Kirkel – December 13, 2007. The Supervisory Board of Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte Holding AG decided in its meeting today to expand the Management Board and at the same time reallocate some of the responsibilities. A separate Human Resources department will be created, to be managed by Karl-Heinz Stroh (52).

Karl-Heinz Stroh takes over the functions of HR and labour director from Michael Arnold (51), who, in future, will focus exclusively on the strongly growing international business and the international expansion. Until now he was in charge of both areas.

Kersten von Schenck, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Praktiker Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte Holding AG, said: “Business in Eastern Europe has increasingly grown in importance so as to now justify an own department within the Management Board. In the opinion of the Supervisory Board it therefore makes sense to provide Mr. Arnold with more scope to focus exclusively on expanding Praktiker’s international presence, and, at the same time, to create a separate HR department within the Management Board. I am delighted that we have won over Mr. Stroh for this new position. Thanks to his thorough experience in the field of HR which he has gained in many different companies and industries, he is excellently suited for the new task and represents a major gain for Praktiker.”

Karl-Heinz Stroh will take over the Human Resources department by April 1, 2008 at the latest. He is currently board member in charge of Human Resources at DB Netz AG in Frankfurt/Main.