President's statement at the AGM of Bure

President's statement at the Annual General Meeting of Bure: * Strong first quarter for Bure, preliminary profit after tax SEK 1,425M in the Parent Company * Focus on IT, infomedia and the new economy * Flotation of Bure Hälsa och Sjukvård AB, Citat AB and Dimension AB during 2000 Preliminary profit after tax of the Parent Company of Investment AB Bure amounted to SEK 1,425M in the first quarter. On 31 March, the net asset value amounted to SEK 80 per share. This emerged at today's Annual General Meeting of Bure. During the AGM, Roger Holtback, President of Bure, gave an account of Bure's focusing on IT, infomedia and the new economy in which the Group has long held a strong position. Mr Holtback also provided details of a distribution of Bure Health Care to the shareholders. In addition to Bure Health Care, it is also intended that the companies, Citat AB and Dimension AB will be listed on the stockmarket during the year 2000. "2000 will be an eventful year for Bure. We face a flotation of three companies, which are all very strong in their segments, and we continue our consistent investment on our core area, investments in the TIME sector (Telecom, Internet, Media, Edutainment)," Roger Holtback summarised his statement at the AGM. In the first three months of the year, the Parent Company's profit after tax amounted to SEK 1,425M, which is the individually strongest quarter for Bure so far. Behind the result are, among other things, capital gains on the sales of shares in Guide and Framfab as well as the reduction of the holding in Sifo Group. Bure's remaining holding in Framfab currently amounts to approximately SEK 100M. During 1999, growth was strong in the various Business Areas. Bure Training and Education now has a sales rate of more than SEK 1,200M on an annual basis and Bure Health Care has developed very positively with continued high growth and improved operating margins. A proposal had been made that the Annual General Meeting decide to distribute Bure Health Care to the shareholders with the ensuing flotation on the O list of the OM Stockholm Exchange in September this year. Bure Training and Education is being prepared for a divestment or a structural transaction during 2001. "Bure Health Care has reached the critical size and profitability that is required for a successful stockmarket listing. With more than 4,500 employees and operations established in six countries, Bure Health Care is the leading private health care company in the Nordic countries with a current sales rate of approximately SEK 3,200M. Bure Health Care is a concentrated and fast-growing knowledge company with high organic growth. Through the listing, the company will get direct access to the capital market, which increases the company's opportunities for taking part in the continued rapid development and restructuring of the Swedish and international health care market," said Roger Holtback. Bure's investments will now be concentrated on IT, infomedia and the new economy, i.e. the TIME sector, in which the Company was a very early operator with investments as early as 1996. So far substantial values have been built up, especially in the IT services and information services segments. Through the sales of Guide and the listing of Sifo Group alone, values of more than SEK 4,000M have been made visible. During the year, a flotation is planned of an additional two of the companies in the TIME sector, Dimension and Citat. "We have been involved in Citat and built the company into one of the absolute leaders within market communication in Sweden. The company now holds a strong position ahead of continued expansion with high profitability and a high growth rate. The same applies to Dimension which has benefited strongly from the explosive development in the e-commerce sector and which has also consolidated its leading position with maintained high profitability," said Roger Holtback. Prioritised sectors for investments are now - in addition to IT and information services - e-commerce and IT products. Investments will be made in expansion as well as start-up phases. The transaction rate will increase, which means that both number of investments and divestments through, for example stockmarket listings, will increase. "Through our early establishment in IT and infomedia, we have built up a high level of acquisition and development expertise in the sector and thus have excellent opportunities for a continued high rate of acquisition. The interest in our investment in training and education increases day by day and several interesting projects are operated in, among other things, e- learning and web-based training. We have a high inflow of companies because we are perceived as an owner who contributed both capital and real expertise," emphasised Roger Holtback. Information about resolutions passed by the Annual General Meeting will be published after the end of the AGM. Gothenburg, 4 April 2000 Investment AB Bure (publ) For further information, please contact: Knut Leman, Head of Corporate Communication +46 31-335 76 75, 705-11 76 75 Ulrika Stenson, Investor Relations +46 31-335 76 51, 705-90 07 23 ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/04/04/20000404BIT01330/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/04/04/20000404BIT01330/bit0002.pdf