Today, 29th April 2021, Henrik Badin held an online presentation about Vow ASA first quarter of 2021. The company is keeping up the pace and has positive development.
Vow ASA again reported strong performance in its Projects Cruise business in the first quarter this year, and it announced important partnerships for industry decarbonisation with leading landbased industrial groups. The order backlog remains solid at NOK 969 million. The aftersales business, meanwhile, continued to be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Group revenues in the first quarter of 2021 came in at NOK 92.7 million, which is NOK 23.4 million less than first quarter last year. The change is mainly a result of the slow-down in Aftersales related to cruise ships being docked as a consequence of Covid-19. This segment would in a normal year have represented around NOK 25-30 million higher revenues in the quarter.
EBITDA before non-recurring items was NOK 10.2 million, down from NOK 14.0 million in the same period last year, mainly explained by the decline in EBITDA in Aftersales, and high activity in Landbased related to commissioning of systems and process integration with the aim of meeting current customers’ demand for industry scale solutions.
The order backlog currently stands at NOK 969 million, including orders won in April, up from NOK 952 million at year-end, and from NOK 975 million at the end of the first quarter last year. In addition to the firm backlog, shipowners have placed options on the newbuild series being equipped with Scanship systems amounting to NOK 665 million in likely future revenues related to the Projects Cruise segment.
“Our performance in the Projects Cruise business is remarkable, as is the cruise operators’ commitment to renew and upgrade their fleets to new environmental standards. We have signed three new contracts for newbuilds and retrofits so far this year, and in Aftersales we are seeing signs of increased activity”, said Henrik Badin, CEO of Vow ASA.
He further says “First quarter 2021 will also be remembered for our launch of Vow Green Metals, a new company which will offer decarbonising as a service. The company will be spun off to Vow’s shareholders, with Vow itself retaining 30.5 percent ownership”
During the quarter, Vow successfully completed a private placement raising gross proceeds of NOK 230 million. Parts of the proceeds will be used as initial funding of Vow Green Metals. Vow Green Metals is planning to build a full-scale facility for production of biocarbon and CO2 neutral energy based on Vow technology at Follum in Eastern Norway. Vow Green Metals will be an important customer for Vow’s Landbased business going forward.
