Welcome to Iceland Guest - Your Online Travel Guide.

Iceland Guest is an information website for your travel to Iceland. On this site you can get all the tourist information you need for your vacation in Iceland. We hope that you will find this online travel guide useful in planning your holidays in Iceland.

About Iceland
Iceland is a refreshingly unconventional travel destination. The Icelandic nature is unspoilt, exotic and mystical with its spouting geysers, active volcanoes, tumbling waterfalls, towering mountains, vast lava plains and magical lakes. Iceland’s fjords, glaciers and highland plains present visitors with some of the most beautiful and enchanting places they will ever see, as well as a rare feeling of utter tranquillity.

For travelers on a quest for action, Iceland’s pristine nature offers great potential for outdoor activities such as snowmobiling, horse riding, cave exploring, hiking, swimming, skiing, river rafting, kayaking and mountain safaris on modified four-wheel drives, to name but a few. Iceland supports a surprisingly diverse Nordic flora and fauna and is an ideal place for ornithology enthusiasts, while also offering some of the world’s best whale watching destinations.

About Reykjavik
Reykjavík sometimes feels like a cosmopolitan capital and a tiny seaside village - all wrapped up in one. But Reykjavík has the best of both worlds; the qualities of a modern, forward-looking society complemented by a close connection to Iceland‚s beautiful and unspoilt nature.

Reykjavík’s legendary nightlife is bolstered by plentiful cultural and social happenings in addition to an abundance of first-class restaurants. The size of Reykjavik city centre is also limited enough to allow for easy navigation by foot. Reykjavík has been described as a young and daring city that is characterized by strong contrasts. Conveniently small, clean and safe, it is more or less free from the major problems that haunt many other capitals. Big city events are frequent, the winter lights festival finished recently with thousands of participants and more tourist at this time of the year than we are used to.

in Focus

26.4.2007

Iceland's Financial Group Exista Announces Record profits

Exista Today the financial services group Exista Ltd. published its reviewed interim financial statements for the first three months of the year 2007. In accordance with the announcements made by the Group in its last report of operating results, dated 8 February 2007, the following changes have been made in Exista's accounting methods as of the beginning of the calendar year:

Strategic investments in financial companies - that is, in Sampo Group and Kaupthing Bank - will henceforth be accounted for by equity method.
The Board of Directors of Exista has decided to utilise an authorisation to present its financial statements in euros beginning with the first quarter of 2007.

According to the interim financial statements for the first quarter of 2007, the primary results for the period are as follows:

Profit EUR 641 million after tax
Earnings per share EUR 0.06
Annualised return on equity 112.8%
Operating profit from investment businesses EUR 467 million after tax
Operating profit from operating businesses EUR 174 million after tax
Total assets EUR 6.76 billion at the end of March 2007, an increase of 54%during the period
Equity EUR 2.64 billion at the end of March, an increase of 39% since the beginning of the year
Funding in the first quarter totalled EUR 1.67 billion
Equity ratio 39.1% as of 31 March 2007

Lýdur Gudmundsson, Executive Chairman

"Exista's Performance was extremely sound during the first quarter. In some ways, today's report marks a turning point for the Group. Recording our long-term holdings in Kaupthing Bank and Sampo using the equity method further highlights the importance of financial services in our revenue generation and strengthens our revenue base. It is also a logical step for us to carry out our accounting in euros, as Exista operates in international markets. The overall operation of the Group is going well, and the outlook is generally positive for our strategic holdings. We will continue to build on our solid foundations, with the AIM of securing strong long-term returns for our shareholders”.

Further Information
For further information on the Group's interim accounts, please contact: Sigurdur Nordal Managing Director of Group Communications, tel: +354 550 8620 or e-mail ir@exista.com.

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