Delhaize Group Launches New Strategic Plan
(Thomson Reuters ONE) - BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 3, 2009 - Delhaize Group (EuronextBrussels: DELB - NYSE: DEG), the Belgian international food retailer,today at the occasion of its annual Analysts' Meeting, presents a newstrategic plan for the coming years focusing on accelerated growth,increased efficiencies and stronger intra-Group integration. TheGroup is planning to further increase its price competitiveness inall its markets, triple the number of store openings in the comingthree years in its newer formats and operations compared to the years2007-2009 and realize an additional EUR 300 million annual operatingcost savings by 2012 to fund its price investments and other salesbuilding initiatives, and support its profitability.Pierre-Olivier Beckers, President and Chief Executive Officer ofDelhaize Group, commented: "Today, Delhaize Group has a strong andproven building platform of leading brands and market shares,best-in-class industry profitability and a solid balance sheet. Nowis the right time to capitalize on our strengths and furtheraccelerate. The goal of our "New Game Plan" is to deliver valueleadership in all our markets leading to superior revenue and profitgrowth and to make of Delhaize Group a more effective acquisitionplatform through additional synergies, shared knowledge and sharedservices."The "New Game Plan" of Delhaize Group is developed around 4breakthrough themes:1. Operate as one Group2. Accelerate Growth3. Excel in Associate Development4. Executional ExcellenceBreakthrough Themes of the "New Game Plan"1. From 2010, the more than 141 000 associates of Delhaize Group willshare and live one common vision and set of values which will drivethe attitude of each and every associate in bringing the best ofDelhaize Group to customers, communities and associates.2. Building on its strong existing platform Delhaize Group isplanning for accelerated growth.- From 2010 on, Delhaize Group will put an even greateremphasis on price competitiveness resulting in value leadershipacross all its operations. Each of our banners is planning a new andmore aggressive pricing strategy from the start of 2010 bybenchmarking itself against the leading price competitor with, as agoal, to further narrow the gap.- The Group will maximize the share of wallet in its existingstores by capitalizing on the more than 16 million customer visitsper week worldwide through an efficient assortment as well as newinnovative and attractive products and services.- Delhaize Group will also further build its industry-leadinginitiatives in health and wellness such as Guiding Stars to respondto consumers' increasing health concerns and to continue to reinforceits differentiation. By 2011, Delhaize Group's Belgian and Greekoperations will have nutritional labeling for their private brands'assortments, in addition to the Guiding Stars labeling alreadypresent today in Food Lion, Hannaford, Sweetbay and Bloom'sassortments.- In its "New Game Plan" Delhaize Group will continue toextend its industry leadership in Corporate Responsibilityinitiatives. In 2010, Delhaize Group plans to audit 100% of itsprivate brand suppliers for food safety and compliance.- Delhaize Group plans to use its new low cost supermarketformats Bottom Dollar Food (U.S.) and Red Market (Europe) and itsnewer markets (Greece, Romania and Indonesia) as additional driversto accelerate organic store growth. Over the next three years,Delhaize Group will triple the store openings generated by thesenewer operations to 250 (compared to 85 new stores in 2007-2009)..3. The accelerated growth will be enabled by excellence in associatedevelopment. We will continue to leverage Delhaize Group's signaturetraining and development programs and the Group's strong culture tofurther strengthen the best-in-class sense of engagement andcommitment.4. Increased efficiencies through executional excellence will fundthe accelerated growth initiatives and offset underlying costpressures. Following its EUR 60 million savings realized in 2008 andan additional EUR 100 million in 2009, Delhaize Group willadditionally generate EUR 300 million annual operating cost savingsby 2012 through banner-specific initiatives and increased sharedservices, particularly at regional level.More Information about the "New Game Plan"More information about the "New Game Plan" can be found on DelhaizeGroup's website (www.delhaizegroup.com). The presentations of theAnalysts' Day are broadcast live over the internet (audio only) atwww.delhaizegroup.com, on December 3, 2009 starting at 08:00 a.m. EET(07:00 a.m. CET). A replay of this webcast will be available on thewebsite starting at 01:00 p.m. EET (12:00 p.m. CET) on December 3,2009. The slides of the presentations are also available on theGroup's website.» Delhaize GroupDelhaize Group is a Belgian international food retailer present insix countries on three continents. At the end of the third quarter of2009, Delhaize Group's sales network consisted of 2 697 stores. In2008, Delhaize Group posted EUR 19 billion (USD 28 billion) inrevenues and EUR 467 million (USD 687 million) in net profit (Groupshare). At the end of 2008, Delhaize Group employed approximately 141000 people. Delhaize Group's stock is listed on Euronext Brussels(DELB) and the New York Stock Exchange (DEG).This press release is available in English, French and Dutch. You canalso find it on the website http://www.delhaizegroup.com. Questionscan be sent to investor(at)delhaizegroup.com.» ContactsGuy Elewaut: + 32 2 412 29 48 AmyShue (U.S. investors): + 1 704 633 82 50 (ext. 2529)Geert Verellen: + 32 2 412 83 62Barbera Hoppenbrouwers (media): + 32 2 412 86 69 cautionary note regarding forward looking statementsStatements that are included or incorporated by reference in thispress release and other written and oral statements made from time totime by Delhaize Group and its representatives, other than statementsof historical fact, which address activities, events and developmentsthat Delhaize Group expects or anticipates will or may occur in thefuture, including, without limitation, statements about strategicoptions, future strategies and the anticipated benefits of thesestrategies, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning ofthe U.S. federal securities laws that are subject to risks anduncertainties. These forward-looking statements generally can beidentified as statements that include phrases such as "guidance","outlook", "projected", "believe", "target", "predict", "estimate","forecast", "strategy", "may", "goal", "expect", "anticipate","intend", "plan", "foresee", "likely", "will", "should" or othersimilar words or phrases. Although such statements are based oncurrent information, actual outcomes and results may differmaterially from those projected depending upon a variety of factors,including, but not limited to, changes in the general economy or themarkets of Delhaize Group, in consumer spending, in inflation orcurrency exchange rates or in legislation or regulation; competitivefactors; adverse determination with respect to claims; inability totimely develop, remodel, integrate or convert stores; and supply orquality control problems with vendors. Additional risks anduncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materiallyfrom those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements aredescribed in Delhaize Group's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-Fand other filings made by Delhaize Group with the U.S. Securities andExchange Commission, which risk factors are incorporated herein byreference. Delhaize Group disclaims any obligation to updatedevelopments of these risk factors or to announce publicly anyrevision to any of the forward-looking statements contained in thisrelease, or to make corrections to reflect future events ordevelopmentshttp://hugin.info/133961/R/1358823/330989.pdfThis announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Datum: 03.12.2009 - 07:32 Uhr
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