Good Half Year for Bravida

Good Half Year for Bravida (Oslo 9 August 2001) Bravida continued its profit improvement in the second quarter and had an operating profit of NOK 250 million for the first half year. This is more than double that of the same period last year. The profit improvement occurred while the integration of the Norwegian Bravida and the Swedish BPA was in progress. In the first half year of 2001, Bravida achieved an operating profit of NOK 250 million before goodwill amortisation. Measured against the pro forma figures for the two merged companies for the same period last year, this is an improvement of NOK 150 million. The operating margin before goodwill amortisation was 4.5% in the first half year of 2001, compared with 1.8% in the first half year of 2000 and 3.9% in the first quarter of 2001. The turnover has increased by NOK 34 million from NOK 5,520 million in the first half of last year to NOK 5,554 million this year. - The half-yearly result is in line with the company's own expectations, and shows that the organisation has withstood the extra strain that a merger and the associated integration process entails. In short, we have to say that we are pleased with the result, says Jan Kåre Pedersen, Group CEO for Bravida. Pedersen stresses that the good result is due to the utilisation of synergies, efficiency improvements, market adaptations and cost savings in a number of areas. At the same time, the organisation's ability to deal with the integration and changes in a positive way have been determining factors. Bravida's aim is to establish itself as an innovative, profitable and reliable technical total supplier primarily in the Nordic market. The situation in today's key markets, i.e. Norway and Sweden, is by and large very strong, not least with an increasing share of total deliveries. A key objective of the merger was to offer total deliveries within technical installation and service. For further information: Per Øseth, CFO, tel: +47 952 28 535 Anne Karin Augland, Director of Information, tel: +47 901 30 100 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/08/09/20010808BIT00740/bit0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2001/08/09/20010808BIT00740/bit0001.pdf