Rieber & Søn ASA (OSL:RIE) New Group Management For Rieber & Søn

Rieber & Søn ASA (OSL:RIE) After two months in the chair, CEO Patrik Andersson is ready to present Rieber & Søn's new Group Management team. At the same time, he believes that greater integration and better coordination of the Group's activities can increase profitability significantly.

Today, Andersson can present figures which show that for the second consecutive quarter Rieber & Søn has improved on last year's results. The figures for the third quarter alone and for the first nine months of the year show that the foods group is making good progress.

Profitability will be increased

- There is no doubt that there is great scope for improving profitability, says Andersson, adding that the new Group Management team reflects the Group's future strategy:

- We need to achieve closer integration of our international activities and extract greater benefits throughout the value chain from production to sales. We also have to play closer attention to the development of competence among our personnel and within the organisation, says Andersson.

Savings will be made

The Group has initiated a programme called "Future" which is focused on achieving major structural and operational cost savings. The programme is targeted mainly on purchasing and production, but projects have also been started in the area of sales and marketing.

For the moment, Andersson cannot quantify the savings or specify the level of growth he would like to see on the bottom line.

- We are still doing our calculations, but we will be able to be more specific in the first quarter of 2009, says Andersson.

New Group Management

The new Group Management which will be taking up its functions on 1 December, will consist of the following team of 11: Patrik Andersson (CEO), Tor Lund (Director of Finance & IT), Nina Skage (Director of Personnel & Organisational Development), Bjørnar Gulliksen (Director front end), Frank Mohn (Director supply chain), Jørgen Wiig (Director Norway), Jerzy Zalopa (Director The Czech Republic/Slovakia), Piotr Sienko (Director Poland), Kasper Lenbroch (Director Denmark), Birthe Drageset (Director food service) and Geir Mikalsen (Director of Communications).

Sales growth in Eastern Europe

The good results in the third quarter were mainly due to higher sales in Poland and Russia, as well as lower costs in the Czech Republic. In Western Europe, several of Rieber & Søn's businesses have developed well, while the crispy onion producer in the Netherlands experienced a drop in earnings, due to competition from a new player in the market.

Rieber & Søn's sales in the third quarter increased by 8.8% to NOK 1 212m (1 114m). Of this, 3.8% was attributable to currency conversion effects, while the increase in organic sales stood at 5%.

EBITDA was NOK 12m up on last year's third quarter, totalling NOK 149m. The operating profit was NOK 98m (75m), while the operating margin was 8.1% (6.7%). Earnings per share (EPS) in the third quarter amounted to NOK 0.68 (0.54).

Contacts: CEO Patrik Andersson Tel.: +46761113400 Director of Communications Geir Mikalsen Tel.: +4790620851

Rieber & Søn in brief

Rieber & Søn is one of Norway's leading food companies. The main markets are the Nordic countries and Eastern Europe, where the Group has considerable market shares. Rieber & Søn develops products based on local taste, and shall inspire people to prepare exciting and tasty food in an easier way.

Rieber & Søn has leading brands such as Toro, Denja, Mr.Lee, King Oscar (Norway), Frödinge (Sweden), K and Bähncke (Denmark), Delecta (Poland), Vitana (Czech Rep. and Slovakia) and Chaka (Russia).

Rieber & Søn had a revenue of 4,6 billion NOK in 2007. The Group has a workforce of 3 700 (2 550 of these outside Norway). Rieber & Søn has production in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Poland, Czech Rep. and Russia. In addition the Group has sales organisations in Germany, Great Britain, Slovakia, Belgium and US.

This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



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Rieber & Søn ASA

http://www.rieberson.no

ISIN: NO0004951104

Stock Identifier: XOSL.RIE

US: RIEBF.PK