Our responsibilities

We are committed to improving the quality of life of our customers, employees and the communities we serve. We do this by:

• Managing our business in a responsible, ethical and transparent way.
• Giving customers safe, healthy foods produced under responsible conditions.
• Being a great place to work where employees are treated fairly and can have a fulfilling career.
• Minimizing the negative, and maximizing the positive, social and environmental impact of our supermarket, foodservice and logistics operations.
• Being a proactive corporate citizen through dialogue with key stakeholders, and by building strong relationships in those communities where we do business.

Safe, healthy and responsible foods

All of our customers expect their food to be safe. Providing safe products in all of our markets is a fundamental, non-negotiable priority.

Increasingly, people are looking for healthy choices and products produced in a responsible manner. We therefore offer an organic assortment across all of our retail markets. And in light of increased fish consumption and over-fishing, our companies in the United States, Sweden and the Netherlands have developed initiatives to help create sustainable fisheries.

In addition, we undertake activities that aim to advance the position of suppliers in the developing world. The Ahold Sustainable Trade Development program has brought fair trade and organic products from Africa to be sold in ICA and Albert Heijn stores. The Ahold Coffee Company supplies Utz Kapeh certified responsible coffee for the corporate brands of Ahold retailers in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United States. In 2005 Ahold joined the Business Social Compliance Initiative, a European alliance of 50 retailers and importers with the aim to improve labor conditions among the workers of their suppliers in high risk countries.

Managing environmental impact

Our companies are committed to limiting the negative environmental impacts of our supermarket, foodservice and logistics operations. We are working hard to reduce waste and energy usage, to minimize the use of ozone-depleting substances and to make distribution of products to our stores and foodservice customers more efficient.

Our U.S. supermarkets, Albert Heijn and ICA identify stores with unusually high energy consumption and perform detailed energy analyses and take corrective measures. To increase efficiencies, we use continuous replenishment systems, which integrate store ordering systems with those of distribution centers and suppliers. We also aim to reduce negative environmental impacts associated with distribution through optimal truck utilization and safe and efficient driving. For example, in order to minimize emissions and reduce costs we maximize the volume of products we deliver to stores per truck.

Reducing energy usage and waste not only lessens our impact on the environment, it also helps keep our cost base down. This is good for our business, the environment and our customers.

Community involvement

Our operating companies are committed to their individual markets by directly participating in community events, sponsoring charitable causes and organizing fundraising activities that are important to the communities they serve. Charitable giving is especially important to our operating companies in the United States.

In 2005, our Stop & Shop/Giant-Landover arena continued to play a significant role in supporting charitable organizations such as Dana Farber, the Jimmy Fund, the Sloan Kettering Institute, and the Children's Cancer Foundation. Stop & Shop raised USD 6 million for the Jimmy Fund to help children with cancer and search for a cure and Giant Food contributed more than USD 6 million in cash, goods and services to support charitable and community organizations.

Our Giant-Carlisle/Tops arena contributed the largest sum of charitable donations in its history in 2005, totaling more than USD 21.4 million in combined cash and product contributions. This included USD 10.3 million in product and customer donations for local food banks across Pennsylvania, New York, northeast Ohio, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, as well as contributions for Children's Miracle Network hospitals and local non-profit groups.

We also contributed to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort in 2005. Ahold donated USD 1 million to the effort, in addition to other fundraising activities undertaken at our U.S. companies. U.S. Foodservice donated food, water, the use of refrigerated trucks and other equipment, and its employees made deliveries to dozens of Gulf Coast health care facilities, helping them remain fully operational during the crisis.

Delighting customers

Our vision

Our customers want shopping to be an efficient, pleasant and relaxed experience. They place a high priority on value for money, they care about food safety and responsibly-produced food, and they also want convenience, service, a relevant selection and guidance so that they can feel good about the choices they make.

Life is about making choices.

Our mission

We make it easy for our customers to choose the best for themselves and the people they care about.

We do this through our strong local brands and by putting the customer at the heart of every decision. We strive to stand out from the competition by providing the best products in a relevant range, the best quality, the best prices, and the best choices for a healthy lifestyle - all in the simplest way possible.

Listening to our customers' needs

We listen carefully to our customers, applying the insights we gain from them to meet their different needs and wishes. We are continually developing our store formats and we use in-depth customer research, new technology, and innovative ideas to create next generation supermarkets that are in tune with local customer expectations.

