ICA drops Ahold name
its structure in order to meet the challenges facing the
supermarket sector in the Nordic region. The fact that it has
dropped the name Ahold is no reflection on that company's financial
concerns, it claims.
ICA, the Swedish retail group 50 per cent owned by the Ahold group, has announced a major restructuring of its business which includes dropping the name of the troubled Dutch retailer.
ICA claimed that the decision to rebrand its business was not related to Ahold's current financial troubles - the company is reeling from the impact of widespread fraud - but was meant to "sharpen the clarity of ICA's profile in the market".
In a statement, ICA said that the Nordic food retail industry was in a state of powerful change, with increased competition from both established players and new entrants, as well as from restaurants, convenience stores and fast-food chains.
"The pace of change is moving into high gear. ICA must embrace this environment of change to maintain its position as a leading actor. We will do this through co-ordination and a simpler way of doing things," said Kenneth Bengtsson, president and CEO of ICA.
ICA is present in six countries - Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - and operates under the ICA and RIMI fascias in the food retail sector, ICA Menyföretagen in foodservice, ICA Banken in financial services, Etos in the pharmacy sector and Statoil Detaljhandel in the service station sector.
"We can become more efficient and further leverage inter-company and cross-operational co-operation. We can save money by exchanging knowledge. At the corporate level we will co-ordinate areas such as purchasing, IT, development, communication and real estate holdings," said Bengtsson.
In more concrete terms, ICA is introducing a new format strategy in Norway, rolling out the same range of stores which it already operates successfully in Sweden. The new formats are: RIMI, MAXI, ICA SparMat and ICA Supermarked - the latter being a modern supermarket format which is new for the Norwegian market.
The new name - changing from ICA Ahold AB to ICA AB - is also designed to reflect the company's simplified structure, and Bengtsson stressed that discussions over the name change had begun as early as last autumn - well before Ahold's financial scandal was revealed.
As well as the change to the name of the group as a whole, the various subsidiaries will also change. ICA Handlarnas AB will become ICA Sverige AB, and Hakon Gruppen AS will be renamed ICA Norge AS. In addition, the Swedish ICA retailers' organisation will change its name from ICA Förbundet to ICA-handlarnas Förbund.
The changes will not entail any alteration in the ownership structure of ICA, the company stressed. ICA Förbundet Invest owns 30 per cent of the group, while Canica AS owns 20 per cent and Royal Ahold owns 50 per cent.
In turn, ICA AB has stakes in Netto Marknad AB (ICA AB owns 50 per cent, Dansk Supermarked owns 50 per cent), ISO-ICA AS (ICA AB owns 50.1 per cent, ISO Supermarked owns 49.9 percent) and Statoil Detaljhandel AB (ICA AB owns 50 per dent, Statoil ASA owns 50 per cent).
