Major European retailers posted higher profits for last year and predicted continued robust growth, but warned the global credit crisis and slowing economies could crimp consumer spending.

Dutch Ahold and Belgium's Delhaize have big operations in the US where a weakening economy has led cash-strapped shoppers to hunt for bargains. The Dutch company is cutting prices as part of an overhaul of its US stores.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. posted a better-than-expected 2.6 per cent rise in February revenue at US stores open at least a year, thanks to strong sales of groceries, medicines and electronics.

US warehouse club Costco Wholesale Corp reported higher quarterly profits on Wednesday, attracting shoppers hunting for bargains on food and fuel.

World number two Carrefour said it expected faster sales growth this year to produce even faster profit growth after a 0.7 per cent increase last year underlying a net profit to €1.87 billion.

"We are expecting sales growth of six to eight per cent, excluding acquisitions, and an increase in activity contribution (operating profit) faster than sales," said the Paris-based operator of supermarkets from Beijing to Brasilia. A drop in French consumer confidence to multi-year lows was starting to hit non-food sales in the eurozone's second-largest economy but this was largely offset by the rise in food sales, Carrefour chief executive officer José Luis Duran told analysts.

Ahold, which makes more than half its sales in the US and the rest in Europe, said market trends in the first eight weeks of the year were similar to last year but the group was on alert for any change, chief executive officer John Rishton told reporters.