Ahold Expecting Tough Year

Netherlands-based mass grocery retailer (MGR) Ahold has forecast that its Czech Republic operation will report a loss in 2009, as its supermarkets and hypermarkets come under particular strain while consumer confidence continues to nosedive on the back of the country's weak economic outlook (BMI has forecast the Czech Republic's GDP to contract by 2.1% in 2009). Ahold's announcement that its two core segments are under strain falls in line with our core near-term view that discount retailers will claim market

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