Corporate | 18 September 2001 09:10

HAWESKO Holding AG english

Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Hawesko mail-order: Paul Smyth is new managing director — CEO Margaritoff to focus on Group strategy and synergies Hamburg, 18 September 2001. The wine trading group Hawesko Holding AG (HAWG.F, 604270) announced today that it has appointed Paul Smyth as the new managing director of its mail-order subsidiary Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor GmbH & Co. KG. Smyth will be responsible for the marketing and purchasing departments of the company beginning in January 2002. Alexander Margaritoff, who has been acting as both managing director of the mail-order subsidiary and CEO of the parent company Hawesko Holding AG, will direct his efforts entirely to the management and development of the Hawesko Group in the future. Paul Smyth, 36, is an Irish citizen and has lived and worked in Germany for over 10 years. After acquiring a degree in international marketing at Dublin City University, he held executive positions at Oppermann Versand AG and Conrad Electronic GmbH. Most recently he was a member of the management board of Adori AG, an e-commerce provider focussed on music, film and books. Alexander Margaritoff: “With these changes in our management, we are taking into account the continued growth of the Hawesko Group and creating the required conditions for its further expansion. Paul Smyth possesses many years of experience and excellent knowledge of the German mail-order market. I am very pleased that he is joining us and that I can now concentrate on achieving more of the Group’s synergies and on its strategic development.” Hawesko Holding AG is Germany’s leading seller of premium wines and champagnes. Through its three distribution channels — mail order/e-commerce (particularly Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor), stationary specialist retail (Jacques’ Wein-Depot) and wholesale (Wein Wolf and CWD Champagner- und Wein-Distributionsgesellschaft) — the Group achieved sales of DM 454 million in fiscal year 2000. The Group employs a yearly average of 515 people. # # # Published by: Hawesko Holding AG P.O. Box 20 15 52 20205 Hamburg Internet: http://www.hawesko.com (corporate site) http://www.winegate.de or http://www.hawesko.de (online shop) Press/Media: Vera Maria Bau, VMB Consulting Tel. +49 (0)2244 91 27 36 Fax +49 (0)2244 91 27 38 e-mail: vmb@nsag.de Investor Relations: Thomas Hutchinson, Hawesko Holding AG Tel. +49 (0)40 30 39 21 00 Fax +49 (0)40 30 39 21 05 e-mail: ir@hawesko.com end of message, (c)DGAP 18.09.2001