The year-on-year increase for the first half of the year was 15.4% as a result. "We're happy with such results in this difficult economic climate," said CEO Pierre-Olivier Beckers. Analysts said the position was helped by promotions stressing low-price ranges and by cost cutting. The public's attention to price cutting was also drawn by a dispute with Unilever which saw some products withdrawn by the supplier from the supermarket shelves because Delhaize insisted on lower prices.

According to one measure, Delhaize moved into first place in Belgium, with a 25.37% a market share narrowly outstripping Carrefour at 25.19%. But those figures from market research company AC Nielsen do not include brands other than the main parent brand, and ignore, for instance, the GB Express franchise chain owned by Carrefour.

"We still consider ourselves as number two," Beckers remarked. "The question of who's first or second is meaningless: it all depends on how you count. The important thing is that there are three retailers that each have a 25% market share. That relative market share is what counts."