Byggfakta Group acquires Prognosesenteret and creates a Nordic market leader in Insights & Analytics
Byggfakta Group (Byggfakta) has acquired approx. 73% of the shares in the Norwegian company 4CastGroup AS. Through its subsidiaries Prognosesenteret AS in Norway and Prognoscentret AB in Sweden – 4CastGroup is the Nordic leader in market analysis and forecasting for the construction and civil engineering market.
Prognosesenteret AS was founded in Norway in 1978 and a subsidiary, Prognoscentret AB, was established in Sweden in 1991. The company combines statistical analysis and extensive knowledge and experience of the construction and civil engineering market to prepare customised decision support primarily for the management teams and boards of companies in the construction sector. From the very start, Prognosesenteret has been the market leader both in Norway and in Sweden and has attracted considerable media attention through broad and public market forecasts.
Byggfakta’s acquisition of Prognosesenteret creates strategic opportunities and synergies together with Byggfakta’s existing project information operations in the Nordic region and Europe. Byggfakta is developing, together with Prognosesenteret, a full-scale business intelligence (BI) offering for the construction and civil engineering market. Byggfakta already owns the Finnish company Forecon, a leading player in Finland within the same niche as Prognosesenteret and will, with this acquisition, integrate Forecon’s and Prognosesenteret’s operations in the Nordic region.
“Byggfakta has long had its eye on Prognosesenteret and I am extremely pleased that we can now start our shared journey. The company is a good fit with the Byggfakta Group and strengthens our business intelligence (BI) offering to the construction sector. Our existing business data offerings and software solutions are complemented and strengthened by leveraging a BI offering based on Prognosesenteret’s well-established market position and heavy expertise in statistical analysis. The combined offerings are expected to generate revenue synergies in parallel with enabling cost synergies through Byggfakta’s data, research organisation and Group functions. Moreover, integration with Finnish Forecon means we will create the leading Nordic player in BI for the construction sector with good prospects in the next phase for establishing the offering in more countries within Byggfakta’s ever-growing global network,” says Dario Aganovic, CEO of Byggfakta Group.
The existing management team will continue to run the operations under the leadership of CEO Bjørn Birkeland, who will keep his role and remain a significant shareholder in 4CastGroup. The company’s entire sales team will remain in their existing roles and continue as minority shareholders following the acquisition.
“Over the years, Prognosesenteret has grown to become the leading player in forecasting and analysis for the construction market with two very strong brands in Norway as well as Sweden. The journey to date has been fantastic, and we are pleased to now be joining Byggfakta. This brings us into an even larger context, one in which Byggfakta’s existing customer base and presence in several interesting markets provide us with the preconditions for continued growth and geographic expansion,” says Bjørn Birkeland, CEO of 4CastGroup/Prognosesenteret.
4CastGroup AS, including Prognosesenteret AS and Prognoscentret AB, posted a healthy EBITDA margin on turnover of approximately MNOK 86 in 2022. Approximately 70% of the company’s total revenue is subscription based.
4CastGroup is expected to be consolidated in Byggfakta in March 2023 and will form part of Byggfakta’s Construction Solutions – Nordic operating segment. The acquisition is expected to have a marginal impact on Byggfakta Group’s earnings per share in 2023.