Amsterdam, Sept 17 - Dutch supermarkets group Super De Boer , majority-controlled by French peer Casino , doubled sales growth in the third quarter in stores which have been opened for at least a year, helped by rising food prices.
Super de Boer, the Netherlands' second biggest food retailer by sales after Ahold , said on Tuesday like-for-like sales growth was 4.2 percent compared with 2.1 percent in the year ago period.
"The sales increase was primarily due to inflation. It was able to pass on inflation (to consumers)," said Petercam analyst Fernand de Boer.
Super de Boer shares were flat at 3.32 euros by 1442 GMT, down from earlier gains of as much as 8 percent. The small-cap index <.ASCX> was 0.8 percent lower.
Analysts said the retailer's restructuring last year, which included selling loss-making stores and streamlining its distribution and logistics facilities, also boosted sales.
"Looking at the 9.5 percent sales per store growth, you can see the divestments of stores paying off," said analyst Ton van Ooijen at Kepler Equities.
Super de Boer which operates 308 stores throughout the Netherlands, said third-quarter consumer sales were unchanged at 470 million euros from the previous year period despite selling off 29 stores. Casino owns 57 percent of Super de Boer.