Kitron sells of Development Department in Oslo to Simpro

Kitron Development has about 25 employees and had an annual turnover of NOK 22 million and an operating result of negative NOK 11 million in 2009. The transaction is expected to be closed June 1 2010, subject to finalising the financing arrangements. At the same time Kitron is entering into a cooperation agreement with the new company for the provision of development services. This fits into Kitron's strategy to increase its focus on industrialisation, test and new product introduction while cooperating with third party development houses. The objective is to improve the complete offering to the customers by combining the strengths of Kitron with dedicated development environments. Managing director Jan Erik Borja Berg in the new company Creo Development AS says: "This has been a very good solution. The business has experienced a turnaround in recent months and the timing to launch Creo Development is good. The company has accumulated a significant backlog of orders to ensure profitability for the business and a long-term commitment for our customers." Kitron estimates to book a loss before tax of NOK 5 million in Q2 2010 in connection with the transaction.