Supermarket group Ahold announced on Thursday that Dick Boer has been appointed CEO, effective March 2011. Ahold shares opened 0.8% lower on the news and then fell again to a loss of 1.4%.

Boer, currently Chief Operating Officer Ahold Europe, replaces John Rishton who is leaving the company to become CEO of Rolls-Royce.
Ahold now has a retail expert in charge, analyst Pascale Weber of KBC Securities told the Dow Jones press agency. Boer was the driving force behind the turnaround at Ahold over the past decade.