Sardus completes acquisition of Gourmet Service

The Sardus food products group, which is listed on the Stockholmsbörsen A List, has completed the acquisition of Gourmet Service AB. Among other products, this company produces sandwich salads, sauces, salad dressings and salmon and shellfish pâtés. Gourmet Service AB, which is located in Stockholm, has annual sales of slightly more than SEK 80 M, with 24 employees.

Part of the payment consists of 200,000 Sardus shares, corresponding to about 2 percent of the total number of shares outstanding. This was made possible by the share-buyback program initiated by Sardus in spring 2002. As a result, the seller of Gourmet Service, Rolf Bratt, becomes one of the major shareholders in Sardus. The transfer price is SEK 84 per share, which is based on the market price on October 3, 2003. Gourmet Service's customers are active primarily within the institutional catering industry but the company also delivers to the food products and food retailing segments. Rolf Bratt will continue as president of Gourmet Service AB. "The acquisition is in line with our growth strategy, which means that we intend to broaden our operations within the sandwich-related product segment and light meals," says Ragnar Bringert, President of Sardus . Gourmet Service will become part of the Sardus FoodPartner business unit, which serves customers in the institutional catering area, despite its products also being sold to food retail stores. Sardus will consolidate the new acquisition during the final three months of the year. Gourmet Service is expected to make a positive contribution to Sardus' fourth-quarter earnings. Helsingborg, October 6, 2003 AB SARDUS (publ.) Ragnar Bringert For further information, please contact: Ragnar Bringert, president, AB Sardus , telephone +46 42 37 02 50, or +46 70 593 62 73.