SWEDEN: Axfood Staff Announcement

Bodil Eriksson has been named Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at recently formed Axfood AB, one of the largest listed food retail and wholesale companies in the Nordic region. She will be a member of the company's executive management and joins Axfood from Volvo Cars, where she held the same position. Bodil Eriksson will be in charge of internal and external information, investor relations, and brand development. She reports to Mats Jansson, President and CEO of Axfood AB. Eriksson will assume her new position by autumn 2000 at the latest. Axfood AB is one of the largest listed food wholesale and retail companies in the Nordic countries. The company conducts wholesale and retail trading through a number of store profiles, including Hemkp, SPAR, Vivo, Tempo and Willys. Consolidated annual sales are estimated at approximately SEK 30 billion, with approximately 7,000 full-year employees. The company has over 1,000 stores in Sweden, of which 250 are wholly or partly owned, while the remainder are run by independent merchants tied to the company through agreements. In addition, the company has some 330 stores in Finland, of which 85 are wholly owned and the remainder operated by independent merchants. The market share is nearly 20 percent in Sweden and approximately 10 percent in Finland. Axfood AB is listed on the A-list of the OM Stockholm Exchange. Axel Johnson AB is the principal owner, with approximately 47 percent of the shares. Please visit