TAKKT AG has invested approximately € 17 million in an extension of warehousing facilities at its subsidiary KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA

Warehouse extension opened at the logistics centre in Kamp-Lintfort

The expansion work on its mail-order centre is a clear affirmation on the part of the TAKKT division KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA of Kamp-Lintfort's importance as a business location. Within the course of one year, the TAKKT Group has invested some € 17 million in the extension of its logistics centre. Today marked the official opening of the newly extended building.

With a storage area of some 26,000 square metres, the new facilities can hold a total of 260,000 Europallets with more than 5,000 of the various articles for offices, businesses and warehouses marketed by KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA in 17 countries across Europe. TAKKT management board, employees of KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA, city officials, managing directors of the main shareholders Franz Haniel & Cie, customers, suppliers and journalists today celebrated the official opening of the logistics centre which now has twice the storage area.

New employment and sales opportunities
80 people will be employed at the new mail-order centre - twice as many as before. State-of-the-art control engineering means that orders can be dealt with thoroughly and quickly. Furthermore, every single article is subject to a quality control before being sent to the customer. But for TAKKT AG, service orientation is also about developing new sales opportunities. According to Georg Gayer, Chairman of the Board at TAKKT AG: "We are successfully transferring our 50 years' experience of mail-order operations to the online sector. With our individually-tailored business equipment solutions, we have managed to make e-commerce an attractive option for our customers".

KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA
With a turnover of some € 366.4 million, KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA, which consists of KAISER + KRAFT, Gaerner, Gerdmans and KWESTO, is TAKKT AG's most profitable area of operations. From more than 40 locations throughout 17 European countries, KAISER + KRAFT EUROPA offers 30,000 items of office, business and warehouse equipment via catalogue, Internet and CD-ROM. Indeed, the Stuttgart-based TAKKT AG is now the leading B2B mail-order company in Europe and North America for business equipment solutions.

Kamp-Lintfort, 7 September 2001

Contacts:

Georg Gayer
Phone +49 (0)7 11.50 01-239

Dr. Felix A. Zimmermann
Phone +49 (0)7 11.50 01-861