AKVA revenues, profits hit by Covid and cyber-attack

Aquaculture technology group AKVA has reported Q3 revenues for 2021 down by 8% year on year, with net profit down 22%. Europe and the Middle East (outside the Nordics) and the group’s land-based business were among the few bright spots.

The company said the major cyber-attack in January of this year had a negative effect, as had the travel restrictions imposed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, which made it difficult to move employees between countries. The curbs on travel have now been largely lifted, the company added, and the order book is looking strong.

Revenue for Q3 was NOK 738m (£64m) (Q3 2020: NOK 806m/£69.9m), while EBITDA decreased from NOK 105m (£9.1m) in Q3 2020 to NOK 79m (£6.8m) in Q3 2021. Net profit decreased from NOK 36m (£3.1m) last year to NOK 14m (£1.2m) in Q3 2021.

For AKVA’s Sea Based Technology (SBT) division, revenue for Q3 2021 ended at NOK 603m (£52.3) (Q3 2020: NOK 694m/£60.2m). EBITDA and EBIT for the segment in Q3 ended at NOK 70m (£6.1m) (Q3 2020: NOK100m/£8.7m) and NOK 29m (£2.5m) (Q3 2020: NOK 60m/£5.2m), respectively. The related EBITDA and EBIT margins were 11.6% (Q3 2020: 14.4%) and 4.7% (Q3 2020; 8.6%), respectively.

Order intake for the division in Q3 2021 was NOK 563m (£46.8m), up 0.7% on Q3 2020.

Revenue in the Nordic region ended at NOK 338m (£29.3m), down 23.9%; in the Americas region, revenue was NOK 140m (£12.1m), down 25.1%, and for Europe and Middle East (EME) it was NOK 125m (£10.8m), up by 98%.

The Land Based Technology (LBT) division reported revenues for the quarter of NOK 115m (£10m), up 19.8% on Q3 2020. EBITDA was NOK 7m (£606,784m), from zero in Q3 2020.

AKVA’s Digital division saw revenue up 25% to NOK 20m (£1.7m) with EBITDA slightly down at NOK 3m (£260,026), from NOK 5m (£433,335).

No dividends were paid for the quarter. The company said: “Despite a challenging first half year of 2021 with negative effects from both the cyber-attack and the Covid-19 restrictions the long-term fundamentals remain unchanged… the Group is fully financed to execute on the organic growth strategy.”

Earlier this month the Group announced a partnership with a new strategic investor, Israel Corp, which has invested NOK 636.9m (£55.2m) in AKVA.