KUNGSBACKA, Sweden, Sept. 23, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Elanders Norge AS in Oslo is part of the business area Infoprint and produces magazines and mass advertising in web offset. The company also operates in publishing and premedia through its subsidiaries Elanders Publishing AS and Elanders Ravn AS. In total, the companies have a turnover upwards of MSEK 260 and 145 employees.
Elanders Norge AS has signed a contract with Naper Holding AS and the agreement concerning Elanders Publishing and Elanders Ravn AS has been signed with some of the companies' personnel.
Divestiture of these companies is a essential step in the ongoing action plan aimed at making Elanders profitable in 2003. It is also part of the process of developing Elanders into an Infomedia group that offers flexible publishing solutions within the framework of our Master Vendor concept.
For quite some time, Elanders Norge AS has been weighed down by the over capacity characterising the Norwegian market and, along with its subsidiaries, has struggled with considerable losses despite major rationalisations. This sale is, among other things, an important first step in the necessary restructuring of the Norwegian web offset market. For both employees and customers it is natural that Norwegian players in the industry lead this restructuring and it is natural for Elanders to leave the Norwegian web offset market to concentrate its efforts on further investments in vital customer segments.
The divestiture, which will be reported under the third quarter, is expected to create a capital loss of around MSEK 105 and charge the Group's cash flow with approximately MSEK 35.
Elanders AB
Patrick Holm
President and Chief Executive Officer
For further information, please contact:
Patrick Holm Mats Almgren President and CEO Chief Financial Officer Elanders AB Elanders AB +46 300 50 000 +46 300 50 000 +46 708 210 410 +46 705 18 19 36
This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net
The following files are available for download:
www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/09/23/20020923BIT00100/wkr0001.doc www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/09/23/20020923BIT00100/wkr0002.pdf