Benima acquires Futec OY in Finland

Benima, Teleca’s industrial IT and automation business, has signed an agreement concerning the acquisition of Finnish company Futec OY and its staff of 21. The acquisition will contribute to Benima’s continued expansion in Finland, which in turn is part of a strategy to increase market share in the Nordic region.

With its staff of about 500, Benima is the Nordic region’s leading supplier-independent consulting company in the industrial IT and automation sector. The company already has a local office in Helsinki, Finland, that specialises in industrial IT. Futec occupies a well-established position in the Finnish market, where it works closely together with several large customers. The company’s expertise lies primarily in the area of automation, where among other things it has developed a highly successful boiler optimisation concept. Futec has experienced a healthy level of profitability in recent years. Benima aims to continue growing in Finland, partly in Futec’s current area and partly in other areas that are expected to have high levels of growth in the next few years and where Benima has competitive offers, such as the nuclear power industry. Exploiting Futec’s offers in the Swedish market will enable the value of the acquisition to be increased even more. “Futec will enable us to build a stable platform for continued expansion in Finland. The company has an experienced management team that has been able to show good margins for many years. The company culture is also very similar to Benima’s. By diversifying the offering in Finland, above all through Benima’s strong offers in the nuclear power industry, we predict that things will continue to develop very positively,” says Tore Helgeson, Divisions manager of Benima at Teleca. “Benima provides the right combination of reliability and expertise to develop the business in Finland, and our views on business management are very similar, which of course will make it easy for us to integrate with Benima. We’re looking forward to an exciting future as part of Benima,” says Antti Halmetoja, managing director of Futec OY. The company will be consolidated from and including 1 May 2005. The acquisition is expected to have a modest positive effect on Teleca’s profits. For more information please contact: - Tore Helgeson, Division manager of Benima, Teleca AB, mobile: +46-706504517 - Johannes Rudbeck, Investor Relations Manager, Teleca AB, mobile: +46-705825656 - Antti Halmetoja, managing director, Futec OY, mobile: +358-500626001