Lowered corporate credit rating on Nobina pending refinancing

Stockholm April 24, 2012

Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the long-term corporate credit rating on Nobina AB and subordinate holding company Nobina Europe Holding AB (together, Nobina) from B- till CCC+, due to the current refinancing of the company’s senior notes maturing in August 2012.

Standard & Poor’s assesses there is an increased risk that Nobina AB will not be able to refinance its senior notes of EUR 85 million maturing in August 2012, and therefore downgrades the long-term corporate credit rating to CCC+. The negative outlook reflects the possibility of a further downgrade if a refinancing solution is not found in the next couple of months.

However, Nobinas ownership situation coupled with the company’s improved profitability and liquidity the past years supports a potential refinancing solution. There is a significant degree of overlap in the interests of the group's debt holders and its equity holders, since the key stakeholders have material positions in both debt and equity.

Standard & Poor’s also points out the fact that Nobina has made progress and is currently engaged in detailed discussions with its advisors regarding a refinancing plan. Moreover the analysis stresses Nobina’s positive record of refinancing in similar situations, most recently in 2009.

Nobina has shown good financial development over the last years and acts in an industry with low business risk, owing to long contracts with public clients who are stable and creditworthy payers. The company assesses that the published downgrade neither will affect the company’s daily operations, nor its long term business plan.

For more information, please contact:
Per Skärgård, CFO Nobina AB, telephone 08-410 65 056
Ingrid Håkanson, IR-manager Nobina AB, telephone 08-410 650 51

The Nobina Group is the largest bus passenger transport company in the Nordic region. The operations include contractual regional traffic in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland as well as independently operated interregional traffic through Swebus. The Nobina group has annual sales close to SEK 7 billion, operates 3,500 buses and, with more than 260 million passenger journeys per year, is one of the major passenger transport companies in northern Europe. For more information, please visit www.nobina.com

Tags: