Why invest in Atea?

Atea is by far the largest IT infrastructure provider in the Nordic and Baltic region, with an unrivalled scale and competitive position in its markets. Atea has over 8,000 employees across 88 cities in the Nordics and Baltics - and with gross sales of NOK 52 billion in 2023, we are about three times larger than our biggest competitor.

For many years, businesses and public sector organizations have been steadily increasing their investments in information technology - to digitally transform their operations, drive innovation and improve productivity. This “digital transformation” trend has resulted in continuous growth in demand for IT infrastructure.

According to estimates from IDC, the Nordic market for IT infrastructure has grown at an average rate of approximately 7% per year over the last decade, with consistent growth and relatively low exposure to the economic cycle.

Atea has a large base of long-term customer relationships with public sector and large corporate organizations. Atea specializes in serving customers with large and complex IT requirements by offering a complete range of products and a highly competent service team.

More than 60% of Atea’s revenue comes from public sector frame agreements, with an average term of approximately three years. The remaining 30-40% come from businesses, with a high percentage of sales to large corporate customers in the Nordic region.

The Nordic region is economically robust, and an early adopter of new technologies. The Nordic public sector is investing heavily in “digital transformation” to improve the quality and efficiency of public services. Large corporate customers in the Nordics are investing in IT to improve employee productivity and spur innovation in a high-cost labor market.

Atea has a unique competitive position as the largest provider of IT infrastructure in the Nordic and Baltic markets. Due to its scale, Atea has the highest level of strategic partnership with top IT vendors. This creates critical competitive advantages in purchasing and sales support, and allows Atea to stay at the forefront of the latest IT trends and product releases.

Atea’s position as a full-service IT infrastructure partner is also unique in its markets. With its staff of over 4,500 service personnel, Atea can support and manage the entire IT environments of the most demanding customers – whatever their requirements. These service capabilities are becoming increasingly important to serve large customers, as enterprise IT becomes more business critical and complex.

Finally, Atea has an unmatched local presence across all regions in the Nordics and Baltics. Atea has offices in 88 cities, with experts who are always closest to the customer and are supported by the full capabilities of the Atea Group.

Based on its unique competitive position in a growing market, Atea has a long and consistent track record of growth in sales and operating profit. Over the last five years (2018 – 2023), Atea has increased its sales by 8% per year and its operating profit by 13% per year.

Atea’s business requires very low working capital and capital expenditure. For this reason, Atea has consistently generated strong free cash flow.

Atea’s strong free cash flow enables the company to pay a high dividend to shareholders while still maintaining a very healthy balance sheet. At the end of 2023, Atea had a positive net financial position of NOK 961 million (cash, less interest bearing debt), as defined by its loan covenants.

Atea's policy is to distribute approximately 70-100 percent of net profit after tax to shareholders in the form of a dividend. During 2023, Atea paid a dividend of NOK 6.25 per share, representing a payout of over 80% of its net profit in the prior year. On February 7, 2024, the Board of Atea ASA resolved to propose a dividend of NOK 7.00 per share at the next Annual General Meeting to be held on April 25, 2024. The dividend will be split into two equal payments of NOK 3.50 which will take place in May and November 2024.

Atea is an industry leader in sustainability. We provide customers with advice on how to reduce their carbon footprint through IT and are the largest provider of IT recycling services in the Nordic region. Our Atea Sustainability Focus program uses the power of our customer base to improve standards within the IT supply chain.

Atea has won numerous recognitions for our efforts within sustainability, including a ranking as the world’s most sustainable company (2023) in the IT Services Division by Corporate Knights, a globally respected research and media company. In addition, we have earned the highest rating (platinum) in environmental and social performance by EcoVadis for four years in a row, ranking Atea among the top 1% of more than 100,000 companies evaluated.

Atea’s unique competitive advantages creates excellent opportunities for Atea to develop its business in a growing market. In addition to organic growth, Atea has additional opportunities to drive incremental sales and enhance margins.

In 2022, Atea launched the “One Atea” program to align its operations and coordinate execution of strategy across countries. The Atea Group was formed through the merger of 50 IT companies from 2006 – 2015, which were consolidated into national business units. There remains significant potential for Atea to strengthen its business capabilities and improve profitability through closer integration of its operations across borders.

In addition, Atea sees business opportunities to further drive market consolidation through selectively acquiring companies. The IT infrastructure market is consolidating across all global markets as scale becomes a critical competitive advantage. As the largest provider of IT infrastructure in the Nordics, Atea has an excellent platform for integrating acquired companies which can be purchased at an attractive price.