YALCO Group follows a consistent course of growth, as the strategic restructuring that begun last year, has started to shown positive results.

More specifically, YALCO, despite the current financial crisis continues its strategic growth aiming at maintaining its leading position, through internal restructuring and careful steps and investments. Particularly, within the framework of the restructuring, the Company has appointed Mr. Thanos Giannakopoulos as General Director, who will undertake his duties on June 1st, while Mr. Ilias Malandris was recently been put in charge of the Group?s Financial Services Division.

Furthermore, the Group has taken significant actions to address the financial crisis, focusing in the restriction of working capital needs, improvement of inventory management, reduction of operational costs and improvement of the Company?s infrastructure. Within this framework the company has a recently completed significant investment of 8m Euro, concerning the consolidation of all storage units of YALCO in Attiki and their transfer to a new central storage unit of 12,000 square meter at Inofyta area, which has created significant synergies.

At the same time, its affiliated Company Omnishop, the Group?s retail branch, is respectively under restructuring and strategic planning, focusing on the reduction of expenditures and inventory level, improvement of infrastructure and operations, continuous training and development of its personnel, careful investments in the retail trade sector and corporate strengthening with a new corporate identity.

Omnishop has already started the restructuring of its existing network of stores, concentrating in urban areas with high consumer power and investment in new big stores in central areas. Furthermore, the restructuring of its commercial policy with continuous promotions of product mix and the shift in branded products, has already shown positive results, with the sales of the first quarter of 2009 to have increased over 5% compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

YALCO Group, through its subsidiary Omnishop, aims at the further development of its retail sector in which it operates with the brands Habitat and Omnishop. It has already proceeded with an significant investment by opening three Habitat stores ? stand alone shop in Glyfada and two shop-in-shop in Notos Home ? while it has scheduled the opening of new Habitat shops which will instantly contribute to the increase of its market share. Its priority is the opening of a new stand alone Habitat shop in the North suburbs within 2009.