The Spandow Family & Corporate Values

It has been almost 80 years since Else Widerøe founded the company Contact Service, from which the companies in Spabogruppen originate. Contact Service initially arranged secretary jobs for women in need of work post-World War II. This operation later evolved into a professional player in the temporary staffing industry. Else's son, Thor Spandow, took over the business in 1980. Under Thor's leadership, the company developed into Norsk Personal Gruppen, along with partner Lars B. Gjerde, which later became Olsten Personal Norden. This company was sold to Adecco in 2001.

At the time of the sale, the company was the second largest recruitment agency in the Nordic region, with an annual turnover of 2.1 billion NOK. After the sale to Adecco, Thor chose to reinvest parts of the profits into the family's real estate company, Spabo AS, which today consists of Spabo Eiendom AS and Spabo Næring AS, and a small accounting firm, which evolved into today's Amesto Group.

A few years ago, Spabogruppen underwent a generational shift, transitioning the business to the third generation: Arild, Jan, and Ariane Spandow.

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THE MIDDLE-BORN JOINED FIRST...

Jan Spandow joined the property business in 2001, and he has overseen the Spabo property company and its subsidiaries ever since. The company specialises in the rental of commercial premises and apartments in central locations in Oslo and Ålesund. Spabo has a substantial portfolio of commercial premises in Grünerløkka, Bislet, Tøyen, and Frogner. Spabo also owns properties abroad.

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FOLLOWED BY THE ELDEST...

Arild Spandow joined the division of the family company operating in the service industry, and, in 2002, the Amesto Group was established. Amesto delivers core business functions for clients across borders, combining deep expertise and technology in close, long-term partnerships. As a family-owned company, rooted in the Nordics, with global reach, we support sustainable and profitable operations over time.

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AND FINALLY, THE YOUNGEST...

Ariane Spandow join the group's business operations in 2012. Since then, she has worked to establish sustainable operations with a social perspective as the cornerstone of all companies in the group. In 2021, she became the chairman of Spabogruppen. She is passionate about sustainable businesses and she is also actively involved in growing Amesto Aces. Her goal is that all companies in the Group reflects a triple bottom line.

Spabogruppen is committed to sustainability and corporate social value. We incorporate the triple bottom line into our business strategy and assessing performance across People, Planet and Profit. We strive to achieve results in all three areas to tackle significant societal challenges.

Our focus on social responsibility is longstanding; we have been working with Creating social value for over a decade. Creating Shared Value.

Spabogruppen is committed to this concept through a set of guidelines for corporate social values, in key areas such as human rights, health, safety, and the environment, as well as anti-corruption. These guidelines are anchored in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO core conventions, and the OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises.

Additionally, Spabogruppen is committed to the UN Global Compact, which emphasizes the protection of human rights, labor rights, environmental sustainability, and anti-corruption measures. By integrating these principles into its business strategy, Spabogruppen aims to identify and address societal challenges, thereby gaining a competitive advantage and contributing to sustainable communities.

Here are some examples of Amesto initiatives:

Amesto Aces: What do you do when there is a screaming shortage of IT professionals, while Norway is full of young, smart adults who can't find jobs? You think differently and start Amesto Aces.

Providing IT talents with jobs is good business, not charity. At Amesto Aces, young adults receive 16 week of training to earn Microsoft and Salesforce certification, and ultimately a career in IT with one of our clients. We believe it's all about seeing past labels and backgrounds, and choosing abilities instead. e empower young individuals who have fallen out of the workforce by offering a 16-week training program for certification as Salesforce and Microsoft resources, with real work experience.

Amesto Footprint: We believe that there is a genuine will to implement more sustainable business models. We just need to help simplify the path to get there. Amesto Footprint offers a new digital solution that makes it easy for businesses to get started with their sustainability work. Our digital solution helps you understand which laws and regulations apply to your company. We use measurement, reporting, and advisory services to help you understand how to translate sustainability data into improved performance. In addition, we have a team of sustainability experts ready to advise and ensure quality throughout the process.

For us, profitability and sustainability are two sides of the same coin. We want to contribute to solving some of society's greatest challenges, such as climate and environment and social exclusion. At the same time, we must deliver solid financial results to ensure a strong and lasting foundation. This was the backdrop when we introduced the Triple Bottom Line as our new business strategy in 2020. In this way, we integrate ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) work into every part of our operations. The Triple Bottom Line is deeply embedded in our owners, leaders and employees and is part of our DNA.

In 2025, we delivered the second voluntary sustainability report for Spabogruppen, based on the reporting requirements of the VSME (the basic module), with selected additions from the comprehensive module and ESRS. Through last year's process, we learned how different the value chains of Spabo and Amesto are, and how differently they impact material sustainability areas. This led to the establishment of two separate processes for these group companies. The distinct nature of each business results in clear differences regarding relevant stakeholders and material ESG factors. Amesto Footprint is responsible for driving the sustainability agenda within the group. They lead the process to ensure operationalisation of the strategy and are responsible for coordinating and consolidating reporting across all group companies into one unified sustainability report for Spabogruppen. This includes compliance with the Norwegian Transparency Act, carbon accounting and sustainability reporting.

Updated reports for 2025 will be published on our websites by the end of June.

Thor Spandow, the founder of Spabogruppen, built a valuebased company. He had a strong passion for people, art and music. Throughout his career, he created numerous businesses and job opportunities both domestically and internationally.

Thor has had a successful career, with leadership roles in several major companies, including IBM and Varta. In 1980, he took over the company Contact Service from his mother and grew the company into one of the largest staffing agencies in the Nordic region. When the company was sold, he invested the proceeds in the family's real estate company, laying the foundation for the current Spabogruppen.

Each company, and each property, was regarded as a new entrepreneurial project. "We are not speculators; we are developers and administrators".

Thor passed away earlier this year, but his life motto "The balance of the mind and heart gives life the best chance" will continue to be part of our DNA.

Watch the movie about Thor.