Major exporter Seaborn saw zero growth in sales and a heavy fall in profits from 2020 to 2019.
According to its annual report, the company pulled in 70 per-cent of its sales revenue from the European Union last year. However, sales revenues showed a flatline development, with operating costs rising by EUR 7.4 million. Operating profit was down 31.7 per-cent.
Operating margin ended at a fairly modest 0.9 per-cent.
“By far the biggest reason for the decline in profits is the ongoing pandemic, which has resulted in a number of services which the company relies significantly more expensive, and, to a lesser extent, available. This is especially true for transportation services and credit insurance,” the company wrote in its annual report.
“In addition, demand for the company’s products has been greatly reduced for several key customer segments, such as the cruise industry. It is expected that the negative effects from the pandemic will gradually decrease during 2021,” added Seaborn.
Seaborn has 47 employees. The Bergen-based (Norway), exporter has set aside EUR 2.3 million in dividends, up from EUR 1.5 million last year.
Book equity was EUR 19.5 million at year-end.
