Interim Report January-June 2008

Interim Report January-June 2008

Stronger Nordic position

January - June 2008
• Operating profit dropped by 6 percent to SEK 368.8 million (SEK 394.2
million).
• Profit after tax dropped by 47 percent to SEK 66.6 million (SEK 124.5
million).
• Basic earnings per share dropped by 47 percent to SEK 0.40 (SEK 0.75).
• Non-recurring items burdened profits in the amount of SEK 11.7 million. Costs
related to personnel cutbacks amounted to SEK 7.5 million and goodwill
write-downs attributed to the insurance business amounted to SEK 4.2 million.

Second quarter
• Operating profit dropped by 7 percent to SEK 175.9 million (SEK 188.7
million).
• Profit after tax dropped by 48 percent to SEK 28.4 million (SEK 55.1 million).
• Basic earnings per share dropped by 48 percent to SEK 0.17 (SEK 0.33).
• As of the third quarter, annual costs are reduced by about SEK 60 million.
• Increased market shares in all Nordic markets. 
• The number of accounts increased by 8 percent during the second quarter,
reaching a total of 213,700 (+28 percent over a 12-month period). Clients'
invested capital remained unchanged during the second quarter and totaled SEK
52.7 billion (-8 percent over a 12-month period).
CEO's statement 

Focus on growth and profitability
The Nordic region is our domestic market and during both the first and second
quarters we strengthened our position with increased market shares in all Nordic
markets, mostly due to our initiatives in the active segment.
We've achieved our objective to reduce costs to SEK 35 million per month
excluding marketing already at the start of the third quarter of this year. The
announced personnel cutbacks have been implemented and our ambition is to reduce
our costs further. Progress has been rapid and this has helped our organization
keep momentum, ready to meet our long-term goals head on. 

During the second quarter, the main index of each Nordic exchange fell by 1 to
10 percent except Norway's. The Norwegian market climbed 15 percent. In the
second quarter, we saw a slight recovery from the turbulent market situation of
the first quarter, though in June all indices fell dramatically and we
anticipate weak market development for the rest of the year. 

We've experienced good growth in account numbers and total invested capital
remains unchanged, despite poor market performance. Total lending is at record
levels, mostly due to more clients choosing to margin lend rather than borrowers
increasing their exposure. 

We saw the price war calm and net commission rates stabilize in the second
quarter. 

We've successfully competed with simplicity, freedom of choice, and value for
money and in this way have won increasing market shares in the savings market
over the past ten years. Competition for the SEK 2,000 billion saved in pension
schemes on the Swedish market has just begun with the reintroduction of transfer
rights on May 1. We've already seen great interest in transferring pensions to
Nordnet. During the third quarter, we'll launch our new management services,
which will further increase the attraction of our offering. In addition to an
improved product offering, we'll increase our sales focus in the next quarter. 

In the second quarter, Nordnet Pension gained a new CEO, Johan Furenmo, who has
solid sales experience in pensions, thereby increasing the sales focus.    


Carl-Viggo Östlund  
Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact Carl-Viggo Östlund at +46 8 506 330 30,
+46 70 609 58 81, or carl-viggo.ostlund@nordnet.se.

This is Nordnet
Nordnet offers saving in shares, mutual funds, and pensions and has about
215,000 active accounts in six countries. 
Our offering spans shares from seven markets, more than 900 mutual funds from 70
different fund managers, and comprehensive savings in pensions and insurance
policies. Nordnet AB (publ) is listed on the Mid Cap list of the OMX Nordic
Exchange Stockholm.