Supermarket group Ahold booked net profit of over €2.5bn in 2013, boosted by €1.7bn from the sale of its stake in a Swedish supermarket group.

Sales for the year were up 2% at €32.6bn on constant exchange rates.

Internet sales were up, reaching over €1bn over 2013 as a whole, and the company expects further strong growth from online retail this year. Ahold bought the Dutch online retailer Bol.com in 2012.

‘While we expect economic conditions to gradually improve, we remain cautious in our outlook for the food retail sector in 2014,’ said chief executive Dick Boer in a statement.

‘We will continue to look for ways to simplify our business in order to reduce costs,’ Boer said.

The company says it has made ‘strong progress’ on plans to cut costs by €600m by the end of this year and has realised €485m to date by improving the way stores operate and its product sourcing.