Improved earnings in tough equity markets

• Operating earnings of NOK 8 million
• Gross subscriptions of NOK 482 million, of which NOK 421 in portfolio accounts
• NOK 8.6 billion invested in portfolio accounts, which equals 30 per cent of client’s equity
• Equity in portfolio accounts remains stable despite the turmoil in the financial markets

The European debt crisis has become even more critical over the last few months, while the economical growth has been weaker. The politicians have proved to have difficulties in finding a joint solution to the financial problems, and the markets have reacted negatively to this uncertainty. The finance industry has been struck particularly hard. Pressures on margins and shortfall of revenues have made many employees redundant.

We are satisfied with the fact that assets under management have only decreased by NOK 1 billion to NOK 57 billion during this exceptionally turbulent quarter. This proves the strength of Acta’s diversification philosophy, where clients have invested in a wide range of investment products with various yields. At the same time as clients have benefited by following this philosophy, Acta is experiencing that the new business model focusing on recurring revenues is profitable even in a tough equity market.

During the quarter, more than NOK 420 million were added to different types of portfolio accounts, and totalled NOK 8.6 billion, or 30 per cent of clients’ total equity, at the end of September. Taking the major turbulence the financial markets are going through into consideration, we are satisfied to report stable figures in the portfolio accounts.

We have continued to develop the investment solution Portfolio account, and introduced Portfolio account Pension (PA-P) for our Norwegian clients in the third quarter. This investment solution implies that clients with individual pension agreements (IPAs) are given the opportunity to move their IPAs to Acta and its partner, and ensures that Acta is a more complete supplier of financial investment solutions.

The Acta Group had operating earnings of NOK 8 million in the third quarter of 2011, and NOK 33 million for the year to date, which is an improvement of NOK 23 million compared with the corresponding quarter last year and NOK 61 million for the year to date 2010. The improvement is a result of the profitable long term business model the Acta Group has been building over the last few years.

Going forward the Acta Group will continue to develop the investment solution Portfolio account, which has already proven to be robust in the challenging financial environment we are currently experiencing, in order to increase both our share of wallet with existing clients as well as our overall market share.

A complete English version of the interim report and the presentation of the 3rd quarter of 2011 are attached on  www.newsweb.no and on Acta's Investor Relations web pages www.acta.no.


Geir Inge Solberg
CEO

Contact details:
Geir Inge Solberg, Chief Executive Officer, +47 908 78 043
Christian Tunge, Chief Financial Officer, +47 450 65 850
Rune Wangsmo, Public Relations Director, +47 995 41 507

This information is subject of the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.