Interim Report Substantial growth in order intake and increased operating profit

First Quarter
· Order intake was up by 17% to 325.3 MSEK (278.2)
· Net sales were 285.7 MSEK (292.0)
· Operating profit rose to 23.5 MSEK (21.1)
· Profit after tax was up 23% to 16.0 MSEK (13.0)
· Earnings per share increased to 2.51 SEK (1.97)
· High sales growth of self-developed products
· Several significant orders of Ethernet switches for the transportation sector
· Strategic collaboration with QSI Corporation on the sale of Beijer Electronics' products and technology in the USA

Comments from Fredrik Jönsson, CEO
"The market recovery continued in the first quarter and we saw a clear improvement in demand on several markets. In the first quarter, order intake grew by 17%. Adjusted for negative currency effects, growth was 24% in local currency. Due to lead-times between order intake and sales, our order book was at its highest-ever level.

Sales were 286 MSEK in the quarter, down 2% year on year. Adjusted for currency effects, this corresponds to a 3% increase. The Automation market remained weak, while IDC and HMI Products especially had good sales growth in the first quarter. We were negatively affected by currency effects, but with clearly lower overhead levels, this meant that we were able to improve profits on the corresponding period of the previous year.

The HMI Products business area was the big positive of the period, with order intake gains of 35%-the business area's best quarterly order intake to date, and it saw a big improvement in sales and profit in the period.

The IDC business area also achieved high order intake growth, and secured several major orders in the period. We're now concentrating more on consolidating the sales organization in IDC and HMI Products to utilize increased demand and strengthen our market position.

The Automation business area encountered a stillrestrained market, due to factors including weak demand within major industrial investments. But our initiative addressing OEMs paid off, and three new customer contracts were secured in the quarter. We are also starting to witness a rally in ongoing sales to smaller projects and repeat customers.

We see big potential for continued growth in our proprietary technology segments of HMI Products and IDC. At present, our self-developed technologies and products represent some 70% of sales. To meet the demand for our products, we are further reinforcing our technology and development organizations.

High order intake in the quarter is indicative of a positive market trend. Beijer Electronics also went into the new year with far lower cost levels, which means that we have good prospects of being able to increase sales and profits for the full year 2010."

Phone Meeting Invitation
A phone meeting for press and analysts will be held today at 03:00 p.m. CET. President and CEO, Fredrik Jönsson, and Lennart Mauritzson, CFO, will present the company and comment the interim report.
To participate in the phone meeting, please call: 
from Sweden: +46 (0)8 506 269 04
from the UK: +44 207 108 6205

The presentation in a pdf-format will be published on Beijer Electronics' website, www.beijergroup.com (http://www.beijergroup.com/) under Investor Relations/Presentations, or you are welcome to view the webcast online here:
https://www.anywhereconference.com/?Conference=108242085&PIN=883693 (https://www.anywhereconference.com/?Conference=108242085&PIN=883693)