Annual Report 1999 - Skanska

Strategicservice companiesThe Skanska Group includes three service companies that do not belongto any single business area. These subsidiaries have general functionsand comprise a Groupwide resource for all Skanska businessareas.● 38 Skanska Annual Report 1999Skanska Financial ServicesSkanska Financial Services AB (SFS) is responsiblefor the Group’s central financialmanagement operations. The main tasks ofSFS are to:• Support the Group’s core business by supplyingfinancial know-how, leading togreater competitiveness for the Group’soperative units. If Skanska is to competesuccessfully for construction assignments,increasingly often it is necessary to offer financialsolutions to the client. The role ofSFS is to structure and procure client-tailored,competitive external financial solutions.Sometimes Skanska can make contractingprojects possible by participatingin their financing, taking a limited risk ofits own. In that case, the task of SFS is alsoto analyze and manage the financial risksthat may arise for Skanska.• Assume strategic, continuous responsibilityfor the Group’s borrowings and relationshipswith financial institutions.Through SFS, in 1999 the Group was thefirst construction company to arrange aborrowing program denominated in bothSEK and EUR, a medium-term note loan.SFS is responsible for ensuring that theGroup’s cash flows are efficiently managed.Other tasks include managing the Group’sfinancial assets. It performs these operationswithin strictly regulated limits establishedby Skanska AB’s Board of Directors,continuously monitored by several supervisorybodies.• Analyze and manage the financial risksthat arise from the Group’s operations. Inits business operations, Skanska is continuouslyexposed to financial risks, for examplein the foreign exchange and interestrate fields. SFS works closely with line operationsto analyze and quantify any exposures.After that, SFS focuses on risk- anddamage-limiting measures, including risktransfers to external partners. For otherrisk management, such as the risk of damageto or loss of Skanska’s property or projects,SFS works with carefully balanced insuranceprograms, often organized by theGroup’s own captive insurance companiesin Sweden and Luxembourg.• Provide the units in the Group with allother services they need on financial matters.SFS manages cash flows, includingshort-term liquidity of about SEK 20 billionper month. The company is located inStockholm but is also represented inMalmö, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Washington.Skanska Teknik is a hub for thesupport and coordination oftechnical research and developmentin the Group.Skanska TeknikThe main task of Skanska Teknik AB is tobuild up strategic technical expertise thatstrengthens and enhances Skanska’s businessoperations throughout the value circle. Itdoes so through targeted human resourcedevelopment in the form of advanced projectwork, internal and external developmentprojects and participation in research projects.At any one time, Skanska Teknik has anumber of employees who are undergoingdoctoral training in conjunction with nationaland international research programs.Development work occurs in close collaborationwith Skanska’s construction units.Skanska Teknik is a hub for the supportand coordination of technical research anddevelopment in the Group.Skanska Teknik has a certified environmentalmanagement system and highly developedenvironmental know-how that is directlyadapted to project-related activities.During its management system work, it developeda number of pre-production planningtools. Today all Skanska pre-productionplanners have access to these tools and tochecklists, databases on chemical substancesand Groupwide lists of prohibited materials.In its role as a strategic resource, SkanskaTeknik continuously trains employees withbroad and in-depth technical expertise towork as project managers, then hires themout to Skanska Group projects.In a proprietary system called PNet,Skanska Teknik has built up expertise in Internet-aidedmanagement of pre-productionplanning work.Skanska Teknik prioritizes projects thatrequire special technical know-how. Some ofthe projects in which Skanska Teknik servesas a strategic resource are:• Allébron in Stockholm, an assignmentthat Skanska’s bridge department landedby delivering the best technical solution.• The Gothia Tower Hotel in Gothenburg,where Skanska Teknik’s pre-productionplanners were the lead planners at an earlystage together with Skanska’s client, theSwedish Exhibition and Congress Center.• STURE in Norway, a gas storage facilitywhere Skanska Teknik’s unique expertisehelped provide Norsk Hydro with a veryenvironmentally safe solution for the storageof liquefied petroleum gas.• Waldemara in Riga, Latvia, where SkanskaTeknik was in charge of pre-productionplanning, architecture and engineering fora new business center.Skanska Teknik’s know-how and experienceof international standards helps Skanska toimplement advanced quality assurance projects.Skanska Teknik’s invoicing to the SkanskaGroup accounts for 80 percent of sales.Among its employees are four full profes-