Operational improvement in a challenging market

(Hareid, 26 February 2010): Revenues for the fourth quarter came to NOK 417.6 million, down by 37.9 per cent from the corresponding period of 2008. EBITDA was NOK 39.2 million, compared with NOK 128.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. Exclusive of one-off items of NOK 13 million, the EBITDA margin was 12.5 per cent, down 6.6 per cent from corresponding quarter in 2008.

The decline in the margin reflects the challenging market and lower activity level. In addition, a change in the product mix and increased sales and marketing effort affected the margin. ODIM also took necessary operational actions during the fourth quarter, and improved the execution of challenging projects, while maintaining core competence and excess capacity. The order intake for the group as a whole in the quarter was NOK 138 million, giving a backlog of NOK 1,002 million at 31 December. "I am pleased with the fact that ODIM delivered a unique system for subsea installation during the fourth quarter. I am confident this system delivery will pave the way for a number of exciting deliveries within the Subsea & Deepwater Installation business area. I am also pleased with the organizational ability to change in a challenging time, which has lead to improvement in the operational margin, compared with previous quarter," comments acting CEO Arild Hatløy. "ODIM is facing a number of challenges in 2010. However, we now see clear signs of market improvement. Hence, job number one is to increase order intake. Provided the Rolls-Royce offer is accepted, ODIM will get access to a global sales and market network which will position ODIM even better," says Hatløy.