Derome
WINNER OF THE 2020 GOLDEN GAVEL – PRIVATE COMPANY
The jury’s announcement
Derome is Sweden’s largest family-owned trading and industrial company in the wood sector. Wood is the “green thread” running through the business, where forest becomes wood products, construction components, buildings and bioenergy. Since Karl-Eric Andersson took over the role of chair in 2017, this third-generation billionaire company has continued to develop and grow profitably.
Karl-Eric Andersson has been the driving force in the development of the board’s work and led the process of broadening the competence of the board. In addition to the family’s four representatives and three employee representatives, there are now also four external board directors. The work of the board is of high quality and a lot of time is focused on strategic issues and investment decisions. The board analyses all decisions based on the “Smart Chain Principle”, where the different parts of the business are to cross-fertilise in different ways and contribute to the whole.
Karl-Eric Andersson has a high level of integrity but is unpretentious and embodies the Derome Group’s core values of drive, simplicity, responsibility and long-term thinking. He has built up his competence and experience over more than 25 years in various management positions within the Group. His delegation to the heads of the Group’s subsidiaries is far-reaching and in his role as chair he is an excellent mentor to those who report to him. Karl-Eric is a very attentive listener and very good at summarising everyone’s opinions into proposals that can then be decided upon collectively by the board. Karl-Eric Andersson fulfils the role of chair of a large family-owned company in an exemplary manner.
Fact file
Karl-Eric Andersson
Chair of the Board of Derome
Educational background
Construction engineer
Other current directorships
Chair of the Board of a number of companies, including Fastighets AB Kvartsen 5, Snöstorp Fastighets AB and DBT Fastigheter Malmö AB. Other board memberships include Varbergshägern Fastighets AB.
About the company
Company name
Derome
Domicile
Varberg, Sverige
Derome is a family business that is constantly developing. When Karl Andersson, from Derome in the Swedish county of Halland, invested everything he owned in a village saw in 1946, he started the company that is today Derome AB. Karl’s four sons, and subsequently their children, have invested and continued their commitment to developing the business further. Today, the Derome Group is Sweden’s largest family-owned wood company and a business with good profitability that continues to develop and grow.
Derome Aktiebolag is the parent company of a group of subsidiaries which operate in three different business areas: Derome Timber AB, (timber and sawmills), Derome Byggvaror & Trä teknik AB, (building materials and wood technology), and Derome Hus AB (production of finished buildings).
The Group runs its trade and industrial operations in the wood sector adding value through the production chain “from forest to finished buildings”.
| Key figures | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| Turnover (MSEK) | 5499 | 6793 | 7255 | 7670 |
| Profit before financial items (MSEK) | 410 | 627 | 586 | 456 |
| Number of employees | 1459 | 1752 | 1894 | 2024 |
