"Our grocery sales continued to outperform the general market development in the field. Our customers appreciate the wider selection and lower prices. Strong results were also recorded for our other business operations, including the ABC chain," says Taavi Heikkilä, CEO of SOK.

S Group's grocery sales in Finland increased by 1.6 %, to EUR 3 367 million. Growth was supported by the continued price decreases in early 2017, particularly for Finnish-grown vegetables.

S Group has further developed its grocery selection in line with its strategy. It has invested strongly in Finnish organic and local food and in its own line, called Kotimaista, which consists only of products of Finnish origin. In addition, S Group responded to the wishes of its customers for a little luxury by introducing products from Tesco's Finest and Free From lines in Finland at the end of May.

"The Tesco products proved to be a huge success in the early summer, so much so that we temporarily have run out of some products. More are on their way, however," says Ilkka Alarotu, SVP, SOK Retail chain management.

S Group's retail sales excluding taxes, Jan–Jun 2017

Business area

Sales (EUR million, entire S Group)

Change in comparison to Jan–Jun 2016 (%)

Supermarket trade*

3 816.4

1.4

Service station store and fuel sales

791.5

7.7

Travel industry and hospitality business*

382.2

1.5

Department stores and speciality stores

143.1

5.1

Hardware trade

92.4

- 11.5

Other

238.0

8.3

S-Group total

5463.5

2.4

 * The figure includes sales in the Baltic countries and Russia. 

More information:

Taavi Heikkilä, CEO, SOK, tel. +358 10 76 80200Jari Annala, Senior Vice President, CFO, SOK, tel.: +358 10 76 82040Ilkka Alarotu, SVP, SOK Retail chain management, tel. +358 10 76 80634 (for enquiries concerning product selections in S Group supermarkets)