Hawesko

Hawesko: Change of finance director

(December 07, 2006)

Hamburg, 7 December 2006. Sven Ohlzen (49), since 1998 Finance Director of Hawesko Holding AG (HAW GR, HAWG.DE, DE0006042708) and since 1992 active in leading positions within the Hawesko Group, will leave the company at the end of 2006 for personal reasons. At its meeting today, the Supervisory Board named Ulrich Zimmermann (44) as a new member of the Board of Management effective from 1 January 2007 to take over the duties of Finance Director. He has been Head of Finance and Group Controlling since 1998. Before he came to Hawesko at the end of 1998, Zimmermann - a university graduate with a degree in economics - had worked for several companies in managerial capacities in accounting and special projects, among others at Lufthansa AG and at the Japanese watch manufacturer Citizen Watch Europe. The departing Finance Director Sven Ohlzen will remain available to Hawesko Holding AG in 2007 in a consulting function.

Ohlzen began working for the Hawesko Group in 1992 at the mail-order subsidiary Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor HAWESKO GmbH as Head of Controlling, became an authorised signatory of the subsidiary in 1993 and a director in 1997. With the establishment of Hawesko Holding AG in 1998 he became its Finance Director and helped to bring the company onto the stock market in 1998. Under his direction, Hawesko changed its accounting to IFRS (at that time IAS) in 2000, as one of the first companies to do so in Germany, and introduced Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) as a one of the important figures to steer the company.

Alexander Margaritoff, Chief Executive of Hawesko Holding AG, commented:

"Mr Ohlzen has played a decisive role in bringing the company into a new dimension during an important phase of its history. On behalf of the Board of Management as well as the Supervisory Board, I would like to express our deep gratitude to him. We regret his departure and wish him all the best for the future. With Mr Zimmermann we have a very well-qualified successor who stands for continuity and will also contribute new ideas."

Hawesko Holding AG is a leading supplier of premium wines and champagnes.

Its sales channels include specialist wine retail (Jacques' Wein-Depot), wholesale (Wein Wolf und CWD Champagner & Wein Distributionsgesellschaft) and mail order (particularly Hanseatisches Wein- und Sekt-Kontor). The Group employed an average of 566 staff members during the past fiscal year.

The shares of Hawesko Holding AG are listed on the Hanseatic Stock Exchange in Hamburg as well as in the prime standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

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Published by:

Hawesko Holding AG

P.O. Box 20 15 52

20205 Hamburg

Web site:

http://www.hawesko.com

(Company information)

http://www.hawesko.de

(Online shop)

http://www.jacques.de

(Locations of and information about Jacques' Wein-Depot)