Imtech firmly on course with growth strategy in northern and central-eastern Europe.

(From Hugin)

Gouda, the Netherlands - Imtech (technical services provider in Europe) announced today that the competition authorities in Norway and Austria have approved the acquisitions of NVS and ILS, respectively. These two acquisitions represent a solid step forward in implementing Imtech's 2012 growth strategy. Partly thanks to the two acquisitions, Imtech is firmly on course towards expanding its activities in northern and central-eastern Europe. The acquisitions will increase the number of Imtech employees to more than 22,500.

Imtech strategy Imtech adopted a strategic update in 2007 aimed at reaching a revenue level of 5 billion euro in 2012 while retaining its objective of an operational EBITA margin of 6%. Besides strengthening its existing market positions Imtech has made known its specific objective of also building up a strong position in Scandinavia and Austria and strengthening further its position in Eastern Europe. Imtech is now well on its way towards achieving this objective.

Scandinavia The acquisition of NVS (acquisition sum of 235 million euro) represents a big step forward for Imtech in Scandinavia. NVS is one of the largest and fastest-growing technical services providers in Sweden, Norway and Finland. With more than 2,300 employees distributed across 91 sites, NVS expects to achieve revenues of 350 million euro in the current fiscal year. NVS has more than 1,000 regular customers of various sizes in different markets, including industry, government, buildings and infrastructure. The structure of the current NVS portfolio enables future strengthening in the still highly fragmented Scandinavian market. Imtech is focusing on further growth in electrical engineering and in the longer term in ICT (information and communication technology), which will allow NVS to develop into a fully-fledged multidisciplinary Imtech company.

Besides further growth in Scandinavia, Imtech has set its longer-term sights via NVS on the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), a region where Imtech does not yet hold a position.

Austria Through the acquisition of ILS, Imtech is pursuing a strong position in Austria. ILS is a solidly performing Austrian ICT company that over the years has grown into one of the strongest players in the Austrian ICT market. ILS is IBM's largest partner in Austria and also a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. With 225 employees ILS posted revenues of approximately 65 million euro in the 2007/2008 split fiscal year. The company operates with numerous IT specialisms and product-market combinations in Austria and increasingly in Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. Imtech is focusing on further growth in Austria and on expanding its position in a number of Eastern Europe countries with a rapidly-growing ICT market. Austria provides an excellent springboard for pursuing this objective.

Eastern Europe Imtech is increasingly successful in Eastern Europe. From Germany, Imtech has established entirely organically a strong position in Poland where it is now one of the strongest players offering total technical ...