NCC to appeal City Court verdict in asphalt case

NCC to appeal City Court verdict in asphalt case

Despite playing an active role in the Swedish Competition Authority's
investigation, NCC has been ordered to pay competition-impeding damages of SEK
150 million. This was established when the Stockholm City Court announced its
verdict on the asphalt cartel case. NCC is extremely surprised at the verdict
and will appeal to the Market Court.

The verdict, which entails that NCC will have to pay competition-impeding
damages of SEK 150 million, was diametrically different from NCC's petition, in
accordance with Section 28, Subsection 2 of the Competition Act, for complete
exemption from having to pay competition-impeding damages. According to the Act,
“parties who, to a highly significant extent, have facilitated the investigation
of complicity on their own part or the part of others” may be spared from paying
competition-impeding damages.

“The City Court has not taken NCC's arguments into account. The actions taken by
NCC facilitated the Swedish Competition Authority's investigations in a decisive
manner and the City Court should have weighed this into its judgment,” says Ulf
Wallin, Senior Legal Counsel of the NCC Group, adding:

“In addition, the amount is unreasonably high in view of the City Court's
confirmation that there was no underlying general agreement to divide up all
central and local government paving procurements, and that it was instead a
local phenomenon that occurred over just a years.”

The competition-impeding damages will be charged against NCC's earnings for the
second quarter of 2007. 

Background
In spring 2001, NCC uncovered financial improprieties within the company's
paving operations in the Linköping area. Those responsible were reported to the
police and several employees were dismissed. Eventually, these events also led
to illicit cartel collaboration being brought to light. 

Subsequently, the Swedish Competition Authority initiated its own investigations
and, in October 2001, the Authority conducted a dawn raid targeted at all of the
suspected companies. With the help of new information from the Competition
Authority, NCC, aided by external lawyers, was able to  conduct a comprehensive
internal inquiry during autumn 2001 in order to determine whether cartel
collaboration had actually occurred. 

The inquiry, which was presented in January 2002, revealed that in a number of
cases NCC employees, in contravention of internal rules and regulations, had
participated in illicit cartel collaboration with competing companies. NCC's
inquiry was submitted to the Swedish Competition Authority and contributed
decisively to the investigation of the asphalt cartel.

NCC facilitated the Competition Authority's investigations to a highly
significant extent by:
-	having been the first company to clearly admit its involvement in a number of
individual cases.
-	having submitted a comprehensive internal inquiry to the Swedish Competition
Authority.
-	having presented decisive evidence (witness testimony) that facilitated the
Competition Authority's investigations.
-	having cooperated actively with the Authority throughout its investigations.
-	having ensured that NCC employees dared to appear and witness, and thus bring
clarity to the investigation. 

Training in competition law
Since the cartel collaboration was brought to light, NCC has taken powerful
actions to ensure that nothing of a similar nature will happen again. For
example, slightly more than  2,000 managers and administrative employees have
received training in competition law. This training has since been linked to the
employees' employment contracts, whereby breaches of prevailing legislation by
any employee lead to dismissal.


For further information, please contact:
Annica Gerentz, Senior Vice President Corporate Communications, NCC AB,
+46 (0)8 585 522 04
Ulf Wallin, Senior Legal Counsel, NCC AB, +46 (0)8 585 521 47


All of NCC's press releases are available on www.ncc.info

NCC is one of the leading construction and property development companies in the
Nordic region. NCC had in 2006 sales of SEK 56 billion, with 22,000 employees.