By Maarten van Tartwijk

AMSTERDAM--European supermarket operators Royal Ahold NV (AH.AE) and Delhaize Group (DEG) on Thursday reported a rise in fourth-quarter earnings and raised their dividends as they work to close their merger.

Netherlands-based Ahold reported net profit of 254 million euros ($276 million) in the last three months of 2015, a 16% rise compared with a year earlier, driven by a 21% rise in revenue to EUR9.8 billion. The company proposed to increase its full-year dividend by 8% to EUR0.52 a share.

Delhaize, meanwhile, said it returned to a net profit of EUR114 million in the fourth quarter, up from a net loss of EUR55 million in the same period a year earlier, while revenue rose 9% to EUR6.3 billion. It declared a dividend of EUR1.80 a share, a 13% rise from 2014.

The companies last year unveiled their planned merger in an all-share deal that would create one of the largest supermarket operators in the U.S. The deal comes as the grocers are seeking to increase scale as they grapple with slow growth and fierce competition from discounters.

The combined company will make around two-thirds of its sales on the U.S. East Coast, where Ahold operates the Giant and Stop & Shop chains and Delhaize owns Food Lion and Hannaford. The merger deal remains on track to be closed by this summer, the companies said, and shareholders are scheduled to vote on the tie-up on March 14.

The new company will be named Ahold Delhaize and be based in the Netherlands.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 03, 2016 02:14 ET (07:14 GMT)