OSLO, NORWAY – 7 MAY 2020 –
Q1 2020 Highlights
Developments after the period
CEO Comment
André Løvestam, Chief Executive Officer at Zwipe, said:
“Q1 2020 has been an intense quarter for Zwipe.
We started the year by listing on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market on January 28th, and have seen considerable interest in Zwipe across the Swedish investment community.
This quarter has also been marked by unprecedented global uncertainty tied to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. With the aim to protect our employees from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Zwipe quickly adapted with various protective measures such as remote work and travel bans. We have been able to continue operating remotely, with little to no impact being seen across our operations. Our commercial team has ramped up activity and been able to engage more frequently and openly as a result of the entire industry transitioning to videoconferencing as opposed to travel-intensive face-to-face meetings.
We observe an extensive focus on and interest in the improved hygiene and safety of biometric payment solutions; the awareness of biometric advantages is significantly higher than pre-Corona. This elevated focus on safety has significantly increased the growth of contactless transactions, and transaction caps have been raised all over the world1. Hygiene may become an accelerator and game-changer for biometric payments. A biometric payment card effectively eliminates the need to ever touch the payment terminal keypad – regular cards require PIN above the transaction limit, after a set number of transactions, and when the cumulative value of transactions has reached its limit.
We are seeing growing momentum across the payment ecosystem with increasing investment in supporting biometric payment card deployment. Zwipe is now working closely with partners across the value chain in developing a highly competitive offering in terms of energy efficiency and biometric performance at industry-leading manufacturing costs; Zwipe Pay ONE. This next generation contactless technology will achieve a radically lower total manufacturing cost per card, which we believe will be key to accelerate the volume market take-off. Therefore, we are proud and satisfied that the Zwipe Pay ONE project and the collaboration with Idemia and Idex is on track, as announced in April. The first samples of the new single chip have been manufactured and successfully powered-on. This development is very positive as our customers wish to get access to Zwipe Pay ONE as early as possible to be able to serve card issuers with the market’s most cost-effective biometric payment cards.
Recent certification industry announcements bring further confidence to the trajectory of biometric payment card rollout. Certification of payment products is a rigorous and capital-intensive process for card manufacturers and a strong signal of intent to capitalize on the next natural step for payment cards, following the introduction of dual-interface payment cards in 2007.
I am also satisfied with the very good progress in the wearable project announced with G+D in September, as this project is also on track.
Looking ahead, we are committed to supporting our customers to elevate their product portfolios by making it easy to integrate biometric payment solutions. Key to this work is technical deliverables and sharing the expertise we have built from having the most widely piloted solution to position, educate and market biometric payment cards to banks and issuers. We are doing everything in our power to build and maintain strong relationships with our industry-leading partners that will create sustainable long-term commercial opportunities for themselves and Zwipe going forward.”
Financial Update
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This is information that Zwipe AS is obligated to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Oslo Børs Merkur Market, Nasdaq First North Growth Market and the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, on May 7, 2020 at 08:30 CEST
OSLO, NORWAY – 28 APRIL 2020 – Biometric fintech company Zwipe is pleased to announce that Asia Credit Card Production Ltd. (ACC), a specialist smart card manufacturer based in Hong Kong, has chosen to partner with Zwipe in order to offer and roll out a range of biometric payment specific products and services including cards, wearables, enrolment and customer onboarding solutions.
ACC has an extensive smart card product portfolio with a large client base in a wide range of industries worldwide. ACC has begun integrating Zwipe’s biometric inlay platform into their smart card production facility in order to prepare for the launch of Zwipe Pay ONE when it becomes available later this year.
“We strongly believe that biometric payment cards are the future and there is a strong market for payment cards in the fast-moving Asia Pacific region even in the face of surging smartphone use. Working now to integrate Zwipe’s technology, we are confident that we will have a truly disruptive offering that will enable us to significantly grow our banking customer base in the region and beyond,” said Gary Li, Managing Director of Asia Credit Card Production Ltd.
As an essential manufacturer in the heart of APAC, ACC is now working at full capacity. On the back of their commitment to issuing biometric payment cards this year, the company is in the process of completing the application process for full card scheme certification to expand its portfolio of offerings to leading issuers across the region.
“We continue to build our global portfolio of customer relationships, which will be instrumental in the roll-out of future products. The partnership with ACC will further broaden our access to the Asian markets,” said André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.
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About Asia Credit Card Production LTD
ACC is a leading professional RFID card and smart card manufacturer. Headquartered in Hong Kong and production plant in Shenzhen, China. With over 20 years of experience in card industry, ACC is offering top quality products and services compliant to industry standards and customer requirements. We continuously strengthen partnerships with our strategic alliances and industry leaders to fulfill our commitment to the industry.
