New Acta and new CEO
(Thomson Reuters ONE) - Acta has during the last year experienced a demanding period withstrong focus on regulatory, commercial and organizational matters.Most of these matters are now sorted out, and a plan for the newcourse for Acta going forward is settled. The strategy which waspresented at the Capital Markets Day in June remains firm, and GeirInge Solberg who was appointed acting CEO after Simen Mørdre left hisposition in early August, will carry out this process.Acta has increased its focus on the largest and most affluent clientsin the strategic segment. These clients typically have investableholdings of between NOK 500,000 and NOK 10 million and will be served1:1 with first class advisory services in a concept called ActaInvest. Acta will gradually increase its focus on clients withinvestable holdings in the upper end of this interval. These clientswill typically have more complicated advisory issues and will beserved by a team of advisors in a business concept called ActaPartner. Acta will develop an alternative model with a fixed annualmanagement fee and profit split as an alternative to today's pricemodel.The mass affluent segment with investable holdings between NOK100,000 and 500,000 will now receive services in form of productinformation and execution of orders made by clients by phone andonline. Acta Direct, which this concept is called, has ambitions ofexpanding its operations and also including new services like onlinestock broking.Profitable operations excluding restructuring costsSecond quarter gross subscriptions totalled NOK 703 million.Operating earnings ended at NOK -34 million in the quarter. Excludingrestructuring costs of NOK 40 million, of which NOK 5 million aretax-related, operating earnings would have ended at NOK 1 million."We are pleased to see that, excluding restructuring costs,operations are profitable," says CEO Geir Inge Solberg.The change in business model has made it necessary to adjust theorganisation considerably. Acta reduced its workforce from 426 to345 during the quarter. This reduction was mainly carried out inNorway. A similar process will conclude during August in Sweden. Atotal of approximately 270 people will going forward be working inthe Acta Group. This represents a reduction of 37 per cent comparedto 31 March figures. The group expects approximately NOK 100 millionin reduced yearly costs due to these cuts. Annual fixed andactivity-based costs going forward will total approximately NOK 350million. Acta also has a robust financial position with a netliquidity position of more than NOK 250 million and no interestbearing debt. "We are very pleased that the restructuring of Acta hasbeen successful and that the new organisation is fully operationalfrom 1 August. The implementation of the new service concepts, therestructuring and the cost-saving measures implemented in the periodhave all been carried out so that the main distribution network isstill intact. Acta has a very solid platform for future profitabilityand growth," says Solberg.Recurring revenues to cover fixed costsActa has a strategic goal that recurring revenues shall cover fixedcosts. Recurring revenues in the quarter ended at NOK 71 million,while fixed costs ended at NOK 114 million where NOK 28 millionrelate to restructuring of the organisation. Excluding theserestructuring costs, recurring revenues now cover approximately 82per cent of fixed costs in the quarter. Going forward, recurringrevenues will cover fixed costs of slightly below 300 million on ayearly basis. "The implemented restructuring means that theoperational risk is significantly reduced which ensures futuresustainable profitability", Geir Inge Solberg highlights.Financial highlights in 2nd quarter 2009* Gross subscriptions of NOK 703 million, compared with NOK 3,395million in the same period in 2008.* Revenues of NOK 132 million, compared with NOK 320 million in thecorresponding quarter in 2008.* Recurring revenues of NOK 71 million, with a coverage factor tofixed costs of 82% ex. restructuring costs.* Operating result of NOK 1 million excluding restructuring costs andNOK -34 million including restructuring costs, compared with NOK 86in the same period in 2008.* Assets under management of NOK 78 billion, compared with NOK 80billion in the previous quarter.* The Group has a robust financial position and has a net liquidityposition of more than NOK 250 million and no interest bearing debt.A complete English version of the interim report and the presentationof the 2nd quarter of 2009 are attached on www.newsweb.no and onActa's Investor Relation web pages www.acta.no.Contact details:Geir Inge Solberg, Chief Executive Officer, +47 908 78 043Christian Tunge, Chief Financial Officer, +47 450 65 850Rune Wangsmo, Public Relations Director, +47 995 41 507http://hugin.info/132742/R/1334103/316553.pdfhttp://hugin.info/132742/R/1334103/316554.pdfThis announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Datum: 12.08.2009 - 08:20 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 4615
Anzahl Zeichen: 0
contact information:
Town:
London
Kategorie:
Business News
Diese Pressemitteilung wurde bisher 304 mal aufgerufen.
Die Pressemitteilung mit dem Titel:
"New Acta and new CEO"
steht unter der journalistisch-redaktionellen Verantwortung von
Acta Holding ASA (Nachricht senden)
Beachten Sie bitte die weiteren Informationen zum Haftungsauschluß (gemäß TMG - TeleMedianGesetz) und dem Datenschutz (gemäß der DSGVO).
