NCC´ Finnish asphalt company receives writ from Finnish Competition Authority

NCC´ Finnish asphalt company receives writ from Finnish Competition Authority The Finnish Competition Authority today submitted a lawsuit to the Finnish Market Court alleging that a number of asphalt companies had breached the country's competition legislation. The companies concerned include a wholly owned NCC subsidiary and a partly owned company acquired by NCC a couple of years ago. The asphalt companies in question have been sued for a total of EUR 97 million, of which the two NCC companies account for approximately EUR 10 million. NCC has owned 50 percent of one of the companies, Valtatie, since 1999, when NCC acquired Superfos. NCC owns 100 percent of the other company, Interasfaltti, which was part of NCC's acquisition of Rieber Roads in 2000. Interasfaltti has a market share of less than 10 percent and Valtatie of approximately 15 percent. An independent investigation was previously commissioned by NCC. However, this investigation did not find any evidence that either of the companies had been involved in illegal cartel activities in Finland. In view of the Competition Authority's lawsuit, now NCC intends to deepen the investigations. Following NCC's acknowledgement of involvement in asphalt cartels in Sweden, the Group launched a forceful action program aimed at ensuring that NCC employees abide by the prevailing rules and regulations. The program includes comprehensive training in ethical values for all Group employees and training in competition law for about 1,700 NCC managers. In addition, NCC's internal rules and regulations in the field of competition law have been reinforced through the introduction of legally binding provisions that include an obligation to report suspicions of breaches of the Competition Act. For further information, please contact: Hans-Olof Karlsson, Senior Vice President Corporate Communications NCC AB Tel +46 8 585 52279 or +46 70 547 1250 Ritva Norrgrann, Information Director NCC Construction Finland Tel +358 9 5075 432 or +358 50 673 54 All of NCC's press releases are available on www.ncc.info NCC is one of the leading construction and property development companies in the Nordic region. NCC had in 2003 sales of SEK 45 billion, with 24,000 employees. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/03/31/20040331BIT20740/wkr0009.pdf