Lisbon, May 3 - Portuguese supermarket operator Jeronimo Martins posted a 3 percent rise in first-quarter net profit on Wednesday, in line with analysts' forecasts and boosted by a 23 percent rise in Polish sales.
Profits at the company, Portugal's second-biggest retailer, reached 17.3 million euros.
Eight analysts polled by Reuters had expected the figure between 16.5 million euros and 20.1 million euros, with the average forecast 17.9 million euros.
Revenues were 964.3 million euros, up from 875.6 million euros in the first quarter of 2005.
Jeronimo Martins said it planned to open more stores in Portugal and Poland, underscoring recent comments by Chief Executive Luis Palha.
"The positive evolution of sales in the first quarter reinforces management's confidence in increasing the competitive capacity of the different formats," the company said in a statement.
Revenues from Poland, where the Biedronka unit is the country's biggest food retailer, were up 23 percent to 381.7 million euros.
Jeronimo Martins' shares trade at 16.1 times forecast 2006 earnings, according to Reuters Estimates. Shares in rival Modelo Continente trade at 16.6 times earnings before one-off items.
Jeronimo Martins shares closed on Tuesday down 0.07 percent at 14.29 euros as the benchmark PSI20 index ended up 0.02 percent. The DJ Stoxx retail index closed up 1.06 percent.