Initiating the Q-FREE ITS Transformation programme
Trondheim/Oslo 7 December 2015;
The Board of directors and Management have decided to initiate the next steps in the transformation of Q-Free from a Road User Charging company into a fully integrated ITS-company. Q-Free has, during the last few years acquired eight companies in order to broaden the technology and customer base. To maximise the potential of our assets the Board of Directors and Management have decided to take further actions to streamline the company and reduce the fixed cost base and investment level in order to extract synergies and reduce activities in some areas.
These actions include organisational changes, reduction in the Management team and organisation, and optimisation of investments in sales and technology development. The restructuring will affect current positions in some areas, and a strengthening of new capabilities in other areas to support the strategy. When fully implemented, these actions together with other cost initiatives implemented earlier in 2015, will imply a reduction in annual costs of more than NOK 70 million and significantly improve our profitability and financial robustness.
The company has related to these cost initiatives provided for restructuring costs of NOK 20 million, which will be accounted for in the income statement for the fourth quarter 2015. In addition, a write down of assets related to the Road User Charging division of NOK 64 million will be done during this quarter.
-These initiatives will further strengthen our ability to become an ITS company with competitive solutions addressing the global ITS market. Moving forward, Management will focus on developing a sound commercial and operational platform to support further growth. Furthermore, Q-Free will bring to market joint offerings, leveraging technologies from various parts of the Q-Free technology portfolio. These will primarily be in the areas of Tolling, Parking Management and Traffic Management. Q-Free aims to continue the transformation and build a profitable growth company serving the global ITS market, comments Acting CEO Roar Østbø.
For further information, please contact:
Acting CEO and CFO Roar Østbø: +47 932 45 175
About Q-Free
Q-Free is a leading global supplier of products and solutions within the global ITS market. The Q-Free Group has approximately 430 employees with offices in 20 countries and presence on all continents. The Q-Free head office is in Trondheim, Norway. Q-Free is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker QFR.
Twitter: @Q-FreeASA