Swedish Match shareholders approve dividend hike to 1.45 SEK

4/23/2002 1:43 PM EST

Major items approved by today's Annual General Meeting include:

- Dividend will increase from 1.35 SEK/share to 1.45 SEK

- Election of Tuve Johannesson and Arne Jurbrant to Board of
Directors

- 10 Million shares repurchased by the Company are authorized to be
withdrawn

- Mandate to repurchase up to 10 percent of all shares in the Company
prolonged

At the Annual General Meeting of Swedish Match on April 23th, it was
resolved in accordance with the proposal of the Board of Directors to
pay a dividend per share of 1.45 SEK. The record date for the dividend
entitlement was set at April 26th, 2002. The dividend is expected to be
distributed on May 2, 2002, through VPC.

Shareholders have re-elected Jan Blomberg, Bernt Magnusson, Lennart
Sundén, Meg Tivéus, and Klaus Unger to the Board of Directors, and have
elected Tuve Johannesson and Arne Jurbrant.

Furthermore, the shareholders approved an authorization for a reduction
in the Company's share capital by 24,000,000 SEK through withdrawal of
10,000,000 shares in the Company. The shares in the Company to be
withdrawn have been repurchased by the Company in accordance with
previous shareholder authorization.

Shareholders approved an authorization to decide, prior to the next
Annual General Meeting, to acquire a maximum of as many shares as may be
acquired without the Company's holding at any time exceeding 10 percent
of all shares in the Company. The shares shall be acquired on the
Stockholmsbörsen at a price within the price interval registered at any
given time (market price).

The meeting also resolved to allow the Company to issue up to 1,518,770
call options to a combined value of 15,339,577 SEK, which corresponds to
the value of options allocated in accordance with the Company's options
program for 2001.

In addition, shareholders approved all other proposals made by the Board
of Directors as outlined in the published notice of the Annual General
Meeting for Swedish Match AB.

Swedish Match is an international group with headquarters in Stockholm,
Sweden. The company manufactures a broad range of tobacco products,
matches and disposable lighters which are sold in approximately 140
countries. Sales for the twelve month period ending March 31, 2002
amounted to 13,883 MSEK. Swedish Match is listed on Stockholmsbörsen
(SWMA) and on NASDAQ (SWMAY).

For further information, please contact:

Lennart Sundén, President and Chief Executive Officer
+46 8 658 01 75

Sven Hindrikes, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
+46 8 658 02 82

Bo Aulin, Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel
+46 8 658 03 64

Emmett Harrison, Vice President, Investor Relations
+46 8 658 01 73