Operations and goals

Our long-term goal is creating growth and added value in our holdings through active ownership. Our vision is that industrial and trading operations within five years will double in turnover to approximately SEK 100 bn.

There is an ongoing improvement process in Latour to strengthen it as an investment company which includes a continuous review of the industrial and trading operations. Our long-term plan is to reduce the number of business areas in order to create greater resources to develop the remaining companies. In practice this will entail both acquisitions and divestitures. Our long-term goal is to be able to grow considerably more but with fewer business areas in established industries on international markets.

Concentration has so far produced good results. Since 2003 our organic growth has been around SEK 1.1 bn annually. At the same time we have sold operations with a combined turnover of SEK 1,2 bn and acquired companies that together have a turnover of SEK 1.9 bn. The current business structure in the industrial and trading operations would have, if it had existed during all of 2007, had a turnover of SEK 6,746 m with an operating margin of more than nine percent. Particularly satisfying is that restructuring and growth has taken place with steadily improved profitability.

Latour’s goal concerning our investment portfolio is to invest in companies that are considered to have the best prerequisites for growth and good profitability in the long-term.