Ahold, the Dutch retailer, on Thursday pledged to meet full-year margin targets despite seeing its operating margins eroded in the second quarter because it did not pass on rampant food price inflation to consumers.

The group, which makes nearly 60 per cent of its revenues in its three US chains of supermarkets, said it remained confident that it would hit an operating margin forecast of 4.8 to 5.3 per cent for 2008 after margins slipped to 4.3 per cent for the group in the quarter, down from 5.1 per cent a year ago.