Skip to main content

Q-Free wins contract extension and comments on Kapsch share purchase

The Swedish Road Administration (Transportstyrelsen) has extended the contract, announced on 27 October, 2010, appointing Q-Free to service and maintain the congestion charging infrastructure in Stockholm which was delivered by Q-Free in 2006.
May 2, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSThe Swedish Road Administration (Transportstyrelsen) has extended the contract, announced on 27 October, 2010, appointing Q-Free to service and maintain the congestion charging infrastructure in Stockholm which was delivered by Q-Free in 2006.The contract extension, valued at around US$2.9 million, is for one year, starting on 1 January, 2012.

“This contract continues our active participation in the Stockholm project, which is one of the world`s most advanced and efficient congestion charging schemes,” said Øyvind Isaksen, 310 Q-Free’s CEO.

Meanwhile, the company has issued a statement following last week’s purchase of additional shares by Kapsch TrafficCom which raised its holding in Q-Free from 18.46 per cent to 20 per cent. The original share purchase was undertaken in 2009.

According to the Q-Free statement: “In 2009, the Board viewed the share purchase as an unfriendly approach from 259 Kapsch, and the Board sees no reason to change their view in relation to the share purchase conducted 29 September 2011. Kapsch has not approached the Board and disclosed their strategic intentions and rationale behind the ownership. Neither the Board nor the management of Q-Free has been contacted prior to the share purchase.

“Q-Free has in the last years invested significantly in a new competitive product portfolio and won several international tenders. In addition, Q-Free has established a global organisation. It is the opinion of the Board that this will enable a positive operational and financial development of Q-Free going forward.

“The Board is of the opinion that the current share price does not reflect the underlying value of the business, and is of the opinion that Q-Free will continue to create strong returns to shareholders as an independent company. Reference is made to Q-Free's Q2 2011 report for further information related to the company's development and projects the company is working with.

“Q-Free has engaged Arctic Securities ASA as financial advisor and Wikborg Rein as legal advisor.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Uruguay’s transport investment is seeing major gains
    August 1, 2017
    Uruguay’s road development programme will help deliver economic growth for the future - Gordon Feller reports. Uruguay is embarking on a new nationwide programme to rehabilitate 890km of roads, and the government intends to improve an additional 260km of dangerous highways and roads. This three-year programme aims to reduce traffic accidents, in part thanks to a US$70 million loan recently authorised by the World Bank’s board of directors. The new operation uses a special financing instrument known as “Prog
  • Beatty awarded H Agency Hull A63 Improvement Scheme
    August 8, 2014
    Balfour Beatty’s UK construction business has been awarded the €94.45 million (£75 million) A63 Castle Street improvement scheme in Hull for the Highways Agency under an Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) design and build contract. The 1.5km scheme in the centre of the city in East Yorkshire, northern England will improve journey times for road users through conversion of a major interchange into a split level junction with a two-lane dual carriageway carrying east-west traffic below north-south traffic in
  • Balfour Beatty in 10-year extension to Exeter-Bere Regis road deal
    May 8, 2015
    A Balfour Beatty joint venture with South West Highways has been awarded a €55 million 10-year extension to its contract for operations and maintenance on the 102km A30/A35 main Exeter to Bere Regis road. The contract is on behalf of Connect Roads for ultimate customer Highways England, the newly named government roads agency. The joint venture – SWHBBIS - was appointed as the operations and maintenance contractor for this stretch of the trunk road in 1996. In 2006, the joint venture was re-appointed
  • Safety in focus at European Transport Conference, ETC 2014
    July 23, 2014
    Road user safety will be a key priority for the upcoming European Transport Conference, ETC 2014. This 42nd transportation event is being held at Goethe University in the German city of Frankfurt from 29th September to 1st October. A series of safety sessions has been announced for ETC 2014, while traffic management will also be a focus, with sessions including Cycling the Green Wave and Phantom Jam Avoidance. The Traffic Management, Traffic Engineering and Road Safety sessions will also include: urban traf