Food Lion announced an increase in quarterly sales and the immediate retirement of Tom Smith, president and chief executive officer, simultaneously, after the stock market closed Wednesday night.

Bill McCanless, senior vice president of administration at Food Lion, replaces Smith as president and CEO. Pierre-Olivier Beckers, chief executive officer of Delhaize ‘‘Le Lion’’ Group, the supermarket chain based in Brussles, Food Lion’s largest shareholder, with 52 percent of stock, becomes chairman of the board.

The company reported first quarter sales of $2.4 billion, an increase of 4.4 percent over first quarter 1998 sales of $2.3 billion. After adjusting for a change in the way the company records sales tax related to its MVP card program, sales were up 6.8 percent.

After a $2.4 million after-tax charge payable to Smith in post-retirement benefits, the company’s earnings were $58.6 million compared with $55.2 million during the same period the previous year, an increase of 6.1 percent. Earnings per common share were $.12.

But Wednesday, Food Lion stock traded at 8 3/4 for B stock (down 13 percent for the year) and 9 for A stock (down 15.3 percent for the year).

Investors, who were already frustrated that their stock was not making gains in a vigorously bullish market, wonder what this change will mean for their investments.

One major broker said he did not expect the change in management to have any immediate impact on Food Lion stock prices. ‘‘I don’t think Smith was the cause of the local problems or the cause of problems in years gone past, but he may be viewed as the old regime to whom problems were attributable,’’ he said.

Stock brokers quoted in a recent story in the Post said Food Lion stock had been behaving as grocery chain stock typically does. They attributed Food Lion’s slowing stock to a decrease in the company’s growth rate. Adding 100 stores a year when the company had 400 stores represented a 25 percent increase. Now, with more than 1,000 stores, adding 100 more a year is only a 10 percent increase.

Also, grocery store chains are not glamor stocks like the technology stocks currently driving the market and Food Lion’s stock has actually been doing a little better than Winn-Dixie and Ruddick, parent company of Harris Teeter.

Bill McCanless, president and CEO, received his bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. One of his professors was Dr. Stephen Jolly, a faculty member in accounting who has been following Food Lion for 20 years, said, ‘‘I think Bill McCanless will do an excellent job. Different executives nearly always have different styles but I have a lot of confidence in him.’’

Jolly said he has no plans for getting rid of his Food Lion stock and will buy more at the appropriate time.

Charlie Parks, an investment manager and financial planner in Salisbury, said, ‘‘Bill McCanless certainly is on the hot seat. They’re mired in an industry that is tremendously competitive and net profit margins are thin to begin with. Rising labor costs are really squeezing them even harder. The bottom line will determine what stock prices are going to be over a long period of time.’’

Parks said investors who own the stock should be pleased that the first quote attributed to the new president is he wants to use the strength of the company to build shareholder value. ‘‘The trick is how you go about doing it.’’

Food Lion announced the renewal of the annual share repurchase program for 1999 in the amount of $100 million. The company will activate the program immediately.

As grocery stores go, Parks said, Food Lion’s results are good, but profits are going to determine the price of the stock. ‘‘That’s going to come from increased sales and more stores being open.’’

The company plans to open 80 new stores in 1999 and remodel 140 supermarkets during the year. Approximately 49 remodels should be completed within the next three months.

During the quarter, Food Lion signed a contract to buy the assets of 28 former A&P locations in Virginia. The company has already acquired 18 of those sites and is in the process of finalizing details on the remaining 10 locations.