Investment company Dacke acquires Hermelin and takes the lead in the “New-Nordic” area.

The investment company Dacke Group Nordic AB, listed on the Stockholm stock exchange (Nya Marknaden index, OM Stockholmsbörsen), has acquired Hermelin Nordic Research AB. Hermelin, is one of the leading and most successful marketing research companies. The company is specialised in quantitative marketing research and has customers and offices throughout the Nordic countries as well as in the Baltic cities of Tallinn, Riga and Kaunas. The acquisition of Hermelin complements the qualitative marketing research companies within Dacke’s business section: “Research & Analysis”. The business section will have a pro forma turnover of approximately 110 million Swedish krona.

During last year Dacke made a number of profitable and strategic acquisitions, such as that of Hansen Conferences & Events, one of Scandinavia's leading event agencies, as well as the acquisition of Venture Communication, one of Denmark’s largest advertising agencies. In the year of 2006 Dacke has kept up the expansion speed and rate, first by purchasing United Power advertising agency and now by the purchase of Hermelin. This latest acquisition will increase Dacke’s turnover by approximately 25 per cent annually, boosting it to around 430 million Swedish kronor, thus making Dacke one of the Nordic region’s largest and fastest growing companies within the marketing communications industry. “The acquisition of Hermelin creates a platform for Dacke’s continued expansion in what we refer to as the “New-Nordic” area, including the Nordic and the Baltic countries,” says Urban von Euler chief executive officer at Dacke Group Nordic group of companies. “Hermelin will also add valuable management skills and gainful Nordic customers to Dacke. We believe the business section of “Research & Analysis” to be an extremely expansive market with major opportunities for coordination and further industrialisation, boosting profits both for our customers and for the group of companies,” concludes Urban von Euler. “Being a part of the Dacke Group will significantly strengthen Hermelin’s position amongst Nordic customers,” says Peter Bernström, CEO of Hermelin Nordic Research. “Fifteen years ago Lena Hermelin founded a small Swedish company, we’ve expanded into covering the entire Nordic region and the countries around the Baltic Sea. For Hermelin to now be part of Dacke Group enables the company’s safe expansion and business development. Over recent years, the volume of commissions aimed at multinational markets have been growing steadily, and now with this deal with Dacke are prepared to take on even more major customer assignments,” Peter Bernström concludes. Hermelin’s pro forma turnover for 2006 is almost 100 million Swedish kronor, and the company employs a staff of 50. Hermelin’s customers are mainly international marketing research institutes, analysis firms, media agencies and consumer goods companies. Hermelin’s customers include such companies as Nordea, Svenska Spel, Research International, Gallup, Add Value Research, Carat, Mediacom and OMD. The acquisition of Hermelin has increased Dacke’s equity by approximately 9 million Swedish kronor, and the number of shares has been increased by approximately 90 million into 490 million.