Kesko opened the sixth K-ruoka store in St. Petersburg

KESKO CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE 26.03.2015 AT 11.00 1(1)

Kesko opened the sixth K-ruoka store in St. Petersburg

Kesko today opened a new K-ruoka store in St. Petersburg. The store is located in a property owned by Kesko at Shuvalovsky Prospekt 45.

The K-ruoka store is the chain's sixth store. It is located in the fast growing northern part of the city, in the former K-rauta building, which became vacant when K-rauta moved to larger premises at Parashutanya Ulitsa 60.

According to Kari Heiskanen, Kesko Food's Country Director for Russia, the K-ruoka stores in St. Petersburg have been excellently received.

- Customers have appreciated the concept that focuses on freshness, high quality and Finnish products. Based on the good experiences, Kesko will continue to make capital expenditures in Russia and carefully consider every new capital expenditure. The next two K-ruoka stores that are being built will open in May and June.

Further information is available from Kesko Food's Country Director for Russia, Kari Heiskanen, tel. +7 812 331 7723.

Kesko (www.kesko.fi) is a highly valued listed trading sector company. It manages retail store chains that are valued by customers and efficiently produces services for retail store chains' purchasing, logistics, network development and data management. Kesko operates in the grocery trade, the home improvement and speciality goods trade and the car and machine trade. Its division parent companies and chains act in close cooperation with retailer entrepreneurs and other partners. Kesko has about 2,000 stores engaged in chain operations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Belarus. Kesko and K-retailers form the K-Group, whose retail sales totalled around EUR11.3 billion (VAT 0%) in 2014. The K-Group employs around 45,000 people.

Besides Finland, Kesko seeks growth particularly in the Russian market. In addition to six K-ruoka stores, Kesko has 13 K-rauta stores and 19 Intersport stores in Russia. In addition, Konekesko exports Yamarin boats to Russia.