NOBINA AB - RESULTS 2011/2012

FOURTH QUARTER (DECEMBER 1, 2011 – FEBRUARY 29, 2012)

• Sales reached SEK 1,747 million (1,671), an increase of 4.5% or SEK 76 million.           
• Operating profit of SEK -150 million (-7), a decrease of SEK 143 million, including SEK 171 million in one-off costs.
• Earnings for the quarter amounted to SEK -188 million (-39), including SEK 171 million in one-off costs. Earnings per share amounted to SEK -7.54 (-1.56).
• Cash flow from the operations was SEK 154 million (168). Cash flow after net investments amounted to SEK 124 million (110).
• The Group's investments, primarily for the purchase of buses, amounted to SEK 444 million (374), of which investments of SEK 406 million (264) were financed through leasing agreements and SEK 38 million (110) were financed in cash.

THE FULL YEAR (MARCH 1, 2011 - FEBRUARY 29, 2012)

• Sales reached SEK 7,050 million (6,697), an increase of 5.3% or SEK 353 million.                          
• Operating profit of SEK 37 million (232), a reduction of SEK 195 million, including SEK 171 million in one-off costs.            
• Earnings for the period amounted to SEK -230 million (59), including SEK 171 million in one-off costs. Earnings per share amounted to SEK -9.23 (2.37).
• Cash flow from the operations was SEK 626 million (657). Cash flow after net investments amounted to SEK 584 million (519).                    
• The Group's investments, primarily for the purchases of buses, amounted to SEK 860 million (911), of which investments of SEK 745 million (731) were financed through leasing agreements and SEK 115 million (180) were financed in cash.
• The Board proposes that no dividend be issued.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS DURING THE QUARTER

• On January 17, 2012, Nobina AB held an extraordinary general meeting. The general meeting resolved to elect Gunnar Reitan and Richard Cazenove as ordinary directors for the period until the close of the next annual general meeting. Richard Cazenove replaced Thomas Naess as representative for BlueBay Asset Management Ltd.
• Nobina won one of the largest ever traffic contracts in Norway and thereby takes over the bus traffic in western Oslo with approximately 78 buses and 230 employees. The contract extends for seven years with a possibility for a three-year extension and, in total, is worth approximately NOK 1.5 billion.
• The work on developing and optimizing the bus fleet continued during the fourth quarter and Nobina invested in 81 new buses intended for traffic in Helsinki. The new buses, 56 of which are an entirely new type of lightweight bus, will be placed into traffic during the late summer of 2012.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS SINCE THE END OF THE QUARTER    

• In light of the ongoing refinancing of the company's Senior Notes, Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the long-term credit rating for the Nobina Group and Nobina Europe Holding AB, from B- to CCC+.                

CEO's comments

The past year has been characterized primarily by major contract restructurings in Sweden, where Nobina has its largest operations. All in all, traffic covering 568 buses was discontinued, while 547 new buses were put into traffic in the strategically most important localities in the country. The Group's sales increased by SEK 353 million, to SEK 7,050 million, but earnings were severely dragged down by, primarily, the Norwegian operations, which are suffering from serious operational and financial deficiencies. Swebus, too, is facing major challenges. In addition to the extremely well performing Swedish market, it is pleasing to note that both the Danish and Finnish operations are performing better than last year. The Nordic market is undergoing major changes, with old concession contracts expiring and contract terms being gradually improved. In light of this, the long-term plan for Nobina remains firmly in place, and we foresee an increased underlying EBIT for the coming year 2012/13.              

Ragnar Norbäck, CEO

Contacts

For further information please contact:
Ragnar Norbäck, President and CEO                          +46 8-410 65 000
Per Skärgård, CFO                                                    +46 8-410 65 056
Ingrid Håkanson, IR Manager                                      +46 8-410 65 051

The Nobina group is the largest company in the Nordic region within the area of public transport by bus. The operations include contractual regional traffic in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark as well as inter-regional traffic through the subsidiary Swebus. The Nobina Group has revenues in excess of SEK 7 billion, operates 3,500 buses and, with approximately 260 million passenger journeys per year, is one of the larger passenger transport companies in northern Europe. More information is available on www.nobina.com

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