Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority approved the sale of Stockmann Delicatessen to S Group
STOCKMANN plc, Inside Information 15.12.2017 at 12:10 EET
The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority has approved the sale of Stockmann Delicatessen in Finland to S Group’s three regional cooperatives and SOK. However, the Authority requires Stockmann Delicatessen to continue its procurement from Tuko Logistics until the end of 2018.
The business operations of Stockmann Delicatessen in Finland will transfer to S Group on 31 December 2017. The stores will be closed on 1 and 2 January, and they will be opened again on 3 January. Customers may choose to use either Stockmann's Loyalty Card or the S Bonus Card.
The Delicatessen stores will serve customers as normal until the end of the year.
S Group’s goal is to develop the Delicatessen stores into S Group’s flagship stores, which will aim for the top level in Europe, and where the price level will clearly decline from the current level.
According to SOK’s Executive Vice President and COO Arttu Laine, Delicatessen's activities will continue as before in the beginning and larger changes in stores will be visible next autumn. First, during the turn of the year, the focus will be on a smooth handover.
“But already at the beginning of the year, the prices of several products will decrease,” says Laine.
“We are now looking forward to planning the implementation of our development goal. We made a good start through all the proposals and feedback that came out of the publicity during the summer and autumn,” Laine says.
“For us at Stockmann it is important that our customers have the best grocery store in Finland at their service. With the help of S Group, the Delicatessen will become even more attractive,” says Stockmann's CEO Lauri Veijalainen.
S Group and Stockmann announced the transaction of the Stockmann Delicatessen at the end of June. At that time, the parties reported that the transaction would be executed on 31 December, subject to approval by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority. A formal notice of the transaction was sent to the Authority in August.
In the transaction, the Delicatessen stores in the centre of Helsinki, in Tapiola and in the Itis and Jumbo shopping centres will be transferred to HOK-Elanto. The Delicatessen store in Turku will be transferred to the Turku Regional Cooperative, and the store in Tampere to the Tampere Regional Cooperative. The Stockmann Delicatessen chain operations will be transferred to SOK. The Stockmann Delicatessen kitchen, which prepares Stockmann Meals foods, will be transferred to S-Herkkukeittiö Oy. The Delicatessen business operations in the Stockmann department stores in the Baltic countries will remain with Stockmann.
Stockmann Delicatessen’s personnel in Finland, i.e. approx. 700 persons, will transfer to S Group as existing employees, and the Delicatessen stores will continue their operations in all the Stockmann department stores.
The transaction’s economical impact on Stockmann has been described in a stock exchange release published on 30 June 2017.
Further information:
Lauri Veijalainen, CEO, tel. +358 9 121 5062
Arttu Laine, Executive Vice President and COO, SOK, tel. +358 10 76 81011
STOCKMANN plc
Lauri Veijalainen
CEO
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