Shares in Ahold slid again today as the global retailer said the US Securities and Exchange Commission had stepped up an accounting inquiry - a scandal which has already wiped billions off its market value.
The Dutch supermarkets and food service group is also facing shareholder lawsuits and pan-European bourse operator Euronext said last night it was investigating whether Ahold had complied with rules on the timely disclosure of information.
The company, which has lost almost 70 per cent of its market value since it first revealed on Monday that its auditors Deloitte & Touche had uncovered accounting irregularities, saw its shares fall another eight per cent in early trade today.
News of the growing accounting scandal at Ahold - which owns the US grocery chains Giant, Bi-Lo, Stop & Shop and Tops, as well as the prolific Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn - has stunned both investors and the Dutch public.
Ahold's chief executive and chief financial officer have resigned and the group will restate its earnings for 2000, 2001 and the first half of 2002. It said that operating profit for 2001 and last year may have been overstated by as much as $500 million cumulatively.