At its meeting on 29 January 2003, the Board of EDB Business Partner ASA approved a revised business strategy for the group. The changes this involves will help to improve profitability by ensuring better focus and clarity for the group's core activities, as well as better application of the group business model and more customer-oriented management of the group's activities.

 

Following these changes the group's activities will focus on providing IT systems that deliver productivity benefits for larger private sector companies and public sector organisations in the Nordic countries where IT is mission-critical.

 

The group's Computer Operating Services business area enjoys a unique position in the Nordic region in terms of its size, economies of scale, growth potential and profitability. This aspect of the group's activities will continue to grow, both through additional business with its existing customer base and through expansion into new sectors in Norway and the other Nordic countries, with particular focus on Sweden. This business area will help to improve its customers' productivity by delivering secure computer operating services of high quality (availability, capacity and stability) at low cost.

 

Following the changes announced, the group will focus its development and sales of applications solely on the banking & finance and telecommunications sectors. The group already offers state-of-the-art proprietary technology for these two sectors, and it has extremely strong industry-specific expertise in these areas. The group can document its contribution to increasing productivity for customers in these two sectors with products and services that improve business processes.

 

The Bank & Finance business area will be more closely integrated with Computer Operating Services, with a continuing focus on improving profitability. The group will refine its market presence to respond to changes in demand in the sector and improve its customer focus. Its activities will in future differentiate more clearly between sales of fully-developed total solutions, specific single applications and customised solutions developed in co-operation with customers. The focus for international expansion will in the first instance be on the Nordic countries, with particular emphasis on Sweden.

 

The Telecommunications business area has already taken steps to strengthen the customer focus in its relationship with Telenor. This business area will also be more closely integrated with Computer Operating Services. The global market for Mediation products is very fragmented and is expected to undergo consolidation. EDB Business Partner intends to play an active role in this market.

 

The Consultancy Services business area is currently profitable, but does not have the critical mass necessary to realise its targets over the longer term. Some aspects of the group's consultancy activities will create greater added value through integration into other business areas. Other aspects of the current consultancy activities have greater potential for value creation outside the EDB Business Partner group.

 

The group will implement measures to make better use of its business model through more efficient operations, better co-ordination of marketing and a group-wide approach to the development of new technology.

 

The group will adopt new targets and criteria for performance monitoring in order to support and promote the new business model. Performance will now be measured in terms of ROCE, EBITA margin (to be in excess of 10%) and cash from operations.

 

The Board has set targets for these criteria and also for CAPEX relative to cash from operations and for the group's gearing. Gearing is currently 0.2, and the Board has set a ceiling of 0.8, which may be reviewed in the event of significant changes in profitability. In this connection expansion will only be permitted where there are compelling industry-based reasons to expand in order to increase competitiveness or gain market share for new core activities.

 

The process of implementing the changes required by the new strategy has already commenced.

 

 

 

The presentation "Future strategy" is available for download on the following link: