THE CONSTRUCTION WORKS OF STOCKMANN'S SHOPPING CENTRE IN ST PETERSBURG GET UNDER WAY

STOCKMANN plc RELEASE October 6, 2006 at 11.45

THE CONSTRUCTION WORKS OF STOCKMANN'S SHOPPING CENTRE IN ST PETERSBURG GET UNDER WAY

The construction works of Stockmann's Nevsky Center shopping centre in St Petersburg get under way. On the basis of competitive bidding OOO Kitai Stroi, the Russian subsidiary of China State Construction Engineering Corporation, a construction company owned by China State, has been selected as the main constructor. The aim is to open the shopping centre and the Stockmann department store that will be located in it in autumn 2008.

The 10,000-odd square metre plot that Stockmann has bought for the Nevsky Center shopping centre is located on Nevsky Prospect, St Petersburg's high street, next to the Vosstaniya Square underground station, in the immediate vicinity of Moscow Station. On the plot Stockmann will erect a shopping centre with about 100,000 square metres of gross floor space, about 50,000 square metres of which will be retail space and office premises. The shopping centre will comprise a full-scale Stockmann department store as well as Seppälä, Bestseller and Nike stores operated by Stockmann, other retail stores and an underground car park.

The contractor of the shopping centre, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, has previously built e.g. airports, hotels and factories for large international customers in different parts of the world. At present the corporation's Russian subsidiary Kitai Stroi is erecting in Moscow a 93-storey building which, once completed, will be the highest in Europe. This 354-metre skyscraper is part of the current Moscow City Project.

Demolition and other preparatory construction works have already been carried out on the Nevsky Center plot. Now that the main contract has been signed, the works will start up at the end of October. The construction works will be completed in autumn 2008. The interior decorating having been completed, the shopping centre is scheduled to open for public in the beginning of November 2008. Stockmanns total investment in the project will be around EUR 120 million.

Further information: Jussi Kuutsa, development director for Stockmann Group's international operations, tel. +7 905 200 66 41

STOCKMANN plc

Hannu Penttilä CEO

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