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24-540: The town is situated in the Zaan district, on the eastern side of the river Zaan, across from Wormerveer . The town is surrounded by the nature area Wormer- en Jisperveld . The village of Oostknollendam , the polder Schaalsmeer (reclaimed in 1631), the polder Enge Wormer (reclaimed in 1634) and a part of the Markerpolder also historically belong to the area of Wormer. Wormer, together with Engewormer (Wormer c.a.),

48-616: A core group of profitable companies in Europe and the United States. As part of its Road to Recovery strategy, Ahold strengthened accountability, controls and corporate governance and restored its financial health, regaining investment grade in 2007. In November 2006, Ahold announced the results of a major strategic review of its businesses. As a result of this review, Ahold launched its strategy for profitable growth focused on strengthening its retail competitive position, particularly in

72-527: A different shareholder group in 2012. The SEC filed fraud charges against four former executives of U.S. Foodservice: the company's former CFO, former chief marketing officer, and two former purchasing executives. The purchasing executives settled the charges. The former chief marketing officer was sentenced to 46 months in prison. The former CFO was sentenced to six months of home detention and three years' probation. Anders Moberg became CEO on 5 May 2003. Under his and other new leadership appointed following

96-428: A final settlement with Ahold. In January 2006, Ahold announced that it had reached a settlement of US$ 1.1 billion (€937 million) in a securities class action lawsuit filed against the company in the United States by shareholders and former shareholders. Another class action lawsuit was filed against Ahold's auditors, Deloitte, but this suit was dismissed. The suit was brought up again by shareholders in 2007, and by

120-432: A smaller scale, Tops Markets , in the United States, where income related to promotional allowances was overstated. In addition, accounting irregularities were found at the company's Argentine subsidiary Disco , and it was determined that the financial results of certain joint ventures had been accounted for improperly. As a result of the announcements, the company's share price plunged by two-thirds, and its credit rating

144-596: The Eighty Years' War . At Whitsunday ( Pentecost ) 30 May 1574, 1400 Spanish soldiers tried to capture Wormer and Jisp . They were crushingly defeated by a combined force of locals, Geuzen and filibusters, bringing an end to the Spanish tyranny in the Waterland area. In the following century Wormer became very prosperous from the production of beschuit ( rusk ). At least 130 bakeries in the town were once supplying

168-748: The 1970s, the company began expanding internationally, acquiring companies in Spain and the United States. Under a new leadership team, which for the first time did not include any members of the Heijn family, the company accelerated its growth through acquisitions in the latter half of the 1990s in Latin America, Central Europe, and Asia. Ahold N.V. received the designation "Royal" from Dutch Queen Beatrix in 1987, awarded to companies that have operated honorably for one hundred years. That same year Gerrit Jan Heijn , Ahold executive and only brother of Albert Heijn,

192-650: The United States. The company focused on building its brands by creating an improved product and service offering, delivered an improved price position and lowered operating costs; and reorganized the company into two continental organizations led by Chief Operating Officers. As part of the strategy, Ahold further focused its portfolio, including the divestment of U.S. Foodservice (completed in July 2007, to CD&R and KKR for US$ 7.1 billion), Tops (completed in December 2007, for US$ 310 million to Morgan Stanley Private Equity) and

216-514: The Zaan are named for the river: Koog aan de Zaan , Westzaan , Oostzaan , Zaandijk and the city of Zaandam . The river also runs past Zaanse Schans , a village with historic windmills and houses. It ranks among the top tourist destinations in the Netherlands. The region through which the river runs is called the Zaan district ( Dutch : Zaanstreek [ˈzaːnstreːk] ). It comprises

240-574: The Zaan district to paint during visits to the Netherlands in following years . The name of the Alkmaar -based football club AZ is short for Alkmaar Zaanstreek . Ahold Koninklijke Ahold N.V. was a Dutch multinational retail company based in Zaandam , Netherlands . Founded in 1887 by Albert Heijn, Sr ., the company initially began as a single grocery store in Oostzaan and became

264-520: The Zaan district. The dialect spoken in the Zaan area is known as Zaans . It has some similarities with the West Frisian dialect. French impressionist painter Claude Monet stayed in Zaandam in the summer of 1871 and produced a series of 24 paintings of the Zaan district, writing to his friend Camille Pissarro that, "there is enough here to paint for an entire lifetime." Monet returned to

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288-949: The company's operations in Poland (completed in July 2007, to Carrefour). The company made solid progress in delivering its strategy under the leadership of John Rishton, appointed CEO in November 2007, who had been part of the team that developed the strategy in his previous role as CFO. In November 2011, under the leadership of Dick Boer , appointed CEO in March 2011, Ahold announced a new phase of its growth strategy, "Reshaping Retail". This strategy has six pillars - three designed to create growth and three to enable this growth. The six pillars are: increasing customer loyalty, broadening our offering, expanding geographic reach, simplicity, responsible retailing, and our people. On 24 June 2015, Delhaize Group reached an agreement with Ahold to merge, forming

