Ahold Delhaize

Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. (in Dutch literally "Royal Ahold Delhaize"), commonly known as Ahold Delhaize, is a Dutch-Belgian multinational retail and wholesale holding company. Its name comes from the 2016 merger of two companies: Ahold (Dutch) and Delhaize Group (Belgian), which both have origins in the 1800s. Its business format includes supermarkets, convenience stores, hypermarkets, online grocery, online non-food, drugstores, and liquor stores. Its 16 local brands employ 402,000 people at 7,716 stores across nine countries. The United States is where two-thirds of the holding company's revenue is generated.

Ahold Delhaize's world headquarters is in Zaandam, just north of Amsterdam. Other countries with Ahold Delhaize businesses include the Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Romania, Serbia, and the United States. It also participates in joint ventures in Indonesia and Portugal.

Ahold Delhaize shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Brussels (ticker: AD). Ahold's CEO, Dick Boer, became the CEO of Ahold Delhaize until his retirement in 2018, and Frans Muller, the former CEO of Delhaize Group, succeeded Dick Boer, after previously having served under Dick Boer's supervision, as the deputy CEO, chief integration officer and acting chief operations officer (''ad interim'') of Delhaize America.

Operating more than 2,000 stores of multiple brands across 23 states, Ahold Delhaize is among the largest food and consumables retailers in the United States via its regional subsidiaries.

History

Ahold Delhaize was formed in July 2016 from the merger of Ahold and Delhaize Group. Delhaize Group dates back to 1867, when the Delhaize brothers opened a shop in Charleroi, Belgium. Ahold, originally named Albert Heijn N.V., started in 1887 when Albert Heijn bought the general store of his father in the Dutch town of Oostzaan. He gave the store his name and transformed it into a modern specialized grocery together with his wife, Neeltje Heijn. After a few years, he owned a chain of Dutch stores.

In 2018, the company experienced significant growth in the United States (Food Lion), the Netherlands, and online. Growth in Belgium has been minimal.

With around 380,000 employees in almost 7,000 stores, the company achieved a turnover of 66 billion euros in 2019.

Beginning in June 2020, Ahold Delhaize implemented a partnership with Instacart to provide home delivery from more than 750 stores operated under the Hannaford, Food Lion, Giant Food, and Stop & Shop brands. The company further expanded in the United States with the acquisition of a majority stake in FreshDirect, an online grocer. As of 2021, Ahold Delhaize has plans to establish Ship2Me, an online marketplace featuring food and merchandise items, in the second half of the year.

In November 2023, Ahold Delhaize sold FreshDirect to Turkish company Getir. Part of the reason for the sale was so that Ahold Delhaize, specifically Ahold Delhaize USA, could focus more on the " omnichannel experience" and to strengthen its presence in supermarkets and online.

As of 2023, Ahold Delhaize announced the acquisition of Romanian retailer Profi for approximately €1.3 billion from Mid Europa Partners.

Brands and stores

Animal welfare

In 2016, Delhaize America promised that its products would be 100% cage-free by the end of 2025. In December 2024, it extended the target dates, aiming instead for 70% cage-free sales by the end of 2030 and 100% by the end of 2032.

The fact that the company was not on track to meet its initial commitments by the end of 2025 led in some cases to protests from animal welfare activists. Protests were held in Salisbury NC, US outside Food Lion headquarters; outside the head office of Ahold Delhaize in the Netherlands; outside the offices of Delhaize and Stop & Shop in Quincy, Massachusetts, USA; and at the company's 2025 shareholder meeting.

See also

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References

External links

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Companies based in North Holland
Companies in the Euro Stoxx 50
Companies in the AEX index
Companies listed on Euronext Amsterdam
Convenience stores
Dutch companies established in 2016
Holding companies of the Netherlands
Multinational companies headquartered in the Netherlands
Retail companies established in 2016
Retail companies of the Netherlands
Supermarkets of the Netherlands
Zaandam