KESKO TO PURCHASE A GROCERY STORE CHAIN IN ESTONIA

Kesko Corporation´s subsidiary Kesko Food Ltd has made an agreement to purchase the whole share capital of Kinnisvaravalduse AS which owns Estonia´s largest discounter store chain, Säästumarket. The purpose is to conclude the final deal by the end of May.

The Säästumarket chain has at present 16 retail stores in Estonia, and its net sales for 2000 totalled EEK 323 million (about EUR 21 million). During 2001, the number of the stores is estimated to almost double and the net sales to amount to over EEK 1 billion (over EUR 64 million).

The purchase of the Säästumarket chain is part of Kesko´s internationalisation strategy. Kesko´s target is a market share of 20-25 percent of the Baltic grocery market of about EUR 4.0 billion.

Kesko has recently opened in Estonia a logistics centre that meets the EU requirements. At present two SuperNetto stores operate in Tallinn, one store in Tartu and a new store will be opened in Pärnu in the autumn. In 2002, a large grocery outlet will be opened in close vicinity to the harbour of the city of Tallinn.

In Latvia, Kesko aims to open four hypermarkets in Riga by the end of 2002. The "topping-out" of the first SuperNetto store was held in April. Kesko also owns Estonia´s largest hardware store chain, Ehitusmaailm, which has five hardware stores in Estonia and one store in Latvia. In addition, Kesko carries on agricultural trade in all the Baltic countries. At present Kesko has a total of about 750 employees in the Baltic countries.

For further information, please contact Kalervo Haapaniemi, President of Kesko Food Ltd, telephone +358 10 5311, or Timo Valla, Director of the Baltic operations, telephone +371 7860 235 or +371 6565 077.

Kesko Corporation
Corporate Communications

Erkki Heikkinen
Senior Vice President

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