Report on Year 2000 Operations for the ICA AB Group

Business Wire, March 6, 2001

Business Editors

STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2001

-- Overall store sales up more than the market.

-- Earnings before interest and taxes increased by 35 % to MSEK

1,770 (1,310). Earnings include surplus funds from SPP with MSEK 138.

-- Earnings before taxes increased by 32 % to MSEK 1,738 (1,318).

-- Continued strong financial position.

Financial Information in Summary*


                               2000 1999
Net sales, MSEK                 59,09  58,09
                                    2      1
EBITDA, MSEK                    2,923  2,316
EBIT, MSEK                      1,770  1,310
Earnings before taxes, MSEK     1,738  1,318
Net earnings, MSEK              1,183    917
Total assets, MSEK              25,30  23,15
                                    8      0

EBIT margin, percent              3.0    2.3
Equity/assets ratio, percent     37.2   38.6
Return on capital employed,      13.7   13.0
percent
Return on equity, percent        13.1    9.7

* According to Swedish GAAP

Comment by the Chairman

"2000 has been one of our most successful years so far. Store sales have been very strong, particularly in Sweden. The Group result is our best ever. We have established the partnership with Royal Ahold and the coordination between the two companies proceeds according to plan. A new corporate structure has been established. We are in an excellent position for future growth, further improvement of our results, and to continue to serve our customers well in an increasingly competitive marketplace," says Roland Fahlin, ICA Ahold AB Chairman.

The ICA Group 2000

In April the partnership between Royal Ahold, ICA Forbundet and Canica was established through the newly founded company ICA Ahold AB, which controls 100.0 % of the shares in ICA AB. ICA Ahold AB is owned by Royal Ahold by 50 %, ICA Forbundet 30 % and Canica 20 %.

A new board of directors was appointed in April. 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-Goran Sylven.

To maximize business development throughout Scandinavia and step up service to its millions of customers, the ICA-Ahold joint venture streamlined its management structures in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the Baltic States. ICA Ahold AB and ICA AB will merge into one company. The CEO's of the operating companies report directly to the Board. The Chairman and President of the company, Roland Fahlin, is liaison officer for ICA Handlarnas and ICA Menyforetagen. Deputy Chairman and Deputy President Stein Erik Hagen is the Board's liaison officer for Hakon Gruppen and ICA Baltic.

Two of the operating companies have appointed new CEO's during the year, Kenneth Bengtsson for ICA Handlarnas AB and Oyvind Winther for Hakon Gruppen AS. Also, Lennart Kall has been appointed CEO for ICA's planned bank.

ICA Handlarnas AB took a decision to group all stores into store formats. The profiles are: ICA Nara, ICA Supermarket, ICA Kvantum, Maxi ICA Stormarknad, 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.

The work with the realisation of synergies between ICA Handlarnas and Hakon Gruppen continued. Several important steps were taken within sourcing, private label and IT. New Nordic supplier agreement were signed, a new Nordic strategy for ICA's private label products is being implemented, and the work to create a mutual IT-structure is well under way.

The coordination between ICA and Statoil Detaljhandel has led to several concrete results during the year. By end of 2000 a total of 66 ICA Express stores had been established at Statoil gas stations in Sweden (34), Norway (28) and Denmark (4). 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 has continued its expansion in the Baltics during the year. In February, the Interpegro-stores in Latvia were acquired. In November, ICA Baltic acquired 12 stores from Vikonda Group through its 50/50 owned Lithuanian company EKO. At the end of 2000 ICA Baltic operated in total 51 stores in the Baltic region and annualized store sales amount to some MSEK 1,700.

In Denmark ICA has strengthened its presence through the 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.

In July, ICA Finans signed an agreement for a syndicated bank loan of 5,000 MSEK with a group of banks, led by ABN Amro Bank, Den Norske Bank and Svenska Handelsbanken.

The Market

Sweden

The ICA retailers increased sales by 4.4 percent during the year (3.6 % for comparable stores). This is better than the total for the sector, which increased by 2.9 %. The Maxi, Kvantum and Rimi stores had the best sales development within ICA. Total store sales amounted to 68 BSEK (incl. VAT).