KESKO WAS FOUNDED 60 YEARS AGO

Sixty years had passed on 14 October 2000 from the decision to found Kesko Oy. Kesko’s business operations were started at the beginning of 1941 and the company’s main office and import warehouses were located in the current headquarters at Katajanokka, Helsinki.

Kesko was founded by merging four retailer-owned wholesale companies. They were Maakauppiaitten Oy from Helsinki, Oy Savo-Karjalan Tukkuliike from Vyborg, Kauppiaitten Oy from Vaasa and Keski-Suomen Tukkukauppa Oy from Jyväskylä.

At that time Kesko had 1,200 employees, while the present number is about tenfold. A period of strong growth started at Kesko in the middle of the 1950’s, at which time Kesko surpassed its competitors and became Finland’s biggest trading company in terms of net sales. Today, Kesko is an international marketing and logistics company, which develops retail concepts and operating systems.

In addition to Finland, Kesko increases its investments in Sweden and the Baltic countries. There are now eight K-rauta hardware stores operating in Sweden and the chain will be expanded to include a total of 25 stores. In April, Kesko purchased AS Fanaal operating in Estonia. It has five hardware stores in Estonia with a total market share of 20%, and additionally one store in Latvia. Kesko has opened a SuperNetto grocery store in Tallinn. The next stores will be opened in 2001. The first store in Riga will also be opened next spring. In the Baltic countries, the aim is a 20-25% share of the total food market, which amounts to about FIM 20 billion.

Kesko was listed in the Helsinki Stock Exchange in 1960, when the trend to expand the shareholder base was started. The Foodstuffs Division, the Home and Speciality Goods Division, the Hardware and Builders’ Supplies Division and the Agriculture and Machinery Division are now responsible for Kesko’s commercial operations. Kesko’s foodstuffs trade and home and speciality goods trade will be incorporated from 1 April 2001, and other product lines by the end of 2001.

Kesko and the K-Alliance are undergoing the greatest reform during their history since the foundation. "The change can be crystallised in three expressions: more coherent chain operations between Kesko and the K-retailers; incorporated business operations; and a reform of Kesko’s corporate governance", says Kesko’s Chairman and CEO Matti Honkala.

Kesko Corporation

Corporate Communications

Erkki Heikkinen

Director

telephone +358 1053 22721