Kjetil Nyland

"Discipline and focus on returns Lifco has a successful history of deploying capital at high returns both via acquisitions and organically. The company maintains a disciplined acquisition strategy of buying small businesses. Since going public, only one acquisition has been larger than $50m in terms of sales. Each acquisition has typically comprised a low single-digit percentage of sales, with a clear limit of paying no more than eight times the operating profit (EBITA) for acquisitions. Historically, Lifco’s acquisition multiples have consistently stayed below this threshold, largely because Lifco has continuously acquired smaller companies at lower prices. This disciplined approach is also supported by Lifco’s broad acquisition strategy, which avoids limiting itself to specific industries or overpaying simply to fuel growth."

"Lifco’s culture emphasizes simplicity and avoiding unnecessary tasks that detract from what truly matters: creating shareholder value. Internal meetings are minimized as much as possible, with issues being resolved quickly through phone calls or emails, reinforcing a culture of efficiency and decisive action. Its quarterly conference calls are notably brief, significantly shorter than those of other companies of comparable size. The company has never hosted a capital markets day, adhering to the belief that financial…"

"Lifco, one of the Swedish compounders featured in this book, has over 250 companies operating across diverse niches and geographies. This not only makes it resilient to changing conditions but also positions the company for long-term compounding."

"acquisitions, raising prices wherever possible and discontinuing products with low pricing power. In Lifco’s way of looking at it, the best way to know if a product or service brings truly differentiated value…"

"A central part of Lagercrantz’s strategy is the creation of global hubs to support exports. The core idea is to take the specialized products developed by its portfolio companies—many of which originate in the…"