Hartwall upcider is the success story of the first four-month period

HARTWALL UPCIDER IS THE SUCCESS STORY OF THE FIRST FOUR-MONTH PERIOD During the first months of the year, Hartwall retained its position as Finland's leading player in the brewing industry with its 45.0% aggregate market share (44.6%). Hartwall was the market leader in both alcoholic beverages (45,4% market share) and non-alcoholic beverages (44.5% market share). Aggregate sales by the brewing industry in the January-April period remained at the previous year's level, amounting to a total of 240.9 million litres (240.2 million litres). Hartwall strengthened its position, especially in the case of ciders. Hartwall Upcider, which the company launched at the turn of the year, achieved a 30.8% market share during its first four months on the market. At the same time, the industry's cider sales grew by 18.5%; aggregate sales by the industry in the January-April period were 13.3 million litres (11.2 million litres). Hartwall's cider sales grew by 85,5% to 4.1 million litres. Hartwall's soft drinks product group also continued to grow. Hartwall held a total share of 43.5% of the Finnish soft drinks market. The market share of Hartwall's own soft drink brands was 23.6% during the first months of the year and PepsiCo Inc's products had a market share of 19.9%. All in all, Hartwall sold 38.2 million litres of soft drinks (36.8 million litres). In the mineral waters segment, Hartwall increased its market share to 49.9% (46.7%). Hartwall sold a total of 8.8 million litres of mineral waters (7.7 million litres). In beers, Hartwall lost 1.6 percentage points of its market share in the January-April period, but retained its position as Finland's largest brewer with its 46.6% market share. During the same period, beer consumption in our country declined by 1.8%. During the first months of the year, Hartwall sold 54.6 million litres of beer (57.6 million litres). During the first part of the year, the long drink market in Finland contracted by 5.3%. Hartwall held on to its market leadership in this product group with a market share of 58.4%, including the Cool Drinks International products marketed by Hartwall. The information presented above is based on the statistics of the Finnish Federation of the Brewing and Soft Drinks Industry. The Federation will publish its statistics on the field at 12:00 on 18 May 2000. More detailed information on the business operations of the Hartwall Group in the January-April period will be published at 9:00 on 30 May 2000. For additional information, contact: Sales and Logistics Director, Deputy Managing Director Ralf Hollmén, tel. +358 (0)9 540 2242, Marketing Director Esa Rautalinko, tel. +358 (0)9 540 2280. Sent by: OYJ HARTWALL ABP Anne Manner Corporate Communications Officer tel. +358 (0)9 540 2533 fax +358 (0)9 540 2528 anne.manner@hartwall.fi Distribution: Helsinki Exchanges Principal media http://www.hartwall.fi ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/05/18/20000518BIT00050/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/05/18/20000518BIT00050/bit0002.pdf