Industry update News Management
COVID, cyber attack clip AKVA earnings

Aquaculture technology provider, AKVA group said its 2021 third quarter revenues were pulled down by as much as 8 per cent compared to the same period last year, and net profits dived by 22 per cent dues to the negative impact of a major cyber attack and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company, however said, that its “long-term fundamentals remain unchanged” and expressed optimism that its land-based projects will “facilitate the organic growth” of that segment.

A report from the company indicated that  AKVA revenue for Q3 was NOK 738 million (US$86.7 million) (Q3 2020: NOK 806 million/$94.7 million. Earning before interest, taxes and depreciations (EBITDA) decreased from NOK 105 million ($12.3 million) in Q3 2020 to NOK 79 million ($9.2 million) in Q3 2021. Net profit decreased from NOK 36 million ($4.2 million) last year to NOK 14 million ($1.6 million) in Q3 2021.

“The COVID-19 restrictions had negative impact on the operations during the first half year of 2021. The negative implications were mainly related to travel restrictions and use of foreign workforce in ongoing operations,” a press release from the company said.

Back in May this year, AKVA also reported that a cyber attack on its computer systems cost the company  a total of NOK49.7 million, roughly equivalent to $6 million.

The revenue of AKVA’s Sea Based Technology (SBT) division, revenue for Q3 2021 was NOK 603 million ($70.8 million), down from NOK 694 million/$81.5 million for the same period last year.

By contrast, the company’s Land Based Technology (LBT) division posted NOK 115 million ($13.5 million) up 19.8 per cent from Q3 2020.

AKVA’s Digital division also saw revenue go up 25 per cent to NOK 20m ($2.3 million) with EBITDA slightly down at NOK 3 million ($353,000), from NOK 5 million ($587,000).