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February 25, 2022

For further information, please contact:

Investors and financial media

Stuart Jackson, CFO, ABL Group ASA
Telephone: +971 4 3793612

Other media enquiries

Endre Johansen, Corporate Communications AS
Telephone: +47 41 61 06 05
Email: endre.johansen@corpcom.no

About ABL Group ASA

ABL Group (OSE: ABL Group ASA – ticker code “ABL”) is a leading independent global consultancy delivering energy, marine, engineering and digital solutions to drive safety and sustainability in renewables, maritime and oil & gas sectors. The group has offices in 39 countries worldwide and operates under four brands: ABL, OWC, Longitude and AGR.

Q4 2021 financial results

25 February 2022 – AqualisBraemar LOC’s 2021 fourth-quarter results

HIGHLIGHTS Q4 2021

  • Revenues of USD 37.8 million (Q4 20: USD 19.6 million)
  • Operating profit of USD 1.9 million (Q4 20: USD -0.4 million)
  • Adjusted EBIT of USD 2.5 million (Q4 20: USD 1.0 million)
  • Cash balance of USD 19.8 million (Q3 21: USD 23.2 million)
  • Interest bearing bank debt of USD 11.7 million (Q3 21: 12.5 million)
  • Cost synergy target of USD 4.0 million from LOC acquisition maintained
  • Semi-annual dividend of NOK 0.3 per share proposed

HIGHLIGHTS FULL YEAR 2021

  • Revenue of USD 150.7 million (2020: USD 77.0 million)
  • Operating profit of USD 7.4 million (2020: USD 2.9 million)
  • Adjusted EBIT of USD 9.6 million (2020: USD 4.8 million)
  • Strong revenue growth in renewables bringing renewables share of revenues to 27%
  • Total dividend of NOK 0.5 per share paid during 2021
  • Completed integration of LOC Group and multiple strategic add-on acquisitions

Reuben Segal, CEO of AqualisBraemar LOC ASA (“AqualisBraemar LOC”, “ABL” or the “Company”) commented:

“2021 has been an eventful year for the Company. The acquisition of LOC Group, completed just before the start of the year, meant we doubled in size for the second time in less than two years. I am impressed and proud of the way our employees from both groups have welcomed their new colleagues, and how seamlessly the two organisations have gelled together. The integration of two equally strong organisations across 39 countries will always be a challenging task, and it was certainly not made easier by the travel restrictions in place for most of the year. I want to direct a heartfelt thanks to our employees for their dedication and efforts in dealing with the integration and other challenges caused by the pandemic. As omicron-related restrictions are now lifting in many of our operating areas, we look forward to seeing our colleagues more in person in the year to come, while taking advantage the improved efficiencies and learning points from the last two unprecedented years.

In addition to the LOC transaction, we carried out three other acquisitions during the year: East Point Geo, a geoscience consultancy delivering services primarily to renewables, OSD-IMT, a ship design consultancy with more than 150 designs launched to date, and finally the remaining shareholding in Innosea, our renewables engineering, design and R&D consultancy. These additions have strengthened ABL’s capabilities in key strategic areas, supporting further growth within renewables and engineering specifically.

In 2020 we set a group-wide target of 50% renewables and sustainability-oriented services in our business mix by 2025. This was an ambitious target, but with 53% revenue growth in renewables during 2021, we are well on our way there: Renewables now make up 27% of our total group revenues. We also opened three new renewables hubs during the year, in Ireland, France and Brazil, and started three new renewables business areas with key senior hires within onshore wind, battery storage and hydrogen. While these growth investments and higher than normal bid submission activity lowered margins in our renewables business during the fourth quarter, we are already seeing the benefit and expect them to support continued high growth in 2022.

Within oil & gas and maritime, we are now seeing green shoots after another year of curtailed activity amid pandemic restrictions and limited investment budgets. While rig activity and brownfield activities have been stronger since the summer, we are now seeing signs of more greenfield investments, and we expect this to drive significant order intake in 2022. Given the capex investments and sanctioning activity now signalled by oil companies, and the reduced capacity in the market after years of low investments, we expect rates in this market to increase in the coming years.

Finally, we are happy to announce that the Board has proposed another dividend increase to NOK 0.3 per share, as part of our semi-annual dividend schedule. Our shareholders have repeatedly supported us in connection with the major acquisitions over the last few years, and we remain focused on repaying that trust by returning capital to shareholders.”

A presentation of the quarterly results will be held today at 08:45 CET at SpareBank 1 Markets’ office at Olav Vs gate 5, 0161 Oslo. The event will be webcasted live and available for replay shortly after. To watch the webcast and download the report and presentation, please visit our Reports and Presentations page.