312-531: The countless ships of the Dutch East India Company. Other important industrial activities in the town during this period were the production of starch and the processing of whale blubber. At least 66 windmills were once built in Wormer, but nowadays only one windmill (de Koker) has been preserved. Zaan The Zaan ( Dutch pronunciation: [zaːn] ) is a small river in

336-551: The crisis, Ahold launched a "Road to Recovery" strategy in late 2003 to restore its financial health, regain credibility, and strengthen its business. As part of this strategy, Ahold announced it would divest all operations in markets where it could not achieve a sustainable number one or two position within three to five years, and that could not meet defined profitability and return criteria over time. The company divested all its operations in South America and Asia, retaining

360-537: The former executive in charge of its European activities were charged with fraud by the Dutch authorities. In May 2006, a Dutch appeals court found Ahold's former CEO and CFO guilty of false authentication of documents, and they received suspended prison sentences and unconditional fines. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in October 2004, that it had completed its investigation and reached

384-441: The introduction of the refrigerator in Dutch households and introducing convenience items, such as ready meals and frozen pizzas, to Dutch consumers. Albert Heijn became the largest grocery chain in the Netherlands during this time, and expanded into liquor stores and health and beauty care stores in the 1970s. In 1973, the holding company Albert Heijn changed its name to "Ahold", an abbreviation of A lbert H eijn H old ing". In

408-468: The largest grocery chain in the Netherlands in 1970s, Netherlands. The company went public in 1948. It merged with Belgium -based Delhaize Group in 2016 to form Ahold Delhaize . The company started in 1887, when Albert Heijn, Sr. opened the first Albert Heijn grocery store in Oostzaan, Netherlands. The grocery chain expanded through the first half of the 20th century, and went public in 1948. Under

432-447: The leadership of the founder's grandsons, Albert Jr. and Gerrit Jan Heijn, the company continued to make a significant impact on food retail in the Netherlands in the next four decades, pioneering self-service shopping, and the development of private labels and of non-food as a grocery store category. The company also influenced culinary development in the country, popularizing products such as wine, sherry and kiwi fruit, contributing to

456-652: The municipalities of Zaanstad, Oostzaan, and most of Wormerland . During the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century, the Zaan district was dotted with windmills with a variety of functions and it is often considered to be one of the world's first industrialized areas. Joining an already considerable number of flour mills were, for example, from 1592 "wood mills" for sawing wood, from 1600 "hemp mills" for extracting fibers from flax and hemp, from 1601 oil mills for crushing oil-bearing seeds and "paint mills" producing dyes and paint, and shortly after paper mills for

480-487: The production of paper. By the mid-17th century, approximately 900 windmills could be found along the river, some of them still preserved, particularly in the Zaanse Schans neighbourhood of Zaandam, near Zaandijk. The Zaan district continues to be a heavily industrialized area with many factories, particularly around the city of Zaandam . A number of major Dutch companies, like Ahold and Verkade , were founded in

504-499: The province of North Holland in the northwestern Netherlands and the name of a district through which it runs. The river was originally a side arm of the IJ bay and travels 13.5 kilometers (8½ miles) through the municipalities of Zaanstad ("Zaan City") and Wormerland north of Amsterdam , from West-Knollendam in the north to Zaandam in the south, where it empties into the IJ . The municipality of Zaanstad and several towns along

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528-576: Was a separate municipality until 1991, when it became a part of the new municipality of Wormerland. The inhabitants of Wormer repulsed several attacks of the Frisians and West Frisians in 1280. Floris V, Count of Holland rewarded this with an exemption from paying toll in Holland, an important privilege at that time. Important skirmishes between Spanish troops and the Geuzen took place in Wormer during

552-500: Was kidnapped for ransom and murdered. The company's ambitious global expansion was halted by the announcement of accounting irregularities at some of Ahold's subsidiaries in February 2003. The CEO, Cees van der Hoeven, and CFO, Michael Meurs, and a number of senior management resigned as a result, and earnings over 2001 and 2002 had to be restated. The main accounting irregularities occurred at U.S. Foodservice (now US Foods) , and, on

576-468: Was reduced to BB+ by Standard & Poor's. The irregularities led to various investigations and criminal charges by both Dutch and U.S. law enforcement authorities against Ahold and several of its former executives. Dutch law enforcement authorities filed fraud charges against Ahold, which were settled in September 2004, when Ahold paid a fine of approximately €8 million. Ahold's former CEO, CFO, and

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