After two profit warnings last month, AKVA group did not expect good results. Q419 delivered a net loss of EUR 8.5 million, related to losses in the company’s land-based farming operations.
The company’s EBITDA in the fourth quarter was EUR -4 million after a turnover of EUR 65 million, according to a stock exchange announcement from the aquaculture tech company on Friday.
The company did post a record-high order intake with the year settled with an order intake of EUR 114 million and a total order book of EUR 233 million.
The company’s board of directors wrote that a dividend of 1.00 NOK per share is to be paid in March 2020.
Cage-based technology provided the bulk of this. In the fourth quarter, 80 per cent of the turnover came from it.
“2019 ended with a challenging quarter with several unexpected items affecting earnings significantly. Specifically for the Land Based segment, the identification of recent irregularities in accounting uncovered losses not reflected in the P&L. None of these irregularities affects the order book which is at record heights, and a review has been done within Land Based to ensure that the order book includes projects with normal margin expectation,” wrote AKVA.
It added that looking forward, a strategy process has been initiated which, amongst others, include a more focused effort on full grow-out RAS facilities.
