TAKKT AG sets the course for future market with e-commerce

Multi-million investment for high-tech logistics center

TAKKT AG, the largest business-to-business mail order supplier for office, business and warehouse equipment in Europe and North America, will invest about DM 33.5 million (EUR 17.13 million) in the Group's European logistics center in Kamp- Lintfort, located in Germany's Lower Rhine region. Without interruption to everyday operations, the capacity of the modern high-bay storage facility will be more than doubled. Construction is scheduled for spring 2000, and the extension will be ready for occupancy by mid- 2001. This will create about 40 new jobs for the region. For e-commerce pioneer TAKKT AG, this investment is a milestone on its way to mastering the challenge of providing even faster and more efficient services in the field of electronic commerce.

The European mail order center in Kamp- Lintfort is the centerpiece among the companies of TAKKT subsidiary KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA. From here, all orders for products in stock are shipped to the company's 800,000 customers the same day they are ordered. The warehouse extension adds 16,000 Euro pallet spaces to the existing 12,000. In future, more than 5,500 different items will be stored in the logistics center. The capacity expansion increases the range of products available at all times and therefore shortens delivery times for further products. At the same time, the expansion allows an additional internationalization of the purchasing process and optimizes the purchasing conditions of the Stuttgart- based group of companies in the interest of its customers.

Service and speed are the key factors for success in future markets
The business- to- business mail order trade is an extremely fast- paced market. "The mail order company of the future will prevail not just because of its products but also because of its speed and flexibility," explained Georg Gayer, chairman of the board of TAKKT AG. "Existing quality must continuously be optimized. In doing so, service is the critical factor for achieving market success. By expanding our capacities in Kamp- Lintfort, we also accept the challenge of further extending our market leadership in Europe. We want to continue growing faster than our competitors."

The new logistics center plays an important role in the expansion of virtual commerce. As far as e-commerce is concerned, TAKKT AG has taken some important measures to set the course for the new millennium: The high degree of service required by e-commerce can already be provided easily today with the IT systems installed at TAKKT AG. The existing website currently offers about 20,000 products in Germany and Switzerland with a growth rate of more than 200 percent per year. Furthermore, successfully implemented pilot projects with large clients have shown that the e-commerce sector has enormous growth potential. Finance Director Felix Zimmermann: "This success is the basis for us to use our growth potential and also enables us to continue our active participation in further developing e-commerce in the business- to- business sector."

With total sales of EUR 539 million (1998), TAKKT AG of Stuttgart, Germany, is the leading business- to- business mail order supplier for office, business and warehouse equipment in Europe and North America. Since September 15, 1999, TAKKT AG has been listed on the Frankfurt and Stuttgart stock exchanges. In the first nine months of 1999, TAKKT AG has total sales of EUR 461.3 million, an 18.2 percent increase over the previous year.

Stuttgart, December 2, 1999.

Contacts:

Georg Gayer
Tel. +49 (0) 711.50 01- 239

Dr. Felix A. Zimmermann
Tel. +49 (0) 711.50 01- 861