For more information contact: James Duran, +852 2389 3393 james@asia-cc.com.hk
OSLO, NORWAY– 23 APRIL 2020 – The Nomination Committee of Zwipe AS has proposed the nomination of two leading payment and technology professionals to its board of directors to be voted upon at its upcoming Annual General Meeting to be held virtually on 14 May 2020.
Mr. Diderik Schonheyder is a recognized authority on payment products, services and systems development with more than 35 years’ experience as an executive, advisor and investor in the information technology and telecommunications industry. He previously served in global roles at Visa International and MasterCard, and currently operates a consultancy company focused on payment ecosystems.
Mr. Pål Eivind Vegard is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and board member who has been active for over three decades in the telecommunications and software industries in Europe. He established Tele1 Europe in Norway in 1998 before going on to fund several companies. Through his investment company, Concito, he was one of the early backers of Zwipe and he served on Zwipe’s board from 2011 to 2016. He was also an early investor and chairman of the board in Onecall, today a successful mobile brand owned by Telia.
In addition to Diderik Schonheyder and Pål Eivind Vegard, the Nomination Committee proposes that Dorian Barak, Johan Biehl, Dennis Jones and Jörgen Lantto (Chairman) are re-elected as Directors of the Board.
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OSLO, NORWAY– 22 April 2020 – Biometric fintech company Zwipe is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited, the strongest local card manufacturer in the Hong Kong and Macau region, to collaborate on the product positioning, development and commercialization of biometric payment cards.
Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited has an extensive customer network with the large banks in Hong Kong and Macau, offering a wide range of data management and card solutions. The company is an authorized VISA, MasterCard, China UnionPay, JCB and AMEX card manufacturer in Hong Kong. Using the strengths it has obtained in the data management area, the company is working to create new value as a digital hybrid company that is able to provide products and services with security elements.
“Biometric payment cards can be a lucrative product for us considering the types of banks we have as customers, with many high net worth clients. We are eager to integrate Zwipe’s technology including Zwipe Pay ONE, providing a premium status product which strengthens the contactless payment experience enabling more secure and convenient options for cardholders thanks to its enhanced biometric features,” said Mr. Joseph Hui, Deputy Managing Director of Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited.
“Our collaboration with Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited is another important step for Zwipe as we prepare to roll out our Zwipe Pay ONE platform. Working with strong local players connected to leading issuers in their markets will be instrumental in enabling the scaling of our offering going forward,” said André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.
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About Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited.
Toppan Forms (Hong Kong) Group founded Toppan Forms Card Technologies Limited (TFCT) in 1982 as its first step of diversification in becoming a trusted total service provider. We provide a variety of card solutions, card issuance systems and services for the ever-expanding IT market. In light of our company mission to be an innovation frontier, the company enriches the integrated IT solutions offering in terms of Robotic Solutions, Access Control and e-Application. The company is working to create new value as a Digital Hybrid Company that is able to provide products and services from both the analog and digital aspects. To visit our website www.toppanforms.com
For more information, please contact us +852 2519 6388 contact@toppanforms.com
OSLO, NORWAY – 20 April 2020 – Zwipe, a leading biometric fintech company, and IDEX Biometrics, a leading provider of fingerprint identification technologies, announce that they have signed an agreement that will see Zwipe combining IDEX Biometrics sensor products with the Zwipe Pay ONE platform to enable a complete system solution for biometric payment cards.
Zwipe Pay ONE is a technology platform based on a single-chip biometric secure element with operating system and relevant proprietary software. The result will be a compelling biometric payment card offering to card manufacturers in the global market.
The two companies also plan to formalize cross-licensing of intellectual property and a joint marketing approach as Zwipe Pay ONE with IDEX sensor becomes available for piloting.
“We are excited to work closely with Zwipe, a pioneer in the biometric payment card market. We believe the combination of Zwipe Pay ONE with IDEX next generation sensor has strong potential to become a market leading solution. IDEX is providing fingerprint sensors and technical expertise towards the shared goal of accelerating adoption of biometric payment cards,” said Vincent Graziani, CEO of IDEX Biometrics.
“IDEX Biometrics has developed a next-generation fingerprint sensor. We are ideally positioned to take a leading position in the biometric payments market, providing smart card manufacturers with a superior offering in terms of energy efficiency and biometric performance at industry-leading manufacturing costs", said André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.
