Acando Year-end report 2017

Third quarter October 1–December 31, 2017

• Net sales totaled SEK 693 m (633)
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 87 m (82)
• The operating margin was 12.5% (12.9)
• Profit after tax was SEK 67 m (67)
• Earnings per share were SEK 0.64 (0.65)

Accumulated January 1–December 31, 2017

• Net sales totaled SEK 2,444 m (2,206)
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 243 m (210)
• The operating margin was 10.0% (9.5)
• Profit after tax was SEK 180 m (180)
• Earnings per share were SEK 1.73 (1.75)
• Cash and cash equivalents tot SEK 90 m (72)
• The Board intends to propose that the AGM resolve to distribute a dividend of SEK 1.40 (1.30) per share, corresponding to a total of about SEK 145 m (134).

Statement by Carl-Magnus Månsson, CEO

2017 was another record year for all of us at Acando. The fourth quarter resulted in continued growth and increased earnings. For the full year, sales increased 11 percent to SEK 2,444 m and operating profit rose 16 percent to SEK 243 m. The quarter included the highest sales, the highest margin and accordingly, the highest profit in Acando’s history. Our financial position is healthy and the Board proposes raising the dividend to SEK 1.40 per share, corresponding to SEK 145 m to our owners, the highest dividend in Acando’s history.

For us, the most critical factor is to continue to contribute to our customers’ success, at the same time as we continuously develop, both as individuals and as an organization. In a world of changing customer behavior, brand new competitors and with technology as a powerful innovation driver – we can clearly see how our customers are seeking new routes. During the year, we took further steps to realize our strategy, the essence of which is “Technology Driven and Behavior Centric.” We have implemented some of our most advanced and challenging projects at the same time as we continuously developed new talents and captured an increasingly clear position for our customers as a partner with which to create innovation and generate long-term lasting results.

We have continuously strengthened our position in the consumer-driven industries. Retail is one example of an environment that is undergoing fundamental change. Our skills in understanding behavior and how best to leverage new technologies and platforms to create optimal customer experiences provides us with a clear and somewhat unique position. During the year, we completed projects for an established global company that in record time created completely new opportunities for both digital and physical customer experiences. In partnership with another customer, we explored how augmented reality can create entirely new customer experiences and how these options impact everything from strategies for product development to product launches. We know that success with sustainable change in such environments requires combining the strategy, customer and technology perspectives. We do this in Acando Business Design Studio, a unit we established during the year and through which we now successfully compete with leading global companies in our market.

Increasingly, our projects include greater elements of advanced analytics of big data. During the year, we strengthened our capabilities in Analytics and Machine Learning, and we delivered projects that successfully enhanced care outcomes through prediction, created improved customer experiences in digital channels, and made tv archives searchable for concepts including “facial expressions” and “tonality.”

We are also growing in the Digital Industry segment, where we foresee the next substantial wave of investment. In terms of the industrial use of IoT, we successfully established ourselves as a partner for customers in the fourth quarter. We increasingly operate within our customers’ product development projects and our geographic presence and expertise make us a natural partner in the ongoing transition in the automotive and transportation industry by using brand new technologies and new emerging customer behaviors.

The only certainty is that we will continue to develop and our ability to change in pace with our operating environment will be decisive to our success. The year we have just ended shows that we are able to change and grow, but can also create environments that allow each and every one of our employees the opportunity to grow. We believe the world will increasingly be driven by technology but that understanding of human behavior will always be key to creating the best solutions. It’s what we are — Technology Driven and Behavior Centric.

This report comprises information that Acando AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Market Act. This information was submitted through the agency of the following contacts for publication on February 8, 2018 at 08:00 a.m. (CET).

For further information, please contact:
Carl-Magnus Månsson, President and CEO +46 (0)8 699 70 00
Anneli Lindblom, CFO +46 (0)8 699 70 00

Acando is a consulting company that leverages an equal balance of specialist technical expertise and human behavioral insight to innovate, streamline and mobilize organizations for sustainable change. The Group has approximately 1,900 employees allocated over five countries. Acando had sales of more than SEK 2.4 billion in 2017 and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.