Abba’s problems exaggerated, says manager

Press, 24 September 1983, Page 22

Abba’s problems exaggerated, says manager

By I

Harald Offerdal

in Stockholm

News of Abba’s financial demise is greatly, exaggerated, says Mr Stig “Stikkan” Anderson, manager of the Swedish pop music super group. In an exclusive interview, Mr Anderson and Mr Stig Engquist, managing director of Polar Music Invest, the main company in the Abba business empire, denied suggestions that the empire is in danger of collapse. However, Mr Anderson admitted that the group and associated companies lost considerable amounts of money speculating on the international oil spot market — "About £3 million (SNZ6.9I6M) in 1979 and a smaller amount last year... All in all, some £ 4M ($9.221M) to £SM ($11.526M).” But, as he quickly pointed out, losses on this scale seem fairly insignificant when taken against Abba’s profits over the years.

For the first time in a high-flying career which took off when the group won the European Song contest in Brighton in 1974, Mr Anderson also revealed the extent of Abba’s wealth. By the latest count, he says, Abba netted between 500 and 600 million Swedish kroner (SNZ9BM to $118M) on their music alone, with an estimate of 180 million records and cassettes sold world wide.

The financial difficulties, which triggered international headlines, lie with Kuben AB, one of four Abba associated companies quoted on the Stockholm stock exchange. And Kuben, Mr Anderson emphasises, is only a small part of the business empire. The empire is headed by a holding company, Polar

Music Invest, in which Anderson and his family hold an 18 per cent stake. The Abba men, Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Anderson hold 5 per cent each and Agnetha Faltskog 2 per cent. London-based AnniFrid Lyngstad has sold her interest.

P.M.I. controls a financial division in Infina (50 per cent ownership), a property division, Stockholms Badhuf (44 per cent) and an industrial division, Kuben (26 per cent). All are quoted companies.

Although not denying the recent hiccups in Kuben, Mr Engquist says the over-all structure is as sound as ever, quoting P.M.I. figures which show a taxable equity of 200 million Swedish kroner (about S39M) and a reserve of some 100 million kroner ($19.6M). “In themselves, these figures should be enough to give the lie to all the tales of Abba being on the brink of bankruptcy. At book value their P.M.I. invest-

ment in Kuben is worth 12 million kroner ($2.35M), or just about 5 per cent,” says * Mr Engquist * Adds Mr Anderson: » “People are asking where * the profits have gone. The * answer is threefold: They f have created personal for- * tunes, the extent of which I won’t divulge; they have created a fortune in P.M.I. / and the rest has gone in J taxes. Remember that we J are still living in Sweden, J one of the most highly taxed ) countries in the world. / “To create personal for- y tunes In tax havens is easy. ; The fact that we have managed to do so in Sweden | alone seems to me to indi- » cate that our business deci- * sions have been far from ’J misguided.” * Anni-Frid Lyngstad, the ? Abba woman now living in > London, he says, did not sell ? her share in the pop group’s | Swedish empire because she V was dissatisfied with busi- j ness decisions. 4 “This is another misun- S derstanding. The fact is that , under Swedish law she was X no longer allowed to keep J the shareholding, once she X decided to settle in Eng- 3 land.” There have been hiccups, Mr Anderson admits, but j Abba remains on the golden ; road where it intends to j stay.