AMSTERDAM—Royal Ahold NV on Thursday said its second-quarter net profit rose 33% from a year earlier, as the Dutch supermarket operator reaped the benefits of a strong performance from its Albert Heijn chain at home.

Net profit rose to €195 million ($216 million) from €147 million a year earlier, while sales rose 17% to €8.7 billion. Underlying operating profit, which excludes the divestments and restructuring charges, rose 15% to €331 million.

Ahold, which generates about two-thirds of its sales in the U.S., benefited from the weakening of the euro against the U.S. dollar, which provided a sharp increase to the value of its sales. Excluding the impact of currency developments, sales rose 3%.

Ahold also attributed the increase to continued improvements at its Albert Heijn chain in the Netherlands, where it recorded 4% comparable sales growth, up from a 1.7% decline a year earlier. In the U.S., where Ahold owns the Stop & Shop and Giant Landover chains, comparable sales excluding gasoline rose 1.9%, compared with a 1.7% decrease a year earlier.

This was Ahold's first earnings report since the announcement of its planned $29 billion merger with Belgium's Delhaize Group, a tie-up that would create one of the largest supermarket operators in the U.S.

Write to Maarten van Tartwijk at maarten.vantartwijk@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 20, 2015 02:25 ET (06:25 GMT)