Ahold Delhaize expects Albert Heijn deliveries to resume on October 23 after cyberattack
Key Facts
Ahold Delhaize said it expected Albert Heijn home deliveries to resume from Friday, October 23, as it recovers from a cyber incident that prompted it to shut down some systems as a precaution to protect them. Service is resuming gradually, with an Albert Heijn update putting available capacity at about a third of normal levels. The group disclosed the problem on October 12 before issuing an update on October 19 covering the status of affected services and its response to the incident. In that update, it announced that e-commerce operations in Belgium had been fully restored, while services in other markets were still being restored. Physical stores continued to welcome customers, but remaining open was accompanied by disruptions to goods deliveries. According to Reuters, stores across several chains faced supply difficulties after distribution channels were also affected by the incident.
On the security investigation, Ahold Delhaize said it had filed a formal report with Dutch police over the incident. It said it notified the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre within 24 hours of discovering the malicious activity, as part of its response to the problem affecting its systems. Reuters quoted the company as saying its investigation had confirmed that the suspicious activity resulted from "malicious acts by third parties." The group's protective measures included shutting down some systems, including websites and apps belonging to its brands. Addressing the data aspect of the ongoing investigation, the company said: "We currently have no evidence that customer, employee and partner data was taken in this cyber incident." The group linked that assessment to the investigation's findings at the time, as work continued to address the incident and restore affected services.
The digital service disruption affects a channel accounting for about 10% of Albert Heijn's sales, according to Reuters, making home delivery an important part of the brand's business operations. The incident followed an 8.6% increase in the group's online sales at constant exchange rates in the preceding second quarter, according to Ahold Delhaize's published results. The group said that performance was driven by 14.5% growth in U.S. online sales at constant exchange rates over the same period. U.S. online sales growth thus exceeded the group's overall online sales growth before the disruption that subsequently affected its brands' services. Across its overall business, Ahold Delhaize reported net sales of about 92.4 billion euros in 2025. The group recorded an underlying operating margin of 4.0% that year, according to its annual results statement.
Ahold Delhaize's U.S. operations previously experienced a separate incident involving unauthorized access to internal files. According to a company notice published by the California attorney general's office, an unauthorized party obtained files between November 5 and 6, 2024. The files were taken from one of the company's internal U.S. file repositories, according to the notice. In the broader context of cyber incidents affecting the European food sector, the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre addressed whether the events might be connected. The Associated Press quoted the centre as saying there was "currently no reason to believe these incidents are related."
As part of its service recovery, Ahold Delhaize said it expected e-commerce operations at its U.S. brands to return in the days following its update, alongside preparations to resume Albert Heijn deliveries. The group set Friday, October 23, as the expected start date for the resumption of home deliveries, with available capacity initially limited to about a third of normal levels. Those operational steps will be followed by the group's next financial results announcement on November 4. Ahold Delhaize said in its statement that the upcoming results cover the third quarter of 2026. It scheduled their release for 7:30 a.m. Central European Time on Wednesday.