Kesko Corporation is a Finnishretailingconglomerate with its head office in Ruskeasuo, Helsinki. It is engaged in the food trade, the home and specialty goods trade, the building and home improvement trade, and the car and machinery trade.

The key focus areas in Kesko’s business operations are to strengthen sales growth and the return on capital in all divisions, to exploit business opportunities in e-commerce and in Russia, and to maintain good solvency and dividend payment capacity.

Divisions

Food trade

Kesko Food is a key operator in the Finnish grocery trade. Kesko Food’s main functions include the centralised purchasing of products, selection management, logistics, and the development of chain concepts and the store network.

Kesko Food manages the K-food store chains, which are K-Market, K-Supermarket and K-Citymarket. There were 937 K-food stores in Finland in 2012. The K-food store network is comprehensive in Finland and approximately 50% of Finns live less than a kilometre away from a K-food store.

Kesko Food’s private brands include Pirkka, K-menu and Euro Shopper.

The main competitors are Prisma, S-market and Alepa/Sale of S Group, M chain stores, and Lidl.

Kesko Food’s subsidiary Kespro is the leading wholesaler in the Finnish HoReCa business.

Home and specialty good trade

The home and specialty goods trade comprises K-citymarket‘s home and speciality goods, Intersport Finland and Kenkäkesko.

Kesko’s home and specialty goods trade operates in the clothing, home, sports and home technology product lines.

The most widely recognised chains are:

• Intersport, the Finnish market leader in sports equipment.
• Kookenkä and Athlete’s Foot which are shoe retailers.
• Hanakat, a HVAC and plumbing related products retail chain.

Building and home improvement trade

Rautakesko is an international service provider which retails building, renovation and home improvement supplies in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Belarus.

Rautakesko manages and develops the K-Rauta, K-maatalous, Byggmakker, Senukai and OMA retail chains and B2B sales in its operating area.

Car and machinery trade

The car and machinery trade segment consists of K-Auto (formerly operated as VV-Auto) and Konekesko with their subsidiaries.

• K-Auto imports and markets Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Cupra and SEAT passenger cars, Volkswagen commercial vehicles and MAN trucks & MAN and Neoplan buses in Finland, and it also imports and markets Seat passenger cars in Estonia and Latvia. K-Auto is also engaged in car retailing and provides after-sales services at its own outlets in the Greater Helsinki area and Turku. Besides vehicle import, K-Auto is divided into smaller separate business concept brands that operate under K-Caara subsidiary, these brands include for example K-CaaraDeal for private vehicle leasing, K-CaaraLeasing for business vehicle leasing and K-Lataus for electric vehicle charging facilities.
• Konekesko is a service company specialising in the import, marketing and after-sales services of recreational machinery, construction and materials handling machinery and agricultural machinery. Konekesko operates in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia. Konekesko arranges the manufacture of and sells Yamarin boats in Finland and exports them to several European countries and Russia.