STOCKHOLM, Sweden, July 22, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Skanska's sale of its controlling interests in its mining contracting business in South Africa and Canada to Murray & Roberts, a publicly listed South African industrial and engineering contractor, has now been completed.
The sale involves Skanska's 79.1-percent holding in the publicly listed The Cementation Company (Africa) Ltd. and the wholly owned subsidiary Cementation Skanska Canada Inc. The operations in Australia, which are very limited in nature, are not included in the sale and will be discontinued.
These businesses within Skanska UK were part of Kvaerner Construction (UK), which Skanska acquired in 2000. The sale is part of Skanska's strategy of achieving a leading position in selected geographical core markets.
The transaction will result in a capital loss of approximately SEK 100 M, which have been charged to Group earnings for the fourth quarter of 2003. The loss is a result of the need to write off the goodwill allocated to these operations in the acquisition of Kvaerner Construction. Net sales in the units included in the transaction amounted to SEK 1.8 billion in 2003, with an operating profit of SEK 26 M before goodwill amortization. At the beginning of the year, the units had about 8,600 employees.
For further information please contact:
Anders Lilja, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations, Skanska AB, tel +46 8 753 88 01 Peter Gimbe, Senior Vice President, Communications, Skanska AB, tel +46 8 753 88 38
This and previous releases can also be found at www.skanska.com
This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net
The following PDF is available for download:
http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/07/22/20040722BIT20030/wkr0001.pdf