Ahold

Ahold operates altogether some 7,000 hypermarkets, supermarkets and other stores around the world. Next to Carrefour, this is the most international of all the large supermarket retailers.

At the end of 1999, Ahold and its joint ventures had altogether 308,793 employees. This includes both full-time and part-time workers. Ahold reports that the total labour costs in 1999 were 1.5 Billion Euro, which corresponds roughly to 1.4 Billion USD. In the United States, Ahold had an average of 145,394 workers in 1999, up from 116,772 the year before. In the Netherlands, there were 63,163 workers, up from 62,011. In Portugal, Spain, the Czech Republic and Poland, the company had 25,965 workers against 19,532 the previous year. In Brazil, Bompreço employed 21,429 workers, an increase from 18,063 in 1998. Disco had 13,825 workers in Argentina and Santa Isabel had 11,670 employees in Chile, Peru, Paraguay and Ecuador. The joint venture with La Fragua in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras employed 7,340 workers. In Thailand and Malaysia, the total number of employees was 7,585.

On 7 September this year, Ahold announced that it would take over Superdiplo, a sizeable retailer in southern Spain and the Canary Islands, with 6,500 workers. On the same day, it announced that Peapod, its e-commerce subsidiary, had bought an on-line shopping and delivery service in the Eastern U.S., Streamline.com.

Ahold has its sight set at continued growth. In June, the company confirmed that it had approached some of the leading food retailers in Germany, France and the United Kingdom. Also in Spain, Ahold was actively looking for new acquisitions. In Slovakia, the company will establish itself with the same store formats as in the Czech Republic. Ahold has recently withdrawn from China and Singapore and will reportedly focus in Asia on Thailand and Malaysia.

The Dutch multinational is a leading partner in the business to business Internet market site, the Worldwide Retail Exchange.

Ahold’s 1999 net profits were 752.1 Million EUR (1EUR = 0.90 USD), a 37 per cent increase from the previous year. The sale increased 27per cent, to 33.6 Billion EUR.

Ahold is present in the following countries:

Number of stores in Netherlands: 1,773
Ahold NV, 150 employees,
Albert Heyn, 43,000 employees,
Gall & Gall, 2,000 employees,
Eros, 5,000 employees,
De Tuinen, 1,000 employees,
Deli XL, 2,000 employees,
FSSC, Albert Heyn 250 employees,
Zamin, 700 employees,
Marrelo, 400 employees,
Schuitema (73 per cent share), 4000 employees
A & P, 129 stores, acquired by Schuitema in 2000
Boots (UK) 17 drugstores in Netherlands acquired in 2000

Hypernova, 3 hypermarkets, 1,200 employees
Albert, 140 stores, 4,000 employees
Prima, 65 stores (19 mini-hypermarkets), 1,500 employees
DC Distribution Centre, 2 units
Mana, 8 supermarkets
Sesam, 63 discount stores, to be converted into Mana supermarkets

Sesam, 2 hypermarkets and 78 discount stores
Max, 35 supermarkets

Joint venture with Jeronimo Martins Retail:

Pingo Doce, 163 supermarkets
Feira Nova, 21 hypermarkets

Acquired a number of supermarket chains in 1999 and 2000

Eco Avila, Madrid
Longinos Velasco, Madrid
Dialco (Cobreros), Sevilla
Dumaya, Malaga
Guerrero, Granada
Las Postas, Marbella
Mercasol, Marbella
Kampio, Madrid and national
Superdiplo, southern Spain and Canary Islands

Hiperdino, 32 hypermarkets
Supersol, 210 supermarkets
Netto, 18 supermarkets in the Canary Islands
Cash Diplo, cash and carry markets
Ecore, warehouse club stores in Madrid

In July 2000, Ahold announced that it will establish itself in Slovakia, with the same store formats as in neighbouring Czech Republic.

Fifty per cent share in Sweden’s largest retailer ICA

(35 per cent market share in Sweden)

Fifty per cent share in Sweden’s largest retailer ICA

(28 per cent market share in Norway)

ISO supermarket, 50/50 joint venture through ICA established in June 2000

ISO Supermarket, 11 supermarkets in Copenhagen area

Presence through ICA

Presence through ICA

 

Stop & Shop, New England, New York State, 168 superstores, 34 supermarkets

Giant-Landover, eastern United States, 176 stores

Giant-Carlisle, eastern United States, 156 stores

Giant, 87 stores

Edwards, 69 stores

BI-LO, southern United States, 281 stores

Tops Markets, New York 199 stores, Ohio 45 stores, Pennsylvania 4 stores

B-Qwik, 8 stores

Wilson Farms Neighborhood Stores, 116 stores

U.S. Foodservice, acquired in 2000, 13,500 workers

GFG Foodservice, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, acquired in July 2000

PYA/Monarch, acquired in 2000

Food service company in southeastern United States

Golden Gallon, acquired in 2000

134 petrol stations and merchandise convenience stores in southeastern United States, to be integrated into BI-LO

Peapod Inc., internet grocer, majority ownership announced in April 2000

Streamline.com, internet grocer, through Peapod, announced in September 2000.

Disco, joint venture with Velox Retail Holdings, 220 supermarkets

Supamer

46 Americanos supermarkets

25 Mini-Sol convenience stores

Gonzales, 11 supermarkets

Pinocho, 8 stores (Being integrated into Disco)

Bompreço, 21,500 workers. On 26 June 2000, Ahold announced that it had taken over the remaining 50 per cent of the shares in what was originally a joint venture.

68 supermarkets

17 hypermarkets

22 other outlets

Santa Isabel supermarket chain, 79 per cent share through Disco Ahold International Holdings

62 Santa Isabel stores

Santa Isabel supermarket chain (Chile), 79 per cent share through Disco Ahold International Holdings

2 Santa Isabel stores

La Fragua, Guatemala’s leading food retailer, joint venture

4 hypermarkets

26 supermarkets

83 discount stores

6 other stores

 

Santa Isabel supermarket chain (Chile), 79 per cent share through Disco Ahold International Holdings

7 Santa Isabel stores

Santa Isabel supermarket chain (Chile), 79 per cent share through Disco Ahold International Holdings

24 Santa Isabel stores

4 Top stores (Being integrated into Santa Isabel)

Joint venture with Kuok Group

Parkson

Looking Good

TOPS

41 supermarkets around Bangkok

Ahold
web site

The Ahold web site, in English and Dutch, contains a lot of frequently updated detailed information about the company.