Year-End Report, Axfood AB (publ.) 1 January-31December 2002

Year-End Report, Axfood AB (publ.) 1 January - 31 December 2002 · Axfood's consolidated sales amounted to SEK 33,115 m (32,428), an increase of 2.1%. Retail sales for Axfood's wholly owned businesses in Sweden rose by 9.6% during the year. The increase for the fourth quarter was 7.6%. · Operating profit for the period January-December was SEK 1,023 m (653). Operating profit for the fourth quarter was SEK 271 m (155), an increase of 75% compared with the same period a year ago. Willys, Dagab and Spar Finland made the strongest contributions to the earnings improvement. · Profit after net financial items amounted to SEK 919 m (527), an increase of SEK 392 m. · The fourth quarter entailed a slight improvement for Hemköp. The operating margin rose by 0.4 percentage points, to 2.2% (1.8%). · Axfood's long-term operating margin target for 2005 has been raised to 3.5%. · The Board of Directors proposes that the dividend be raised to SEK 5.00 (2.50) per share. The dividend policy is being changed to correspond to an average of 40% of profit after tax (previously a minimum of 30% of profit after tax during a business cycle). ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/02/07/20030206BIT00890/wkr0001.doc The full report http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/02/07/20030206BIT00890/wkr0002.pdf The full report