Swedish investment firm Lifco AB on Friday reported an 18.9% rise in third-quarter net profit, as its acquisition-led strategy offset weaker performance in parts of its largest business segment.
Net profit for the July-to-September period grew to 900 million Swedish kronor, while sales rose 8.9% to 6.84 billion kronor, the company said.
Acquisitions accounted for 7.7 percentage points of the sales growth, with the company consolidating 13 new businesses in the first nine months of the year.
The strong results came despite a drag from its Systems Solutions division, where lower organic sales hurt profitability, continuing a trend of market weakness for the unit noted in the previous quarter.
"Net sales increased 9.0 per cent to SEK 20,717 (19,013) million in the first nine months of the year as the result of acquisitions and organic growth in all three business areas," CEO Per Waldemarson said in a statement.
The company also noted that the quarter's net profit was boosted by a lower corporate tax rate in Germany.
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Swedish investment group Lifco on Monday reported a 2.8% drop in second-quarter core earnings, citing a deteriorating market for its largest division, Systems Solutions.