Esvagt’s Service Operation Vessel (SOV) business has become a focal point for the company in 2018, as the vessel owner and operator continues working on the optimisation of its core business areas and its finance took a hit by low activity in the oil and gas sector in 2017.
The company reported a profit after tax of DKK 43 million (approx. EUR 6 million) for 2017, compared to DKK 155 million (approx. EUR 21 million) in 2016, and a total revenue of DKK 867 (approx. EUR 116 million) – down from DKK 966 (approx. EUR 130 million) in 2016.
Esvagt refinanced all of its debt facilities just prior to the end of 2017 and raised a new capex facility to support expected growth in the company’s offshore wind activities .
Positive signs of improvement in the oil and gas market started to appear at the end of 2017, Esvagt said, with the activity in this sector expected to further increase during the first half of 2018, while the offshore wind market is growing fast and Esvagt’s presence in this market is increasing.
“Despite the challenging activity level in the oil and gas markets for the majority of 2017, we continued streamlining our various business areas to accommodate the reduced activity level, which contributed positively to our result,” said Kristian Ole Jakobsen , Esvagt’s interim CEO. “We will continue this optimization of our core business areas, and will focus on our performance within Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) in the offshore wind market in 2018 , where we expect further developments and growth.”
In December 2017, the company took delivery of its SOV Esvagt Mercator , increasing the total fleet to 43 vessels at the end of the year, five of which were offshore wind support vessels. In addition, two out of three vessels currently being built will be delivered during 2018.