ELEKTA’S BOARD DECIDES TO REPURCHASE OWN SHARES AND ADJUST NET DEBT/EQUITY OBJECTIVE
Stockholm, Sweden, January 23, 2008
The Board of Directors of Elekta AB (publ) has decided to utilize the authorization the Board received from the Annual General Meeting to repurchase shares in the company. In conjunction, the Board of Directors has also decided to adjust the company’s financial objective for net debt/equity from below 0.25 to below 0.50.
Elekta’s distribution policy is to distribute 20 percent or more of net profit to shareholders in the form of dividends, share repurchases or comparable measures.
For fiscal years 2004/05 and 2005/06 respectively, dividend together with share repurchases in the following year, has corresponded to 86 percent and 97 percent respectively of net profit, in line with the company’s ambition to create shareholder value.
Elekta’s Annual General Meeting on September 25, 2007, resolved to authorize the Board to decide on the acquisition of a maximum of 10 percent of the total number of shares in the company.
The Board today decided to exercise the mandate by authorizing the executive management to initiate, on appropriate occasions, the repurchase of shares in an amount of SEK 100 M, but maximized to 1,200,000 shares.
The total number of shares in Elekta as of December 31, 2007 amounts to 93,903,316 divided between 3,562,500 A shares and 90,340,816 B shares.
Elekta’s current holding of shares (treasury stock) amounts to 1,630,871 B shares, which are in the process of being cancelled according to the decision by the AGM on September 25.
A repurchase of 1,200,000 shares is corresponding to 1.3 percent of the total number of outstanding shares in the company. The Board intends to propose to the AGM that repurchased shares will be cancelled.
Purchases will be made on the Nordic Exchange and to a price within the spread at the time of purchase. Purchases can be made during the time until next Annual General Meeting.