Value of Investor AB’s investments rose during the second quarter.

• Investor AB rises after last year’s knockout

Investor AB, the Swedish publicly traded industrial holding firm controlled by the influential Wallenberg family, said Tuesday its second-quarter profit dropped to 797 million kronor ($106 million), from 16.8 billion kronor a year ago.

But its closely-watched net asset value rose 3.7 percent to 195 kronor a share on June 30 compared to three month ago, slightly beating market expectations.

"Core Investments had a positive contribution to net asset value in the second quarter, mainly driven by in Ericsson and AstraZeneca”, chief executive officer Börje Ekholm said, adding that ABB had the largest negative contribution.

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, the bank SEB, white goods maker Electrolux and the world leader in telecoms networks, Ericsson.

"In line with our strategy, we continue to increase our ownership in selected core investments when we find the valuation attractive from a long term perspective and when we are not restricted for one reason or another. We made purchases in Atlas Copco and Husqvarna during the second quarter when the market was under pressure", Börje Ekholm said.

Investor's shares have gained around 8.5 percent in the last year, compared with gains of around 30 percent for an index of the 40 largest Nordic companies.