Stockmann planning to restructure Department Store

Helsinki, Finland, 2013-10-16 09:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STOCKMANN plc, Investor News 16.10.2013 at 10:00 EET The Stockmann Group aims to achieve more cost-effective operations under the uncertain market conditions and in a changing retail operating environment. Stockmann is planning to restructure the Department Store Division’s marketing organisation in order to improve the efficiency of marketing processes and to achieve cost savings. This will also allow it to better meet the requirements of the changing media environment. As a consequence of the new organisational model being planned, Stockmann will be launching statutory co-determination negotiations covering about 150 employees in the Department Store Division’s marketing operations in Finland. The negotiation proposal states that the restructuring could lead to a personnel reduction of up to 70 people. Stockmann is targeting annual cost savings of approximately EUR 4 million, which would be implemented to start in 2014 and in full during 2015. The reorganisation of marketing is part of the structural changes in Stockmann’s Department Store Division which are designed to achieve a more efficient cost structure and to improve competitiveness. The assessment work for these changes is under way in both the support functions and the sales organisation, and the changes will take place in stages. The start of the cost savings programme was published as a company announcement on 16 April 2013. In addition to the structural changes, Stockmann is targeting savings of over EUR 17 million by summer 2014 through reductions in fixed costs and via temporary lay-offs. Further information: Maisa Romanainen, Executive Vice President, Director for the Department Store Division, tel. +358 9 121 5230 Nora Malin, Director, Corporate Communications, tel. +358 9 121 3558 www.stockmanngroup.com STOCKMANN plc Hannu Penttilä CEO Distribution: NASDAQ OMX Principal media