THE SN LIST: TOP 25 GLOBAL GROCERY RETAILERS 2004-12-27

Rank: Company; Top Executive; Headquarters; Sales (Billions); No. of Stores; Countries of Operation

a, 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 Landry; 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 Leberton; France; 37.7e; 11,347; Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain

11) Safeway: Steve Leberton; 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: Deiter 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: Christopher Dubrulle; France; 32.4; 2,796; Angola, Argentina, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Taiwan

15) AEON: Tishiji Tokiwa; Hapan; 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

3) 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 as of May 31, 2004. 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