Rautakirja has sold the operations of its eight Pizza Hut restaurants to the Icelandic entrepreneurs Pétur Jonsson and Thórdis Lóa Thórhallsdóttir. The couple buying the Rautakirja outlets already operate three Pizza Hut restaurants in Iceland. The Finnish restaurants will transfer to new ownership from 15.6.2006.
"In line with our overall strategy, we are concentrating on our core commercial areas, and divesting the Pizza Hut chain is part of this process", notes Rautakirja President & CEO Erkki Järvinen. The company relinquished its other restaurant operations already in December 2004.
Rautakirja has held the franchise for the Pizza Hut chain in Finland since February 1997. In 2005, Pizza Hut's net sales totalled some EUR5 milllion. Employees in the eight restaurants will transfer to the new owners with full tenure.
The deal now announced has no impact on the Rautakirja result.
RAUTAKIRJA is an increasingly international Finnish trade and service enterprise specialising in the following core areas of expertise: distribution of newspapers and magazines, kiosk trade, bookstores, and entertainment. Rautakirja is the market leader in Finland and in the Baltic States in kiosk operations, press distribution, and movie theatres. In the Finnish market, Rautakirja's subsidiary Suomalainen Kirjakauppa is also the leading bookstore chain. Rautakirja press distribution operations have expanded to Russia and Romania, and the company also has bookstores in Estonia. Rautakirja is a part of the SanomaWSOY Group.