Ahold will put its American subsidiary U.S. Foodservice up for sale. This was announced this afternoon when Ahold disclosed its new strategic plan. U.S. Foodservice - which caters to restaurants, hotels and the institutional market - is seen as offering too little synergy with Aholds core business in the U.S., supermarkets.

Ahold acquired U.S. Foodservice in 2000 for €3.6bn. Managers from the subsidiary played a key role in the notorious fraud which was disclosed early 2003. In its recovery plan Ahold decided not to sell U.S. Foodservice before reorganising it and improving its financial performance. This mission is accomplished, according to Ahold this afternoon.

Ahold also said that it aims to reduce its operational costs by the end of 2009 by €500mn and it said to withdraw from the Polish and Slovakian markets. In Poland Ahold operates - according to PlanetRetail - 17 Hypernova supermarkets and superstores, 169 Albert supermarkets and 7 Albert Express forecourt stores with total sales of €684mn. In Slovakia Ahold's sales totals €226mn via 22 Hypernova and 15 Albert stores.