Contract signed for a new store in Finland

Clas Ohlson has signed a contract regarding a new store at Spar Center Shopping area in Mariehamn, Åland, Finland. The retail space will amount to a total of 799 square metres. The store’s catchment area comprises approximately 28,000 residents and the store is scheduled to open in Spring 2013.

Future store establishments that have been contracted to date are: Alta, Norway in November 2011; Myyrmanni Shopping Center, Vanda, Finland in November 2011; Valbo Shopping Center, Gävle, Sweden in February 2012; Storheden Shopping area, Luleå, Sweden in February 2012; Elverum, Norway in March 2012; Änghagen Shopping area, Lidköping, Sweden in April 2012; Byporten Kjøpesenter, Mo i Rana, Norway in April/May 2012; Kongssenteret Shopping Centre in Kongsvinger, Norway in May 2012; Flygfyren Shopping area, Norrtälje, Sweden in June 2012; Willa Shopping Centre, Hyvinkää, Finland in October 2012; Matkus Shopping area, Kuopio, Finland in October 2012; Emporia, Malmö, Sweden in October 2012; Vestby Arena, Vestby, Norway in November 2012; Amfi Ørsta, Ørsta, Norway in autumn 2012; Sogndal, Norge in spring 2013; Spar Center Shopping area in Mariehamn, Åland, Finland in spring 2013; Norra Backa Shopping area, Borlänge, Sweden in October 2013; Mobilia Shopping Centre, Malmö, Sweden in October 2013 and Kungens Kurva in Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden in October 2013.

During the 2011/12 financial year we aim to establish 17-22 stores of which 2-4 in Finland and 1-4 in the UK. With currently 150 stores and 19 contracted stores, Clas Ohlson will have a total of 169 stores, of which 72 in Sweden, 61 in Norway, 24 in Finland and 12 in the UK.

For further information, please contact:

Bo Heyman, Director of Retail expansion, Mobile +46 (0)70-597 44 90.

John Womack, Director of Information and Investor Relations, +46 (0)247-444 05.

Sampo Päällysaho, Managing Director of Clas Ohlson OY, Finland; Mobile +358 (0)43 824 4431.

Clas Ohlson AB is a Swedish chain store that sells, amongst other things, hardware, electrical, multimedia, and home and leisure products. It is the largest hardware chain in Scandinavia. The company was founded in 1918 by the technically-minded Clas Ohlson (1895–1979), as a mail order business based in the Swedish village of Insjön, Dalarna. Initially, only manuals and technical literature were sold. He opened his first shop in Insjön in 1926 and there are now stores throughout Sweden, as well as in Norway and Finland. In 2008, the company opened its first store in the United Kingdom, in Croydon, south London. There are now stores at the Arndale Centre in Manchester, at The Harlequin in Watford, in Kingston upon Thames, Reading, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, Cardiff, Doncaster and Norwich.

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