History - 2003

December

• Ahold confirms that the exclusivity period for negotiations with Chilean retailer Cencosud S.A. for the sale of Ahold's controlling stake in the Argentine supermarket chain Disco S.A. has lapsed. Both parties could not reach final agreement within this period.
• Later in December, Ahold announces it is engaged in exclusive negotiations with joint prospective buyers, the investor Mr. Francisco de Narváez and Casino Guichard Perrachon S.A., for the sale of Ahold's controlling stake in Disco S.A.
• Dudley Eustace, the man brought in as interim CFO in March, completes his term as a member of the Corporate Executive Board at Ahold.
• Ahold announces the closing of its approximately EUR 3.0 billion 2 for 3 rights offering and related rump offering of 620,951,317 new common shares.
• Ahold announces it has successfully completed the sale of its Peruvian operation, Supermercados Santa Isabel S.A. The sale agreement is with Grupo Interbank and a group of investors led by Nexus Group.
• Ahold announces its agreement with Grupo Interbank and a group of investors led by Nexus Group on the sale of 100% of its shares in its Peruvian operation, Supermercados Santa Isabel S.A.

November

• Ahold announces results for first three quarters of 2003.
• Ahold announces terms of its proposed rights offering.
• Ahold confirms it is engaged in negotiations with Cencosud S.A. for the sale of its controlling stake in Disco S.A.
• Ahold sells two Polish hypermarkets to Carrefour Poland.
• Ahold outlines 'Road to Recovery', its 3-year financing plan and strategy to restore value.
• Ahold published its 2003 half-year results

October

• Ahold announces its audited, financial position as per December 29, 2002 and the results for the year then ended.
• Ahold completes sale of Golden Gallon, its fuel and merchandise convenience store, to The Pantry, Inc..
• Ahold appoints Lawrence S. Benjamin as Chief Executive Officer at U.S. Foodservice.
• Ahold announces the filing of its Annual Report 2002 on Form 20-F with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Ahold publishes its Annual Report 2002

September

• Ahold announces it has successfully completed the sale of its 100% interest in Supermercados Stock S.A. to A.J. Vierci. This transaction is limited to Ahold's supermarket activities in Paraguay.
• Shareholders approve the appointment of Anders Moberg as President and Chief Executive Officer and Hannu Ryöppönen as Chief Financial Officer at General Meeting of Shareholders.
• Ahold publishes financial information for Albert Heijn and Stop & Shop for fiscal years 2000 - 2002.
• Ahold Supervisory Board announces changes to its composition: Chairman Henny de Ruiter to resign at the next shareholders' meeting and Karel Vuursteen to succeed Mr. De Ruiter.
• Ahold CEO Anders Moberg announces his agreement to adjust his remuneration package in response to public debate on the subject.

August

• Ahold obtains extension of deadline for delivery of audited, consolidated financial statements for 2002 to September 30, 2003.
• Ahold announces its proposal to nominate Peter Wakkie as Chief Corporate Governance Counsel and member of the Corporate Executive Board, effective October 15, 2003.
• Ahold announces successful sale of its 99.6% interest in Santa Isabel S.A. to Chilean retailer Cencosud S.A. The transaction is limited to Ahold's supermarket activities in Chile.

July

• Ahold announces that all of the ongoing internal forensic accounting investigations at Ahold, its subsidiaries and its joint ventures were completed. The forensic accountants identified an additional approximately EUR 73 million of intentional accounting irregularities related to improper purchase accounting.
• Ahold announces the appointment of Joost Sliepenbeek as Senior Vice President and Controller.
• Ahold announces that the Public Prosecutor in Amsterdam is conducting a criminal investigation regarding Ahold.

June

• Ahold divests Dutch candy store chain, Jamin Winkelbedrijf B.V.
• Ahold announces that on May 30, 2003, it provided its bank syndicate with the audited 2002 financial report for Albert Heijn.
• Ahold announces its proposal to nominate Hannu Ryöppönen as company Chief Financial Officer.
• Tops Markets President and CEO, Frank Curci, tenders his resignation.
• the audited 2002 financial report for Stop & Shop is provided to Ahold's banking syndicate.

May

• Ahold extends the U.S. Foodservice securitization programs by another sixty days.
• Ahold announces that Deloitte & Touche had resumed their audit at Albert Heijn and Stop & Shop.
• the proposal to nominate Anders Moberg as President & Chief Executive Officer of the company is announced; he assumed the position of Acting CEO on May 5.
• forensic accounting work being performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as part of our internal investigation of subsidiary U.S. Foodservice is announced to be substantially complete, finding a total overstatement of pre-tax earnings of approximately USD 880 million. The legal internal investigation continued.
• the Ahold shareholders' meeting extends the deadline for completion of the 2002 annual accounts.
• Jim Miller, then President and Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Foodservice and a member of the Corporate Executive Board of Ahold, resigns from these positions.
• This resignation is followed shortly thereafter by Michael Resnick, Chief Financial Officer of U.S. Foodservice, and David Abramson, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of U.S. Foodservice, resigning from their positions. All three ceased to be employed by U.S. Foodservice effective October 1, 2003.
• Ahold obtains a bank extension of the deadline for delivery of audited, consolidated accounts for 2002. This was necessary because, given the thoroughness required, it was determined that it would take the company longer than anticipated to complete the accounts.
• The company announces an estimated additional USD 29 million reduction of pre-tax earnings, primarily at Tops Markets in the U.S., as a result of internal investigations.

April

• Ahold announces plan to divest Indonesian operation to Hero. Finalization expected Q3 2003, subject to Hero shareholder approval.
• Ahold announces plan to divest South American operations in Brazil, Argentina, Peru and Paraguay.

March

• Dudley Eustace appointed interim Chief Financial Officer. Transition period completed following resignation in February of CEO Cees van der Hoeven and CFO Michiel Meurs.
• Ahold enters into new revolving credit facility with ABN AMRO, Goldman Sachs, ING, JP Morgan and Rabobank.

February

Ahold announces that:

• net earnings and earnings per share would be significantly lower than previously indicated for fiscal 2002
• our financial statements for fiscal 2000 and 2001 would be restated. We indicated that these restatements primarily related to overstatements of income related to vendor allowance programs at our subsidiary U.S. Foodservice.
• ongoing forensic investigations into the accounting irregularities at U.S. Foodservice and the legality and accounting treatment of certain questionable transactions at our Argentine subsidiary, Disco.
• certain joint ventures would be deconsolidated based on information that had not previously been made available to Ahold's auditors.
• in view of these developments, we also announced that Cees van der Hoeven and Michiel Meurs would resign
• Ahold's auditors had decided to suspend the 2002 fiscal year audit pending completion of the investigations.
• Ahold had obtained a commitment for a new credit facility, totaling EUR 2.65 billion.

January

• ICA Ahold and AEGON end negotiations on forming joint venture involving ICA Ahold subsidiary, ICA Banken.
• Ahold streamlines back-office operations at four U.S. retail companies: Giant-Carlisle and Tops, and BI-LO and Bruno's.
• Ahold 2002 sales rise 9.2% to Euro 62.7 billion