Acando Interim Report January 1 – June 30, 2014

SECOND QUARTER APRIL 1 – JUNI 30, 2014

• Net sales SEK 388 m (371)
• Operating profit SEK 6 m (11). Excluding extraordinary costs, the operating profit was SEK 12.6 m, with an operating margin of 3.3%
• Operating margin 1.6% (3.0)
• Profit after tax SEK 5 m (8)
• Earnings per share SEK 0.07 (0.12)

ACCUMULATED JANUARY 1 – JUNE 30, 2014

• Net sales SEK 789 m (737)
• Operating profit SEK 33 m (29). Excluding extraordinary costs, the operating profit was SEK 39.6 m, with an operating margin of 5.0%
• Operating margin 4.2% (4.0)
• Profit after tax SEK 26 m (22)
• Earnings per share SEK 0.36 (0.31)
• Cash and cash equivalents SEK 44 m (53)

Statement by Carl-Magnus Månsson, CEO

On July 11, the merger of Acando and Connecta was announced. The consolidation with Connecta will make us the leading management and IT consulting company in Northern Europe. The merged company will have a key position in the Swedish market. We will gain clear leadership in the areas of Management Consulting, Strategic IT, Business Systems, both SAP and Microsoft Dynamics, as well as a completely new opportunity to assume responsibility for customers’ digital transformation, from strategy to solution development. The merger will also result in further depth in several sectors and solution areas, as well as access to expertise in several new technical platforms, such as Google and Oracle, which will generate new expansion opportunities. We will also have the opportunity for deliveries from the Baltic region and India, as well as access to infrastructure-based services. All in all, we will become a more full-service provider, with additional depth and cutting edge within our three principal areas, Management Consulting, Enterprise Solutions and Digital Solutions, but also with more complete contents. Integration is progressing according to plan, with primary focus on shared customer processing and coordination of the service offering, as well as the realization of other synergies. The cost advantages indicated in the prospectus have been validated and realized largely in the second half year, with restructuring costs as a consequence.

During the second quarter, earnings in the Swedish and German operations improved at the same rate as in the first quarter. The market in these countries remained unchanged with some uncertainty with respect to major investments. In Norway, the market for general technology services weakened and during the quarter, earnings were charged with the implementation of efficiency enhancements in connection with the final integration of E-vita. In Finland, we experienced a weak market with extended decision cycles, which had an adverse impact on capacity during the quarter, while the operation in the UK continued to develop with stronger profitability.

The market for our services is characterized by an increasing number of projects with higher demand for both operational and technological insight and consequently increased the demand for listening when implementing changes jointly with our customers. Access to new technology is generating new solution potential and completely new opportunities in business modelling and process development. One such example is our collaboration with NetOnNet to provide a real-time visualization of the key performance indicators for pricing and profitability to enable price adjustments through a sophisticated decision-support system.

To achieve success, we must understand our customers’ own prerequisites and strategies, the industry in which they are active and the potential for the technology to accelerate the change processes. To cope with this, we must continue to create a clear position, in which we combine implementation focus with strategic insight. At the same time, we must continue to expand to satisfy an increasing number of customers with demand for more complex projects and cooperation over a complete lifecycle, from strategy definition to application management. An example of this is the trust placed in us by Orkla to jointly implement an SAP implementation in several parts of the group. Another example that demonstrates the importance of having knowledge and insight into a specific industry or sector is the success we achieved in our investment in member-based organizations, in which another major trade union decided to use our “Medlem 2020” framework to modernize its support system and enhance the efficiency of its processes.

I am confidently looking forward to the autumn, particularly the strength that will arise when Sweden’s best consultants meet
and face challenges in both ongoing and new assignments. We have now taken a new position in our ambition to provide our
customers with a faster path to success.

This is information that Acando AB (publ) is obligated to disclose under the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was submitted for publication on July 22, 2014.

Further information is available from:
Carl-Magnus Månsson, President and CEO, Acando, +46 8 699 73 77
Anneli Lindblom, CFO, +46 8 699 73 09. 

Acando is a management and IT consulting company that, in partnership with its customers, enhances and streamlines processes, organizations and IT. Acando has approximately 1,100 employees allocated over 18 offices in five countries. The head office is located in Stockholm, Sweden. Through our core values – Team Spirit, Passion and Results – we see the big picture and understand the link between operations and IT. Acando has annual sales of about SEK 1.5 billion and the company is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Nordic exchange. www.acandogroup.com