Technopolis forged ahead in 2008 - growth still expected during the current year

Press Bulletin January 29, 2009		


Technopolis forged ahead in 2008
- growth still expected during the current year 

Technopolis Plc succeeded quite well in the challenging business environment of
2008. The company continued its vigorous expansion and put in a strong
financial performance. Technopolis CEO Keith Silverang says that he is
“satisfied considering the conditions”. 

Last year, the Group's net sales reached nearly EUR 72.6 million (EUR 56.9
million in 2007) and the operating margin was approx. EUR 37 million (EUR 28.6
million). The Group's operating profit was EUR 35.3 million (EUR 42.6 million).
The profit before taxes reached EUR 21,4 million (EUR 32,9 million). 

Net sales increased by 27.5 per cent and the operating margin by 29.2 per cent.
In contrast, the profit fell after depreciation and valuation items, due to the
fact that real estate values did not rise as they did in 2007. The Board of
Directors will propose that a dividend of EUR 0.12 per share be paid out,
equivalent to approx. 40 per cent of the Group's net profit. 

New technology centers

Last year, Technopolis expanded its operations by acquiring a 47,900
square-meter technology center in Kuopio; opening a new technology center in
Helsinki; expanding the Kontinkangas technology center in Oulu; and by
launching the construction of new centers in downtown Tampere, and near the
airport in St. Petersburg. Existing technology centers were also expanded in
Jyväskylä, Vantaa and Lappeenranta. 

A challenging business environment

According to Keith Silverang, the business environment in 2008 was challenging.
The year started off under tough conditions that got tougher throughout the
year. The financial crisis quickly developed into a downturn followed by a
surprisingly sharp and swift descent into a recession towards the end of the
year. 

Technopolis had, however, prepared for these conditions and taken action to
safeguard its financial performance and occupancy rates. Silverang says that
the company focused on its core activities while paying special attention to
quality of its services, while investing particularly in those services that
support customer competitiveness and success. 

“The ability to understand customer needs and to help them to adapt to these
new business conditions is now even more important than normally,” he says. 

The current year will be no easier in this respect, quite the contrary.
Technopolis will double its efforts to boost internal efficiency and improve
customer satisfaction while toughening its investment criteria. Silverang
reports that the company has launched an internal development project that will
simultaneously boost the scalability of the Technopolis concept while boosting
efficiency in its core processes and creating tools to support the ongoing
competence development of the company's personnel. 

“This will help us to lay a foundation for future growth,” he says. According
to its growth strategy, Technopolis's objective is to have a presence in two or
three countries, in addition to Finland and Russia by 2012. 


Outlook for 2009

Technopolis management expects the demand for its high-tech facilities and
services remain at a reasonable level in 2009. The management anticipates that
the downturn, if protracted, may pose a challenge to the Group's growth
targets. The company will continue to pursue measures aimed at safeguarding its
financial performance also under difficult market conditions. The Group
management expects the net sales and operating margin to increase by 5 to 8
percent in 2009. 

For more information contact

TECHNOPOLIS PLC

Keith Silverang, President and CEO
Tel. +358 40-5667785 

Ludmilla Johans, Executive Assistant
Tel. +358 40-7747353


Measured by the number of clients, Technopolis Plc is one of Europe's largest
science and technology park chains. The Technopolis Group is Finland's largest
specialized provider of business environment services for high tech companies
offering a comprehensive range of services combining modern premises with
business and business development services. Technopolis operates or is in the
process of building technology centers in Espoo, Helsinki, Jyväskylä,
Lappeenranta, Oulu, Tampere and Vantaa in Finland, and in St. Petersburg in
Russia. Currently, some 1,200 companies with 16,000 employees are working in
the Technopolis technology centers. www.technopolis.fi