The second quarter continued to see brisk demand for ÅF's consulting services in the Nordic and the Baltic countries, while the state of the economy in other international markets meant that the picture elsewhere was more varied.
ÅF's operating profit rose to SEK 122 million (111) with an overall operating margin of 9.0 percent (8.5).
The improvement in earnings owes most to a slight increase in capacity utilisation at the same time as costs were reduced. It is especially noteworthy that the Infrastructure Division grew its business by approximately 18 percent and improved profits by 60 percent. The Industry Division is also continuing to deliver good results and reported an operating margin of 12 percent. Profitability for the Technology Division, however, was negatively affected by wind-up costs charged to the accounts in the second quarter.
While profit levels for the International North and International South divisions are still not satisfactory, they were better than in the previous quarter. There have also been some positive signals in terms of market trends, although in this regard Russia has been something of an exception.
ÅF's cash flow remains strong, thanks in particular to ongoing efforts to reduce tied-up capital.
Growth for the ÅF Group as a whole totalled 4.5 percent. If the operations of ÅF Russia - where there are considerable fluctuations in project deliveries from quarter to quarter - are excluded from the figures, growth rises to just over 10 percent, most of which is organic. Today ÅF has 5,000 highly qualified co-workers in around 20 countries, and our appeal as an employer has never been greater.
Our fundamental objectives remain unchanged: to continue to generate levels of profitability that place us among the very best performers in our industry, and to grow our business by approximately 15 percent a year. The ambition is to expand through organic and acquired growth in more or less equal measure, and a strong balance sheet provides a firm platform on which to build to achieve this aim.