Creating competitive advantages through improved expertise
• Revenues of NOK 84 million and EBIT of NOK -7 million (compared to NOK 108 million and NOK 8 million in the corresponding quarter of 2011)
• Clients representing more than 90 per cent of equity invested through Acta Asset Management have accepted new client agreements with Navigea Securities
• Extensive resources allocated to the two business areas Investment Management and Capital Markets
• Recruitment of highly skilled and experienced personnel in the business areas Investment Management and Capital Markets
• Acquisition of ABG Sundal Collier Real Estate
“The Agasti Group had operating earnings of NOK -7 million in the third quarter. The figures are affected by the extensive efforts we have made to attract senior personnel with the required expertise to the business areas Investment Management and Capital Markets, which will yield positive returns in the long run,” says Alfred Ydstebø, Chief Executive Officer of Agasti Holding ASA.
Since more than 20 years, the Agasti Group has developed a customer base that has invested more than NOK 53 billion in products offered by companies in the Agasti Group. Several factors have contributed to enable this, primarily a wide selection of attractive investment products, as well as skilled advisors in a well-consolidated distribution network in one of the most affluent regions of the world. The Group’s activities in the Investment Management area have recently been strengthened significantly with employees that hold extensive, broad experience in the management of equivalent portfolios for institutional investors, and within general capital management, in Norway and abroad. With the acquisition of 100 per cent of the shares in ABG Sundal Collier Real Estate the Group has created a setup to further improve the deliveries to its customers. The acquired companies manage a number of investment companies in the fields of real estate and shipping. This transaction supports the Agasti Group’s defined ambition to strengthen its position within Investment Management, and will, short term as well as long term, give a significant boost to the Group’s competitiveness.
“We have now built a robust, knowledge-driven institutional management platform which will contribute to even better services provided to our existing clients, while we also have good opportunities to attract and handle new management mandates from both larger clients and institutional investors going forward,” says Alfred Ydstebø.
The recent external recruitments have added new expertise to the organisation, which will be further strengthened with the acquisition of ABG Sundal Collier Real Estate. Additionally, the internal expertise, which has been built up during two decades in the industry, is being further developed to establish a new business area, Capital Markets.
This has built a bridge between the Group’s advisory business, Wealth Management, and the capital management business, Investment Management. Capital Markets will be an important provider of a comprehensive product range and attractive product initiatives to the advisory business of the Group, which in turn is best positioned to reach investors with suitable investment products. Capital Markets will also have a solid foundation to be the preferred supplier of advisory services to various investment companies when they undertake transactions that concern either refinancing, sale of portfolio elements, or divestment in accordance with the portfolios’ mandate.
In addition to the alliance we have established with Wunderlich in the USA, new strategic initiatives in both Norway and Sweden will contribute to creating a more competitive advisory organisation. At the same time, Investment Management and Capital Markets will be strengthened with analytical expertise within the areas in which a large proportion of clients’ assets under management are invested.
The reorganisation, and the related cost reduction programme introduced in February 2012, has now been implemented, with full effect as from the third quarter of 2012. We will nonetheless perform a new assessment of whether the set-up in the Wealth Management segment has the right organisational structure from a financial and operational point of view.
Going forward, the Agasti Group is well-positioned to play a significant role throughout the value chain, from the creation and launch of products, via distribution, secondary trading and further development, to realisation. This will enable us to arrange for better products, develop a professional Wealth Management concept, and sound management of our clients' investments.
“We are now building a strong financial service provider, with highly skilled professionals who hold strong experience, both nationally and internationally, from areas that we believe will be strategically important in the future. Combined with our new brands, we will be even better prepared to successfully attract the best talents, in order to succeed in the three business areas of Wealth Management, Investment Management and Capital Markets,” concludes Alfred Ydstebø.
A complete English version of the interim report and the presentation of the third quarter of 2012 are attached on www.newsweb.no and on Agasti's Investor Relations web pages www.agasti.no.
Contact details:
Jørgen Pleym Ulvness, deputy CEO – phone +47 906 67 877
Christian Tunge, CFO – phone +47 450 65 850
This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.