SAS Group to sell Scandinavian IT Group

SAS Group to sell Scandinavian IT Group The SAS Group today signed an agreement covering the sale of the Scandinavian IT Group (SIG) to U.S.-based Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). SAS is selling all the shares in the company and concurrently is signing a five-year outsourcing agreement for the purchase of IT services from CSC and the Scandinavian IT Group. This agreement will include options for SAS to extend the contract for up to four additional years. The total value of the transaction is slightly more than MSEK 2000 and comprises the purchase price and future reductions in the SAS Group's IT costs over the base five-year contract period. As a result of this transaction, the positive effect on the SAS Group cash liquidity, including the first contract year, is estimated to MSEK 800, with a corresponding positive effect on the SAS Group's net debt. Under the terms of the outsourcing contract, CSC will provide IT consulting, systems integration, application development and maintenance, and IT infrastructure services for mission-critical SAS business needs, including booking and ticket reservation systems, ticket- less travel technologies, self-service check-in, flight maintenance and cargo control systems. With the sale of the Scandinavian IT Group, the SAS Group is following the industrial trend within the aviation industry in which such airlines as British Airways, Japan Airlines, Air Canada, KLM, Delta and Continental have already concluded similar agreements. "With Computer Sciences Corporation, the Scandinavian IT Group gains an owner that will develop the company and its personnel," says SAS CEO Jørgen Lindegaard. "The sale of the Scandinavian IT Group is part of a long-term effort to streamline the SAS Group and concentrate on the flight-related operations." "This agreement strengthens CSC's presence in Europe and the Nordic region," said CSC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Van B. Honeycutt. "CSC is pleased to have this opportunity to apply its considerable experience, best practices and anticipated synergies to produce financial and operational results for SAS Group." The Scandinavian IT Group has about 1,200 employees and provides the aviation industry with IT support services. Its product portfolio includes systems for booking and reservation of tickets, self-service functions, resource optimization, revenue management and airport administration. Services comprise development, management and operation of systems. The transaction between the SAS Group and Computer Sciences Corporation is subject to review by the Swedish competition authorities and assuming that the transaction is approved, it will be concluded on January 30, 2004. More information about Computer Science Corporation is available at http://www.csc.com. For more information, please contact: John Dueholm, Executive Vice President, Airline Related Businesses and Airline Support Businesses, SAS Group, +46 8 797 50 05 or +46 709 97 50 05 Ulf Thorné, Manager Public and Media Relations, SAS Group, +46 8 797 28 33 or +46 709 97 28 33. SAS GROUP CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/12/18/20031218BIT00330/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/12/18/20031218BIT00330/wkr0002.pdf