FoodWorks continues to rapidly build and extend its Melbourne portfolio, with the official opening of FoodWorks Malvern East on Monday 18 December, bringing the Group�s total number of branded stores across Australia�s eastern seaboard to 364, and 677 altogether.

The 375 square metre new-to-industry store, shop 1/ 472 on busy Waverley Road, is surrounded by several major roads and highways including the Monash Freeway, Princes Highway, and Warrigal Road, with no other liquor or retail grocery outlets nearby in this bustling, highly populated residential area.

FoodWorks Malvern East is far from your average medium sized, start-up supermarket. The owners, Peter and Anna Panagiotou, who have not previously worked in the grocery-retail industry before, already have a loyal customer base, having successfully operated the site as a Network Video for the past four years.

The addition of the stand-alone Malvern East store to the FoodWorks Group, caps off a bumper year for the Company, with the recent openings of 15 outlets in Victoria, among them: Yarram, Mt Buller and Swanston Street in the city, bringing the total number of Victorian FoodWorks stores to 192.

Peter and Anna Panagiotou said they are very excited to join the rapidly growing and strengthening new Australian independent retailing group and are looking forward to getting their completely revamped store off the ground running, having only dipped their toes in the retail food industry to date.

�Anna and I knew that the life span of DVDs was fast approaching a close, so we started investigating what other opportunities were out there for us, as far as this site goes,� Mr Panagiotou said.

With no other grocery or liquor retail outlets in the near vicinity, the couple began selling a range of milk products as well as introducing a special caf� area in their Network Video shop.

�Having noticed a gap in the market for food, drink and general groceries in the local proximity, we thought we�d start out light and see where that took us, and soon realised the opportunity to run a profitable supermarket from this location was ours for the taking,� Mr Panagiotou said.

There will be loads of discounts and specials throughout FoodWorks Malvern East�s opening week, with the store stocked full of produce tailored to suit the local community as well as the many hectic, time-poor passersby in this central, highly congested major infrastructure area.

�As complete novices in this retail grocery game, FoodWorks have been amazing in helping us prepare the store including examining and overseeing our store plan layout and the best range to stock based on extensive research and analysis of the demographical, psychographics, geographics and shopping habits of the local catchment area.

�We were provided with a comprehensive market assessment report, along with a full financial briefing and guidance from a team of specialists at FoodWorks, which has left us feeling confident and excited to put it all into play next week,� Mr Panagiotou added.

FoodWorks utilised their unique Market Potential Assessment data analysis system to design the most appropriate and effective store layout and best product range based on the busy Malvern East location, the local residents, store size and comparisons with sales data from other successful FoodWorks stores.

FoodWorks Malvern East has easy access parking spaces off Waverley Road at the side of the store.

Store opening hours are 8am until 9pm, Monday to Saturday and 10am until 7pm, Sunday.

Notes to Editor Since 1997, FoodWorks has been gaining a strong presence along the east coast of Australia, changing and developing into the brand we see today. The Australian United Retailers Limited brand FoodWorks was created through the successful merge of two independent supermarket groups; FoodWorks Supermarket Group and Australian United Retailers in late 2004.

The Company now has around 700 supermarkets, food and convenience stores spanning the east coast. Over 360 of these are under the FoodWorks brand, clearly visible by the fresh orange and green logo design and signage. The past two years has seen the brand go from strength to strength, becoming a leading independent retail brand. Recent results outperform the larger chains including like for like sales up 8.8% year on year from November 2005 to November 2006 and customer numbers increased by 3%.

Today, FoodWorks prides itself in its fresh approach to retail whilst still retaining a friendly, community-focused relationship with its customers. Each and every retailer in FoodWorks is different and all have a strong sense of independence, but all proudly uphold the positioning statement �What can we do for you today?�

FoodWorks strives to give the customer value, going one step further in 2005 by developing the Best Buy private label brand as an alternative customer offering. The rationale behind this brand was to present a range of products of equal quality to national branded goods, but with more competitive pricing targeting those who do not wish to sacrifice quality for cost.

At their annual conference in September, FoodWorks shareholders and storeowners, endorsed an ambitious business growth strategy and overwhelmingly supported further detailed investigation of a significant capital raising initiative. Melbourne-based corporate advisory firm SLM Corporate will be assisting FoodWorks with the investigation process.

Investing significant incremental capital in the FoodWorks retail system and brand will allow for many emerging opportunities in the market to be exploited.

For more information about FoodWorks, visit the website at www.foodworks.com.au

-ENDS-

For more information, images and/or interview or photo opportunities, please contact: Gillian Griffiths FoodWorks Level 1, 1601 Malvern Road Glen Iris, VIC 3146 Phone: 03 9809 8610 Mobile: 0419 667 783 Email: gilliangriffiths@foodworks.com.au