Stamford, Conn., November 23, 2005 - - Esselte Group Holdings AB
(publ), a leading global office supplies company, today announced the
completion of the divestiture of its Dymo labeling business to Newell
Rubbermaid, a global marketer of consumer and commercial products, for
approximately $730 million.
“After taking Esselte private in July 2002, we invested heavily in the
Dymo business through personnel, advertising and accelerated product
development.” said Magnus Nicolin, president and CEO of Esselte. “The
sale of DYMO is validation that our strategy for building value was
solid.”
The divestiture of the Dymo business will allow Esselte to pay off
substantially all of its current debt and concentrate on its remaining
core business of organization and presentation solutions, such as
filing, desktop and binding and lamination products.
In addition, Esselte intends to increase its investment in Xyron, a
leading marketer of proprietary hobby and craft products to fully
leverage this rapidly growing market.
“With the opportunity to accelerate innovation further and with renewed
focus on our core business of organizational solutions and craft
products, I am excited about our prospects for the future,” stated
Nicolin.
In connection with the completion of the divestiture of its Dymo
labeling business, Esselte is calling for redemption its outstanding
7.625% senior notes due in 2011, in accordance with Article III of the
note indenture.
About Esselte
Esselte, with executive offices in Stamford,
Conn., USA, is the leading global office supplies manufacturer with
annual sales of approximately USD 1 billion, subsidiaries in 33
countries and approximately 5,000 employees worldwide. The company
develops innovative solutions that simplify the modern home and
workplace. Esselte sells more than 20,000 different office & craft
products in over 120 countries; its principal brands include Esselte,
Leitz, Oxford, Pendaflex and Xyron. More information about Esselte can
be found by visiting www.esselte.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain information contained in
this news release may constitute “forward-looking” statements, which are
all statements other than those of historical fact and include, without
limitation, statements relating to our financial position, business
strategy, plans to increase revenue, other future events or prospects,
plans to devote significant management time and capital resources to our
business strategy, and other statements of expectations, beliefs, future
plans and strategies, anticipated developments and other matters that
are not historical facts concerning our industry, our business,
operations and financial performance and condition. The words
“believes”, “seeks”, “anticipates”, “plans”, “expects”, “intends”,
“estimates”, “will”, “may”, “could” and other similar expressions are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that, in some cases, are beyond our control. These risks,
uncertainties, and factors may cause our actual results, performance and
achievements, or industry results and market trends, to be materially
different from any future results, performance, achievements or trends
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements (and from past
results, performances or achievements). Important risks, uncertainties
and other factors that could cause our actual results to differ
materially from historical results or those anticipated include, but are
not limited to: our substantial leverage and our ability to meet our
debt service obligations; our ability to comply with the restrictive
financial covenants and financial ratios in our senior credit facility;
our ability to maintain our margins of profitability and market share;
pricing of raw materials and supplies, including recent price increases
by suppliers and the uncertainty of our ability to pass these costs on
to our customers; our ability to achieve cost savings from our
restructuring programs; general economic conditions, trends in GDP,
white-collar employment levels and continued growth of small businesses
and home offices; increased use of electronic filing; our ability to
maintain our relationships with our major customers, especially given
that our industry is concentrated in a small number of customers; our
exposure to currency fluctuations; changes in the level of demand for
our products; and other risks identified under “Risk Factors” in reports
provided to holders of our 7⅝% senior notes due 2011. These risks and
others described under “Risk Factors” are not exhaustive. There are
additional factors that could adversely affect our business, financial
condition or results of operations. Given these risks and uncertainties,
undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements or our
past results as a prediction of actual results.
All forward-looking statements included in this release are based on
information available to us on the date of this release and we undertake
no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.
