ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

Record number of employee-shareholders in Veidekke

According to Professor Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School, companies that integrate corporate social responsibility into their core business, gain a clear competitive advantage over time. The reasons are twofold: firstly, it contributes to the maintenance of a healthy financial market - a prerequisite for value creation and growth over time – and, secondly, companies reap more direct operational benefits such as recruitment of the best minds, improved innovation processes, better access to capital and a better reputation. In Veidekke, we have a business-like focus on social responsibility, while at the same time we see that its integration into all areas of our business, takes time. We will continue, therefore, to work on implementation and adaptation in 2010.

One area within business-driven corporate social responsibility in which we are far ahead is employees' co-ownership. Each year, employees are offered shares at a 20 per cent discount, and with favorable borrowing conditions. In 2009, approximately 1 800 or 31 per cent of the employees bought shares. In total, 1.51 million shares were bought in the autumn (divided into 1 793 employees who purchased), at an average of 850 shares per buy. 175 of the employees were first time buyers. Today, 57.9 per cent of all employees are co-owners of Veidekke, something we are very pleased with. The cost to the Group amounted to MNOK 21 for 2009. We believe this is a very good investment for the company as a measure which helps to improve employee engagement, increase motivation and thus create greater value over time.

The Veidekke Share

Veidekke is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and aims to provide its shareholders with a high and stable return on their investment. Dividends to shareholders shall be at least 50% of annual profit. For fiscal year 2009, the Board proposes to distribute NOK 2.50 per share in dividends (earnings per share was 3.00), corresponding to 83.3 per cent of earnings, and providing owners a direct return of 4.8 per cent, based on the year-end share price.