However, we saw underlying trends improving slightly as the quarter developed and are encouraged by the sales trend in the second quarter, albeit against a background of weak market conditions.”</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>The company expects 2012 to be a challenging year for the food retail industry. The economic uncertainty has put pressure on consumer spending especially Europe, according to a press release.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Mr. Boer, continues, “We will continue to invest in growth and are very pleased to have completed the acquisition of bol.com, whose capabilities will accelerate Ahold’s online growth, and look forward to completing our announced acquisitions of the Genuardi’s and C1000/Jumbo stores, which will extend our network in our two key markets.”<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.ahold.com" target="_new"> Ahold </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
