Kesko gains €19 million on real estate sale

The Kesko Group has today sold four store properties to the Kesko Pension Fund. The debt-free selling price is about €50 million. The Kesko Group’s gain on the sale is about €19 million, which will be treated as a non-recurring item in Kesko’s first quarter operating profit.

The properties included in the sale are K-citymarket Malmi in Helsinki, K-rauta Lielahti in Tampere, and interests in the K-supermarket Nekala and K-citymarket Turtola properties in Tampere. All of these properties have been leased back for use by Kesko’s division parent companies under 10 or 15-year leases. The lease liability for the real estate sold by the Kesko Group totals about €53 million, not classified as a finance lease.

The transaction does not involve changes in the stores’ operations. The aggregate area of the properties sold is about 26,000 m². The sale of the properties is aimed to improve the use of the Kesko Group capital.

At 31 December 2008, Kesko owned 1.0 million m² of properties and had 2.9 million m² of properties on leasehold in Finland and other Nordic countries, the Baltic countries and Russia. Kesko's store site investments were €279 million in 2008.

Further information:
Arja Talma, Senior Vice President, CFO, Kesko Corporation, tel. +358 1053 22113
Jukka Erlund, Vice President, Corporate Controller, Kesko Corporation, tel. +358 1053 22338

Kesko Corporation

Paavo Moilanen
Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and Responsibility

DISTRIBUTION
Helsinki Stock Exchange
Main news media