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During the last few years, BRIO has restructured its business in order to address the increasingly difficult market conditions. In a toy industry characterised by changing consumption patterns, tough competition and continuous price pressure, BRIO has, amongst other measures, undergone a cost cutting programme and sold off parts of the company that do not belong to the core business.

"The changeover that has begun must be followed by vigorous efforts in product development within the BRIO brand. In order to ensure superior growth and sustainable profitability, a more well-defined strategy with solid goals is required. A direct consequence of this will be more fundamental changes to BRIO's structure, organisation and business", says BRIO Chairman Daniel Sachs.

During the past autumn, the Board initiated a strategic review and analysis of the future challenges facing the company. The analysis has shown that changes are necessary within senior management.

Thomas Bräutigam new CEO
The Board has appointed Thomas Bräutigam as the new CEO of BRIO. He will succeed Tomas Persson who is leaving BRIO after five years. Thomas Bräutigam comes from the Norwegian company European Nursery Group A/S (ENG), where he has been CEO for the past two years. ENG markets baby and nursery products and is partly owned (50 percent) by BRIO. Thomas Bräutigam will take up his duties as CEO as soon as possible but no later than June 1st, 2005. Board member Åke Fredriksson will be acting CEO until then.

"Tomas Persson has played an important role and has run the necessary restructuring scheme during a difficult period of time. Time has come for BRIO to open a new chapter with new management," says Daniel Sachs.

Intensified commitment to product development and branding
In addition to Thomas Bräutigam, BRIO's management team will be strengthened by the addition of Claes von Hauswolff as EVP and Brand Director. In order to create success for BRIO, a powerful product development and a fresh approach to marketing, sales and distribution is necessary - areas in which Claes von Hauswolff has solid experience. Claes is one of the founders behind the branding agency BAS Brand Identity, where he has worked with brands such as Lego, ICA, IKEA, Nike, NK and Stadium. Claes von Hauswolff will assume his position 1st of February 2005.

Earlier forecast for 2005 no longer applies BRIO has earlier issued a forecast describing the outcome of the restructuring scheme commenced during 2003 - "the initiated restructuring scheme can be expected to lead to significant result improvement during the 2004 financial year and make a full impact during 2005. However, it is possible that some of this improvement will be required to enable BRIO to make price reductions in order to remain competitive. This means that BRIO expects to achieve a significant positive result for 2005."

Due to the change of CEO and the fact that BRIO is in the midst of a continuous process of change, the Board is of the opinion that it is not meaningful to issue a forecast regarding the result for 2005. Consequently, the previous 2005 forecast regarding the result is no longer valid. Despite this, BRIO stands behind the earlier statement about the restructuring scheme "that initiated measures are expected to lead to significant improvement during the financial year of 2004 and give full effect during 2005".

For more information please contact:
Daniel Sachs, Chairman of the Board, BRIO +46 479 191 66
Thomas Bräutigam tel: +46 479 195 00
Claes von Hauswolff tel: +46 708 30 96 22

Brief Thomas Bräutigam
Thomas Bräutigam was born in 1967 and has a background within a number of renowned Swedish consumer goods companies. His latest position was with ENG as CEO since 2002 where he has developed the company's business positively and brought the company back to profitability. ENG's business is concentrated on the development and marketing of prams and accessories under the BRIO, Simo and Carena brands. The company is partly owned by BRIO (50 percent).

Previous to his position at ENG, Thomas was president of Tretorn Sweden AB (2001-2002) and vice president of Tretorn AB (1999-2001) when the company had the Nordic license for Puma. Between 1992 and 1999 Thomas Bräutigam was employed with Swedish Match and ended his time there as marketing director for the matches department that, among other products, market Solstickan. Thomas lives in Höganäs.

This is BRIO The toy company BRIO was founded in 1884. Today BRIO is one of Sweden's strongest brands and an international group with approximately 500 employees. The company has subsidiaries in 12 countries and sales to another 50 countries. Aside from development and sales of toys under the BRIO brand, BRIO operates an extensive wholesale business. BRIO's headquarters is located in Osby. The BRIO B share has been listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange since 1985.