Aker Solutions reported an upturn in earnings for a third quarter marked by its announcement of plans to merge with fellow Norwegian energy service firm Kvaerner.
The company also said in July that it would “spin off” its wind development and carbon capture and storage (CCS) businesses, creating two separate Oslo-listed entities.
This created “significant value” for shareholders and a one-off gain of £67 million for Aker Solutions in the quarter, the firm said today.
Orders totalled £590m during Q3, reflecting an upturn in business offshore Norway, and bringing Aker Solution’s backlog to £2.43 billion.
The company said project sanctioning activity increased after Norwegian authorities introduced temporary tax incentives for oil and gas firms in June.
New orders included a contract to deliver a subsea production system to ConocoPhillips for the Tommeliten Alpha development, which includes 10 subsea trees and associated equipment.
Aker Solutions also secured a contract from the same client to execute modifications to the Ekofisk platform to integrate the Tommeliten Alpha discovery.
Aker Solutions has also agreed to sell its ix3 software subsidiary to aiZe, a new company owned by Aker ASA, for £18.5m.
Aker ASA is a Norwegian holding company which owns 34.8% of Aker Solutions.
The sale means Aker Solutions will no longer have to fund the development of new software, saving it £4.2m a year in operating expenses.
Third quarter Ebitda totalled £78m, including gains related to the spin-offs of Aker Offshore Wind and Aker Carbon Capture, up from £46m in the same period last year.
Pre-tax profits rose to £43m from £12m, despite revenues falling to £460m from £590m as operators reduced activity levels due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lower oil prices.
Kjetel Digre, who was appointed chief executive officer of Aker Solutions on July 17, said Q3 had been a “transformational quarter” for the company.
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