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COURBEVOIE, FRANCE and OSLO, NORWAY– 08 April 2020 –
Following the exclusive partnership and distribution agreement signed between IDEMIA and ZWIPE, the two companies announce that first samples of the new chip have now arrived for further verification and qualification with the first power-on successfully executed. Therefore, the new platform will now progress to the next stages of developments and will be able to meet expected demand from card issuers with a first launch on the market as from second half 2020 followed by a mass production of biometric cards during 2021. IDEMIA and IDEX have signed an agreement by which IDEX will supply the card’s sensors for this next generation of biometric payment cards. This agreement deepens a long-standing collaboration between IDEMIA and IDEX to develop biometric payment cards including an IP licensing agreement signed in Oct 20193. By teaming up with ZWIPE and IDEX to offer a disruptive biometric payment card platform that will radically reduce biometric payment card costs, IDEMIA is driving the growth of the biometric cards market and enables an accelerated path to mass volumes, which will ultimately benefit the issuers and users of cards.
Amanda Gourbault, IDEMIA Executive Vice President Financial Institutions says: “This achievement of this key milestone demonstrates that our next F.CODE generation biometric card development is being executed according to plan allowing a pilot launch second half 2020. Together with our business partners we are showcasing our best-in-class expertise in designing and manufacturing biometric-based payment cards”.
André Løvestam, CEO of ZWIPE says: ”We are pleased to see this progress and we strongly believe that bringing forward the new platform together with IDEMIA will be a major catalyst in creating long term shareholder value and provide the technological leap needed to shape the future of the biometric payment card market and to drive commercial success for ZWIPE. The progress up until now has further strengthened our conviction that this project will meet not only the time schedule, but also the targeted unit cost reductions on biometric payment cards.”
Vince Graziani, CEO of IDEX commented: “We are proud to have been selected by IDEMIA and look forward to continue collaboration with this leader in authentication solutions, and to initiate collaboration with ZWIPE to bring biometric payment cards to the mass market. This award by one of the world’s largest card manufacturers is a validation of our off-chip product design that enables high performance at a disruptive cost point.”
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2: manufacturers of payment cards, wearables and other payment solutions, and their suppliers.
OSLO, NORWAY – 25 March 2020 – Biometric technology company Zwipe is pleased to announce that it has been selected by Masria Digital Payments (MDP), one of the largest smart card manufacturers and digital payments providers in the Middle East and Africa to deliver biometric payments solutions to enhance MDP’s innovation product portfolio.
Zwipe will support MDP in integrating and rolling out biometric payment cards and eventually biometric enabled wearable devices to a region that has expressed significant interest in the technology.
“To continue MDP’s long tradition of technology leadership, we are integrating Zwipe’s current biometric payment platform now to educate the market and get prepared for Zwipe Pay ONE. We are confident that, when that becomes available, we will have banks across the region ready to take the next natural step in payment cards with us”, says Ahmed Nafie, EVP of MDP.
The Middle East and North Africa is seeing great interest in biometric payment solutions, especially biometric payment cards.
“Zwipe is thrilled to win a new strategic customer wanting to pilot our current product platform to pave the way for early deployment of our future offering, Zwipe Pay ONE. Working together we can unlock many opportunities in a part of the world that is proving to be a first mover when it comes to biometric payments” says André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.
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About MDP
Masria Digital Payments (previously Masria Card S.A.E) is Africa's leading smart card solutions provider with a regional presence spanning 35 countries and 3 continents. Building on its vast sector experience, MDP has consistently introduced the latest technology in cards, payment security and smart applications to the Middle East and African markets. MDP also provides its partners with a complete card offering ranging from card production, personalization, issuance and fulfilment as a service or as a solution. MDP is the only end to end fully certified African payments solutions provider to offer a full card services, solutions, processing and digital payment suites to clients in the financial, government and retail sector under one roof.
For more information, please visit www.mdp-eg.com/
OSLO, NORWAY - 18 March 2020 - Zwipe’s CEO André Løvestam presented Zwipe at a RedEye Investor event in Sweden on 12 March 2020 where he addressed the ongoing global Covid-19 situation and its impact on the company’s operations: “To address the escalating situation regarding the Corona virus, it is important to acknowledge the global impact it is having. However, we want to stress that Zwipe carries on. We are a lean global team committed to our targets and, as we have done before, we are adapting quickly and effectively to the changing environment we operate in. Projects are ongoing, we have suspended travel, we are doing more video conferencing and ultimately continuing to do business as best we can in the face of this new adversity.”
The Zwipe team spans across Europe, the United States and Asia with more than 25% working permanently from home offices. The company has moved quickly to enact travel bans and new working standards enabling our staff to work from home offices as of 13 March 2020.
