The results have been delayed for months as the company struggled with the aftermath of the admission that the fiddling of figures at the US Foodservice unit meant profits had been overstated by $880m.

The previous years' results were also affected, with profits revised down 33% to 750m euros for 2001 and down 17% to 920m euros for 2000.

But despite its difficulties, the company is insisting that it can continue operating quite satisfactorily without having to use the unsecured part of a 3.1bn euro credit facility it has at its disposal.

Ahold's stock rose 6% in early morning trade on Thursday, as investors expressed relief that the firm had come clean, traders said.

Growing problems

Ahold's problems began innocuously enough, with the announcement of its first loss in three decades in the second quarter of last year.

But in February 2003 revelations of trouble at Foodservice - one of a rash of acquisitions made in the high-rolling 1990s, leaving Ahold with 12bn euros in debt - sparked fears that Europe could be about to experience its own Enron-style accounting scandal.

The news immediately struck the company's shares, which slid two-thirds in a single day.

The scale of the scandal has steadily grown, from estimates of about $300m early this year to the $880m revealed in an internal inquiry in May.

Tht menat that the company's results - which were originally meant to be out in March - were then delayed till June.