Press Release

Annual Meeting of the Trustees of the Nobel Foundation

On Friday, April 27, the Trustees of the Nobel Foundation approved the 2006 financial statements of the Foundation:

On December 31, 2006, the market value of the Foundation's invested capital amounted to SEK 3,584 m. Total return on assets (growth in Foundation assets after adding back the year's disbursements) amounted to 2.9 per cent, down from 24.5 per cent in 2005.
Net assets, that is, the market value of equity calculated as invested capital at market value adjusted for other balance sheet items, declined by 0.3 per cent or SEK 9.5 m. The corresponding figures for 2005 were an increase of 20.7 per cent or SEK 607.6 m.
The value of the Foundation's share portfolio, which comprised 64 percent of the total portfolio at year-end, rose by 3.6 per cent during 2006. The annual average for the last five years' return on assets is 2.8 per cent, at the same level as a benchmark index. During the same period, the MSCI World Index showed an average annual increase of 1.0 per cent.
The return on the Foundation's bond portfolio during 2006 was 2.3 per cent, compared to 1.9 per cent for a benchmark index. The market value of this portfolio comprised 21 percent of the total portfolio at year-end.
The Foundation's book profit amounted to SEK 230.4 m.
The 2007 Nobel Prizes were set at SEK 10.0 m per Prize (Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace). The total amount of all five Nobel Prizes is SEK 50.0 m. In addition, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel will amount to SEK 10.0 m.

Stockholm, April 27, 2007

THE NOBEL FOUNDATION / Michael Sohlman, Executive Director