Dutch supermarket group Ahold, owner of the Albert Heijn supermarket chain, has returned better figures than expected for the last quarter of 2009. The company also made a couple of surprise announcements during the presentation of its annual results this morning.

Ahold's turnover increased by 3.4 percent to 6.8 billion euros. On the other hand, profits fell by 8.2 percent to 267 million.

Over the whole year, Ahold sold more than 28 billion euros of goods, but profits fell by 17.4 percent to 894 million euros. The fall was caused in part by the high cost of promotional campaigns.

Surprise
In a surprise decision, Ahold also announced it will be buying up 500 million euros worth of its own shares this year. Analyst Theodoor Gilissen expects the company to increase its hold over shares to between 750 million euros and one billion euros after 2010. Shareholders will also receive higher dividends than expected. The move comes in response to criticism about the company's huge cash reserves.

As a result, Ahold did well on the Amsterdam AEX stock exchange index this morning, with shares climbing 4.6 percent to 9.61 euros.

Ahold is on the lookout for acquisitions both in Europe and the United States. The company says it has done well in a difficult market, with consumers in 2009 looking out for bargains and choosing cheaper alternatives over expensive products.

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