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ÅF AB Interim report January - June 2014

Fri, 11/07/2014 - 11:00 CEST
Regulatory

Jonas Wiström, President and CEO +46 70 608 12 20

 Stefan Johansson, CFO                                +46 70 224 24 01

 Viktor Svensson, Director Corporate Information      +46 70 657 20 26



Second quarter 2014

  * Net sales amounted to SEK 2,281 million (2,152)
  * Operating profit totalled SEK 207 million (153)
  * Operating margin was 9.1 percent (7.1)
  * Operating profit, excluding non-recurring items, totalled SEK 207 million
    (191)
  * Operating margin, excluding non-recurring items, was 9.1 percent (8.9)
  * Profit after tax totalled SEK 154 million (107)
  * Earnings per share, before dilution: SEK 2.00 (1.35)

First half year 2014

  * Net sales amounted to SEK 4,556 million (4,277)
  * Operating profit totalled SEK 408 million (319)
  * Operating margin was 8.9 percent (7.5)
  * Operating profit, excluding non-recurring items, totalled SEK 408 million
    (374)
  * Operating margin, excluding non-recurring items, was 8.9 percent (8.7)
  * Profit after tax totalled SEK 303 million (227)
  * Earnings per share, before dilution: SEK 3.92 (2.87)

A few words from the President, Jonas Wiström:

ÅF's second-quarter operating profit, excluding non-recurring items, rose by
more than 8 percent to SEK 207 million (191). These are the highest second
quarter earnings ÅF has ever reported, and the same applies to the accumulated
earnings of the first six months.
The operating margin rose to 9.1 percent (8.9) in the second quarter. Notably,
the second quarter contained three fewer working days compared to the first
quarter.

Revenue growth in the second quarter amounted to 6 percent, of which just over
2 percent was organic growth. Adjusted for ÅF Russia, whose sales have declined
over the past year, growth was nearly 8 percent, of which 4 percent was organic.
Due to weak profitability and lack of synergies it was agreed to divest the
Russian subsidiary Lonas effective from July 2014 (see separate press release
from 11 July 2014). The sale is expected to have a positive effect on ÅF's
profitability going forward.

After the sale in Russia, ÅF will have a workforce of about 7,000 highly
qualified employees, with a stronger and more comprehensive range of engineering
services than ever before. ÅF can also offer customers a pool of around 20,000
engineers from its own unique partner network. Proof of our strength is that ÅF
continues to gain more and more trust from its customers; the number of project
assignments are growing and now account for roughly 60 percent of our business,
which follows our strategy of creating added value for our customers via long-
term, close-knit partnerships.

The highest profitability in the quarter was delivered by the Infrastructure
Division followed by Industry, with operating margins of 12.4 (13.3) and 10.6
(11.3) percent, respectively. It is highly satisfactory that two divisions with
more than half of ÅF's overall staff continue to show high growth, margins over
10 percent, and a strong order intake. At the end of the second quarter the
Infrastructure Division proved once again to be a leading player in the Nordic
infrastructure and urban development market by being appointed as the Swedish
Transport Administration's chief technical consultant for phase 1 of the East
Link, Sweden's first high-speed railway.

The Technology Division operated in a slowly improving market for advanced
product development and IT, increasing its operating margin from 7.0 to 7.6
percent. The International Division reported an operating margin of 3.3 percent
(7.6). The declining profitability is explained by continued weak performance in
Russia and Spain, as well as non-recurring charges for a cost savings program
(Spain) in the second quarter. In light of steps taken in both Russia and Spain,
the future prospects of the International Division have improved.

The outlook for the ÅF Group in the second half of the year 2014 is cautiously
optimistic. The market for infrastructure is estimated to remain strong while
the industrial market situation is better compared to a year ago. The energy
market continues to be influenced by low levels of investment in Europe, while
opportunities continue to be good in the Asian and South American markets.

ÅF's most important goal is be the most profitable company among its closest
comparable competitors in the industry and achieve an operating margin of at
least 10 percent over a business cycle. This shall be combined with growth -
both organically and through acquisitions. At ÅF's annual capital market day in
early 2014, new long-term objectives were introduced , which included increasing
ÅF's revenue to at least EUR 2 billion by 2020.

Group Head Office:
ÅF AB (publ), SE-169 99 Stockholm, Sweden
Visitors' address:  Frösundaleden 2, 169 70 Solna, Sweden
Tel. +46 10 505 00 00   Fax +46 10 505 00 10
www.afconsult.com / info@afconsult.com
Corporate ID number 556120-6474

This report has not been subject to review by the company's auditors.

The information in this interim report fulfils ÅF AB's disclosure requirements
under the provisions of the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Financial
Instruments Trading Act. The information was released for publication at 11.00
a.m. on 11 July, 2014.

All assumptions about the future that are made in this report are based on the
best information available to the company at the time the report was written. As
is the case with all assessments of the future, such assumptions are subject to
risks and uncertainties, which may mean that the actual outcome differs from the
anticipated result.

This is a translation of the Swedish original. The Swedish text is the binding
version and shall prevail in the event of any discrepancies.



The full report including tables (pdf) is available for download


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