Atlas Copco’s Capital Markets Day

Stockholm, Sweden, December 2, 2008: Atlas Copco today holds its annual capital markets day. The event takes place in central Stockholm and provides an overview of the Group’s strategy and ongoing activities, including an update of the current market situation.

“After the past years of unprecedented growth, Atlas Copco has a structure and strategy that will provide resilience in difficult times,” says Gunnar Brock, President and CEO. “We have a truly global distribution of sales – diversified among many different customers and industry segments – a large portion of variable costs, and a growing aftermarket business.”

The capital markets day includes presentations of Atlas Copco’s business areas Compressor Technique, Construction and Mining Technique and Industrial Technique. All three business areas will discuss strategies for growth, such as the increased organizational focus on the aftermarket. This gives a high growth and profit potential and long-term improved product development and closer customer relationships.

“With the large increase in our installed machine base and higher acceptance of service offerings in emerging markets, we see a substantial growth potential from increased aftermarket penetration alone,” Gunnar Brock says.

In the third-quarter report published on October 23, Atlas Copco’s near-term outlook was for overall demand to decline compared to the most recent quarters. This has been clearly seen during the past months, with order intake substantially below last year’s levels.

“Today, we can see how quickly and severely the financial crisis has started to impact the real economy,” Gunnar Brock says. “This means we have to intensify and accelerate our plans to reduce capacity and costs."