Prime Time

Foto: Anders Cserkuti

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who is on tour in Sweden, visited AdLibris's warehouse in Morgongåva this week.  His visit highlights a business that is growing, despite a challenged economy.

In the first quarter of 2009, online bookstore AdLibris had sales of nearly 25 percent over the same period last year. AdLibris sells 3.5 million books annually throughout the Nordic region. In November, the company recruited 20 people, and this year, they expect to have a turnover of one billion kronor.

"It is important to ensure that there are companies which, despite the bad times, are growing and employing people," said Fredrik Reinfeldt to the magazine Svensk Bokhandel. "Our sense of crisis and decline is very much characterized by who you stand next to—when it's bad for them, you believe that it's the same for everyone else."

Reinfeldt was shown around the premises, spoke to staff and got the opportunity to wrap a book package himself.

AdLibris CEO Pär Svärdson expects to employ ten new staff in the autumn, and was pleased with the government's role in facilitating the hiring of temporary staff.