Stena Line well prepared for the abolition of duty-free

Stena Line well prepared for the abolition of duty-free Following the decision taken at today´s EU Summit in Cologne that duty and tax free sales will definitely be abolished from 1 July 1999, Stena Line, one of the leading ferry operators in Europe, says that it is well prepared to meet the new business conditions. "We maintain the view that the decision is unfortunate and illogical for a number of reasons, however, people have an ever increasing propensity to travel and Stena Line will continue to offer a good onboard experience. At the same time we will focus more on our freight operation and some of the ships in our fleet have already been refitted for this purpose. The most unfortunate effect of the abolition of duty free is the impact on jobs - we have already had to make more than 600 people redundant in Scandinavia", said Stena Line CEO Bo Severed. Stena Line expects that it will still be able to offer lower prices for traditional tax and duty-free goods than prices ashore, even with the new regulations. Onboard sales do not necessarily have to decrease as the limits previously placed on duty-free goods will disappear. What is still unclear is the replacement regime that we will have to work to from 1 July i.e. what levels of excise duty and VAT will apply. As a result of the abolition of duty free passenger fares in certain market areas have been increased. The company has also announced that a freight surcharge will be implemented from 1 July on the routes between Sweden and Denmark and Gothenburg - Kiel. " We will continue to develop our onboard concepts and become even better retailers. We will focus on passengers with a specific reason for travel to their chosen destination whether on business or for leisure. For those passengers, we would like the stay on board to be a positive and comfortable part of their travel experience." Bo Severed concluded. Three of Stena Line´s routes are not affected by the abolition, namely Sweden - Poland and Norway - Denmark, where the taxfree sales will continue as before as well as the route between Scotland and Northern Ireland, which is a domestic route. Göteborg 4 June, 1999 Stena Line AB Åsa Lindell Byström Director of Communications Telephone: +46-31 85 81 80/704 85 81 80 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/04/19990604BIT00280/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/04/19990604BIT00280/bit0002.pdf