PROSPECTUS ON THE CONVERTIBLE CAPITAL NOTES 2004
2004-04-21T16:01:04 CETThe prospectus on the Aspo Plc Convertible Capital Notes 2004 will be published on 22 April 2004. The prospectus will be available on the Aspo Plc and Alexander Corporate Finance Oy internet pages (www.aspo.fi and www.acf.fi) as well as at the company, at the subscription place and at the Helsinki Exchanges premises (HEXGate). The subscription place of the Notes shall be OKO Bank, Debt Capital & Treasury Markets and the internet pages www.osuuspankki.fi/merkinta.
Implementation of the IFRS directives in the Aspo Group shall be described in the prospectus as follows:
"The 2005 financial statements must be prepared according to the IFRS standards (International Financial Reporting Standards). Aspo will, like other public companies in the EU region, change over to comply with the IAS/IFRS standards in its consolidated financial statements, as of 1 January 2005. The transition date is 1 January 2004 for calculating the reference figures. The Finnish bookkeeping practice shall remain as the financial statements practice until 2005 but the balance sheet per 1 January 2004 and the 2004 financial statements and interim reports will be prepared also in accordance with the IFRS as reference information.
The first interim report in accordance with the IFRS standards will be published for the reporting period 1 January - 31 March, 2005.
STATUS OF THE TRANSITION PROJECT
The IFRS transition project started in September 2002 and the current Aspo accounting practices were surveyed. The valid standards, their effects and the resulting adjustments have been examined. Also drafts of the IFRS standards and their resulting potential adjustments have been studied. The accounting practice has been adjusted in order to enable the gathering of the information required by the IFRS.
ESSENTIAL AMENDMENTS TO THE ACCOUNTING PRINCIPLES OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Income Statement
Aspo is using an activity-based income statement in the Finnish accounting practice and it will be used also in the IFRS.
Segment Reporting
Aspo's primary segment reporting is based on the business segments that are formed from the present divisions. Sales between the segments will be reported as a part of the segments' turnover.
Goodwill
According to the standard draft Goodwill depreciation will be replaced with impairment testing as of the transition date and no depreciation shall be made from the goodwill. In addition to unamortized goodwill, also intangible goods shall arise from the future acquisitions. Depreciations shall be made from these intangible goods during their duration of action.
Pension Plans
The statutory pension cover for the Finnish Aspo Group companies has been tended to by pension insurance companies. The disability proportion from the Finnish employee pension scheme based on the Employees' Pension Act shall be entered as benefit-based in the IFRS. Due to small numbers of persons in the juridical companies, the relevance of the excess based on the Employees' Pensions Act is insignificant.
Entering as Income and Current Assets
It is assumed that there shall be no significant adjustments in the principles for the entering as income. In the future also fixed costs shall be activated in the current assets related to own manufacturing processes.
Financial Leasing
The financial leasing contracts of the passenger cars, computer hardware and facilities shall be entered in the balance sheet. According to the present understanding it is assumed that no other significant leasing items shall be entered in the balance sheet.
Financial Instruments
The financial instruments shall be divided into four categories:
financial assets and liabilities kept for trading purposes, investments kept until maturity date, credits granted by the company and other receivables as well as marketable financial assets. All financial assets and liabilities including transaction costs shall be entered in the balance sheet at acquisition costs. Loan interests shall be entered according to the periodized acquisition costs. The later appraisal of the financial assets and liabilities in the bookkeeping shall be determined on the basis of which of the above-mentioned categories they belong to. Aspo's derivative contracts are interest rate swaps.
Entering of Taxes
Entering of imputed taxes shall be amended, among other things; an imputed tax liability shall be entered from the present business values allocated to the buildings and from the appreciation of the facilities.
EFFECTS ON THE ASPO GROUP
According to the present understanding the implementation of the IFRS standards shall have no material effect on the company equity."
Section 20 in the Terms and Conditions of the Convertible Capital Notes 2004 has been amended to correspond to Act on Expiration of Debts (15.8.2003/728) that came into force on 1 January 2004. The Terms and Conditions of the Convertible Capital Notes 2004 are available in full on the internet pages www.aspo.fi.
The Aspo Group Interim Report for January-March 2004 shall be published on 29 April 2004.
ASPO Plc
Gustav Nyberg
CEO
For more information contact CEO Gustav Nyberg at +358 9 7595 256 or +358 40 503 6420
gustav.nyberg@aspo.fi