This spring, he offered to resign, only to receive a contract extension of up to seven years from Ahold's comatose board.Ahold, which earns two-thirds of its profits in America, from supermarkets and supplying meals to institutions, is suffering from soft retail spending and competition from Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer.
Soft retail sales and a weak holiday shopping season, he said, were "reasons you have to be cautious".
Two of the major indexes slipped Thursday as soft retail sales and a sharp rise in the dollar left investors edgy a day before the December jobs report.
They continue to be up double digits, although it has been a soft retail environment during the last month or two," the chief executive, Alfred J. Verrecchia, said.
Many think that Vingroup, the local developer behind that underground mega-mall, has taken a mega-risk by building in such a soft retail market.Trends in modern grocery retailing are equally hard to analyse with any certainty.
The report was the latest to confirm a sustained weakness in the economy through the second quarter, which has been marked by a sharp slowdown in regional factory activity, soft retail sales and anemic employment growth.
The Federal Reserve's beige book report, an anecdotal survey showed the economy was in the doldrums in the early autumn, held back by a listless job market and soft retail sales.
He said the Pokémon Center, as it is officially called, would be opening in a soft retail environment caused by the slowing national economy and the reduced numbers of tourists, as people have cut back on travel since Sept. 11.
Beyond the overall soft retail environment, the company must cope with a particularly sluggish market for retail music sales.
On Tuesday, Home Depot said profits slipped 14.8% amid softer retail sales.
