o www.ahold.com/reports2009
Message from our CEO - continued
Group at a glance
repositioning of these businesses, we launched a new Value Program in the summer
to provide even greater value to our customers. The initiative involved a new customer
loyalty card program, new in-store signage, and more targeted promotional activity.
At Giant-Landover, we continued to see the benefits of our Project Refresh store
remodeling program. 2009 was the second year of the three-year program and we
remodeled another 34 stores. At Giant-Carlisle, our improved price positioning and
perception resulted in strong volume growth and increased market share in a highly
competitive environment. In December, we announced Giant-Carlisle's acquisition
of 25 stores from Ukrop's Super Markets in Virginia and Stop Shop recently acquired
five stores in Connecticut formerly operated by Shaw's.
In November, we announced a series of changes to our European and U.S. organizations
to create a strong platform for future growth. The reorganization is designed to ensure
a sharper focus on local customer needs, create more efficient and effective support
functions in each continent, and provide a more robust approach to business development.
The changes will also further simplify and standardize processes and structure and ensure
Ahold can integrate acquisitions more efficiently as it pursues its growth strategy. As a
result of these changes, we named Carl Schlicker President and CEO of Ahold USA Retail
and in the Netherlands appointed Sander van der Laan as General Manager for Albert Heijn.
At the Corporate Center, Lodewijk Hijmans van den Bergh joined Ahold as our new
Chief Corporate Governance Counsel on December 1, 2009. He has been nominated for
appointment to the Corporate Executive Board at this year's annual General Meeting of
Shareholders. His predecessor, Peter Wakkie, retired at the end of the year. Peter had
been a member of our executive board since 2003 and played a major role in transforming
Ahold. I would like to thank him for the enormous contribution he made and wish him
well for the future.
We also continued to make progress with our corporate responsibility strategy. Along with
over 500 of the world's largest companies, we signed the Copenhagen Communiqué and
supported the Consumer Goods Forum initiative on climate change. Locally, each of our
businesses focused on activities in the community, including making donations to, and
working with, food banks, non-profit organizations, governments and community groups.
We also worked with national and local governments on a variety of issues. To help
customers, we launched new healthy product symbols and additional products in our
stores to make it easier for them to identify and choose a broader range. You can read
more about our corporate responsibility strategy and our activities in our 2009 Corporate
Responsibility Report.
In summary, I am pleased with our achievements in 2009. We continued to perform
well, strengthen our business, increase market share, and attract new customers. Our
employees - the core of our business - again made the difference with their unwavering
commitment to caring for our customers. I, along with my colleagues on the Corporate
Executive Board, extend our thanks and appreciation to them for their support and hard
work. As we look to the year ahead, I am confident that with our strong position we will
be able to take advantage of opportunities to further strengthen and grow Ahold for the
benefit of our customers, employees and shareholders.
John Rishton
Chief Executive Officer
March 3, 2010
