New CEO Anders Moberg is hoping to restore investor confidence

Ahold reported that 2003 sales fell by 10.5% to 56bn euros, or $71.bn, hurt by the weaker dollar. Two-thirds of its sales are in the United States.

But shares in the company rose by 3.8% as the results exceeded expectations.

Excluding currency effects, Ahold sales were up 2.7% for the year, and up 0.7% for the last quarter, with a late surge in holiday shopping boosting results.

'Black hole'

But the company is still facing serious problems.

The shares plunged 43% in 2003 after an 2002 accounting error led to a loss of 1.2bn euros.

The mistakes have cost it a chief executive and have left it with about 10bn euros of debt.

The debts stem from the firm's rapid expansion in the 1990s.

But the accounting trouble the firm identified in its 2002 results - which were delayed for months - focus solely on a US subsidiary, Foodservice.

Rebuilding

Now the company is trying to rebuild through a combination of loans and disposals.

It plans to sell 2.5bn euros of assets by 2005, and has recently issued a 3bn euro rights issue and gained an additional 1.8bn euro bank credit line.

Ahold is among the biggest supermarkets in the US, operating under several brands in the Eastern United States including Giant, Stop-and-Shop, Tops, and Bruno's.

Earlier in the week Ahold was sued by a group of shareholders who charged that its earlier accounts were also misleading.