Quant announces strategic transformation plan
Quant today announces a strategic transformation plan that enables future revenue growth and investment in employees and customers. The transformation plan reshapes the current seven operational regions into four regions, refocuses group support functions on People and Safety, Commercial, Finance and Operations, and investigates strategic alternatives for countries of subcritical size. The execution of the transformation plan will start immediately and is expected to improve adjusted EBITDA in excess of EUR 4 million on a run-rate basis once completed in December 2020.
Quant today announces a strategic transformation plan that enables future revenue growth and investment in employees and customers. A global restructuring program reshapes the organization from the current seven regions into four regions. The reduced organizational complexity enables a more effective sales approach and better operational development support to Quant’s customer sites.
The four regions will be Scandinavia, Europe, Americas and Rest of World. Our home market Scandinavia consists of Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Europe centers on Finland to ensure that the integration of the acquired Sataservice is concluded, and also includes Switzerland, Estonia, Spain, Poland and the Czech Republic. Americas combines North and South America into one region consisting of USA, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Rest of World consists of China and United Arab Emirates. A temporary region Other is created for countries of subcritical size where strategic alternatives will be evaluated. Region Other will contain Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
The transformation plan refocuses the group support functions and leadership teams into four functions: People and Safety, Commercial, Finance and Operations. The new People and Safety function is an investment in Quant’s most important asset, its people. Strengthened business-oriented talent management ensures improved career opportunities and leadership for our people, and that our customers meet well-equipped teams. Commercial is a new team-based approach to business development with additional pre-sales functions – a key to success in sales. A further priority will be the development of Quant’s value proposition, including the rapidly developing digital toolbox. We have over the last two years invested in developing a suite of digital tools to better support our customers and enhance Quant operations. A cross-functional digital team will ensure capitalization on this investment in future service offerings. Operations will integrate IT for a more customer-centric approach to deployment of Quant’s digital tools.
The new global organization will be in place by 1 June 2019 and consist of Johan Eriksson (CEO), Linda Höljö (CFO), Johan Hårsta (Chief Operating Officer), Jacob Duhan (Chief Commercial Officer), Olof Hedin (Chief Digital Officer), Chief People Officer to be recruited, Terese Holmqvist (General Counsel), Pekka Venäläinen (Region Manager Europe), Jan Löfving (Region Manager Scandinavia), Maximiliano Aqueveque (Region Manager Americas) and André Strömgren (Transformation). The regional structure will be completed following union negotiations.
The transformation plan is expected to improve adjusted EBITDA in excess of EUR 4 million on a run-rate basis compared to December 2018. The transformation plan will be completed in December 2020. Quant forecasts EUR 7-9 million in restructuring and other one-off costs will be required to execute the plan, which will be recorded as non-recurring items as they occur. A temporary Transformation function heads the execution of the transformation plan, starting with dialogue with affected staff and unions.
“I believe that this is a landmark change in the way we operate. A clear geographic focus on selected markets organized in four balanced regions, development in virtual teams, investments in people and safety, as well as a stronger value proposition, will mean that we build a solid foundation for future growth” says CEO Johan Eriksson.
Stockholm, 20 May 2019
Quant AB (publ)
For further information, please contact:
Johan Eriksson, President and CEO, +46 707 76 80 22
André Strömgren, VP, Commercial, Investor Relations & Treasury: +46 708 410 796
E-mail: ir@quantservice.com
Quant AB (publ) is a global leader in industrial maintenance. For over 30 years, we have been realizing the full potential of maintenance for our customers. From embedding superior safety practices and building a true maintenance culture, to optimizing maintenance cost and improving plant performance, our people make the difference. We are passionate about maintenance and proud of ensuring we achieve our customers’ goals in the most professional way. The group operates internationally in close to 30 countries world-wide, employing close to 3,000 people. The parent company is located in Stockholm, Sweden.
Quant AB (publ) is privately held by Nordic Capital since 2014. For additional information about the group, please visit www.quantservice.com.
This information is information that Quant is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact personss set out above, at 08:00 CET on 20 May 2019.