The consolidated accounts for Blue Water Holding for 2018 show a profit of EUR 1.3m before tax. This means the company has improved its bottom line by over EUR 13m compared to 2017. There is also a growth in turnover of EUR 50m – with a final turnover of 748m.
“We are very satisfied that we during the past year have turned around operations and again deliver steady progress and profit in our business. We are, however, not satisfied with the result for 2018”, states Søren Nørgaard Thomsen, who took over as CEO in February last year.
Among other reasons, the modest profit is due to a negative influence in 2018 from investments and changes of EUR 4m, in the Danish and Nordic activities. In addition, the ongoing IT strategy, which reduces the number of systems, had a negative effect of just above EUR 3m on the accounts.
”The first months of 2018 did not live up to expectations, and this has heavily affected our overall annual result in a negative way. In 2018, we have concentrated our efforts on implementing a series of initiatives – including increased focus on streamlining our processes and work routines as well as an improved structuring of our business. And these initiatives have continuously generated improvements”.
A good start to 2019
”The positive development has continued into 2019. We have a high level of activity in the different business segments, which means that we in the first quarter on group-wide level is a little ahead of the budget. This year, we expect a record profit of approx. EUR 13m”, says Søren Nørgaard Thomsen.
The significant expectations to 2019 are based on improvements in the core business areas as well as earnings from the giant contracts for the oil consortium TCO, in which the biggest partners are Chevron and ExxonMobil. Blue Water is responsible for the transport of approx. 300 modules, weighing up to 1,800 tons, to the Caspian Sea in connection with the development of the Tengiz Oil Field. The transports commenced in 2018 and will continue until 2020 - 2019 being the year with the highest activity.
Basically, it can be established that there is a strong demand in the market for our service and expertise. We have a strong brand – both in terms of traditional road, sea and air freight and complex transport and logistics solutions for the Oil and Energy sector, among others, where we due to the TCO contracts have a significantly stronger position now than we had only a few years ago. And this we shall turn to our advantage in the years to come”, says Søren Nørgaard Thomsen.
Strong foundation
Blue Water’s Founder and Executive Chairman also looks forward to a strong, positive development in the years ahead.
”Blue Water is a complex business with many business areas and activities around the world. A series of big investments combined with unstable markets have given rise to challenges during the past two to three years. We have, however, recovered a strong foundation for our present and future business, and this brings confidence in the years ahead where we, with focus on a sound operation, shall strengthen our position in the market”, says Kurt Skov.
Søren Nørgaard Thomsen