“Everyone has a plan until they get hit” the chief executive of Wallenberg’s powerful holding company recites Mike Tyson as the company swings to profit.

• Investor AB acquires Saab
• Large Swedish enterprises on the way up

Investor AB, the Swedish publicly traded industrial holding firm controlled by the influential Wallenberg family, said Wednesday that its net asset value rose 5 percent to 150.3 billion kronor ($21.09 billion) at the end of the first quarter compared to the end of 2009.

"We continue to have a strong financial position allowing us to act on opportunities to acquire new companies, add to existing positions and support our companies in embarking on new growth avenues," chief executive officer Börje Ekholm said in a statement.

Net profit amounted to 7.51 billion kronor, compared with a loss of 3 billion kronor a year earlier.

The company's performance is considered a reliable indicator of the state of the Swedish economy as it has stakes in nearly all of Sweden's major companies. Among Investor's main holdings are Swiss-Swedish engineering group ABB, Swedish bank SEB, white goods maker Electrolux and the world leader in telecoms networks, Ericsson.

“A quote from Mike Tyson in the Wall Street Journal a few years back captures the situation our companies faced: “Everyone has a plan until they get hit”. It is all about how you adjust and I must say that all companies did this really well”, Börje Ekholm said.

Investor AB was founded almost one hundred years ago by the prominent Swedish Wallenberg family, today renowned as bankers, industrialists, politicians, diplomats and philanthropists.