KESKO FOOD LTD PRESS RELEASE 16.05.2013 AT 11.00 1(1)
Kesko Food today opened its second food store in the St. Petersburg area. In addition to the two existing stores, Kesko Food aims to open another two new large food stores in the St. Petersburg area by the end of 2013 and then continue expansion in the St. Petersburg area and subsequently also in the Moscow area. The objective is to achieve net sales of €500 million and a positive result by 2017. Kesko has also 15 K-rauta stores and 21 Intersport stores in Russia.
The first K-ruoka store in St. Petersburg opened in the Primorsk district on 5 December 2012. According to Kari Heiskanen, Kesko Food's Country Director for Russia, the concept emphasizing freshness, good quality and Finnish products has received an excellent welcome. "The sales and customer satisfaction results of the first store have clearly exceeded the targets".
The second store now opened is located at Doroga Zhizni 12, in the city of Vsevolozhsk, some 7 km from the St. Petersburg ring road. Vsevolozhsk is a growing city, which houses international car manufacturing plants, for example. The store is located at the crossing of the main road to the centre of St. Petersburg. The store has a sales area of around 4,000 m2 and it operates on premises owned by Kesko. The site provides around 300 car parking spaces.
"Also this store has an emphasis on high-quality fruits and vegetables, bread and service counters for meat, fish and ready meals, as well as a scratch bakery, says Oleg Buyalski, General Director of Kesko Food Rus.
The store's web pages are available at www.k-ruoka.ru (http://www.k-ruoka.ru/).
Further information is available from President Jorma Rauhala, Kesko Food Ltd, tel. +358 105 322 211
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's operations include the food, home and speciality goods, building and home improvement, and car and machine trades. 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 €12 billion (VAT 0%) in 2012. The K-Group employs around 45,000 people.
Besides Finland, Kesko also seeks growth especially in the Russian market, which is growing faster than the Nordic and Baltic markets. In addition to two K-ruoka stores, Kesko has 15 K-rauta stores and 21 Intersport stores in Russia. Konekesko markets construction, materials handling and environmental machinery in St. Petersburg through its own dealer network.
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Source: Kesko Oyj via Thomson Reuters ONE
