Aker Solutions remains positive despite loss

Aker Solutions has seen red in the second-quarter 2020, as revenue dropped some 29 per cent and restructuring charges affected the company’s bottom line.

The Norwegian services player booked Q2 2020 loss of NOK 171 million, against loss of NOK 11 million in the prior-year comparable period.

This came down to loss per share of NOK 0.65, against NOK 0.11 a year earlier.

The company generated revenue of NOK 5.4 billion, against NOK 7.5 billion in the second quarter 2019.

Revenue fell as operators reduced activity level due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lower oil prices, Aker Solutions noted.

However, order intake in the second quarter rose to NOK 7 billion from NOK 3.8 billion.

“Despite challenging conditions on an unprecedented scale, we managed to keep productivity up and complete key deliveries to our clients.

“We continue to see demand for studies and front-end work for larger and more complex projects, related to both our traditional oil and gas market and our renewables business.”

The company reported order backlog of NOK 26.9 billion compared with NOK 29.5 billion at the end of Q2 2019.

It also recognised second quarter restructuring charges of NOK 117 million, mainly related to additional right-sizing of the organization.

The first half of 2020 saw Aker Solutions book loss of NOK 901 million, against profit of NOK 137 million.

Revenue in the 1H 2020 fell from NOK 14.9 billion a year-ago at NOK 11.9 billion.

“For the second half of the year, we are cautiously optimistic about an improved outlook for project sanctioning, supported by government measures to boost activity and more stable commodity prices,” said Araujo.

The company expects home market and the low-carbon agenda to drive the activity in the second half of 2020.

In total, Aker Solutions sees overall revenue at around 21-22 billion in 2020.