Semantix – helping people communicate since 1975.

Building the leading Nordic language service specialist through organic initiatives and M&A.

About Semantix.

Semantix, with head office in Stockholm, is a specialist provider of language services to public and private customers in the Nordic region. Semantix offers translation and interpretation through a network of 8,500 external translators and interpreters to 4,000 domestic and international customers each year. In 2009, Litorina acquired Semantix to support management with its Nordic expansion plans.

Investment rationale.

Semantix was a newly formed leading Swedish language services firm with a scalable platform when Litorina met with management in 2009. Litorina saw a potential to support the company to take the next step in its development by building a larger and Nordic platform primarily through strategic add-ons in Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Value creation initiatives.

  • Setting the foundation

  • The value creation in Semantix was focused on two key initiatives. The first was to introduce a more sales-driven culture in the organisation and the second was to strengthen the platform in Sweden further and grow into our neighbouring markets through strategic acquisitions. In order to implement this growth strategy, Litorina put in place a tailored board with relevant experience and recruited a sales driven group CEO, Anders Uddfors, who had relevant international experience. During Litorina’s ownership, Anders strengthened the team across almost all functions to form a team that could manage the tasks at hand.

 
  • M&A-led growth

  • Semantix was a leading Swedish language service firm in 2009 when Litorina became the new majority owner. Together with the new team, an ambitious growth agenda was put in place to create the clear Nordic market leader through acquisition of strong local companies in Finland, Norway and Sweden. Over the next five and a half years, the team acquired five Nordic businesses, adding a strong presence in both Finland and Norway. Simultaneously, Semantix managed to organically expand its existing interpretation and translation business. In 2015, Semantix had over 30% of its employees and business outside Sweden.

 
  • Operational initiatives

  • In addition to building a pan-Nordic footprint, Semantix also worked with two operational initiatives. The first was to establish a uniform pan-Nordic organisation with a clear sales-oriented culture able to scale with additional volumes. The second initiative was to invest in the company’s IT infrastructure and digitalization to increase automation and efficiency to be able to deliver a much more cost-efficient solution to its customers.

 

Result.

In 2015, Semantix had doubled its size to more than SEK 600 million in sales with stable operating margins. Together with management, Litorina had reached its objective to create the clear Nordic market leader within language services and a respectable firm also from an international perspective.

To put the size of the business in perspective, Semantix was able to help its customers with 500,000 interpretation and 45,000 translation assignments in 2015. Through these transactions, Semantix supported its customers to communicate more effectively for example in meetings with their local doctor or by translating documents enabling the next Swedish export wonder.

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