BE Group Closes Down Its Business in St. Petersburg

BE Group is closing down operations at its facility in St. Petersburg, Russia. The business was launched in 2006. Sales in 2008 so far total SEK 15M. The process of discontinuing the business will take place during the first half of 2009 and will affect 13 employees. The cost of closing down the business is estimated at SEK 10M, which will be posted in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Håkan Jeppsson, BE Group’s President and CEO, comments, “We have been unable to develop the business in St. Petersburg to the extent that we had hoped. In light of the prevailing uncertainty in the market, we have therefore decided to focus on our other operations within the CEE business area in Central and Eastern Europe. Russia remains a market that is of interest to BE Group from a long-term perspective.”

The information presented here is such that BE Group AB (publ) is required to publish pursuant to the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was released for publication on December 22, 2008 at 09.00 a.m. CET.

BE Group AB (publ), listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange, Stockholm since November 2006, is one of the leading trading and service companies within steel and other metals in Europe. The company has about 10,000 customers, primarily within the construction and engineering industries. BE Group provides service in the steel, stainless steel and aluminium sectors. The company’s sales in 2007 were SEK 7.7 billion. BE Group has more than 1,000 employees in ten countries in Northern Europe, where Sweden and Finland are its largest markets. The head office is in Malmö, Sweden. For more information, you are invited to visit us online at www.begroup.com.