Following is a chart of the largest global food retailers. Sales figures are for the latest financial year. Companies included must have a third of their sales from food.


Rank Company Headquarters Top Executive Sales in Billions No. of Stores Countries of Operation
1 Wal-Mart Stores U.S. H. Lee Scott Jr. $312.40 6,380 Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, United States

2 Carrefour France José Luis Duran $92.6 12,179 Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, French Polynesia, Greece, Guadeloupe, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Martinique, New Caledonia, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Reunion, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates

3 Tesco U.K. Terry Leahy $69.6 2,365 China, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

4 Metro Group Germany Hans-Joachim Körber $69.3 2,458 Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, Vietnam

5 Kroger U.S. David B. Dillon $60.6 3,726 United States




6 Ahold Netherlands Anders Moberg $55.3 6,422 Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, United States

7 Costco U.S. James Sinegal $52.9 460 Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States

8 Rewe Germany Achim Egner $51.8 11,242 Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine

9 Schwarz Group Germany Klaus Gehrig $45.8e 7,299 Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

10 Aldi Germany Hartmuth Wiesemann $45.0e 7,788 Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

11 Walgreens U.S. David W. Bernauer $42.2 4,953 Puerto Rico, United States

12 Auchan France Gérard Mulliez $41.8 2,686 Angola, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan

13 Edeka Germany Alfons Frenk $41.3e 19,001 Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Russia

14 Albertsons U.S. Larry Johnston $40.4 2,541 United States

15 AEON Japan Motoya Okada $40.2 10,132 Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

16 Safeway (USA) U.S. Steven A. Burd $38.4 1,914 Canada, Mexico, United States

17 ITM (Intermarché) France Michel Pattou $37.7 3,932 Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Serbia and Montenegro

18 Leclerc France Michel-Edouard Leclerc $35.4 581 France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain

19 Seven & I Japan Toshifumi Suzuki $35.3 21,136 Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United States

20 Tengelmann Germany Karl-Erivan W. Haub $29.8e 7,730 Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United States

21 Sainsbury U.K. Justin King $29.2 808 United Kingdom

22 Casino France Jean-Charles Naouri $28.3 9,388 Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Comoros, France, Guadeloupe, Latvia, Lithuania, Lebanon, Madagascar, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Poland, Reunion, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam

23 Woolworths (AUS) Australia Roger Corbett $28.0e 2,744 Australia, New Zealand

24 Coles Myer Australia John Fletcher $27.9 2,775 Australia, New Zealand

25 Delhaize Group Belgium Pierre-Olivier Beckers $23.1 2,637 Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Romania, United States

e=estimate.

Carrefour: Includes franchises; in 2005, sold Japan, Mexico operations, split with franchise partner Norges Gruppen in Norway; in 2006, will exit Czech R. and Slovakia (agreed in 2005 to asset swap with Tesco, pending approval), plans to sell S. Korean operation, enter Algeria.
Tesco: Exiting Taiwan, entering U.S., 2007.
Metro: Held 40.5% stake in Praktiker DIY, 2005; sales, stores and countries exclude Praktiker; entry planned for Pakistan.
Ahold: 2005 market exits from Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua.
Costco: Exploring entry in Australia.
Rewe: Sold French, Swiss retail operations, 2005; focusing on food service.
Schwartz Group: Entry expected in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ukraine.
Aldi: Entry expected in Greece, Hungary, Poland, New Zealand, Portugal.
Edeka: Acquired ITM's German operations, 2005; withdrawal from Czech R., 2006.
Albertsons: Sale pending to SuperValu, investment consortium, 2006.
Safeway USA: Stores include Mexican chain Casa Ley.
Auchan: Exited Argentina, 2005; entry in Romania planned, 2006.
ITM: Exited Germany, 2005.
Seven & I: Stores exclude franchises in Europe, Hong Kong, S. Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand; plans to franchise stores in Germany.
Tengelmann: Left Canada, late 2005, and China.
Casino: Planned 2006 entry in Czech R.; 2005, opened stores in UAE (franchise partnership with Fu-Com), Latvia, Lithuania (with IKI), Switzerland (with Magro) and Leader Price operations in Togo, Cameroon, Belgium, etc., through acquisition of stake in Geimex.
Woolworths: Entry into India imminent.

Source: M+M Planet Retail, www.planetretail.net; SN research

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