Dubai, 23rd of January 2014

Mr. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland officially opened the new LS Retail office in Dubai. The new LS Retail hub in the region will provide trade partners and customers with more localized support. The LS Retail launch event was held last night at a press conference at Burj Al-Arab.

The presence of Mr. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the President of Iceland at the official launch of LS Retail's new office for the region highlights the importance of the growing trade links between the UAE and Iceland. The launch further establishes UAE's reputation as an international hub for business, LS Retail will run operations for the Middle East, Africa and India from the UAE head office. According to the 2013 "How Global is the Business of Retail Report" by market research specialists CBRE, Dubai currently ranks second to London as the city with the highest percentage of international retailers. The ranking is based on a survey of 323 major international fashion retailers, of which 53.8 percent (174 retailers) said that they currently have outlets in Dubai. The MEA region was a key market for US retailers, attracting 18 percent of total US export brands for 2013.

As Dubai's successful 2020 Expo bid is expected to potentially catapult the Emirates to become the world's number one city for international retailers, LS Retail has big plans for this region with its world-class Retail, Hospitality and Mobile Software Solutions.

"With the enormous anticipation for the Dubai Expo 2020, we are delighted that the Emirates will be hosting the event," says Magnus Norddahl, LS Retail CEO. "Currently, more than 50% of the Retail stores in the Middle East are running solutions from LS Retail, to help Dubai become the number one international retail hub in the world and to maintain it for years to come."

For over two decades, LS Retail has been developing market leading software solutions for the retail and hospitality sectors. LS Retail software solutions are supported by more than 150 Microsoft certified partners in over 60 countries. More than 46,000 stores worldwide are using LS Retail software solutions.

"The next three years will see significant expansion of the emirate's major malls," says Waddah Laham, LS Retail Regional Director - MEA & India. "We will also see a number of entirely new malls complete by the end of 2017 that will attract a host of new names into the market. The retail sector in the MEA region is still emerging but is poised to take off, bringing great benefits to emerging markets across the region."

-Ends-

About LS Retail
LS Retail is a world-leading provider of comprehensive software solutions and services based on Microsoft Dynamics and Microsoft technology for the retail and hospitality industries.

These scalable solutions manage the very large and complex operational requirements associated with different types of retail and hospitality organizations, such as fashion, electronics, furniture, duty free, restaurants, coffee shops and many more.

What sets LS Retail apart from other solution providers on the market is the unique use of a single application to integrate the entire business from point of sale (POS) terminals through store management, inventory, merchandising, back office, head office, demand planning, business intelligence and omni-channel retailing to management of sales channels, including mobile and e-commerce.

© Press Release 2014