Mats Jansson new CEO and President of the "New Food Company"

2/11/2000 3:03 AM EST

The Boards of Directors of Hemköp and the "New Food Company" have chosen
Mats Jansson as CEO and President of the "New Food Company", established
through the combination of Hemköp and D&D Dagligvaror. Mr. Jansson will
assume office as of 15 March 2000.

Mats Jansson is 48 years old and was previously CEO and President of Oy
Karl Fazer AB. Prior to the office at Fazer, Mr. Jansson was CEO for the
listed company Bilia for four and a half years. Prior to that he worked
within the ICA Group for approximately 20 years, most recently as CEO for
ICA Retail and Deputy President.

The combination of Hemköp and D&D Dagligvaror is carried out by an offer
to D&D's shareholders to exchange their shares in D&D for shares in
Hemköp. Hemköp will change name. The new group will also include Spar
Sverige and Spar Inn Snabbgross as well as the majority of the listed
company Spar Finland.

The "New Food Company" will be a large, listed food wholesale and retail
group in the Nordic region with a market share of approximately 20 percent
in Sweden and approximately 10 percent in Finland. Net sales amount to
approximately 30 bn SEK and the number of employees amount to
approximately 7,000.

The present CEO of Hemköp, Håkan Matz, will continue as CEO of the
operating subsidiary Hemköp, which will operate with head offices in
Falun, Sweden. The present CEO of D&D, Lars Otterbeck, will continue as
CEO of the operating subsidiary D&D, which will operate with head offices
in Solna, Sweden.

- Mats Jansson will contribute to the "New Food Company" as an
experienced CEO with proven leadership capabilities, which will be a
valuable asset for the new group in a time of structural changes, says
Göran Ennerfelt, Chairman of the "New Food Company". Mr. Jansson has a
solid track record as a manager, both in private and listed companies and
he has sound knowledge of the food wholesale and retail industry.

- It will be a stimulating challenge to manage the "New Food Company".
The new structure will be a stable platform for an aggressive expansion in
the Nordic and the Baltic regions, says Mr. Jansson.

For questions please contact:
Göran Ennerfelt, Tel: +46-8-701 61 00
CEO and President, Axel Johnson AB and Mobile: +46-70-598 61 08
Chairman of the "New Food Company"

Mats Jansson Tel: +46-8-470 73 50
New CEO and President of the "New Food Company" Mobile: +358-40-500 10 40

Appendix: Fact sheet

Fact Sheet
The Extraordinary General Meeting of Hemköpskedjan AB, held on 10 February
2000, approved the amendment of the Articles of Association and the Board
of Directors' resolution to issue new shares. Furthermore, the new members
of the Board of Directors of the "New Food Company" were elected and
will assume office upon the implementation of the combination of Hemköp
and D&D.

Hereby, one of Hemköp's four conditions of the public offer to D&D
Daglivaror AB's shareholders is fulfilled. The other conditions include
the approval of the required resolutions by D&D's General Meeting on 17
February and that Hemköp's offer is accepted by D&D's shareholders
representing at least 90 percent of the shares. The subscription period
expires on 25 February. The fourth condition is the approval by the
authorities concerned.

Axel Johnson AB will own approximately 47 percent of the "New Food
Company" and the associated retailers will own approximately 25 percent.

The New Food Company includes:
Hemköp reported sales of 5.3 bn SEK in 1999 and earnings after net
financial items of 162.8 MSEK. Hemköp owns 100 food retail stores across
Sweden and has approximately 2,700 full-time employees.

D&D Dagligvaror reported preliminary sales of approximately 19 bn SEK in
1999 and earnings after net financial items of 106 MSEK. D&D's earnings
are negatively affected by structural costs amounting to approximately 80
MSEK due to the "merger" of D-gruppen and Dagab. D&D has approximately
3,000 full-time employees. The wholly owned and associated stores number
approximately 900. In 1999, total retail sales amounted to 26.5 bn SEK
including VAT.

SPAR Sverige, with 17 SPAR-stores in the middle of Sweden, reported
preliminary sales of approximately 1.3 bn SEK in 1999. The stores were
converted to the international SPAR-concept in 1999, which implied
significant costs. Earnings after net financial items amounted to 0 SEK.
Structural costs of approximately 17 MSEK affected the result negatively.
Spar Inn Snabbgross, with 24 stores across the country, reported sales of
approximately 1.4 bn SEK in 1999 and earnings after net financial items of
approximately 11 MSEK. Spar Inn Snabbgross' earnings are also affected
negatively by significant structural costs related to the start-up of
majority-owned e-trade operations.
Combined, SPAR Sverige and Spar Inn Snabbgross have approximately 765
full-time employees.

Spar Finland reported preliminary sales of 614.4 MEUR in 1999
(approximately 5.5 bn SEK) and earnings after net financial items of 1.4
MEUR (approximately 12.5 MSEK). The number of full-time employees amounts
to approximately 930. The wholly owned stores number 332, which together
reported sales of approximately 907 MEUR including VAT (approximately 8 bn
SEK).