Ahold to Sell 46 Tops Stores

Grocery giant Ahold has put 46 Tops supermarkets on the block in order to concentrate on the 73 Tops stores in its core markets.

The stores for sale are all in Ohio, in Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown and Norwalk. Tops' primary markets are New York and Pennsylvania.

All Tops stores operate as part of Ahold's Giant-Carlisle/Tops Arena division. William Blair & Co. will handle the sale for Amsterdam-based Ahold.

Tops' sales fell 6.5% for the quarter ended April 23, due in part to weak sales at the Ohio stores. The Giant-Carlisle/Tops division saw sales fall 5.6% to $1.8 billion for the quarter; excluding stores sold in 2005, division sales were up 2.2%.

Ahold's total sales rose 8.6% to 14 billion Euros for the quarter, mostly on the strength of its European stores.

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