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Press release Grocery Shop Directory 2014 EMBARGOED UNTIL 10:00 AM 31 MARCH 2015 CONTACTS: Sanna Kotakorpi, Market Leader E-mail: [email protected] Tel. +358 9 4300 3239, +358 50 363 1068 SEVEN LEAN YEARS IN THE FINNISH GROCERY TRADE During the last seven years, the average volume growth of the Finnish grocery sales has been only 0.2% a year. Such a long period of soft volume growth was not experienced even during the 1990s depression. Last year was the third consecutive year of non-existent development, with growth in volume amounting to only 0.1%. The information is based on Nielsen's annual Grocery Shop Directory. Grocery sales in Finland amounted to EUR 16.705 billion in 2014. The growth in sales value, 0.9%, was moderate compared to 2013. In the soft economic situation, prices have become clearly more important to consumers in the 2010s. Price-quality ratio and price level have become two of the consumers’ three most important criteria for choosing their place of purchase (Source: Nielsen Homescan). Tightest competition over market shares between Lidl and K-Group S Group, the market leader, grew hand in hand with the development of the grocery market and retained its market share, 45.7%. K-Group, on the other hand, lost 0.9 percentage points of its share, ending up with its all-time low market share in the history of the Grocery Shop Directory, 33.1%. Lidl, a success story in the weakly developing grocery market, continued its strong growth and took the third place from Suomen Lähikauppa in terms of market share. Nielsen estimates Lidl's share of grocery sales to be 7.6%. Suomen Lähikauppa lost its market share slightly, with its market share being 6.8% (-0.2 percentage points). The grocery market shares of retailers in 2014: Group Market share of grocery sales Change in market share from 2013 S Group 45.7% 0.0% points K-Group 33.1% - 0.9% points Lidl Suomi Ky 7.6% (* + 1.1% points Suomen Lähikauppa Oy 6.8% - 0.2% points Other private companies 6.8% 0.0% points *) estimate Best-performing chains S-market, Prisma, K-supermarket, K-citymarket and K-market were still the biggest chains in terms of grocery sales. Of these chains, only Prisma and K-supermarket increased their sales. However, Lidl, Sale and Siwa were the best-developing chains of all. The growth of the Siwa chain was based on growth in its shop network: the chain opened 19 new shops, in addition 13 Valintatalo shops joined the Siwa chain in 2014. Among shop types, large supermarkets (> 1,000 sqm) developed well in terms of sales (4.1%), which was mainly attributable to Lidl’s growth. Grocery sales in hypermarkets no longer grew; the development of sales (-0.1%) was negative for the first time in the 37-year history of the Grocery Shop Directory. Shops whose floor area exceeded 1,000 sqm accounted for two-thirds of grocery sales. The 410 largest shops in terms of sales in Finland sold one-half of all grocery goods in 2014. Shops selling a full range of grocery goods (excluding specialty and market shops) numbered 3,157 in all on 1 January 2015. Nielsen's Grocery Shop Directory is comprised of private and cooperative grocery shops in Finland (excluding only operators selling grocery goods online). Nielsen collects the data for the Grocery Shop Directory annually in cooperation with the retail groups and individual players, while Lidl’s market share is an estimate by Nielsen based on various data sources. Nielsen publishes the Grocery Shop Directory in March each year. Nielsen has published the Grocery Shop Directory since 1978. Nielsen Homescan provides information on the purchasing behaviour of Finnish consumers. The study measures household purchases based on a sample of 5,000 households. The purchase data is weighted using statistical methods to present the grocery purchases of all Finnish households. Nielsen Nielsen N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global performance management company that provides a comprehensive understanding of what consumers Watch and Buy. Nielsen’s Watch segment provides media and advertising clients with Total Audience measurement services across all devices where content — video, audio and text — is consumed. The Buy segment offers consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers the industry’s only global view of retail performance measurement. By integrating information from its Watch and Buy segments and other data sources, Nielsen provides its clients with both world-class measurement as well as analytics that help improve performance. Nielsen, an S&P 500 company, has operations in over 100 countries that cover more than 90 percent of the world’s population. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com. .

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