UPDATE: Ahold 1Q Sales +15.2%, Boosted By Stronger Dollar

Food retailer Royal Ahold NV (AH.AE) Wednesday posted a higher-than-expected rise in first-quarter revenue, due to robust sales at all of its key chains and the stronger dollar.

"In Europe and the U.S., our performance remained solid and we continued to focus on striking a balance between sales growth, market share and margin," the company said in a statement.

Ahold's sales rose 15.2% to EUR8.7 billion from EUR7.51 billion a year earlier, in line with a Dow Jones Newswires poll of six analysts which called for EUR8.6 billion. In constant currencies, they were 6.2% higher.

Sales at Ahold's key U.S. chains, Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover, rose 3.7% to $6.79 billion from $6.55 billion a year earlier. Translated into euros, net sales in the U.S. rose 19.2%, with same-store sales up 3.1% at Stop & Shop and 3.6% at Giant-Landover, Ahold said.

At its domestic Albert Heijn unit, sales were up 12.3% to EUR3 billion, partly due to the conversion of former Schuitema stores it acquired from CVC Capital Partners Ltd.

However, sales at the Albert/Hypernova chain in the Czech Republic and Slovakia dropped 3.9% to EUR491 million.

SNS Securities analyst Richard Withagen said Ahold's sales were "very good," and noted that the retailer's performance was better-than-expected at almost all of its operations, particularly at the Giant-Landover chain. Withagen rates Ahold at buy.

Ahold shares, which have fallen 15% over the past 12 months, closed at EUR8.25 Tuesday.

Company Web site: www.ahold.com

-By Maarten van Tartwijk; Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]