Dear colleagues,
Many of you can be welcomed back after a well-deserved summer vacation. I hope you have had the opportunity to relax, and to experience nice days with family and friends. Work-life balance is important for all of us. I enjoyed some great days off with friends and family.
It feels however very good to come back to the office, both seeing the strong finish of the first half year, especially knowing that this is the result of our long-term product and customer focus across all functions and divisions, but I am also very much looking forward to some exiting coming months.
It gives me a massive motivation boost, and I would like to thank all of you for your excellent and solid effort! We have great deliveries throughout the whole value chain. We have a unique position in the market and the most impressive competence in our industry. The fact that we represent different business areas, in various parts of the world, makes us only stronger and more powerful.
As mentioned, we truly had a strong finish in the 1st half year. After several months of uncertainty related to the resource tax in Norway, resulting in lower order inflow than planned, it is very comforting to see the way we have maneuvered through this challenging time. It has been key to stay close to our customers, providing first-class service, pushing deliveries and being cost-conscious.
In the first six months, the Group delivered revenues of 1.7 BNOK, +322 MNOK higher than last year and +160 MNOK above budget, with a corresponding result (EBITDA) of 145 MNOK, +35 MNOK and +49 MNOK above last year and budget respectively. The positive variance compared to the budget is a result of superior performance in all divisions. This gives us an EBITDA margin of 8.2 %, which is 0,6 %-points higher than last year, but still somewhat below our long-term target of 10 %.
In June, the Group achieved all-time high order inflow, driven by good sales in both Seabased and Moen Marin. Maskon had as expected a quieter month. The total order inflow (new orders) for the Group were 700+ MNOK, pushing the order backlog to almost 2 BNOK (Norwegian kroner).
However, as we still do not know if the positive result in the last months is a ketchup-effect from a year of holding back on investments, or if it will continue on this level, we need to continue our strong operational focus going forward.
Looking ahead, AquaNor is coming up in a few weeks and we have a lot to promote from all our divisions.
AquaNor is the most important international meeting place for our industry, and it is the world’s largest aquaculture technology exhibition. In recent years, the Aqua Nor exhibition has drawn about 25,000 visitors from up to 76 nations to Trondheim. All the latest products will be presented here, and I am proud to say that we have some exiting launches to present.
Our main launches at AquaNor are the semi-closed Vortex system and the Subsea system, but there will be a lot of other exiting activities, events and customer meetings. Here we will show the aquaculture world that we are the leading preferred partner providing high-quality products and services.
We have a mission we can be proud of. We provide innovation, technology and equipment to the aquaculture industry globally that will help ensure increased food production from the sea.
We will continue to lead the way in developing and providing sustainable technologies – this is a priority for us going forward.
Very welcome to an exciting second half of 2023 – I am really fired up and ready to go with the world’s best team!
Geir Myklebust
Chief Executive Officer, ScaleAQ Group
Picture: Geir together with our great summer students, from left:
Kine Kringen, Emilie Christine Moan, Maija Elvira Lind, Janne Fagerli Isaksen, Isabella Gutierrez and Paula Barco