Rieber & Søn ASA (OSL:RIE) Rieber & Søn Strengthens Its Strategic Position In Poland

Rieber & Søn ASA (OSL:RIE) Rieber & Søn strengthens its strategic position in Poland following the agreement signed by the company today to acquire the Gellwe brand. With this acquisition Rieber & Søn is the biggest company in the sweet bakery and dessert category in Poland.

Rieber & Søn already owns Delecta in Poland, and with the acquisition of Gellwe Rieber & Søn has added one of the companies active in the sweet bakery and dessert category in the Polish market. The purchase price is around PLN 135m and is related to Gellwe's net sales of approximately PLN 90m in 2007.

- We have long felt the need to increase our scope of operations in Poland in order to extract economies of scale, and with today's transaction this has been achieved, says COE Patrick Anderson.

Competitive advantage

- The purchase of Gellwe will strengthen our market position and at the same time boost production efficiency and improve logistics in Poland, says Andersson. One of the main contributions in this respect will be the transfer of production of Gellwe's branded products to Delecta's plant in Wloclawek.

Gellwe and Delecta have complementary competitive advantages. Gellwe has long had an established position in the modern trade and has maintained its strong position, while Delecta dominates the traditional trade. Gellwe has high market shares in the south and west, while Delecta has a strong position in northern and central regions. Gellwe is strongest in the dessert categories, while Delecta is strongest in the bakery category.

Taking the leading role

The acquisition includes the Gellwe brand and four related sweet categories; cake mixes, cake ingredients, bakery additives and desserts.

- Delecta is currently the leading brand in cake mixes. The acquisition of Gellwe gives us the leading position in three out of four categories and makes us well placed as a challenger to take over the position of market leader in desserts as well, says Andersson.

The transaction does not include the takeover of plant and related equipment or the workforce. A final agreement is subject to the approval of the Polish competition authorities and satisfactory due diligence. The acquisition will take place at the end of the first half of 2009 and is expected to have a positive whole-year effect corresponding to around NOK 0.20 per share (EPS).

Contacts: CEO Patrik Andersson Mob. +46 76 11 13 400 CFO Tor Lund Mob. + 47 95 27 28 10 Director of Communications/IR Geir Mikalsen Mob. + 47 90 62 08 51

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

Rieber & Søn ASA

http://www.rieberson.no

ISIN: NO0004951104

Stock Identifier: XOSL.RIE

US: RIEBF.PK