00 Ahold ANNUAL REPORT 2002 57
BOARD GOVERNANCE HIGHLIGHTS OPERATING REVIEW FINANCIAL INVESTOR REL AT IONS
Ahold Czech Republic A.S. ("Ahold Czech Republic") is a 99%-owned subsidiary that began food retail trade operations
in the Czech Republic in 1991 under the name "Euronova." As of the end of fiscal 2002, Ahold Czech Republic operated
212 food retail stores, with a particularly strong presence in Czech cities. It is one of the largest food retailers in the
Czech Republic as measured by fiscal 2002 sales volume.
In fiscal 2001, we expanded our operations in Central Europe to Slovakia. Ahold Slovakia, k.s., a wholly-owned subsidiary,
opened our first two stores in Slovakia in December 2001 and continued expansion during fiscal 2002 with the opening
of ten additional stores. In 2003, two additional stores have been opened.
As of the end of fiscal 2002, we had 172 Albert supermarkets, 32 Hypernova compact hypermarkets and eight Hypernova
hypermarkets operating in the Czech Republic. In Slovakia we operated two Hypernova hypermarkets and 10 Hypernova
compact hypermarkets at the end of fiscal 2002.
During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002, we began integrating our merchandising, back office and administrative
operations in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. To further this objective, we expect to create a new legal entity
called Ahold Central Europe, s.r.o, which is expected to be located in the Czech Republic.
Throughout late 1998 and 1999, we acquired a range of well known supermarket companies in Madrid and southern
Spain. The acquisition of Eco Avila and Longinos Velasco in Madrid through our wholly-owned subsidiary Ahold
Supermercados was followed by that of two family-owned businesses in the south of the country - Dialco in Seville, whose
stores traded under the "Cobreros" brand name, and Dumaya in Malaga. Later in 1999, we acquired Castillo del Barrio,
also in Malaga, and Guerrero in Granada. In October 1999, we acquired two smaller supermarket chains in Marbella on
the Costa del Sol - Mercasol and Las Postas - increasing our store base in Spain to a total of 160 stores.
We continued to grow in Spain during fiscal 2000 through a rapid expansion program, which increased our store base to
a total of 582 stores by the end of fiscal 2000. Our acquisition of Kampio, a prominent regional supermarket chain in
Catalonia, enabled us to extend our Spanish base from Madrid into Catalonia. We also acquired Superdiplo at the end of
fiscal 2000, which operates 341 supermarkets and hypermarket stores on the Canary Islands, in Andalusia and the greater
Madrid region. In July 2001, Superdiplo acquired Cemetro, a chain of 24 supermarkets, also in the Canary Islands.
As of the end of fiscal 2002, we operated 628 stores in Spain under the "Supersol" supermarket banner (in mainland
Spain and the Canary Islands) and the "Netto" convenience store banner (in the Canary Islands), the "Hipersol"
hypermarket banner (in mainland Spain), the "Hiperdino" hypermarket banner (in the Canary Islands) and the "Cash
Diplo" banner (in mainland Spain and the Canary Islands).
The following table sets out the net sales for our other segment that covers retail trade operations in Europe for fiscal
2002, fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2000:
Fiscal 2002 Fiscal 2001 Fiscal 2000
EUR Change EUR Change EUR
(in EUR millions, except percentages) (restated) (restated)
Schuitema
2,871
4.4
2,749
32.1
2,081
The Netherlands other
642
(05)
645
7.0
603
Czech Republic
924
17.1
789
31.9
598
Slovakia
54
2,600,0
2
Poland
577
45
552
40.5
393
Spain
2,047
2.7
1,993
284.7
518
Total Other Europe
7,115
5.7
6,730
62.6
4,193
