KESKO CORPORATION PRESS RELEASE 31.03.2008 AT 14.30 1(1)
Heikki Takamäki, Chairman of Kesko's Board of Directors, says that restrictions concerning the trading sector diminish competition. Takamäki spoke at the Annual General Meeting of Kesko Corporation in Helsinki on 31 March 2008.
In his speech, Heikki Takamäki referred to the research published by Professor Paul Dobson, a well-known expert in European competition, on the competitiveness of retailer business in the EU. According to the research, the retailer business model promotes small entrepreneurship, local activities, the diversity of competition, and innovation. Uniform treatment of different forms of ownership in the interpretation of rules concerning chain operations would liberalise and intensify competition.
Matti Halmesmäki, Kesko's President and CEO, said in his speech that management by knowledge will be emphasised in the next few years. Kesko will strongly develop its electronic customer communications and electronic commerce and automate invoicing, order and delivery systems. Electronic functions will improve customer service and result in considerable cost savings.
Kesko will continue to invest heavily in store sites in Finland and other countries. During the next three years, Kesko will be open 20 new K-citymarkets, 50 new K-supermarkets and 40 new K-markets. In 2008, Kesko will open nearly 20 new K-rauta outlets and other building and home improvement stores in Finland and other countries where the company operates. Chains selling speciality goods will also be expanded considerably.
The releases and presentations of the Annual General Meeting can be downloaded at www.kesko.fi.
Further information is available from Paavo Moilanen, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and Responsibility, Kesko Corporation, tel. +358 1053 22764.
Kesko (www.kesko.fi) is a Finnish retail specialist whose stores offer quality to the daily lives of consumers through valued products and services at competitive prices. Kesko has about 2,000 stores engaged in chain operations in the Nordic and Baltic countries, and Russia.