real,- opens first store in the Ukraine

Internationalisation of the business group continues in Eastern Europe

Mönchengladbach/Odessa, 16th October, 2009 - On 16th October, 2009, German hypermarket company real,-, based in Mönchengladbach and part of the METRO Group, is opening its first store close to the eastern Ukrainian port of Odessa, completing its entry into the Ukrainian market and establishing real,- as one of the leading hypermarket companies in Eastern Europe.

“Entering the Ukrainian market is a further step in the continuing internationalisation of our company,” stresses Didier Fleury, COO of the real,- Group, at the opening ceremony in Odessa. “Since real,- began its internationalisation in Poland back in 1997, further real,- markets have opened in Turkey, Russia and Romania. With this new store, we are now present in six countries with 101 locations.”

On a sales area of around 8,500 m², the real,- store in Odessa offers a wide range of products consisting of 25,000 articles in the food and non-food segments. The overall investment for the new store is approximately €21 million. A total of 420 staff members will work in the store and another 150 in the head office of the Ukrainian subsidiary. Almost all of the vacancies could be filled with local workers. More than 70 percent of all articles available in the store are obtained directly from Ukrainian suppliers.

real,- SB-Warenhaus GmbH is a company of the METRO Group. real,- stands for diverse brand products, high freshness competency and an attractive price-performance ratio. Under the umbrella of real,- SB-Warenhaus GmbH, the company runs 340 SB-Warenhaus stores in Germany and another 101 in Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey and the Ukraine. In the 2008 business year, the company achieved a net turnover of €11.6 billion. Further information is available at www.real.de and www.metrogroup.de.