Lars Jonsson appointed CFO of Internationella Engelska Skolan

Lars Jonsson has been appointed new CFO and member of Group management of Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES). He will replace Fredrik Åkerman, who is assuming a new position outside of IES in March.

Lars Jonsson has an extensive background in various financial roles in the listed cash handling company Loomis AB. He has also worked as auditor and advisor for corporate transactions at Ernst & Young. In his current role, he is Head of Financial Control & Treasury at Loomis AB, where he is responsible for Group financial reporting.

“Lars has solid experience of financial control in an expansive international company, which will be a valuable addition to IES and the management team as we continue our growth in Sweden and Spain in the coming years. He is very well suited to IES’s culture with his profile and experience of work in a decentralised organisation. I extend Lars a warm welcome to IES,” says IES’s CEO Anna Sörelius Nordenborg.

“I very much look forward to beginning work at IES. IES has a clear concept with a focus on a calm and orderly environment and high academic ambitions as requested by many parents and municipalities. This means IES is now opening many new schools in Sweden and in parallel acquiring schools in Spain. I therefore believe my experience from another company that has noted rapid growth can help IES to continue to grow and develop,” says Lars Jonsson.

Lars Jonsson will assume his new position no later than 17 August 2020. As previously announced, Annika Dohrman, who is currently Deputy CFO of IES, has been appointed Acting CFO from 1 March 2020 until Lars takes up his duties.

For more information please contact:

Emma Rheborg, Head of Communication and IR, IES
Telephone: +46 (0)768 511 540
E-mail: emma.rheborg@engelska.se 

The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, on 12 February 2020 at 08:50 CET.

About Internationella Engelska Skolan

Internationella Engelska Skolan, IES, is one of the leading free school operators in Sweden with some 26,800 students at 37 schools, and about 4,800 students at its schools in Spain.

IES Sweden conducts school operations from “förskoleklass” (grade F) up to the third and final year of upper secondary school (grade 12). Its main focus is grades 4-9, what is often called “middle school.” Within the compulsory school system in Sweden, IES is the leading independent operator, with 17 of the 20 largest free schools. The academic results of IES schools on the national tests in grade 9 are far above average in Sweden.

Internationella Engelska Skolan was founded in 1993 and is in its 27th year of operation. Throughout this period, its schools have been defined by the three core convictions of its founder, Mrs. Barbara Bergström:

• A safe and orderly environment, where teachers can teach and students learn.
• To command the English language – the key to the world.
• High academic expectations and aspirations.

Up to half of teaching is conducted in English by teachers whose native language is English. Over 900 teachers with qualified foreign teaching degrees are currently teaching in IES schools. They are mainly recruited from Canada, the USA, the UK and South Africa.

The IES student base is growing strongly. Over the past ten years, total operating income has increased by an average of 19% per year. In the most recent financial year 2018/19, which concluded on 30 June 2019, total operating income was MSEK 2,781.1, an increase of some 18% year on year. As of 30 September 2019, there were approximately 204,700 applications in the queue to secure a place in the Swedish schools for the current and forthcoming years.

Internationella Engelska Skolan has been listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Mid Cap, with the ticker ENG, since 2016.

The largest (indirect) shareholders of IES are TA Associates of the US, which has close affiliations to leading universities and trusts in the US, Barbara Bergström, the founder of IES, and Paradigm Capital AG through different funds. At the end of December 2019, the 10 largest shareho