EU – Baltic States, Technology, Telecomunications

EBITDA ended at NOK 122.9 million, up 14.2% versus last year and operating profit (EBIT) was NOK 70.6 million which is up 9.7% compared to the third quarter in 2009. While total revenue in the third quarter increased by 27.2% in constant currency, hardware revenue increased as much as 36.5%, the services was up by 12.7% and software was up by 12%, writes LETA/ELTA.

The improvement in results was caused by strong revenue growth combined with continuous cost focus, the company's representatives state.

"I am in particular very pleased to see the continued growth in hardware revenue of 36.5%, in a hardware market that according to IDC is forecasted to grow by 6.8% in a full year 2010. This implies that Atea continues to gain substantial market shares and demonstrates that our eSHOP business model is the winning model in the market combined with our aggressive selling approach," says Claus Hougesen, CEO in Atea.

In Q3 2010 Atea announced the acquisition of Belle Balance A/S in Denmark. Belle Balance is a leading provider of flexible benefit programs and will strengthen Atea's "Free Choice"-concept in Denmark. The acquisition of Portal AB in Sweden, which is one of the strongest and fastest growing IT infrastructure companies in Sweden, was finalized in the third quarter.

Significant IT Infrastructure solutions, such as Unified Communications, Mobility, Virtualization, Cloud Solutions, Datacenter Solutions, Software Asset Management, Device Lifecycle Management, Print/Copy and Green IT, areas in which Atea has a strong foothold, will also be important growth areas going forward.

With continuous high ambitions, the goal is to deliver further growth and profit both organically and through acquisitions. The attacking approach continues. Atea has the necessary financial strength and focus to play an important role in the ongoing market consolidation.

The target of the company is to achieve operating revenues of NOK 20 billion and EBITDA of NOK 1 billion in 2011.

Atea is the leading Nordic and Baltic supplier of IT infrastructure with approximately 4800 employees. Atea is present in 73 cities in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Atea delivers IT products from leading vendors and assists its customers with specialist competencies within IT infrastructure services. Atea has annual revenue of approximately NOK 15 billion and is listed on Oslo Stock Exchange.