SINGAPORE (Mar 1): Vard Holdings reported a doubling of 4Q17 losses to NOK 131 million ($22.2 million) from its net loss position of NOK 67 million a year ago.

The group mainly attributes this to a reassessment of its net realizable value (NRV) of vessels held in inventory which resulted in a lower EBDITA margin.

This resulted in EBITDA falling to NOK 8 million in 4Q, down from NOK 67 million in the corresponding period. Excluding the effects of the reassessment, EBITDA before restructuring costs would have been NOK 62 million for 4Q17, in line with a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter grew 25% to NOK 2.7 billion from NOK 2.15 billion in 4Q16 as the group’s yards in Romania and Vietnam enjoyed higher activity levels due to rapid progress on Module Carrier Vessels (MCV) projects for Topaz Energy and Marine and Kazmortransflot, and the ongoing construction on all six expedition cruise vessels contracted in 2016.

Restructuring costs of NOK 12 million were also recorded over quarter. These were mostly incurred from termination benefits and statutory payments for temporary redundancies, mainly in Norway and Brazil.

Depreciation, impairment and amortisation costs increased 6% to NOK 55 million from NOK 47 million previously as a result of the gradual completion of ongoing investments.

“We are encouraged by the progress that our diversification efforts have yielded, but remain focused on sustaining and building our competitive positions in the offshore, expedition cruise vessel, fisheries and aquaculture markets,” comments Roy Reite, CEO and executive director of Vard.

“Meanwhile, we look to stabilise the varying workloads across our yards with a sustainable project portfolio, while undertaking rightsizing efforts focused on cost reduction and organizational development,” he adds.

The latest set of 4Q results brings Vard’s full year losses to NOK 233 million for FY17, down 43% from its loss of NOK 163 million in FY16.

In Dec 2017, it was announced that Vard’s largest shareholder, Fincantieri, had upped its stake in the company to 79.69% from 55.6% previously through shares acquired for 25 cents apiece. Fincanteri was last disclosed to now control an 80.64% shareholding of Vard.

See: Vard gets 24 cents/share privatisation offer from Fincantieri

The group intends to privatise Vard as it integrates the shipbuilder with its other subsidiaries.

Shares in Vard last traded at 25 cents.