THE FIRST CITYMARKET IN THE BALTIC COUNTRIES IS OPENED IN RIGA

Tomorrow Kesko Food opens the first Citymarket hypermarket in Riga, the capital of Latvia. Another Citymarket is already under construction there. The objective is to open three new Citymarkets in Riga next year. In Estonia, Kesko Food has currently three SuperNetto stores, which will be converted to Citymarket hypermarkets.

The Citymarket that is now opened in Riga is part of the SPICE shopping centre of 20,000 square metres, 6,000 square metres of which is owned by Kesko Food. Citymarket’s annual sales target is about EUR 17 million (FIM 100 million), and it employs 100 persons. The next Citymarket is already under construction and it will be opened in Krasta Iela in spring 2002.

In Estonia, the next Citymarkets will be opened, according to plan, in Pärnu next spring (2,500 square metres) and in the Norde Centrum shopping centre close to the Tallinn harbour in the autumn of 2002 (5,000 square metres). According to plan, a Citymarket will also be opened in Narva next year.

In addition to the Citymarket hypermarkets, Kesko Food owns Estonia’s largest discount store chain, Säästumarket, which has 23 stores at present. The chain was purchased in May 2001. By the end of the year, the total number of stores will be about 30.

Kesko Food’s objective is to have a 25% share of the Baltic food markets, whose value is currently about EUR 4.0 billion. In Jüri, Tallinn, Kesko has a logistics centre opened last April. The centre supports the building of Kesko’s own retail store network and operates as a warehouse for imported goods. At the same time, it also offers an efficient distribution and export channel for the Estonian food industry.

Kesko is also active in other business lines in the Baltic countries. Rautakesko owns Estonia’s largest chain for hardware and builders’ supplies, Ehitusmaailm, which has four hardware stores in Estonia. In addition, Rautakesko has one Ehitusmaailm store in Latvia, and another hardware department store is under construction there. Furthermore, Kesko Agriculture and Machinery opened a new agricultural and machinery centre in Riga last May. In the Baltic countries, the objective is to build a comprehensive agricultural and machinery store chain with local outlets and to become the market leader in this business sector. Kesko has a total of over 1,200 employees in the Baltic countries.

Photo (http://www.kesko.fi/materialservice - image archive): Timo Valla, Director of Kesko Food’s Baltic Operations, in the new Citymarket in Riga.

Additional information:
Kalervo Haapaniemi, Kesko Food Ltd, President, tel. +358 1053 22204
Timo Valla, Kesko Food Ltd/Baltic Operations, Director, tel. +371 6565 077
Ari Svensk, Kesko Food Ltd/Baltic Operations, Development Director, tel. +358 1053
2661.