ATHENS - ALFA-BETA VASSILOPOULOS (Athens Stock Exchange: BASIK) announced today that consolidated Net Profit before Taxes increased by 65.8% in 2004 due to continued sales growth, a strong gross margin and lower financial expenses. For 2005, ?ALFA-BETA? VASSILOPOULOS plans an acceleration of its opening program. It will add 14 stores to its network, extending it to 143 stores.

In 2004, Consolidated Turnover amounted to 934.56 million EUR from 901.55 million EUR in 2003, an increase by 3.7%. For ALFA-BETA VASSILOPOULOS S.A., standalone Turnover amounted to 908.18 million EURO from 789.04 million EURO in 2003, an increase by 15.1%. The above figure is not directly comparable to that of fiscal year 2003, due to the merger with the subsidiary TROFO and the reversal of the related intercompany transactions during 2004. On a comparable basis the standalone Turnover evolution was 4.3%.

Consolidated Net Profit before Taxes amounted to 15.78 million EURO in comparison to 9.52 million EURO in 2003, an increase by 65,8%. This significant increase is due to the improved Gross Profit, to good working capital management reducing financial expenses, as well as to the positive turnaround of ENA for the first time after its acquisition. A satisfactory improvement was also realized at ALFA-BETA standalone where Net Profit before Taxes amounted to 16.10 million EURO compared to 11.05 million EURO in 2003 (on a comparable basis, i.e. the retail performance without the related intercompany transactions).

Our business in 2004: In December 2004, the four-year efforts for the integration of TROFO personnel and stores into the operations and culture of the parent company culminated in the merger and absorption of TROFO as a legal entity into ALFA-BETA. The merger will yield substantial operational and financial benefits for the Company in the coming years. Apart from the important operational benefits, the immediate consequences of the merger will be a reduction of income taxes for fiscal year 2004 and tempo rarily an inevitable impact on dividend distribution, as announced more than a year ago. Moreover, there has been an important development regarding the legal dispute with TROFO former owners. The arbitration court decided to award 6 billion drachmas (17.6 million EURO) to ALFA-BETA, an amount that was previously held in escrow.

During 2004 the Company focused on strengthening its competitive position through considerable initiatives. ALFA-BETA reinforced the price position by lowering the prices in 2,300 basic products. An important innovation was also the launch of the '365', a European Delhaize Group private label brand for quality basic products at prices in line with the hard discounters. In addition, the company enriched and enhanced its bakery and meat departments. Furthermore, an important competitive tool created in coo peration with the National Bank of Greece, is the AB Visa credit card, which, parallel to AB Pus card, rewards the customers for their loyalty and offers convenience to their transactions. In 2004, ALFA-BETA continued its development activity with the opening of four new stores, two supermarkets in Spata and in Thessaloniki and two City stores in Gizi and Ilisia. The retail network of "ALFA-BETA" comprises now 100 stores. The franchising network expanded to 19 sales points in Attica and provinces. Together with the 10 Cash-and-Carry sales points, the group operated 129 stores on total, at the end of 2004. Major preparatory work was done in 2004 regarding new store openings, which will boost the expansion in the coming years.