AKVA orders up but profit down in 2019
Aquaculture equipment supplier AKVA group had an order intake of NOK 4.014 billion (£313m) last year, up from NOK 2.55bn in 2018.
Revenue was up 19% to NOK 3.077bn compared to 2018, although net profit fell to NOK 17m from NOK 89m the year before.
AKVA’s order book at the end of 2019 was worth nearly NOK 2.3bn, the company said in its 2019 annual report, published today.
Highlights for AKVA, which operates throughout the world, included a US$10m-plus feed barge contract agreed with Chilean salmon farmer Australis, and a significant order for a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) facility, to be delivered under a co-operation agreement with Canadian salmon farmer Cooke Aquaculture.
Project execution
Writing in the report, chief executive Knut Nesse said significant milestones had been achieved, but also pointed to areas for improvement after it was revealed in AKVA’s Q4 2019 report that cost overruns for RAS projects had been higher than first thought.
“Our project execution capabilities have not been at the highest standards – improvement initiatives are, and will be in focus going forward within the areas of project management as well as learning and development,” said Nesse.
Step up efforts
He continued: “As AKVA group is operating in a very attractive industry, with increasing focus on costs, technology, sustainability, fish welfare as well as improved and new farming methods, I strongly believe that AKVA group has a unique position that can yield profitable growth for the future.
“To obtain such we will step up our efforts within innovation, in partnership with our customers – our position needs to be deserved.”
AI feed system
One success is a partnership first developed between AKVA’s Inverness office and UK-based Observe Technologies to develop an artificial intelligence-based feed optimisation system, AKVA Observe.
Nesse wrote: “The solution is in rapid development with new features in fish health monitoring and biomass calculation in the pipeline and the interest from customers has been overwhelming having resulted in rapid uptake with successful implementations at over 30 farms in Norway, Chile, Canada, Scotland and Australia.”