Commenting on the company and its plan to work through the current global situation, André Løvestam said “we are committed to the safety and security of our team members and their families and we are monitoring the situation closely. Some of our partners in China and Europe have been impacted, however, most of our ongoing efforts are not impeded by the current situation and we are confident that we will be able to weather the current downturn and look forward to share progress as we go forward.”
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OSLO, NORWAY – 28 February 2020 – Zwipe AS today publishes its half-year financial report for 2H 2019.
The report does not contain inside information. Zwipe’s audited Annual Report 2019 was released on 26 February 2020.
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OSLO, NORWAY – 26 February 2020 – Zwipe AS today publishes its annual report 2019. Please find the report attached.
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This is information that Zwipe AS is obliged to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Merkur Market, Nasdaq First North Growth Market and the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency on the contact person set out below 08:00 CET on 26 February 2020
OSLO, NORWAY – 26 February 2020 – Zwipe AS today publishes its annual report 2019. Please find the report attached.
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This is information that Zwipe AS is obliged to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Merkur Market, Nasdaq First North Growth Market and the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency on the contact person set out below 08:00 CET on 26 February 2020
OSLO, NORWAY – 24 January 2020, 13:00- Zwipe AS has applied for admission to trading of the shares of Zwipe on Nasdaq First North Growth Market (First North), Stockholm. The application has today been approved by First North, subject to applicable distribution requirements (sw: spridningskrav) being satisfied. Based on share transfer commitments made at this time, Zwipe expects to fulfil such requirements.
Trading in Zwipe’s shares on First North will commence on 28 January 2020 under the ticker “ZWIPE”. The listing of Zwipe’s shares on Merkur market at Oslo Børs will be maintained until further notice. Zwipe does not intend to publish any further information prior to listing on First North.
André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe, says “The listing on Nasdaq First North marks a milestone for Zwipe, one year after we listed on Merkur Market. We are excited that Zwipe will be trading in Stockholm, close to the majority of our shareholders. First North is a dynamic marketplace, and I am confident that the listing will benefit our shareholders and support Zwipe in its progress toward large-scale deployment of biometric payment authentication solutions."
Market making agreement
Zwipe and Erik Penser Bank AB (Erik Penser) have signed a market making agreement that meets the requirements of market making operations by First North. The market making agreement aims at supporting orderly trading conditions and a minimum threshold of liquidity for Zwipe’s shares on First North. Market making pursuant to the agreement will commence on 28 January 2020, the first day of trading in Zwipe’s shares on First North.
Supplementary document
In connection with the listing, Zwipe has published a supplementary document, available at www.zwipe.com.
Advisors
White & Case (SE) and Simonsen Vogt Wiig (NO) are legal advisors for Zwipe in connection with the listing on First North.
Zwipe’s Certified Adviser is FNCA, who may be contacted at tel +46 8 528 003 99 and email info@fnca.se
This is information that Zwipe AS is obliged to make public pursuant to the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Merkur Market and the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out below, at 13:00 CET on 24 January 2020
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For further information please contact:
André Løvestam, CEO ir@zwipe.com +47 909 43 660
OSLO, NORWAY – 23 January 2020 - As communicated on 14 January 2020, Nasdaq First North Growth Market (First North) has confirmed that Zwipe AS fulfils the requirements for listing, subject to customary conditions. Today, 23 January 2020, Zwipe publishes a supplementary document to the prospectus in accordance with First North rules for application.
The supplementary document is available at www.zwipe.com. The supplementary document should be read together with the prospectus dated 4 December 2019 and prepared in connection with the Zwipe’s rights issue. The prospectus is also available at www.zwipe.com. The supplementary document is not a prospectus, has not been approved by any supervisory authority and does not contain any offering of shares or any other offering of financial instruments in Zwipe in Sweden or in any other jurisdiction.
First day of trading on First North in Stockholm is planned for Tuesday 28 January 2020, subject to final approval by First North and other customary conditions being met.
This information is made public in accordance with the continuing obligations of companies admitted to trading on Merkur Market and the First North rules for application.
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OSLO, NORWAY– 14 JANUARY 2020 – Biometric technology company Zwipe AS (Zwipe) today announces that it expects to list its shares for trading on Nasdaq First North Growth Market (First North) in Stockholm, under the ticker “ZWIPE". The first day of trading is planned for Tuesday 28 January 2020. First North has assessed Zwipe and confirmed that Zwipe fulfils requirements for listing, subject to customary conditions, including distribution requirements and final formal approval from First North. Zwipe will not issue new shares in connection with the Firth North listing.
Currently Zwipe is listed on Merkur Market at Oslo Børs under the ticker "ZWIPE-ME". Following the listing at First North, Zwipe will be dual-listed and traded on both markets until further notice. The ISIN number of Zwipe at both exchanges is NO0010721277.
