Ahold USA Inc. / AHO
Giant Food, owned by Dutch parent company Royal Ahold, operates 185 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the District and employs 21,000 people. (Photo: Courtesy of company.)
About Ahold USA Inc.
1315 Lee-Jackson Memorial Hwy., Suite 210, Fairfax, Va. 22033
www.aholdusa.com
| 703-961-6000
| Founded: 1988
Industry: Retail | Category: Top Companies Headquartered Outside Region
Ahold has struggled to turn around the ailing local Giant Food chain since its purchase in 1998. So far, it has not had much success.
Last year was particularly tumultuous. It began on a hopeful note, with top executives from Giant's headquarters in Quincy, Mass., meeting with hundreds of store employees in February to boost morale. Workers have complained about scheduling problems, poor management and lack of communication since Giant was merged with Stop & Shop in 2004 after an accounting scandal in the U.S. Foodservice division.
Marc E. Smith resigned as chief executive and was replaced in April by Jose Alvarez, an executive vice president. By summer, two antsy investors — London-based Centaurus Capital and New York firm Paulson & Co. — were pushing Ahold to dump its U.S. division.
Ahold did shed 46 poorly performing Tops stores in Ohio in an attempt to streamline its business. It also said in November that it planned to sell U.S. Foodservice and this month announced it had reached an agreement with New York private-equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to sell the division for $7.1 billion.
Meanwhile, the company has been rolling out an aggressive pricing strategy in Giant stores, known as the "value improvement plan," while introducing premium private-label brands. The chain also has updated its blueprints, and several stores are undergoing long-awaited renovations. The moves are designed to help the traditional supermarkets compete with low-price behemoths such as Wal-Mart and upscale grocers such as Whole Foods.
But Ahold has a long way to go. Total sales at Giant and Stop & Shop stores were up 0.6 percent last year, to $16.4 billion, compared with 2005. Sales at stores open at least a year fell 2 percent, excluding gasoline sales, at Stop & Shop and 1.6 percent at Giant.
CFO: Bob Fishbune
2007 Financial Data
Total employees: 144,822 | Local employees: 14,206Did You Know
Ahold USA Inc., a unit of Dutch conglomerate Royal Ahold, owns supermarkets along the East Coast under the banners of Giant Food in the Washington area and Pennsylvania, Stop & Shop in the Northeast and Tops in New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It also operates U.S. Foodservice of Columbia, which distributes food to hotels and cafeterias, and several European chains.
