STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 16, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Carnegie:
- The net profit for the first quarter 2003 was SEK 23 million(SEK 90 million), down 75 per cent from the first quarter 2002.
- Total income was SEK 464 million, down 28 per cent year-on-year.
Securities income was SEK 199 million, down 36 per cent (down 31 per cent on a like-for-like basis ). Investment Banking income was SEK 97 million, down by 4 per cent. Asset Management & Private Banking income was SEK 169 million, down 29 per cent. Of the total income in Asset Management & Private Banking, Private Banking income accounted for SEK 70 million.
Total expenses were down 23 per cent to SEK 428 million due to bonus declining by 80 per cent and operating expenses before bonus declining by 9 per cent.
Earnings per share for the period were SEK 0.34 (SEK 1.35).
Following the further decline in business activity, a reduction of 55 employees is announced today, primarily affecting the Swedish operations of the business areas Securities and Investment Banking. The reduction is split equally between front office and support personnel and will be completed during the second quarter.
An action plan, project "One Carnegie", focused on developing Carnegie's business to meet the clients' future needs, has today been approved by the Board of Directors. The plan includes initially further streamlining of the operations, organisational changes following an external review of IT and aftertrade organisation, a review of the legal structure, and the organisational changes required to file an application for a banking license, in order to be able to provide a complete private banking service. The action plan is estimated to be completed in 2005.
After the pay-out of the dividend of SEK 596 million, decided by the AGM in March 2003, the regulatory capital base is SEK 955 million, leading to a Tier 1 of 23.6 per cent at 31 March 2003 (20.4 per cent at year-end), which is well above the targeted Tier 1 ratio of 15 per cent.
Karin Forseke was appointed as new CEO after the AGM 13 March 2003. At the AGM re-election was agreed of Lars Bertmar (to be elected as new Chairman of the Board), Christer Zetterberg, Sigurd Astrup, Lars Berg, Michael Gibbins, John Hodson, and Anders Ljungh. Karin Forseke and Fields Wicker-Miurin were elected as new board members. The AGM also approved of the Warrant programme 2004-2007 (see page 22 of .pdf).
Quotations from Karin Forseke, CEO: "Current (political and economic) environment has lead to continued decline in Nordic market activity during the first quarter of 2003, which in turn has resulted in needing to make further staff reductions. The staff reductions are company wide and include both front office and support personnel and it goes as far as possible without negatively impacting on our level of service to clients."
"Our Nordic strategy is firmly intact. It is long-term and it is to be our clients' first choice. While our strategy is firm we must now position ourselves to meet tomorrow's requirements. Our "One Carnegie" plan includes a number of aspects of how to bring our organisation closer together to achieve greater efficiency, while maintaining our local client relationships and product development. To achieve desired results we will review all aspects of our operations. We have started with a review of our "infra structure" and are in the process of implementing some of these initiatives."
Teleconference
Carnegie's CEO Karin Forseke will present the first quarter results at a teleconference held 16 April at 4 p.m. (CET). It will be open to the public. In order to participate, please call +44 (0)20 7162 0125. The conference call will also be accessible as an audio live web cast (including slide presentation) at www.carnegie.se/ir. For those unable to listen to the live web cast, a replay will be available at www.carnegie.se/ir approximately one hour after the event.
To view the entire press release pleas visit: http://reports.huginonline.com/899765/116145.pdf
Carnegie is the Nordic investment bank, operating in three principal business areas: Securities, Investment Banking and Asset Management & Private Banking. Carnegie provides a wide array of products and services to Nordic and international clients from offices in seven countries: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Luxembourg, U.K. and the U.S.