SN'S TOP GLOBAL FOOD RETAILERS

James Fallon

Following is a chart of the largest global food retailers by 1999 volume. Companies included on the list must have a significant proportion of their sales in food. The foreign currency results were translated into dollars at current exchange rates. The information came from the companies or their annual reports, except where indicated below.

Rank

Company

1999 Sales (billions)

Number of Store

Top Executive

1)

Wal-Mart Stores

$164.85

3,978

Lee Scott

2)

Carrefour

$80

8,800

Daniel Bernard

3)

The Kroger Co.

$45.35

3,474

Joseph A. Pichler

4)

Metro AG Group

$39.78

2,114

Dr. Hans-Joachim Koerber

5)

Albertson's

$37.5

2,500

Gary E. Michael

6)

Ahold

$33.81

4,446

Cees van der Hoeven

7)

ITM Enterprises

$33.71 (estimated)

8,528

Pierre Gourgeon

8)

Rewe Zentrale

$32.77

11,680

Hans Reischl

9)

Edeka Group/AVA

$32.74

10,989

Bartholomeus Werberger

10)

Tesco plc

$32.16

821

Terry Leahy

11)

Ito-Yokado

$29.62

18,276

Toshifumi Suzuki

12)

Safeway

$28.9

1,659

Steven Burd

13)

J. Sainsbury

$28.26 (estimated)

905

Sir Peter Davis

14)

Aldi

$27.52 (estimated by M M Eurodata)

5,809

Theo Albrecht

15)

Auchan

$26.8 (estimated)

1,264

Gerard Mulliez

16)

Tengelmann

$23.96

7,863

Karl-Erivan Haub (ceo, Europe) and Christian Haub

17)

Supervalu

$20.3

479

Michael Wright

18)

Daiei

$20.02

315

Isao Nakauchi

19)

E. Leclerc

$19.97 (estimated by M M Eurodata)

549

Michel and Edouard Leclerc

20)

Loblaw Cos.

$18.8

581

Richard J.Currie

21)

Casino Group

$16.89

5,883

Christian Couvreux

22)

Delhaize "Le Lion" Group

$16.2 (including Hannaford Bros.)

2,248 (including Hannaford Bros.)

Pierre-Olivier Beckers

23)

Fleming Cos.

$14.64

250

Mark S. Hansen

24)

Lidl & Schwarz

$14.35 (estimated by M M Eurodata)

3,000

Richard Meyer

25)

Winn-Dixie Stores

$14.1

1,188

Al Rowland