Grocery retailer Ahold Delhaize beats first-quarter sales expectations

Supermarket group Ahold Delhaize beat expectations with its first-quarter sales thanks to a strong performance in the U.S. and loyalty programmes, it said on Wednesday. The Netherlands-headquartered company announced quarterly sales of 21.62 billion euros ($23.80 billion), beating the 21.5 billion euros expected by analysts.

Quarterly operating income was 822 million euros, in line with analysts' expectations of 823 million euros. ($1 = 0.9084 euros)