BALTIMORE, Feb. 28, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- On February 25, 2003, Law Offices Of Charles J. Piven, P.A. commenced a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on behalf of purchasers of the securities of Koninklijke Ahold N.V. d/b/a Royal Ahold, Inc. ("AHOLD" or the "Company") (NYSE:AHO) between May 15, 2001 and February 21, 2003, inclusive, (the "Class Period") against defendants AHOLD, certain of its officers and directors, and its accountants, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.
The case, captioned Manson v. Koninklijke Ahold N.V., et al. is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. 03 CV 1243.
The complaint alleges that defendants violated the federal securities laws by issuing materially false and misleading statements throughout the Class Period that had the effect of artificially inflating the market price of the Company's securities. A copy of the complaint filed in this action is available from the Court.
During the Class Period, defendants issued many statements and filed quarterly and annual reports with the SEC which depicted the Company's net income and financial performance. The complaint alleges that these statements were materially false and misleading because they omitted and/or misrepresented several undesirable facts, such as that, during the Class Period, AHOLD had significantly overstated its operating earnings for its U.S. Foodservice division. The complaint further alleges that the Company lacked sufficient internal controls resulting in an inability to determine the true financial condition of AHOLD, which lead to the value of the Company's net income and financial results being materially overstated at all pertinent times.
On February 24, 2003, before the market opened for trading, AHOLD announced that it discovered over $500 million in "overstatements of income related to promotional allowance programs," requiring the Company to restate its previously issued financial reports for fiscal years 2001 and 2002. Following this report, shares of AHOLD declined over 60%, to close at $4.16 per share, on volume of more than 16 million shares traded, or nearly thirty times the average daily volume.
If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than April 28, 2003, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of this case. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiff." Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by your decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Law Offices Of Charles J. Piven, P.A., or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
Law Offices Of Charles J. Piven, P.A. has been involved in securities litigation for over ten years. If you are interested in being included in our action or serving as one of the lead plaintiffs, please contact Law Offices Of Charles J. Piven, P.A. who will, without obligation or cost to you, attempt to answer your questions. You may contact Law Offices Of Charles J. Piven, P.A. at The World Trade Center-Baltimore, 401 East Pratt Street, Suite 2525, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, by email at piven@pivenlaw.com or by calling 410/986-0036.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.