Bangkok, February 24, 2005

Central Food Retail Co., Ltd. today announced sales growth of 14% in 2004 following its purchase of Food Lion last year and announced its intention to make its Central Childlom outlet the best supermarket in Thailand.

Mr. Ian Pye, President of Central Food Retail (CFR) said: "We had great success last year and grew beyond our projections. Our purchase of the Food Lion stores went smoothly and the results have been excellent."

He added: "In 2004, the company opened 25 new stores and sales in the new stores were 45% higher than originally forecast. These figures were supported by research that showed 96% customer satisfaction in the new outlets."

In March, the company will add three more stores in Sriracha, Rayong and Bangsaen and will add further stores during 2005.

The company's flagship store at Central Chidlom will be revamped and Mr. Pye believes the finished store will be the best in Thailand. Other stores including Central World, Chiang Mai Airport and Ratanathibet will be completely refurbished.

"We will continue with our vision to focus on customer research, product range, develop new store concepts and look for new locations that fit our specification," he said.

Mr. Pye explained that the company is constantly looking for new product lines to differentiate from the competition and is currently processing new lines from Europe, Australia, and Japan that will satisfy the demand for new food produce from other markets.

He explained that the product line expansion was possible because of the excellent support that the company had received from the suppliers.

"Our suppliers have been brilliant during our expansion phase by giving us fantastic support and further strengthening the strong bond that we have with them. For example, one many major suppliers informed us that their business with us had grown more than 20% last year and especially more than 40% in Quarter 4 "

A performance highlight for the company has been the SPOT Rewards Card, the first electronic CRM member card in Thailand, which provides customers with a new experience of shopping with tailor-made offers to respond to individual's needs. To date, TOPS has 1.7 million registered members and data shows that SPOT Rewards Cardholders spend 40% more per basket than the average shopper, which outlines the benefits of the incentive program.

"The great success of the SPOT Rewards Card reflects our leadership in Customer Relations Management in the supermarket industry," added Mr. Pye.