Vow ASA again reported strong performance in its Projects Cruise business in the first quarter this year, and it announced important partnerships for industry decarbonisation with leading landbased industrial groups. The order backlog remains solid at NOK 969 million. The aftersales business, meanwhile, continued to be affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Group revenues in the first quarter of 2021 came in at NOK 92.7 million, which is NOK 23.4 million less than first quarter last year. The change is mainly a result of the slow-down in Aftersales related to cruise ships being docked as a consequence of Covid-19. This segment would in a normal year have represented around NOK 25-30 million higher revenues in the quarter.
EBITDA before non-recurring items was NOK 10.2 million, down from NOK 14.0 million in the same period last year, mainly explained by the decline in EBITDA in Aftersales, and high activity in Landbased related to commissioning of systems and process integration with the aim of meeting current customers' demand for industry scale solutions.
The order backlog currently stands at NOK 969 million, including orders won in April, up from NOK 952 million at year-end, and from NOK 975 million at the end of the first quarter last year. In addition to the firm backlog, shipowners have placed options on the newbuild series being equipped with Scanship systems amounting to NOK 665 million in likely future revenues related to the Projects Cruise segment.
"Our performance in the Projects Cruise business is remarkable, as is the cruise operators' commitment to renew and upgrade their fleets to new environmental standards. We have signed three new contracts for newbuilds and retrofits so far this year, and in Aftersales we are seeing signs of increased activity", said Henrik Badin, CEO of Vow ASA.
"First quarter 2021 will also be remembered for our launch of Vow Green Metals, a new company which will offer decarbonising as a service. The company will be spun off to Vow's shareholders, with Vow itself retaining 30.5 percent ownership", Badin added.
During the quarter, Vow successfully completed a private placement raising gross proceeds of NOK 230 million. Parts of the proceeds will be used as initial funding of Vow Green Metals. Vow Green Metals is planning to build a full-scale facility for production of biocarbon and CO2 neutral energy based on Vow technology at Follum in Eastern Norway. Vow Green Metals will be an important customer for Vow's Landbased business going forward.
Today, at 09:00 Central European Summer Time (CEST) the company's CEO Henrik Badin will host an onlinepresentation and answer questions from the audience. The presentation will be held in English. A replay of the presentation and Q&A will be made available on www.vowasa.com shortly after.
To register and join, please copy and paste the following link into your browser and fill in the required information:https://www.vhgo.no/vow/q1-2021/.
For further information, please contact:
Erik Magelssen, CFO
Vow ASA
Tel: +47 928 88 728
Email: erik.magelssen@vowasa.com
Attachments(see link at end of document)
Q1 update - report
Q1 update - presentation
About Vow ASA
In Vow and our subsidiaries Scanship and Etia we are passionate about preventing pollution. Our world leading solutions convert biomass and waste into valuable resources and generate clean energy for a wide range of industries.
Cruise ships on every ocean have Vow technology inside which processes waste and purifies wastewater. Fish farmers are adopting similar solutions, and public utilities and industries use our solutions for sludge processing, waste management and biogas production on land.
Our ambitions go further than this. With our advanced technologies and solutions, we turn waste into biogenetic fuels to help decarbonise industry and convert plastic waste into fuel, clean energy, and high-value pyro carbon.
Our solutions are scalable, standardised, patented, and thoroughly documented, and our capability to deliver is well proven. They are key to end waste and stop pollution.
Located in Oslo, the parent company Vow ASA is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker VOW).
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
Attachments
- Vow - Operational update Q1 2021 (https://ml-eu.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/03c747c0-c75c-415b-8e56-1b38b19aff5d)
- Vow - Presentation Operational update Q1 2021 (https://ml-eu.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/eb5246fe-d07e-4dc1-aef7-1d7280e5dee6)
