Ahold Delhaize

SALISBURY, N.C. -- Food Lion donated $250,000 to Johns Hopkins Children's Center last week to help the medical program build an inpatient playroom on the oncology unit of a new children's hospital, slated for groundbreaking in early 2006.

AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands -- In an effort to support its global strategic growth initiatives, Dutch grocer Royal Ahold entered a $500 million, 5-year agreement for a global information technology enterprise outsourcing solution.

NASHVILLE, Ga. -- Harveys, a regional supermarket chain based here and owned by the Belgian Delhaize Group, said it will close its Nashville, Ga., distribution center next May and consolidate some of its corporate office functions in an effort to cut costs and leverage the resources of its sister banner Food Lion.

SALISBURY, N.C. -- Aiming to help families -- especially those who are culinary- or time-challenged -- gather at home and share a festive meal, Food Lion here is offering store-cooked dinners, including turkey, dressing and all of the fixings.

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- U.S. sales for Delhaize Group based here jumped 5.1 percent in the third quarter, but overall net profit declined 1 percent to EUR 89.7 million ($104.8 million), due to expenses and a weaker sales performance in Belgium.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Kash n' Karry Food Stores here replaced all the ground beef in its Kash n' Karry and Sweetbay Supermarkets late last week, after one of its meat suppliers, Thomasville, Ga.-based American Fresh Foods, Inc., issued a voluntary recall based on possible E. coli contamination.

AMSTERDAM -- Ahold said yesterday that its preliminary consolidated net sales for the 12-week 2005 third quarter ended Oct. 9 came to 10.2 billion euros (US $12.4 billion), a rise of 0.7 percent over last year. Excluding currency impact, net sales went up 0.3 percent during the quarter. The sales increase was the company's first this year, according to published reports. Full results for the company's third quarter will be issued Nov. 29.

WELLESLEY, Mass. -- Roche Bros., a 17-store supermarket chain based here that runs stores under the Roche Bros. and Sudbury Farms banners, will be going head to head with Peapod by Stop & Shop by offering a rival online grocery delivery service starting Nov. 2, according to published reports. The retailer is the first to launch such a business in the Boston area since 2001, when the dot-com collapse left Peapod the only local Web-based grocery service standing.