Digia Oyj : acquires Climber International AB, a consulting firm specialising in business analytics, along with its subsidiaries, and bolsters its position as a provider of data-driven services

On 15 December 2020, Digia Plc and Climber International AB have signed an agreement whereby Digia Plc will acquire the entire share capital of the Swedish company Climber International AB. It is planned that the acquisition will be implemented on 7 January 2021. After the acquisition, Digia will have more than 300 data integration and business analytics professionals as part of their organisation.

Climber International ABis a Swedish company that provides consulting and solutions for the development of data-driven business. Its operations are mainly based on the utilisation of advanced Qlik technologies, and strong consultative business model.

The acquisition concerns Climber's operations in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and the Netherlands. Going forward, Climber will operate as a subsidiary under its own brand and Jan Sipek will continue to lead the company. The purchase price comprises a fixed component of EUR 8.1 million and an additional purchase price of a maximum of EUR 5.4 million tied to the achievement of objectives. The net debt-free purchase price of EUR 8.1 million will be reconciled using the net cash on the transaction date. The transaction will be financed largely with a bank loan.

In 2019, Climber International AB's net sales amounted to SEK 137.7 million (around EUR 13.4 million) and its number of employees on 31 December 2019 was 83. On 1 December 2020, it had 77 employees, of whom 54 worked in Sweden. The figures for net sales and personnel include Climber's operations in the UK, which are not included in the acquisition; the UK operations posted net sales of SEK 18.4 million in 2019 and had eight employees on 31 December 2019.

'The acquisition is part of the implementation of Digia's Next Level growth strategy, under which we seek growth both organically and through acquisitions. Advanced data analytics and business intelligence are key focuses of our strategy. In our view, smart data utilisation is one of the areas that's gaining momentum in the digitalisation trend, and demand for related services will grow. Cooperation with Climber's professionals will provide us with new opportunities to develop an ever-stronger offering and a path to markets outside Finland. I'm eagerly awaiting growth, creative cooperation and interactive learning in line with our cultural principles. Learning together and innovation enable us to continuously provide business benefits to our customers,' says Timo Levoranta, President and CEO of Digia.

'Creating Intelligent Business has always been our vision at Climber, and we are now future-proofing that together with Digia. This transaction is a growth enabler, adding the technology and AI capabilities needed to speed up the journey towards cloud-based BI and data-centric analytics. We will be able to provide smart end-to-end data analytics solutions by getting immediate access to expertise on Azure, AWS, Google Cloud and ML. As a European Qlik Elite Partner, this next phase in Climber's expansion aligns well with Qlik's action-oriented approach to BI. We're excited about taking the next step with Digia to boost the business value our clients gain from data,' says Jan Sipek, CEO and Founder of Climber.

'Thanks to this acquisition, our customers will benefit from an even broader range of outstanding expertise in business analytics, also at the Nordic level. Digia's and Climber's capabilities complement each other seamlessly. Thanks to this, we can always implement the most suitable operating model and technical solution for our customers, and are strongly positioned as an independent advisor on enhancing the utilisation of smart data,' says Harri Vepsäläinen, Senior Vice President, Intelligent Solutions.

Further information:

Timo Levoranta
President and CEO, Digia Plc
tel. [phone]

Key figures on Climber International AB's financial position and result (SGAAP). The 2019 consolidated figures include the figures for its UK subsidiary (net sales 2019: SEK 18.4 million, number of personnel on 31 December: 8). The UK subsidiary is not included in the acquisition.

SEK´000	2019
Net sales	137 683
Other operating income	256
Materials and services	-32 658
Personnel expenses	-71 995
Other operating expenses	-22 402
EBITDA	11 049
Depreciation and amortisation	-4 437
Operating profit	6 612
Personnel, 31 Dec.	83
Balance sheet total	91 733

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Digia is a software and service company that helps its customers renew themselves in the networked world. There are more than 1,200 of us working at Digia. Our roots are in Finland and we operate with our customers in Finland and abroad. We are building a world in which digitalisation makes a difference - together with our customers and partners. Digia net sales were EUR 131.8 million in 2019. The company is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki (DIGIA). digia.com