Acando : Interim Report January 1 – September 30, 2014

THIRD QUARTER, JULY 1 - SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

• Net sales of SEK 447 m (296)
• Operating profit before nonrecurring items was SEK 27 m (3), corresponding to an operating margin of 6.1% (1.0)
• The operating loss after nonrecurring items was SEK 25 m (profit: 3)
• The loss after tax was SEK 22 m (profit: 2)
• Earnings per share were negative in an amount of SEK 0.24 (positive: 0.03)

ACCUMULATED, JANUARY 1 - SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

• Net sales of SEK 1,236 m (1,033)
• Operating profit before nonrecurring items was SEK 67 m (32), corresponding to an operating margin of 5.4% (3.1)
• The operating profit after nonrecurring items was SEK 8 m (32)
• Profit after tax was SEK 4 m (24)
• Earnings per share were SEK 0.05 (0.34)
• Cash and cash equivalents totaled SEK 41 m (81)

Statement by Carl-Magnus Månsson, CEO

The last quarter was one of the most exciting in Acando's history. We have worked zealously with the integration of Connecta into Acando and I am pleased to note that we have received a positive response from our shared customers and succeeded in creating new customer dialogs that have, already, resulted in winning projects that neither Connecta nor Acando could have done on their own. Our combined strength in the areas of Management Consulting, Strategic IT, Business Systems, both SAP and Microsoft Dynamics, as well as a completely new opportunity to assume responsibility for customers' digital transformation, from strategy to solution development and implementation, creates entirely new possibilities. Our aim of becoming northern Europe's leading consulting company is within reach.

During the quarter, we established a new integrated and shared organization driven by a customer and delivery-focused integration process, and set high, shared goals moving forward. As part of this, we have implemented our planned efficiency and structural measures, which generate annualized savings of SEK 46 m compared with the 25 million previously estimated. In addition, we have identified further potential for enhancing efficiency and will continue efforts to realize these in the fourth quarter. I am impressed by how our consultants have already taken the initiative of offering our customers new skills and possibilities together with new colleagues.

The merger has strengthened our position as a Microsoft partner, which can be seen not only in the many interesting ongoing procurements in which we are participating but also in the fact that Acando was chosen as Dynamics AX Partner of the Year. We also won the implementation partner assignment from Moelven. We will continue to capitalize on our position in Sweden, and our position using Sweden as a base for expansion and acceleration in our other countries. We have already split the offering between Norway and Sweden and are currently further strengthening this through closer integration of our operations as well as through supplementing the offering with additional infrastructure and cloud-based services in both Norway and Sweden. Similarly, we have initiated an establishment of Microsoft-based solution deliveries in Finland based on our position in Sweden.

We are continuing to drive our change efforts to accelerate our journey toward improved profitability. In brief, this means ensuring that cost synergies are realized, increasing the structural utilization rate through a higher share of large assignments and administration assignments, improving the cost mix through an increased proportion of offshore and junior consultants, as well as higher prices through packaging and solution-based sales.

We have now established the foundations for the next step in our journey. The energy that is being generated now that Sweden's best consultants are meeting and being challenged in ongoing and new assignments is our strength. The market for our services is characterized by ever larger projects with rising requirements for both operational and technological insight thus raising requirements for us to be sensitive in driving and accelerating changes jointly with our customers. Access to new technology is generating new solution potential and completely new opportunities in business modeling and process development. We are uniquely positioned to meet these opportunities.

This is information that Acando AB (publ) is obligated to disclose under the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was submitted for publication on November 11, 2014.

For further information:
Carl-Magnus Månsson, CEO, telephone:  [phone]
Anneli Lindblom, CFO, telephone:  [phone]

Acando is a consulting company whose business concept is, in partnership with its customers, to create business value by enhancing and streamlining processes, organizations and digital solutions. We stand out due to our ability to combine skills in strategy and business operations with sound technical expertise and deep understanding of how organizations function. The Group has approximately 1,800 employees allocated over seven countries. Acando is expected to have sales of SEK 2.1 billion in 2014 and is listed on the NASDAQ Stockholm. www.acando.

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