Lemminkäinen and YIT will complete the merger
LEMMINKÄINEN CORPORATION With effect from 1.1.2008, Lemminkäinen Group will be organised into four business areas instead of the present five. These four business areas will be infrastructure construction, building contracting, technical building and facility services and the building materials industry. The new structure derives from the business strategy approved for Lemminkäinen Group in Febru
LEMMINKÄINEN CORPORATION With effect from 1.1.2008, Lemminkäinen Group will be organised into four business areas instead of the present five. These four business areas will be infrastructure construction, building contracting, technical building and facility services and the building materials industry. The new structure derives from the business strategy approved for Lemminkäinen Group in February 2007. Infrastructure construction and building contracting, which are the Group's largest business areas, will be corporatised. The names of the companies thus formed will be decided at a later date. The infrastructure construction company will comprise Lemminkäinen Corporation's Paving and Mineral Aggregates Division and Lemcon Ltd's infra business (Lemcon Infra). The building contracting company will consist of the Palmberg Group and all the operations of Lemcon Ltd except for Lemcon Infra. The managing director of the infrastructure construction company with effect from 1.1.2008 will be Mr. Timo Kohtamäki, Lic. Tech. (b. 1963), who currently acts as the Head of Lemcon Infra. On the same date Mr. Juha Nurmi, M.Sc.(Eng.) (b. 1955), who is the Managing Director of Lemcon Networks Ltd, will take up the position of managing director of the building contracting company. The Managing Director of Oy Alfred A. Palmberg Ab, Mr. Risto Bono, and the Managing Director of Lemcon Ltd., Mr. Matti A. Mantere, will retire in accordance with their respective contracts. The restructuring will not have any effect on the number of people employed in the Group. Employees will be transferred to the new companies without discontinuation of their employment service. Background and objectives of the reorganisation According to the strategy, the Group will operate in four key business areas: building contracting, infrastructure construction, technical building services and the building materials industry. This extensive business portfolio enables the Group to exploit construction chain synergies. Lemminkäinen's strategy is still to focus on those markets and selected product and service segments in which the Group commands leading or significant positions. Lemminkäinen is the market leader in domestic asphalt paving and mineral aggregates, the second biggest asphalt paving contractor in Scandinavia and a significant actor in the infrastructure construction market of the Baltic Rim region as a whole. Lemminkäinen Group possesses a wealth of expertise and experience in the field of building contracting, which accounts for almost a half of its business. The Group has local companies engaged in building production and property-related business in Finland, Russia, Estonia and Sweden. In specialised areas of construction Lemminkäinen serves its clients all over the world. The operating mode of the new structure will respond to the needs of the Group's customers and will improve Lemminkäinen's competitiveness. After the restructuring, the closely related business units of Lemminkäinen Group will also be organisationally subordinate to a common management, resulting in better exploitation of intragroup synergy factors. At the same time, the Group's core values of adequate local independence and flexibility will be retained. - Combining the expertise of Lemcon and Palmberg will strengthen Lemminkäinen's opportunities for growth on the Russian market for housing production and commercial construction. The infrastructure market is growing in the Baltic states, where Lemminkäinen's Paving Unit is already building roads rather than just paving them. In projects such as these Lemcon Infra has a great deal of expertise. Also on the Finnish infrastructure market a significant number of medium-sized civil engineering projects have been too big for the Paving Unit's district offices but too small for Lemcon Infra, says Managing Director Juhani Sormaala, commenting on the aims of the reorganisation. Group structure and market position will be clarified The new structure will clarify Lemminkäinen Group's position on the infrastructure construction and building contracting markets. The new structure also corresponds to the general segmentation of the construction sector. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Business | Net | Share | Interna | Internat | Employee | Percenta | | sector | sales, | of | tional | ional | s, | ge of | | | EUR | Group' | operati | operatio | 2006 | all | | | million, | s net | ons, | ns as a | | Group | | | 2006 | sales, | EUR | percenta | | employee | | | | % | million | ge of | | s | | | | | | net | | | | | | | | sales | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Infrastructur | 701.2 | 39.0 | 310.3 | 44.2 | 3 171 | 37.7 | | e | | | | | | | | construction | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Building | 839.3 | 46.7 | 203.3 | 24.2 | 2 826 | 33.6 | | contracting | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Technical | 191.7 | 10.6 | 9.6 | 5.0 | 1 812 | 21.5 | | building and | | | | | | | | facility | | | | | | | | services | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Building | 104.4 | 5.8 | 7.7 | 7.3 | | 7.2 | | materials | | | | | 609 | | | industry | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Internal | -40.7 | | -0.5 | | | | | sales | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Total | 1 795.9 | 100 | 530.3 | 29.5 | 8 418 | 100 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table: Key figures by business sector in the new Lemminkäinen Group based on the financial statements for the 2006 accounting period. Financial reporting Lemminkäinen Corporation's financial reporting will be based on the existing organisation until the end of 2007. The first interim financial review in 2008 will be based on the new organisational structure. The restructuring will not have any effect on the Group's profitability outlook for this year. The Group's large order book and the positive outlook for construction create good prerequisites for the favourable development of Lemminkäinen's businesses in 2007. Invitation to press conference Lemminkäinen Corporation will hold a press conference dealing with the Group's reorganisation at 11.00 a.m. today, 7.6.2007. The venue will be the Savoy Restaurant, Eteläesplanadi 14, Helsinki. Managing Director Juhani Sormaala will talk about the reorganisation and the background to it, and the designated managing directors of the new business sectors, Messrs. Timo Kohtamäki and Juha Nurmi, will also be present. LEMMINKÄINEN CORPORATION Corporate Communications Additional information: Juhani Sormaala, Managing Director, tel. +358 2071 53302 DISTRIBUTION: Helsinki Stock Exchange Key media Lemminkäinen Group operates in all areas of the construction sector. Its main business areas are building contracting, infrastructure construction, the building materials industry and technical building services. Net sales in 2006 were EUR 1,795.9 million, of which international operations accounted for about a third. The Group employs some 8,500 people. The Group's main market is the Baltic Rim region, where Lemminkäinen has established a presence through a network of local subsidiaries. Lemminkäinen's share is listed on Helsinki Stock Exchange.