ZAANDAM, the Netherlands – Ahold Delhaize said sales and profits increased in its second quarter as its stores in Europe and the United States gained market share.

President and CEO Frans Muller said the financial results confirm the strength and breadth of Ahold Delhaize’s brand portfolio.

“Our brands’ unparalleled understanding of customers, broad assortments and product offerings as well as the stickiness of food-at-home consumption are giving us the opportunity to play to our strengths and support customers in a challenging environment,” Muller said in an August 10 press release.

“Our brands are laser-focused on supporting customers and helping them to manage their spending efficiently,” Muller said. “Our brands do this by ensuring access to affordable, healthy food options, expanding their high-quality own-brand assortments, introducing more entry-priced product solutions, and ensuring our highly tailored omnichannel loyalty programs offer competitive and attractive solutions across all customer touchpoints.”

Second-quarter sales increased 6.4% at constant exchange rates to about $2 billion. At actual exchange rates, net sales grew 15%, the company said. Net sales in the United States, where the company does more than 60% of its business, were up 7.7% in the quarter. In Europe, net sales rose 4.2%.

Net consumer online sales increased 4.8% at constant exchange rates. Net consumer online sales in grocery increased 11.5%.

An operating margin of 4.1% was in line with the company’s historic profile, Ahold Delhaize said.

Cost-reduction efforts allowed the company’s own brands to absorb higher costs for energy, transportation and labor, and keep consumer prices “as low as possible,” according to the earnings release.

“By consistently executing our strategy, our brands again built on the prior-quarter results, delivering sequential improvement in comparable sales across all brands compared to Q1,” Muller said.

Ahold Delhaize upped its projections for full-year earnings, saying executives now expect per-share earnings growth in the mid-single-digits. The earlier outlook pegged per-share earnings for a low- to mid-single-digit decline from 2021’s performance.