The Norwegian company Bluegarden, which was acquired by Ratos at the end of 2003, is one of Norway's leading suppliers of systems and services within both payroll processing and HRM. Multidata, which is Denmark's leading supplier of payroll services to the private sector, has focused on payroll processing services. This means that the two companies and their range of services complement each other well.

Under the co-operation agreement Multidata's 80,000 Danish customers will gain access to Bluegarden's web portal for salaries and employees. The portal will be integrated with Multidata's payroll processing system.

"Approximately 1.2 million Danes and half a million Norwegians are already receiving their salaries using our company's solutions," says Svein Gullaksen, CEO of Bluegarden. "The partnership we are now joining will immediately create the second-largest Nordic player in this field."

The agreement is expected to have a positive impact on Bluegarden's sales and earnings already in 2004.

Earlier in the spring, Bluegarden won several major orders including one from south Norway's healthcare area - Helse Sør - with 26,000 employees. Furthermore DnB NOR, following Den norske Banks merger with Gjensidige NOR, chose Bluegarden's solutions for its overall HRM. In addition, several of Norway's savings banks have decided to further extend their co-operation with Bluegarden.

For additional information, please contact

Svein Gullaksen, CEO Bluegarden, +47 90 54 34 28

Anna-Karin Celsing, Head of Corporate Communications Ratos, +46 8 700 17 49

Financial calendar from Ratos:

Interim Report January-June 2004     25 August 2004

Interim Report January-September 2004     12 November 2004

The press release can be downloaded from the following link: