Hexagon Ab Interim Report 1 January - 30 September 2003


NACKA STRAND, Sweden, Oct. 30, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Hexagon

Third Quarter 2003

- Net sales increased to 1 605 MSEK (1 589). Using fixed exchange rates, this corresponds to an organic growth of 6 per cent.

- Earnings after taxes were 29 MSEK (21).

- Earnings per share increased by 38 per cent to 1.57 SEK (1.14).

- Cash flow per share increased by 61 per cent to 8.33 SEK (5.19).

The first Nine Months 2003

- Net sales increased during the period by 4 per cent to 5 277 MSEK (5 066). Using fixed exchange rates, net sales increased by 9 per cent.

- Earnings after taxes were 133 MSEK (111), which corresponds to 7.19 SEK per share (6.51).

- Earnings before taxes, excluding capital gains and non- recurring items, increased by 13 per cent to 207 MSEK (184). The change in exchange rates has affected the earnings adversely by 32 MSEK.


                        Third quarter              Nine months
                    2003   2002    Change       2003   2002     Change
                      Recorded Curr. Adj.         Recorded Curr.
                   
 Order intake      1 630  1 675   -3 %    2 %  5 296  5 074     4 %    9 %
 Net sales         1 605  1 589    1 %    6 %  5 277  5 066     4 %    9 %
 EBITA                87     88   -1 %   10 %    328    341    -4 %    8 %
    Margin %         5.4    5.5   -0.1    0.2    6.2    6.7    -0.5   -0.1
 EBIT 1               68     66    3 %   17 %    270    275    -2 %   11 %
 Earnings  after
 net   financial      50     37   35 %   57 %    207    184    13 %   30 %
 items,    excl.
 non-recurring
 items
 Earnings before      50     45   11 %   29 %    207    194     7 %   23 %
 tax
 Net earnings         29     21   38 %   64 %    133    111    20 %   40 %
 Earnings    per    1.57   1.14   38 %   64 %   7.19   6.51    10 %   29 %
 share
 Cash  flow  per    8.33   5.19    61%         14.49  10.15    43 %
 share

The Interim Report will be presented in a telephone conference, see instructions on www.hexagon.se


 For further information, please call:
 Ola Rollen, CEO, Hexagon AB, Phone      +46 8-601 26 20
 Hakan Halen, CFO, Hexagon AB, Phone  +46 8-601 26 20

Subscription to Hexagon's financial information is available at www.hexagon.se.



 Hexagon   AB  (publ),  Registration   No: Phone  +46 8-601 26 20
 556190-4771                               Fax      +46 8-601 26 21
 Box 1112                                  www.hexagon.se
 S-131 26 Nacka Strand                     postmaster@hexagon.se

Hexagon is a multinational engineering group with the long-term ambition of positioning itself as number one or number two within its strategic sectors. The group's targets are to increase earnings per share after tax by at least 15 per cent p.a., and achieve a return on capital employed of more than 15 per cent over a business cycle.

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