ATLANTA, Feb. 27, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Holzer & Holzer announced today that it has filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of Koninklijke (translated as "Royal") Ahold, N.V. ("Ahold" or the "Company") (NYSE:AHO) publicly traded securities during the period between March 6, 2001 and February 21, 2003, inclusive (the "Class Period"). A copy of the complaint filed is available from the Court or by contacting Holzer & Holzer (toll-free) at (888) 508-6832 or by sending an e-mail to mfistel@holzerlaw.com.
Throughout the Class Period, as alleged in the complaint, defendants issued numerous statements and filed annual reports with the SEC which described the Company's increasing income and financial performance. As alleged in the complaint, these statements were materially false and misleading because they failed to disclose and/or misrepresented the following adverse facts, among others: (i) that the Company had materially overstated its income by improperly including far higher promotional allowances -- provided by suppliers to promote their products -- than the company actually received in payment; (ii) that the Company's Disco unit had engaged in certain transactions which were possibly illegal and were improperly accounted for; (iii) that the Company was experiencing a slowdown in consumer demand and that, contrary to defendants' representations, the Company's financial performance was not "very solid" and its fundamental business was not really "quite robust"; (iv) that, contrary to defendants' representations, the Company was having difficulty integrating its numerous acquisitions; (v) that the Company lacked adequate internal controls and was therefore unable to ascertain the true financial condition of the Company; and (vi) as a result of the foregoing, the Company's financial statements issued during the Class Period were materially false and misleading.
On February 24, 2003, before the opening of regular trading, Ahold shocked the market by announcing that it: (i) would be reducing its earnings expectations for 2002; (ii) would be restating its financial results for 2000, 2001 and its interim results for 2002, primarily due to overstatements of income, which may exceed $500 million, related to promotional allowance programs at U.S. Foodservice in the past two years; (iii) will deconsolidate its interests in three subsidiaries -- ICA Ahold, Jeronimo Martins Retail and Disco Ahold International Holdings; and (iv) has been investigating the legality of certain transactions and their accounting treatment at the Company's Argentine subsidiary Disco; and (v) as a result of all of this, the Company's CEO and CFO, defendants van der Hoeven and Meurs would be resigning. As a result, shares of Ahold's American Depositary Receipts fell $6.53 per share, or more than 61%, to close at approximately $4.16 per share, a far cry below their Class Period high of $32.65 per share, on extremely heavy trading volume.
If you bought Ahold publicly traded securities between March 6, 2001 and February 21, 2003, inclusive, you may, no later than April 28, 2003, move the Court to serve as a lead plaintiff in the action. In order to serve as a lead plaintiff, however, you must meet certain legal requirements. If you have any questions about your rights with respect to this lawsuit, you may contact Holzer & Holzer, Michael I. Fistel, Jr., Esq. (toll-free) at (888) 508-6832, or inquire via e-mail to mfistel@holzerlaw.com.
Holzer & Holzer has substantial experience representing investors in securities fraud class action lawsuits such as this. Holzer & Holzer is located in Atlanta, GA, but represents investors in securities class action lawsuits throughout the nation. If you have any questions about how you may be able to recover for your losses, or if you would like to consider serving as one of the lead plaintiffs in this lawsuit, you are encouraged to call the Firm.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca.