(2010-05-31) Kitron AS, a subsidiary of Kitron ASA, signed an agreement today to sell its Development Department located in Oslo to some of the local employees and Simpro AS. Kitron Development has about 25 employees and had an annual turnover of NOK 22 million and an operating result of negative NOK 11 million in 2009. The transaction is expected to be closed June 1 2010, subject to finalising the financing arrangements.
At the same time Kitron is entering into a cooperation agreement with the new company for the provision of development services. This fits into Kitron’s strategy to increase its focus on industrialisation, test and new product introduction while cooperating with third party development houses. The objective is to improve the complete offering to the customers by combining the strengths of Kitron with dedicated development environments.
Jørgen Bredesen, Kitron CEO, expressed the following about the transaction. "We are very satisfied with the agreement reached and in particular that we have been able to secure continued operation and employment for the employees at the Development Department. “
Managing director Jan Erik Borja Berg in the new company Creo Development AS says: "This has been a very good solution. The business has experienced a turnaround in recent months and the timing to launch Creo Development is good. The company has accumulated a significant backlog of orders to ensure profitability for the business and a long-term commitment for our customers."
Kitron estimates to book a loss before tax of NOK 5 million in Q2 2010 in connection with the transaction.
For further information, please contact:
Jørgen Bredesen, CEO of Kitron ASA, phone: (+47) 4825 2584, or e-mail:
Björn Wigström, CFO of Kitron ASA, phone: (+47) 9053 1304, or e-mail:
Kitron is one of Scandinavia’s leading companies in development, industrialisation and manufacturing of electronics for the Data/Telecoms, Defence, Energy, Industry, Medical equipment and Offshore/Marine sectors. The company is located in Norway, Sweden, Lithuania, Germany and China. Kitron had a revenue of about NOK 1.7 billion in 2009 and has about 1,100 employees. www.kitron.com