On March 8, an agreement was concluded for the sale of all the shares in Dahl to the French Saint-Gobain Group. For Ratos, with a holding of 41%, this deal provides an exit gain of SEK 1,355m which will be reported in Ratos's earnings for the second quarter. The deal was finalised on 12 May 2004 following approval from all the relevant competition authorities. The investment in Dahl has provided an annual average return of (Internal rate of return, IRR) of 35%.

In March, Ratos invested in Bibliotekstjänst Intressenter (BTJI) in conjunction with the BTJI Group's acquisition of InfoData. Ratos invested SEK 250m in the form of a loan, which after the end of the period was converted into shares corresponding to 49% of the share capital in BTJI, and a convertible which at possible future conversion would provide an additional holding of approximately 7% . BTJI is reported as a holding in Ratos's portfolio starting in the second quarter of 2004.

Follow-on investments were made Arcorus, Gadelius and Haendig for a total amount of SEK 310m. These deals were completed after the end of the period, making the three companies wholly owned Ratos subsidiaries. After these follow-investments, Ratos has five wholly owned subsidiaries in its portfolio.

Ratos's exit gain of SEK 78m during the period comprises capital gains from Industri Kapital which arose from major sales of shares in Nobia and Oriflame Cosmetics.

After the end of the period, Overseas Telecom listed the portfolio company PTC in Hong Kong and sold its entire holding at the same time.

CEO ARNE KARLSSON COMMENTS ON THE REPORT AT www.ratos.se

TELEPHONE CONFERENCE 2 p.m., tel. no. +46 8 505 20 114

The full report including tables can be downloaded from the following link: