| Type | Naamloze vennootschap |
|---|---|
| Traded as | Euronext: AH, FWB: AHO |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | officially in 1973, parent company founded in 1887 |
| Headquarters | Zaandam, Netherlands |
| Key people | Dick Boer (CEO), René Dahan (Chairman of the supervisory board) |
| Services | Supermarkets and hypermarkets |
| Revenue | €29.53 billion (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | €1.336 billion (2010)[1] |
| Profit | €853 million (2010)[1] |
| Total assets | €14.73 billion (end 2010)[1] |
| Total equity | €5.910 billion (end 2010)[1] |
| Employees | 122,030 (FTE, end 2010)[1] |
| Website | www.ahold.com |
Ahold (in full Koninklijke Ahold N.V.) is a major international supermarket operator based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Ahold is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
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The company's origins can be traced back to 27 May 1887 with the founding of the Albert Heijn grocery store in Oostzaan, Netherlands. The grocery chain expanded through the first half of the 20th century, and went public in 1948. It became the largest grocery chain in the Netherlands, expanded into liquor stores and cosmetic stores in the 1970s, and changed its name to "Ahold" in 1973 (which stands for "Albert Heijn Holdings"). The company expanded internationally starting in the mid 1970s, eventually buying chains in Spain, the United States, and Portugal, and accelerating its acquisitions in the latter half of the 1990s in markets in Latin America, Central Europe, and Asia.
This ambitious global expansion was halted by fraud at the chain's American subsidiary U.S. Foodservice and by a Board level accounting scandal. In February 2003, the CEO and CFO resigned following charges of financial irregularities. Earnings over 2001 and 2002 had to be restated and the company began selling off some of its grocery chains in Latin America and elsewhere.
A similar scandal, albeit on a much smaller scale, arose in the Tops Markets unit at about the same time. The total of all liabilities and public image damage thus incurred proved burdensome and very difficult to overcome. By 2003, Ahold had totally pulled out of Asia. It has also pulled out of Brazil, once a sizable market for Ahold, and it sold the Bi-Lo and Bruno's chains in the United States.
In July 2006, it announced that the Northeast Ohio division of Tops Markets would be put up for sale and that the stores in that region would close by the end of the year regardless of whether or not they had been sold. In early October of that same year, Ahold issued a statement in compliance with the WARN Act, or Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, indicating that the stores would, indeed, close on 8 December 2006, regardless of whether they had been sold. In early November, Ahold announced that the remainder of the Tops chain in the states of New York and Pennsylvania would be put up for sale.
Ahold announced details of a major strategic review on 6 November 2006. As of May 2007 Ahold has reached a definitive agreement for the sale of U.S. Foodservice to a consortium of CD&R and KKR for 7.1 billion USD.[2] It will also divest retail operations in Poland and Slovakia as well as selling its 49% stake in Portugal's Jerónimo Martins.
In July 2007, Ahold's Stop & Shop division announced that it would exit the Philadelphia/Southern New Jersey market, selling 10 Super Stop & Shop stores to Wakefern, which will convert them to ShopRite Supermarkets.[3] The stores were all opened in the late 1990s under the Super G banner and represented new markets for Ahold. In 2005, the underperforming Super G stores switched banners and became Super Stop & Shop stores, in a failed attempt to revive sales. At that time, 4 New Jersey Super G stores were also shuttered.
Supermarket News ranked Ahold's U.S. division No. 7 in the 2007 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on 2006 fiscal year estimated sales of $24.0 billion.[4]
Formerly owned
Formerly owned
Formerly owned
Ahold also formerly owned the Edwards chain of stores, but changed most of the stores under that banner to Stop & Shop in 2000.
Formerly owned
Ahold's major shareholders are
(Annual Report 2010)
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