Report on January-June 2000 Operations for the ICA AB Group

Report on January-June 2000 Operations for the ICA AB Group. Strong increase of store sales by 5 %. Earnings before interest and taxes increased by 43 % to MSEK 889 (621). Earnings include surplus funds from SPP with MSEK 132. Earnings before taxes increased by 27 % to MSEK 862 (680). Continued expansion: acquisitions in Denmark and Lithuania. ICA Ahold Holding AB owns 99,6 % of ICA AB (publ.). Compulsory acquisition of the remaining outstanding shares will be applied for. Financial Information in Summary* Jan-June Jan-June 2000 1999 Net sales, MSEK 28,266 28,118 EBITDA, MSEK 1,437 1,108 EBIT, MSEK 889 621 Earnings before taxes, MSEK 862 680 Net earnings, MSEK 591 485 Total assets, MSEK 23,105 24,751 EBIT margin, percent 3,1 2,2 Equity/assets ratio, percent 13,1 12,4 Return on capital employed, percent 12,0 10,9 Return on equity, percent 37,4 34,5 * According to Swedish GAAP Comment by the President -The development of the total ICA operations has been very strong during the first six months. Our stores have increased their sales more than the industry. The ICA Group reports its strongest half-year result ever. Our new ownership structure together with Ahold has been established. We continue to invest offensively in the Baltic region and have strengthened our presence in Denmark through the acquisition of ISO. We also have several important new ventures that will be launched during the year to come. We are in an excellent position to continue our success on the market and further strengthening our result. ICA Group During the Second Quarter 2000 In April the partnership between Ahold, ICA Förbundet and Canica was established through the newly founded company ICA Ahold Holding AB, which controls 99.6 % of the shares in ICA AB. The company will apply for compulsory acquisition of the remaining outstanding shares. ICA Ahold Holding is owned by Ahold by 50 %, ICA Förbundet 30 % and Canica 20 %. A new board of directors for ICA AB has been appointed. Roland Fahlin is chairman with Jan Andreae and Stein-Erik Hagen as vice-chairmen. Other members are Michael Meurs, Gerard van Breen, Han Willemse, Per-Anders Olofsson, and Claes-Göran Sylvén. In Denmark ICA has strengthened its presence through the announced acquisition of 50 % of ISO, with sales of MSEK 1,300 and 11 stores in the greater Copenhagen area. This agreement is an important step in the establishment of a position in the Danish every-day-food market. ISO is planned to be included in the ICA Group's accounts as an associated company as of quarter 4 2000. The coordination between ICA and Statoil Detaljhandel has led to several concrete results during the period. By end of June a total of 39 ICA Express stores had been established at Statoil gas stations in Sweden (16), Norway (20) and Denmark (3). As a consequence, the first store with the ICA brand has opened in Denmark. Further, ICA Customer card members now can use their card and earn bonus through purchases at Statoil stations in Sweden. ICA Handlarnas AB has taken a decision to group all stores into store formats. The profiles are named: ICA Nära, ICA Supermarket, ICA Kvantum, ICA Maxi and Rimi. The different formats satisfy different purchase needs of the customer. These distinct store formats will facilitate the building of brands, development of the product range and marketing. Hakon Gruppen has concentrated its operations to two store chains; RIMI and ICA with the sub-profiles ICA Maxi, ICA Supermarket and ICA Sparmat. The work with the realisation of synergies between ICA Handlarnas and Hakon Gruppen has continued. Several important steps have been taken within sourcing, private label and IT. New Nordic supplier agreement has been signed, a decision on a new Nordic strategy for ICA's private label products has been taken and the work to create a mutual IT-structure is well under way. ICA sees attractive growth opportunities in personal financial services in the Nordic area and is planning for the launch of banking operations. The base for the operation is the customer database within the ICA Kundkort, Domino and Statoil Detaljhandel loyalty programs. Other services besides personal financial services are also considered as interesting to the further development of the loyalty program of ICA. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/09/07/20000907BIT00770/bit0001.pdf The full report http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/09/07/20000907BIT00770/bit0002.doc The full report