The action plan comprises necessary measures to focus on key business activities, reduce debt, and cut costs that offer the greatest potential for profitable growth. Under the plan, Aker BioMarine will not need to seek additional equity.
Aker BioMarine’s is still in a development phase. Operating revenues in the third quarter of 2008 before discontinued operations (Argentina/Faroe Islands/ Antarctic Navigator) were NOK 21 million; EBITDA was minus NOK 40 million. The corresponding third-quarter 2007 figures were NOK 23 million in operating revenues and EBITDA of minus NOK 29 million.
“We are moving in the right direction. The time it takes to establish profitable operations depends on how fast we are able to succeed in the market with our new dietary supplement products,” says CEO of Aker BioMarine Kjell Inge Røkke.
Aker BioMarine achieved a breakthrough in the third quarter of 2008: a new, cost-effective way to produce a dietary supplement for human health and wellbeing markets. Krill concentrate, which is rich in Omega-3 phospholipids, is produced on board the factory trawler Saga Sea. The new tablet-format product, which is in addition to Aker BioMarine’s SuperbaTM krill oil, will be sold through a cost-effective “direct-to-consumer” business model in the United States beginning in 1Q 2009 under the brand name RedOmega™.
The new krill production technology enables Aker BioMarine to operate with one krill factory trawler in near term, the company’s Saga Sea. As part of the increased focus of Aker BioMarine’s operations, the fisheries business in Argentina and the Faeroe Island is being spun off in a separate company. This fisheries company, Aker Ocean Harvest, will be sold to Aker BioMarine’s shareholders
“We are seeing through an action plan that will significantly reduce debt and costs. In 2009 the company’s annual operational expenses and interest payments are projected to be approximately 50 percent below the original business plan for next year,” says Mr Røkke.
