Monday, May 10, 1999
Royal Ahold, the food retailer, has signed an agreement to acquire eight supermarkets in Poland. The stores, currently owned by Centrum, a family-owned business, are located in the southern part of Poland. They have an average selling space of approximately 9,000 sq.ft. (900 sq.m.). The stores will be converted to the Ahold Polska store formats.
The acquisition strengthens Ahold's position in Poland, where it now operates almost 100 stores which include two hypermarkets. Ahold Polska, with 1998 sales of approximately USD 175 million (? 161 million), now serves more than 500,000 customers every week and employs about 3,000 people.
Commenting on the transaction, Ahold Corporate Executive Board member Jan Andreae, responsible for European activities, said: 'Ahold Polska will remain one of the country's prominent supermarket companies and can expect to grow considerably. In addition, we anticipate substantial synergy benefits from the accelerating alignment of our Polish and Czech activities. These benefits are becoming increasingly visible as knowledge transfer and the sharing of experience undoubtedly contribute to enhanced results in both countries. Our stores appeal to the Polish consumer, as they combine a wide assortment with a competitive price-quality ratio. In the Czech Republic, our Hypernova hypermarkets are performing outstandingly alongside our Mana supermarkets. This hypermarket know-how is being transferred to Poland, enabling us to make our largest store formats even better.
Approval and advice has been sought from the works councils and Dutch regulatory authorities.