Stockholm - Investment company Investor AB, with key stakes in Swedish blue chip companies, on Wednesday reported an increased net income for the first six months of 2007 compared to the corresponding business period 2006. Net income for the six-month period was 26.69 billion kronor (3.99 billion dollars), compared to 8.98 billion kronor in 2006.
The group benefited from its stake in engineering group ABB, heavy vehicle-maker Scania and Atlas Copco that makes compressors, construction and mining tools.
Other important Investor holdings include telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson, household appliance maker Electrolux, aviation and military technology concern Saab, and banking group SEB.
Investor's net asset value at end of June was 182 billion kronor while it was 159 billion kronor at the end of December 2006.
Chief Executive Borje Ekholm said this was another "all-time high," in comments published with the report.
Ekholm said Investor supported plans announced in May to merge the operations of New York-based Nasdaq and the OMX group that operates stock exchanges in the Nordic and Baltic region, citing it was "industrially sound" and offered "substantial revenue and cost synergies."
He said Scania, in which Investor has the second largest stake after Volkswagen, had "continued to perform well with strong sales growth."
Investor earlier rejected German group MAN AG's hostile takeover bid for Scania.
Eholm said the value of Scania was currently "more than 50 billion kronor higher than MAN's offer" that was with withdrawn earlier this year.
Volkswagen with its holdings in MAN "directly and indirectly controls more than 50 per cent of Scania," Ekholm said, adding that Investor would continue to "strive for an industrial structure that will strengthen Scania and thus create additional value for all of Scania's shareholders."
Investor has close ties with the influential Wallenberg family.
