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Sweden – Proffice sells aviation business

20 April 2015

Swedish staffing firm Proffice (PROEB: SS) announced that it has sold its Aviation division to OSM Aviation AS in Norway.

Proffice Aviation had been responsible for staffing airline Norwegian, with primarily cabin crew, for the last four years. With the airline moving towards a global supplier solution it has instead selected OSM Aviation as their future supplier within the Nordic region.

This marks the end of the collaboration between Norwegian and Proffice Group in all four Nordic countries.

Henrik Höjsgaard, President and CEO of Proffice Group, commented: "To ensure the best possible transition for the business, and to simultaneously prioritise continued employment for the staff, we have decided to sell all shares in the Proffice Aviation company to OSM Aviation.”

Krister Aarnio, CEO of Norwegian Air Resources, stated: "We have been very satisfied with the quality and security of supply that Proffice represents. We take a positive view of the fact that Proffice has sold the operation to an international actor as it is a good fit with Norwegian’s global strategy.”

"The acquisition of Proffice Aviation is an important part of our strategy to become a leading international supplier within Airline Crew Management. We look forward to welcoming all the skilled staff to OSM Aviation", added Espen Höiby, CEO of OSM Aviation Group.

For Proffice Group, the Aviation business represents an annual turnover of around SEK 300 million (€32.1 million). The sale is expected to have a total negative impact of approx. SEK 15 million (€1.6 million) on the group's full-year results for 2015. The purchase price amounts to SEK 50 million (€5.3 million), including a preliminary capital gain of SEK 10 million (€1.1 million).

Following the announcement on Friday 16 April, Proffice’s share price closed down 4.8% at SEK 22 (€), a decrease of 3.3% compared with a year ago. Based on its current share price, the company has a market value of SEK 1.5 billion (€161.5 million).