Deployment of Clas Ohlson’s new miniload-plant at the Insjön Distribution Center has now commenced. The investment of SEK 370 million, which was approved in 2007, was completed in the late-summer and will automate large parts of product picking procedures that were handled manually in the past. The Distribution Center at Insjön has 275 employees today. The manpower requirement after deployment of the system will be about 230. “Clas Ohlson has expanded the Distribution Center at Insjön in several stages to adapt to the Company’s growth. When the installation is fully expanded and operational, it will be one of the most modern logistics management systems in Sweden. Unfortunately, the increased productivity also has a downside, in the form of an identified manpower surplus,” says Rolf Andersson, Director of the Distribution Center at Insjön. Clas Ohlson has called all the parties concerned to negotiations concerning an impending organizational change at the Distribution Center in conjunction with deployment of the new technology. The goal is, to the greatest extent possible, to solve the identified manpower surplus through voluntary solutions. Planned actions include offers of retirement pensions to employees between the ages of 60 and 64, and offers of various positions in the company to other employees. “Naturally, this type of decision is difficult to make, even though introduction of the new technology will strengthen Clas Ohlson. However, we will make every effort to resolve the situation on a voluntary basis so that so few employees as possible will be affected by the identified manpower surplus,” says Klas Balkow, CEO of Clas Ohlson. Costs for the voluntary solutions that will be offered to personnel are estimated at SEK 10-15 million, which will be charged against earnings in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008/09. If the voluntary solutions are not enough to resolve the manpower surplus, costs for payments during periods of notice will be booked during the employment termination period. For more information, contact: John Womack, Director of Information and IR: +46 (0)70-678 24 99