Board members' independence

The Board evaluates the independence of its members on a regular basis in accordance with Recommendation 10 of the Finnish Corporate Governance Code. A Board member is obliged to provide the Board with necessary information for the evaluation of independence.

All members of Kesko's Board of Directors are non-executive directors.

The Board carried out its annual independence evaluation at its meeting on 26 March 2026. Based on the Board's independence evaluation, all Board members apart from Pauli Jaakola are independent of the company's significant shareholders. Jaakola is the Chair of Kesko's significant shareholder K-Retailers’ Association. Of the Board members, Tiina Alahuhta, Mervi Airaksinen, Jannica Fagerholm and Timo Ritakallio are independent also of the company. In its evaluation, the Board took into consideration the fact that in this current term of office, Jannica Fagerholm has been a member of Kesko’s Board of Directors uninterruptedly for over 10 years. According to the evaluation, this does not compromise her independence of the company, and no other factors have arisen that would change the conclusion of the overall evaluation. Esa Kiiskinen, Pauli Jaakola and Jussi Perälä are not considered independent of the company, as they each control a company that has a chain agreement with Kesko.

Board members’ independence in 2026

* Companies controlled by Kiiskinen, Jaakola and Perälä each have a chain agreement with Kesko Corporation.
** Jaakola is the Chairman of the Board of Kesko´s significant shareholder K-Retailers´ Association.