In 2001, Bergman & Beving split itself in three. One of its daughters, Addtech, listed eight days before 9/11 with fifty subsidiaries, a nine-person head office and a telecom crash already under way. Twenty-five years later it runs more than 150 companies and sells about SEK 23 billion a year. This episode is about the number behind that growth: profit over working capital, with a 45% minimum for every subsidiary. We look at how the ratio works, why Addtech runs above 80% while its parent runs at 36% on the same target, and how one number decides what Addtech buys. We also cover how the model survived the telecom crash, the financial crisis and a ransomware attack that hit 80 of its companies. This is part of our Nordic serial acquirers season; previous episodes include:

• Bergman & Beving: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/operational-velocity/id1896906148?i=1000798294775
• Lifco: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/operational-velocity/id1896906148?i=1000792128368

Sources

• Addtech Annual Report 2001/02: https://www.addtech.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Arsredovisningar/annual-report-01-02.pdf
• Addtech Annual Report 2009/10: https://www.addtech.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Arsredovisningar/annual-report-09-10.pdf
• Addtech Annual Report 2025/26: https://www.addtech.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Arsredovisningar/Addtech-Annual-Report-25-26.pdf
• Addtech Year-end Report 2025/26: https://mb.cision.com/Main/3619/4347027/4102743.pdf
• Addtech Interim Report Q2 2026/27 (22 Oct 2026): https://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2026-10/69903043-addtech-ab-interim-report-q2-1-april-30-september-2026-399.htm
• Addtech, Our history: https://www.addtech.com/this-is-addtech/our-history
• Addtech, Overarching targets: https://www.addtech.com/this-is-addtech/overarching-targets
• Addtech, Six business areas (press release, 25 Sep 2025): https://www.inderes.fi/en/releases/addtech-strengthens-the-organisation-for-future-growth
• Truesec, Addtech ransomware case study: https://www.truesec.com/cases/addtech-saved-after-a-massive-ransomware-attack
• Bergman & Beving, Annual Report 2025/26: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/investors/annual-report-2025-2026
• Skatteverket, 2001 distribution of Addtech and Lagercrantz shares: https://skatteverket.se/privat/skatter/vardepapper/aktiehistorik/l/lagercrantzgroup.4.1e92a90109fb231bdf8000909.html

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Operational Velocity is for education and general information only and is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. The views expressed are the host's own, the company and figures discussed are drawn from public sources believed reliable but not guaranteed, and you should do your own research and consult a qualified professional before making any decision.

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Meet the grandfather of Nordic serial acquirers, Bergman and Beving. Before Addtech, Lagercrantz, AddLife and Momentum Group, there was one Swedish technical trading house, founded in Norrköping in 1906 by two engineers, Arvid Bergman and Fritz Beving. In the spring of 1981, its CFO Anders Börjesson and his colleague Torsten Fardell wrote down a single ratio: operating profit over working capital (P/WC). Business units below a 45 percent threshold got no growth capital. Forty-five years later, that number still shapes how a family of six listed companies allocates capital.

This episode opens our Nordic serial acquirers season. We cover:

• 120 years of history, from Karlsruhe classmates to Nasdaq Stockholm
• How the group is structured, with roughly ten people at head office
• The operating philosophy: P/WC, the three-tier Focus Model and the internal Business School
• Every spin-off: Addtech and Lagercrantz (2001), AddLife (2016), Momentum Group (2017), Alligo and the new Momentum Group (2022)
• The B&B TOOLS centralisation of 2007–2012, the 2008 stress test and the turnaround
• Bergman & Beving today, and whether an operating system survives its architect

Sources

• 120 years of structural discipline: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years
• 1906 – Foundation: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years/1906
• 1936 – Decentralisation formalised: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years/1936
• 1976 – Public listing: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years/1976
• Late 1970s–1980s – Profit over working capital: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years/late-1970s-1980s
• 1967–2000 – Structured acquisition: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years/1967-2000
• 2001 – Structural separation: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years/2001
• 2008 – Stress test: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years/2008
• 2012–2017 – Return to core principles: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years/2012-2017
• 2021–Present – Refinement: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/120-years/2021-present
• Financial Report 1 April 2025–31 March 2026: https://storage.mfn.se/d1da91c4-3082-48c5-ad2a-d5f0a59e076e/20260513-bergman-beving-bokslutskommunike-1-april-2025-31-mars-2026.pdf
• Interim Report 1 April–30 June 2026: https://bergmanbeving.com/en/press-releases/bergman-and-bevings-interim-report-1-april-30-june-2026
• Affärsvärlden – Bergman & Beving: Rätt rustade: https://www.affarsvarlden.se/analys/bergman-beving-ratt-rustade
• Affärsvärlden – Bättre tider väntar: https://www.affarsvarlden.se/artikel/battre-tider-vantar-6702324
• Affärsvärlden – Ny tillväxtfas hägrar i Bergman & Beving: https://www.affarsvarlden.se/analys/ny-tillvaxtfas-hagrar-i-bergman-beving

Operational Velocity is for education and general information only and is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. The views expressed are the host's own, the company and figures discussed are drawn from public sources believed reliable but not guaranteed, and you should do your own research and consult a qualified professional before making any decision.

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In 2011, Brad Jacobs bought control of a $158 million Michigan-based logistics company at approx. $7 a share. Fifteen years later, that one share has become three NYSE companies: XPO, GXO and RXO. This episode tells the XPO story as a logistics story, not a deal story. We map every freight mode Jacobs bought into, from brokerage and LTL to intermodal, last mile and contract logistics. Then we follow the Norbert Dentressangle and Con-way deals, the technology-led integration, the spin-offs, and what was left standing: a 300-terminal LTL network with more than 30% spare door capacity by design, its own trailer factory, insourced linehaul, and a record 79.9% operating ratio. Why Jacobs chose a public vehicle. How the exit worked without a sale. Why the asset-heavy piece won. And whether the operating system survives its architect.

Sources

• XPO Form 10-K FY2025 (filed 5 Feb 2026): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1166003/000116600326000016/xpo-20251231.htm
• XPO Form 10-K FY2022: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1166003/000116600323000017/xpo-20221231.htm
• XPO Q4 and FY2019 results: https://investors.xpo.com/news-releases/news-release-details/xpo-logistics-announces-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2019
• GXO Form S-3ASR (spin-off details): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1852244/000110465921111674/tm2124819-1_s3asr.htm
• XPO completes RXO spin-off, 1 Nov 2022: https://news.xpo.com/2854/xpo-completes-spin-off-of-rxo/
• XPO Q2 2026 results: https://investors.xpo.com/news-releases/news-release-details/xpo-reports-second-quarter-2026-results
• Jacobs Private Equity: https://www.jpe.com/
• DC Velocity, "The big bet of Brad Jacobs" (2012): https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/25771-the-big-bet-of-brad-jacobs

Operational Velocity is for education and general information only and is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice, and nothing in it is a recommendation to buy or sell any security. The views expressed are the host's own, the company and figures discussed are drawn from public sources believed reliable but not guaranteed, and you should do your own research and consult a qualified professional before making any decision.