Ekornes also announced in the notice that in the course of January it would revert to the question of which permanent measures it might be necessary to implement in the course of January.

The volume of orders received in the fourth quarter of 2008 was approximately 15% lower than in the corresponding period of 2007. In December alone, the order volume was 26% lower than in the same month of 2007. This confirms that the decline in the company's markets intensified towards the end of 2008, and at present the company sees no sign of any change in the negative trend in the near future.

Work has therefore begun on the process of preparing permanent measures. The management has drawn up an outline as a basis for the internal processes, which include talks with the employee's union representatives. The aim is for a final decision to be made by the Board of Directors of Ekornes ASA on 23 January 2009.

The outline entails restructuring and reduction of production capacity at the company's factories that manufacture sofas (Stranda, Hareid, Vestlandske and Grodås), a capacity cut in production of Stressless^® chairs at the factories in Sykkylven (Ikornnes and Tynes), and capacity reduction at the mattress factory at Fetsund (Akershus county).

The management's outline for restructuring entails closing the Stranda factory and transferring production of fixed-back sofas to Hareid. The Stranda factory has a workforce equivalent to 67 man-years, which means that the company's sofa manufacturing capacity will be reduced by approximately 25%.

The management are planning to adjust production capacity for Stressless^® chairs by means of a combination of workforce cuts and lay-offs.

Adjustment of production capacity at the mattress factory at Fetsund will be carried out by means of workforce cuts, which will affect 18 - 20 man-years out of a total of 143.

The management's outline entails dismissals at the company's factories and administrative offices in Norway equivalent to a total of around 180 man-years, as well as lay-offs equivalent to 80 man-years. The exact number and the way the job cuts are to be distributed between the factories will be the topic of discussions with employee representatives over the next two to three weeks.

Ekornes is also engaged in extensive marketing activities, particularly where the finance crisis has had the greatest impact on the consumer market (USA, UK, Denmark) with the aim of being able to offer the employees affected a new job as soon as possible.

Ekornes ASA

Nils-Fredrik Drabløs
CEO