ICA AB

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ICA Nära store in Norrköping, bordered by two letterboxes

ICA (Inköpscentralernas aktiebolag) AB is a Swedish corporate group in the retail business. The company was started in 1938, based on a business model which was introduced by Hakonbolagen since 1917. The company was owned by the participating retailers until 2000 when half of the company was sold to the Dutch retailer Ahold. Ahold is however prevented by contractual obligation from exercising majority control over ICA even if it later should acquire a majority of the shares. Most of its operations are based in Scandinavia, and the company is the largest retail company in the Nordic countries.

1 Sweden
2 Norway
3 Statoil retail stores
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Sweden

In Sweden, ICA Sverige AB operates 1,668 retail stores as of 2003. The stores have different profiles, depending on location, range of products and size:

ICA Nära ("ICA Near-by") — Convenience-type stores for daily retail needs.
ICA Supermarket — Mid-size supermarkets, located near where customers dwell or work carrying a wide range of products.
ICA Kvantum — Superstores for large, planned, purchases. Large spaces allocated for traffic and parking. Typically located outside of the cities.
MAXI ICA Stormarknad — Hypermarkets with a full range of groceries as well as fashions, homewares, entertainment and electrical. Smaller stores do not offer the fashion and electrical ranges while the largest stores also have a DIY and Garden department.

Each store is owned and operated separately, but operations are coordinated within the group. All feature ICA brand products.

During 2003, ICA Sverige AB had a turnover of 78 billion SEK (including VAT).

[edit] Norway

ICA Norge AS runs 1,028 stores in Norway as of 2003. Turnover for the same year was 23 billion NOK (excluding VAT).

[edit] Statoil retail stores

Until fairly recently Statoil and ICA jointly operated approximately 1300 retail stores at petrol stations in Scandinavia under the brand ICA Express. ICA sold their 50% share of the business back to Statoil and the ICA name is expected to disappear from the petrol stations in the future.