Corporate governance
Proact has identified a niche in the field of IT infrastructure handling, storage and archiving. Focusing on this niche, the company’s ambition is to create a company operating on the most important markets in Europe. The acquisitions taking place throughout 2011 have led to an increase in Proact’s net sales of 68 % compared with the corresponding period in 2010. The company is now established on 13 markets in Europe and is the biggest European storage and archiving specialist.
Efforts to integrate the acquired units are now starting to take effect, as can be seen from the growth generated by Proact in the third quarter. Profits are better than in the corresponding quarter for the previous year, but some integration work still remains to be done. Proact grew by 125 % over the third quarter, of which organic growth accounted for 43 %. Profit before tax amounted to SEK 15.8 (14.1) million.
In the short term, the target is to reach a margin of 5 %, the level historically reported by Proact. In the long term, the target is to achieve a 7 % margin before tax.
The acquisitions made by Proact in 2011 have, on average, lower profitability than Proact in general and have the same focus and position as Proact on their respective markets. Major value for shareholders will be created once the acquired companies have been integrated and achieved the same profitability as is found throughout Proact in general. In the second and third quarters, the emphasis was on improving the efficiency of acquired companies. Proact’s steering and follow-up model has been implemented on all markets. Intensive efforts to create a collective corporate culture and to find synergies in respect of purchasing and offerings to clients have also got under way.
The contracted income is an important element in Proact’s stability and accounts for around one-third of total income. This includes financing, support and cloud services, most of them with an agreed maturity of three years. One important element of efforts to improve profitability is to increase the amount of contracted income within the units acquired and throughout the Group as a whole.
The acquisition of Databasement in early 2011, a company operating in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, meant that Proact gained rapid access to a well-developed portfolio of cloud services. This portfolio has met with a positive reception on all Proact markets throughout the year.
The Group employed 629 people at the end of the quarter, 291 more than for the same period last year. Acquired units represent 261 of these people.
Olof Sand
CEO and President
Articles of Association
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Corporate Governace report
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