A strong dollar and modest growth helped Royal Ahold NV - the Dutch operator of 'Stop&Shop' and 'Giant' grocery chains in the US - post an 11.5 percent increase in its second-quarter net sales to euro6.43 billion from euro5.77 billion during the same quarter last year.

However, the sales figures reported Tuesday fell short of the analysts' estimates of euro6.53 billion sales, largely because of weak Albert Heijn stores' growth, and lower sales figures at Giant-Carlisle due to price cuts.

Commenting on Albert Heijn sales, John Kershaw, analyst at Bank of America Corp, said in a note to investors: "We had not expected such a slowdown and there is a suggestion that a trading down consumer is spending a little less at Albert Heijn as economic woes have grown."

Nonetheless, the second-quarter rise in sales indicates nearly 5.4 percent growth at Ahold's European stores, and almost 1.9 percent growth at the company's US stores, from which it gets more than half of its sales.

While Stop & Shop reported a 1.7 percent second-quarter revenue growth at stores open at least a year; Ahold's Giant-Landover supermarkets reported a 3.7 percent increase on that account.

Ahold, the Amsterdam-based company which releases sales data prior to its earnings report every quarter, is expected to post its full results on August 20.