Swedish and international shareholders who wish to transfer their shares for trading on First North are advised to contact their respective broker/nominee account manager for more information on the transfer. Such transfer means that Zwipe shares must be made available for trading through Euroclear Sweden (the Swedish central securities depository). Zwipe intends to facilitate transfer to Euroclear Sweden for its international investors during dedicated periods of time.
Norwegian shareholders and other shareholders wishing to continue trading their shares at Merkur Market at Oslo Børs do not need to take any action at this time.
André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe says” I am excited that Nasdaq First North has confirmed that Zwipe fulfils the listing requirements, subject to customary conditions being met, and that I can announce the expected listing at First North in Stockholm on January 28, thereby enabling a market for trading closer to a number of our shareholders. Nasdaq First North is a dynamic and growing market, and we are very pleased to welcome our shareholders to trading at First North in addition to Merkur Market."
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For more information please contact:
André Løvestam, CEO; +47 909 43 660; ir@zwipe.com
This information is made public in accordance with the continuing obligation of companies admitted to trading on Merkur Market
On 4 December 2019 Zwipe AS announced its approved and published prospectus regarding rights issue.
Reference is made to the announcement made by Zwipe AS (the Company) on 10 November 2019 of the preferential rights issue of up to NOK 74.5 million by issuing up to 10,635,525 new shares in the Company, and the announcement of the approval by the extraordinary general meeting in the Company of the preferential rights issue on 2 December 2019.
The prospectus containing complete information regarding the rights issue and information about the Company was approved by the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (NFSA) as competent authority under the EU Prospectus Regulation on 4 December 2019. It is published on Zwipe AS' website https://zwipe.com/investors and on the manager Erik Penser Bank AB (publ)'s website https://www.penser.se/corporate-finance/#pagaende-uppdrag.
The prospectus has been border-crossed to Sweden through notification from the NFSA to Finansinspektionen in Sweden meaning that the subscription period under the rights issue started as planned in Norway and Sweden on Thursday 5 December 2019 at 09:00 CET.
Further recent announcements regarding the rights issue, appointment of new CFO and insider transactions are available on Zwipe’s web site www.zwipe.com
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OSLO, NORWAY– 21 November 2019 – Biometric technology company Zwipe is pleased to unveil the Zwipe Experience at Trustech 2019, one of the leading global events dedicated to payments, identification and security.
The Zwipe Experience is a comprehensive mix of products and advisory services developed specifically to assist Zwipe’s customers, smart card manufacturers and issuers, to move from concept to mass market. The package features technical manufacturing support, issuer integration services and piloting support.
“We are leveraging the learning we have built over the last two years, having the most widely piloted technology platform in the biometric payment marketplace, to support our customers above and beyond delivering prelaminates, components and biometric inlays,” Zwipe CEO André Løvestam said, adding “focusing on user experience, we are confident that having the most dynamic service platform in addition to the most cost competitive technology offering will further strengthen our role in this market.”
Zwipe will be showcasing elements of the Zwipe Experience at the Multos Consortium exhibition, stand RIV C020.
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OSLO, NORWAY– 18 November 2019 – The Board of Directors of Zwipe AS has today resolved to approve management’s proposal for a streamlining program, enabled by the strategic collaboration agreement with Idemia. The program will focus the company’s activities, reduce staff and operational expenses, and enable underlying annual savings in excess of NOK 40 million.
The program is expected to be fully implemented in November 2019 and related one-off costs will be included in the Q4 results. The effects are expected to be realized from first quarter of 2020.
CEO André Løvestam comments: ”The product roadmap streamlining that we are now launching has been made possible thanks to the strategic collaboration with Idemia on a disruptive technology platform. We believe this innovation is a game changer and a catalyst for growth in the industry.
The new platform will integrate and simplify component design, drastically reducing costs of the product itself and the manufacturing process. As a result, a complete biometric payment card cost of below USD 10 is becoming realistic, providing an accelerated path to mass volumes while giving Zwipe a long-term cost leadership position.
Zwipe’s streamlined roadmap enables simplifying and focusing the company, while maintaining competent capacity to support our customers. In combination with the announced 90% guaranteed rights issue, we see a clear path toward commercializing our technology, with the required capital resources to get to that point.”
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OSLO, NORWAY– 10 November 2019 – The Board of Directors of Zwipe AS has today resolved to call for an extraordinary general meeting in the company on 2 December 2019 to resolve a rights issue of up to approximately gross NOK 74 million. The call for the extraordinary general meeting is attached to this notice.
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