THE SN LIST: TOP 25 GLOBAL GROCERY RETAILERS 2004-05-31 (1)

Rank, Company

ve; Headquarters; Sales (Billions); No. of Stores; Countries of Operation

1. WAL-MART STORES

H. Lee Scott Jr.; United States; $256.3; 5,045; Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam

2. CARREFOUR

Daniel Bernard; France; 79.6; 10,364; Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates

3. AHOLD

Anders Moberg; Netherlands; 63.3; 8,925; Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United States

4. METRO GROUP

Hans-Joachim Korber; Germany; 60.5; 2,478; Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Morocco, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vietnam

5. KROGER

David Dillon; United States; 53.8; 3,740; United States

6. TESCO

Terry Leahy; United Kingdom; 50.3; 2,325; Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom

7. REWE

Ernst Dieter Berninghaus; Germany; 44.3; 14,364; Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Ukraine

8. COSTCO

Jim Sinegal; United States; 41.7; 419; Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States

9. ALDI

Theo Albrecht Jr., Norbert Podschlapp; Germany; 41.0e; 7,088; Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

10. ITM ENTERPRISES

Philippe Lebreton; France; 37.7e; 11,347; Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain

11. SAFEWAY

Steve Burd; United States; 35.6; 1,906; Canada, Mexico, United States

12. ALBERTSONS

Larry Johnston; United States; 35.4; 2,288; United States

13. SCHWARZ GROUP

Dieter Schwarz; Germany; 33.4; 5,887; Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

14. AUCHAN

Christophe Dubrulle; France; 32.4; 2,796; Angola, Argentina, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan

15. AEON

Toshiji Tokiwa; Japan; 30.6; 8,715; Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, S Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

16. ITO-YOKADO

Toshifumi Suzuki; Japan; 30.5; 22,654; Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United States

17. EDEKA

Alfons Frenk; Germany; 29.7; 13,835; Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Russia

18. SAINSBURY

Justin King; United Kingdom; 28.0e; 784; United Kingdom, United States

19. TENGELMANN

Karl-Erivan W. Haub; Germany; 27.7; 6,894; Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United States

20. LECLERC

Edouard Leclerc, Michel-Edouard Leclerc; France; 27.3e; 539; France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain

21. CASINO

Christian Couvreux; France; 26.0; 8,581; Argentina, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, Comoros, France, Lebanon, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Reunion, Taiwan, Tunisia, Uruguay, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam

22. DELHAIZE GROUP

Pierre-Olivier Beckers; Belgium; 21.3; 2,557; Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Luxembourg, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Thailand, United States

23. LOBLAW

John Lederer; Canada; 18.0; 1,641; Canada

24. COLES MYER

John Fletcher; Australia; 17.5; 2,190; Australia, New Zealand

25. DAIEI

Kunio Takagi; Japan; 17.2; 3,019; China, Japan, United States

e=estimate. Sales figures are for the latest financial year. Companies included must have a significant portion of their sales from food. Information taken from company documents unless otherwise indicated.

As part of its restructuring scheme, Ahold has meanwhile withdrawn from Malaysia, Indonesia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand; the withdrawal from Brazil is almost complete. Delhaize Group exited Singapore with the sale of its Shop N Save supermarkets in October 2003. Safeway store/country data includes unconsolidated activities in Mexico. Wal-Mart store/county data includes unconsolidated Seiyu activities. Under Countries of Operation, United States includes Puerto Rico.

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