Collapse of operating profit

Rautakesko, the Finnish DIY retail and builders’ merchant group, achieved net sales of € 2.518 bn in the 2008 financial year. This amounts to a drop of 0.8 per cent on the previous year. The foreign proportion of sales came to 65 per cent. Sales growth was recorded in Sweden (+1 per cent to € 186 mio), Norway (+7.7 per cent to € 570 mio) and Russia (+34.9 per cent to € 2039 mio). By contrast, sales went downward in Estonia (-11.6 per cent to € 81 mio), Latvia (-15.8 per cent to € 71 mio) and Lithuania (-0.9 per cent to € 449 mio). The group’s operating profit collapsed in the recently completed financial year. With the inclusion of non-recurrent charges, a drop of 86 per cent to € 16.3 mio is on record. Without these charges the group shows a drop of 54.8 per cent to € 53.3 mio.