Ahold

From Wikicompany

Ahold is Dutch multi-national retail company, consisting of a group of of local food retailers, which each operate under their own brand name. Aholds operations are located primarily in the United States and Europe.

Subsidiaries

Europe

• Ahold Czech Republic A.S.
• Ahold Polska - (Poland)
• Ahold Retail Slovakia k.s.
• Ahold Supermercados S.L. - (Spain)
• Albert Heijn - (The Netherlands)
• Gall & Gall - (The Netherlands)
• Etos - (The Netherlands)
• Deli XL - (The Netherlands)
• Schuitema - (The Netherlands) (73%)
• ICA AB - (Scandinavia) (50%)
• Jerónimo Martins - (Portugal)

USA

• U.S. Foodservice
• Stop & Shop
• Giant-Landover, Giant-Carlisle
• Tops
• Peapod

Latin America

• G. Barbosa - (Brazil)
• CARHCA - (Central America)
• Disco - (Argentina)

People

• Anders C. Moberg has been President and CEO since September 4, 2003.
• Hannu Ryöppönen has been Executive Vice President and CEO since September 4, 2003.
• Peter Wakkie has been Executive Vice President and Chief Corporate Governance Counsel since November 26, 2003.

The previous CEO and CFO, who resigned following the recent accounting scandal, were Cees van der Hoeven and Michael Meurs, resp.

History

The company's origins can be traced back to the 1800s with the founding of the Albert Heijn grocery store in Oostzaan, Holland. The grocery chain expanded through the first half of the 20th century, and went public in 1948.

The company became the largest grocery chain in the Netherlands, expanded into liquor stores and cosmetic stores in the 1970s, and changed its name to "Ahold". The company expanded internationally starting in the mid 1970s, eventually buying chains in Spain, the United States, and Portgual, and accelerating its acquisitions in the latter half of the 1990s in markets in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia.

This ambitious global expansion was halted by an accounting scandal at a US subsidiary.

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.

By 2003, Ahold had totally pulled out of Asia. It has also pulled out of Brazil, once a sizable market for Ahold, and it has sold the Bi-Lo chain in the United States.

Currently, Royal Ahold is still the fourth largest retail based company in the world after Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Home Depot. However, a large part of its turnover is from foodservice, and on the basis of retail sales alone it would rank a few places lower.