STOCKMANN GROUP'S SALES IN JANUARY 2004

STOCKMANN plc STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE February 12, 2004, 12.00 noon

STOCKMANN GROUP'S SALES IN JANUARY 2004

In January, the Stockmann Group's sales amounted to EUR 141.3 million. Sales were up 11 per cent, considering that the agency sales of magazine and newspaper subscriptions which were disposed of at the end of May 2003 have been eliminated from the comparison figure. In January 2003, this business was EUR 8.1 million. The main part of the subscription agency sales piled up in January-February 2003, so its effect on the comparison figures for the Group sales is going to decrease in the course of the year. A corresponding elimination has been made from the comparison figure for the Department Store Division.

The best growth was reported by the Vehicle Division whose sales were up 21 per cent. Sales by Seppälä were up 11 per cent and by the Department Store Division 10 per cent. Sales by Hobby Hall declined by 2 per cent. The sales growth of the Department Store Division was contributed by the Zara store opened in Moscow in February 2003 and the department store opened in Riga, Latvia, in October 2003. Seppälä started operations in Latvia in the autumn 2003. Hobby Hall's sales growth was restricted by the missing sales of the stores which were closed down in the autumn 2003 and at the beginning of 2004.

In 2004, the sales figures of Stockmann's divisions who have operations abroad will be published as distributed into sales in Finland and sales by the international operations.

Sales figures in January

January January- December

STOCKMANN plc

Hannu Penttilä CEO

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