We believe that healthy living is important. Our local brands offer value, high quality, and healthy choices. We do this in a simple and responsible way - by providing nutritional labeling on our private brand products, for example - so that customers can make informed and confident choices.

Doing the right thing

We do the right thing for our customers by showing passion and expertise in every aspect of our business. We continually share knowledge between our businesses so that we can make things as simple as possible and provide the best offering.

Doing the right thing is about offering choices that are best suited to customer needs. It is not about the broadest possible assortment, but about enabling customers to choose the best value for their money. It is also about understanding our customers' lives and needs and making their experience with us a good one.

Healthy living

We make it easy to choose the best

Every Ahold company is committed to making it easy for customers to choose healthy options. We are sharing knowledge and initiatives globally to ensure we offer healthy lifestyle choices in a simple and inspiring way. Our aim is to have a positive impact on the health of customers in the markets we serve.

The Ahold Healthy Living Team, set up in 2004, launches healthy living programs and ensures we share expertise across our operating companies. We are cooperating with universities and other bodies, such as the World Health Organization, to ensure we achieve our ambition of providing customers with healthy choices based on scientific research and good social practice.

While our supermarket companies have always offered a broad range of healthy products, we are striving to improve our product assortment even further. We want to give customers ever-healthier alternatives and provide expert advice and innovative shopping experiences.

Helping customers make nutritious choices

In the Netherlands, Albert Heijn stores have introduced the new Healthy Choice Clover symbol on private brand products, making it easier for customers to identify healthy options. Launched in 2005, the symbol now appears on more than 1,100 products. The company aims to provide healthy, responsible and tasty products in all main food and drinks categories.

Also in 2005, ICA launched the Gott liv range, another initiative designed to provide customers with clear information on levels of fat, sugar, salt, and fiber in food. Gott liv has rapidly become one of the largest private brand ranges in Sweden, making healthy food a simple, affordable choice for ICA customers.

Giant-Carlisle's new store in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, offers a ground-breaking approach to health and wellness.

The store has full-time nutritionists on hand to answer customer questions and a health food department - Nature's Promise Marketplace - that stocks more than 3,400 natural and organic products. The newly-launched Nature's Promise range can also be found at our other stores in the United States. The Camp Hill store also includes a cooking school where customers can learn how to prepare healthy meals and a community center, where local partners provide exercise classes and health education services.

In addition, Ahold's U.S. retailers are supporting the Department of Agriculture's My Pyramid program, an interactive guidance system that helps customers choose and prepare healthier food. Store offerings include a brochure with recipes, menu plans and shopping lists, in-store radio announcements, and a Stop & Shop weekly circular.

Healthy eating for children

U.S. Foodservice is contributing to the promotion of health and well-being by partnering with restaurants, schools and hospitals to help develop healthy menu options.

In Hypernova stores in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, Ahold Central Europe has launched Healthy 5, a program of learning activities for children. Developed with the support of the World Health Organization, the project aims to inform and inspire schoolchildren about the need to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables every day.

Taken together, these initiatives, and many more, underline our growing role in encouraging a healthy lifestyle for our current, and future, customers.

Our people

We employ approximately 247,000 people, most of whom have direct contact with our customers. Internally, we refer to our employees as 'associates' reflecting their role as partners in achieving our objectives and serving our customers. Their expertise, knowledge of the business, and commitment are key to Ahold's success.

Culture

We aim to attract and retain the best talent and create an environment that encourages innovation. Our core values provide the basis for how we work together. These values are helping us build a strong culture and guide decision-making and the way we handle dilemmas. For example, we have included these in the way we manage the performance criteria of our employees and plan their careers.

Careers

One of our priorities is to develop talent within the company through challenging assignments, targeted training, and rewards based on performance. The majority of our vacancies are filled by internal promotion. We recruit externally to bring in additional skills, perspectives and experience.

Our management development practices, at all levels, encourage employees to grow within the company. Career progression is based on an employees' capability, performance and behavior consistent with our core values. We focus on developing staff to ensure we have the right management potential to meet our future needs, with particular emphasis on areas that are strategically important.

Learning and diversity

We value diversity and are committed to developing our people and giving them opportunities to grow. This is essential for Ahold to compete in the ever-changing food retail and foodservice environment. We have launched a company-wide initiative to become a 'learning organization'. We are also increasing the number of international assignments for employees to broaden their perspectives, unify the organization, and share best practices. We are putting processes and systems in place that increase collaboration throughout our company. Training and development programs across Ahold are being aligned to develop our core capabilities as a competitive advantage for the group.