Aspo - Changes board/management/auditors

New Managing Director for ESL Shipping Ltd

ASPO Plc          STOCK EXCHANGE BULLETIN         January 8, 2013 at 16:00

Markus Karjalainen, Managing Director of ESL Shipping Ltd., part of Aspo Group,
has announced that he will resign from his position. Lasse Rikala, M.Sc. (Econ.)
(age 61) has been appointed as the acting Managing Director of ESL Shipping Ltd
until further notice. Lasse Rikala is a board member of ESL Shipping Ltd. The
recruitment process for a new Managing Director has commenced.

Lasse Rikala has solid experience in the shipping sector. He was the CEO of
Crystal Pool Oy in 1995-2010 and has been the CEO of Navicon Shipping Oy since
2011.

ESL Shipping Ltd transports dry bulk materials, mainly in the Baltic Sea region;
in 2012, it transported approximately 10.4 million tons. The cargo mainly
consists of ore, coal and limestone. The steel industry's share of transport was
57 percent, and the energy industry represented 31 percent. At the end of 2012,
the company's fleet consisted of 14 vessels, of which the company owned 12 in
full. One was leased and one partially owned.


ASPO Plc

Aki Ojanen
CEO

Further information:
Aki Ojanen, CEO, tel. +358 9 521 4010

Distribution:
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Key Media
www.aspo.com

Aspo is a conglomerate that owns and develops business operations in Northern
Europe and growth markets focusing on demanding B-to-B customers. Our strong
company brands - ESL Shipping, Leipurin, Telko and Kaukomarkkinat - aim to be
the market leaders in their sectors. They are responsible for their own
operations, customer relationships and the development of these. Together they
generate Aspo's goodwill. Aspo's Group structure and business operations are
continually developed without any predefined schedules.





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