HKScan to strengthen its Management Team

HKScan Corporation                                     Stock Exchange Release         12 August 2013, 4:00 p.m.

HKScan to strengthen its Management Team

HKScan Group has sharpened its brand strategy as part of recent strategic planning work. The Group brand strategy will be fine-tuned to support long-term marketing development and reinforce an innovative brand & concept offering with wide appeal among both consumers and customers. To achieve these goals, HKScan will reinforce its Management Team with the appointment of a new Chief Marketing Officer.

Anne Mere, MBA, 42, has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer of HKScan Group. Mere has served as Executive Vice President of HKScan’s Consumer Business in Finland and the Baltics and as HKScan Finland’s General Manager since 2012. She will continue as a member of the HKScan Management Team. Prior to her career at HKScan, she held the post of Managing Director and Chief Marketing Officer at AS Rakvere Lihakombinaat in Estonia and has also worked for Austria Tabak Eesti and Unilever.

As Chief Marketing Officer, Mere will be responsible for HKScan’s marketing and brand strategy development, in which capacity she will collaborative closely with HKScan’s Business Areas, Product Development and Group Communications. Mere will report to the CEO, Hannu Kottonen.

Samuli Eskola, M.Sc. (Econ.), 39, has been appointed Executive Vice President of HKScan’s Consumer Business in Finland and the Baltics, as General Manager of HKScan Finland, and as a member of the Management Team. Eskola joined HKScan in 2007, most recently holding responsibility for Group strategy and strategic projects. Prior to joining HKScan, Eskola held executive positions at Lännen Tehtaat and Atria.

Eskola will continue rolling out HKScan Group operating model in Finland and the Baltics and will remain in charge of completing the ongoing development programme to improve operational efficiency. In addition, his key responsibilities are improving the commercial performance and operational profitability. Eskola will report to the CEO, Hannu Kottonen.

Juhan Matt, 45, will provisionally hold responsibility for Group Strategy and Strategic Projects, in which capacity he will report to the CEO, Hannu Kottonen. Matt has served as Vice President, Strategy and Strategic Projects at HKScan Group since the beginning of the year, prior to which he was responsible for consumer-packed meats and convenience foods in Finland and for Rigas Miesnieks business in Latvia.

The above appointments are effective as of 19 August 2013. The HKScan Management Team will thereafter comprise the following members:

Hannu Kottonen, CEO; Aki Laiho, COO Technology and Production; Tuomo Valkonen, CFO; Sari Suono, EVP HR; Samuli Eskola, EVP, Consumer Business, Finland and the Baltics; Göran Holm, EVP, Consumer Business, Scandinavia; Jukka Nikkinen, EVP, Away from Home Business; Anne Mere, Chief Marketing Officer; and Markku Suvanto, EVP Legal and Administration. Suvanto will also serve as Secretary to the Management Team.

HKScan Corporation

Hannu Kottonen
CEO

For further details:
Hannu Kottonen, CEO HKScan Corporation. Kindly submit a callback request via Marjukka Hujanen, tel. +358 (0)10 570 6218.

HKScan is one of the leading food companies in northern Europe, with home markets in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, the Baltic countries and Poland. HKScan manufactures, sells and markets pork and beef, poultry products, processed meats and convenience foods under strong brand names. Its customers are the retail, food service, industrial and export sectors. In 2012, it had net sales of EUR 2.5 billion and some 11 000 employees.

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