GORENJE, d.d., Velenje

Gorenje, one of the largest European manufacturers of domestic appliances and home accessories, yesterday announced the construction of a large, state-of-the-art technological-logistic centre for the manufacturing of kitchen furniture in Central Europe, which will be located in Maribor. Gorenje today manufactures some 500,000 kitchen component parts, most of which are sold on the EU markets.

Gorenje develops state-of-the-art technological-logistic centre for kitchen furniture

The Gorenje Group today employs 11,000 people the world over and operates within a highly sophisticated business environment in a well-established and saturated industry - domestic appliances, where competition is stiff and severe. Nevertheless Gorenje has had a successful year in 2006 and in all key categories the results exceeded those of the previous year. The core area of it's operations has been substantially expanded, thus affirming its position as a company with strong independent development. As revealed yesterday, Gorenje plans to set up a state-of-the-art technological-logistic centre for the manufacturing of kitchen furniture in Central Europe, which will be located at a single site in Maribor.

In order to retain its position within this highly developed industry, Gorenje strives to cling onto its competitive edge by increased efficiency and constant growth to add value; these ambitious goals however can only be reached with a broad range of business activities, an optimised supply chain, rationalized business processes and cost effectiveness in all areas and levels of business operations. In accordance with these goals, the decision was made to move the non-profitable assembly plant for the manufacturing of kitchen cabinets, Gorenje Kuechen GmbH Freistadt, to the location in Maribor.

The decision for setting up a central logistic centre was based on uniform development, increased technological complexity and assuring higher cost-effectiveness, supported by a new market approach, which thus leads Gorenje along its path in finding synergy between furniture and domestic appliances. Last year, Gorenje made a turnover of some EUR 33 m in Austria and by the end of 2007 plans to standardize its organization of sales networks in the Austrian market, meaning that it will be entirely managed by the subsidiary company Gorenje Austria GmbH. This will be an important step towards meeting the demands of the Austrian customers. All modifications will have a substantial impact on the rationalisation process and will assure higher quality of the logistics, sales and after-sales activities in the market.

The public announcement will be also available on the web-site www.gorenje.com

Date: 24. 4. 2007