Summary of ÅF Annual Report Jan - Dec 2010

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For further information, please contact: 
Jonas Wiström, CEO +46 (0)70-608 12 20

Jonas Ågrup, CFO +46 (0)70-333 04 95

Viktor Svensson, Director, Corporate Information +46 (0)70-657 20 26



Fourth quarter 2010

  * Operating income totalled SEK 1,278 million (Q4 2009: SEK 1,288 million)
  * Operating profit was SEK 94 million (SEK 110 million)
  * Operating margin was 7.4 percent (8.5 percent)
  * Earnings per share, before dilution SEK 2.02 (SEK 2.30)



Full year 2010

  * Operating income totalled SEK 4,796 million (Q1-Q4 2009: SEK 4,692 million),
    of which SEK 458 million (SEK 8 million) relates to the sale of subsidiaries
  * Operating profit was SEK 806 million (SEK 388 million), including capital
    gains of SEK 489 million (SEK 8 million)
  * Operating margin excluding capital gains was 7.3 percent (8.1 percent)
  * Earnings per share, before dilution SEK 21.02 (SEK 7.93)



Proposals for dividend

The Board proposes a dividend for 2010 of SEK 4.00 per share (2009: SEK 4.00 per
share)



A few words from the President, Jonas Wiström:

2010 was a year of major structural changes at ÅF in line with our strategy to
become number one or two in the markets where we have an active presence. We
sold our interests in inspection and testing, and made acquisitions in the
specialist fields of energy, electrical power systems and infrastructure.

The economy continued to pick up steadily throughout the fourth quarter.
Improvements were most noticeable in Sweden, in particular in the industrial
segment, helping ÅF's Industry Division to raise its operating margin for the
final quarter to 11.4 percent compared with 7.6 percent in the first three
months of the year. The Technology Division also reported a satisfactory quarter
with an upward trend in capacity utilisation and an operating margin of 9.2
percent.

For the Energy and Infrastructure Divisions, however, results were less
positive. Energy's earnings were pulled down by postponements to projects in the
nuclear power sector, the continued impact of negative exchange rate trends and
unrelenting pressure on prices in Finland. Infrastructure's profits were dented
by losses in Norway and by further delays to the Stockholm Bypass Project
pending the result of an appeal.

Overall, ÅF grew its business organically by 1 percent in the fourth quarter
while also making acquisitions. The takeovers of Energo in Sweden and Mercados
in Spain added approximately another 350 highly qualified co-workers to ÅF's
specialist teams in energy, electrical distribution and the energy-efficiency of
plants and businesses.

During the course of 2010 more than 1,000 co-workers have left or joined the ÅF
Group as a result of acquisitions and divestments, in line with the strategy of
creating a more focused technical consulting organisation with strong divisions
that have the potential to become market leaders in their own field. ÅF-
Kontroll, the former Inspection Division with 512 members of staff, was sold
early in 2010 while most of the acquisitions were made towards the end of the
year. At the close of the year the ÅF Group had a total of 4,475 employees,
which is approximately 50 more than at the end of 2009.

At this early stage of 2011 the outlook is favourable. ÅF has a clear corporate
structure and a strong brand and, for the first time since the onset of the
financial crisis, the trend for capacity utilisation is positive. The inflow of
orders exceeded expectations in the fourth quarter, particularly in the Energy
Division, and it is our opinion that the market for ÅF's services will become
progressively stronger as the year unfolds. Most of the signs suggest that 2011
will be a better year for ÅF than 2010.

Our overriding objective remains, however, to ensure that ÅF continues to
generate levels of profitability that place us among the best performers in our
industry, while growing by around 15 percent a year. Our ambition is for
approximately half of this growth to be organic and half to come from
acquisitions.

Group Head Office:

ÅF AB, SE-169 99 Stockholm, Sweden

Visitor's address: Frösundaleden 2, 169 70 Solna, Sweden

Tel. +46 (0)10-505 00 00 Fax +46 (0)10-505 00 10

www.afconsult.com / info@afconsult.com

Corporate ID number 556120-6474



The information in this interim report fulfils ÅF AB's disclosure requirements
under the provisions of the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Financial
Instruments Trading Act. The information was released for publication at 10:30
CET on 14 February 2011.

All assumptions about the future that are made in this report are based on the
best information available to the company at the time the report was written. As
is the case with all assessments of the future, such assumptions are subject to
risks and uncertainties, which may mean that the actual outcome differs from the
anticipated result.



The full report including tables (pdf)


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