ZAANDAM, Netherlands, Oct. 25, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Ahold (NYSE:AHO) announces it will be integrating operations in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to create a new organization, Ahold Central Europe (ACE). This organization, operating out of a central support office in Prague, Czech Republic, will combine backoffice functions and management of Ahold's Polish, Czech and Slovak businesses, while maintaining localized operations in the three countries. Jacquot Boelen, previously CEO Ahold Polska, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of ACE.
Through ACE, the three countries will merge such functions as Sourcing, Human Resource Development, Marketing and Formats, Administration and IS&T to better utilize economies of scale and shared knowledge in the region. The overall organization and central support office will be managed by one common CEO, Jacquot Boelen.
Daytoday operations for the store chains and distribution centers will remain localized through separate country organizations and support offices, each managed by a Chief Operating Officer who will report directly to Boelen. COOs will have full responsibility for operations (financial results and market position) at Albert and Hypernova formats in their countries.
Boelen (42) joined Ahold Polska in January of 2001 as President and CEO. He has overseen much progress by Ahold in the Polish market, including the further expansion of Hypernova hypermarkets and the rebranding of the company's supermarkets to Albert.
Peter Ruzicka, current CEO of Ahold Czech Republic, has elected to return to his home country Norway to pursue other opportunities and will hand over responsibilities to Boelen as of January 1, 2003. Ruzicka led the company to becoming the market leader in food in the Czech Republic and has contributed greatly to the development of the new centralized organization.
ACE will manage over 400 Albert supermarkets and Hypernova hypermarkets in Central Europe with combined 2001 sales of approximately Euro 1.3 billion. The integration will begin on January 1, 2003 and is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
Ahold
Ahold is an international food retailer and foodservice operator with 2001 sales of Euro 66.6 billion and approximately 9,000 stores and foodservice activities in 27 countries on four continents.
This press release contains "forwardlooking" statements. Those forwardlooking statements include, but are not limited to, statements as to the expected timing and terms of proposed transactions and expectations as to the completion of proposed transactions. Those forwardlooking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in those forwardlooking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, the effect of general economic conditions, changes in interest rates in the countries in which Ahold operates, the behavior of other market participants and the actions of government regulators. Fluctuations in exchange rates between the Euro and the other currencies in which Ahold's assets, liabilities or results are denominated, in particular the U.S. dollar, the Polish zloty, the Czech crown and the Slovak crown, can also influence the actual results as can other factors discussed in Ahold's public filings. Many of these factors are beyond Ahold's ability to control or estimate precisely. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forwardlooking statements, which only speak as of the date of this press release. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors, see Ahold's Annual Report on Form 20F for its most recent fiscal year. Ahold does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to those forwardlooking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. Outside The Netherlands Koninklijke Ahold N.V., which is its registered name, presents itself under the name of "Royal Ahold" or simply "Ahold".