SKÄRHAMN, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:
As previously announced, Rederi AB TransAtlantic (RABT)(STO:RABTB)(OSE:VSS01) has initiated a significant restructuring and strategic positioning program in order to return its Industrial Shipping Division (IS) to sustainable profitability. We are pleased to announce further progress in this restructuring program:
· ABT IS has finalized a migration and subsequent closure of its taxlease structures in the UK. This has lead to freeing up liquidity tied up in these structures as well as a transfer of a financial asset formerly owned by these tax lease structures. This financial asset is planned sold in Q3.
· RABT IS has finalized local negotiations in accordance with the Swedish act on co-determination in the workplace, in order to shrink IS’ expense structure by reducing headcount by 30 employees. Consequently, the offices in Västerås and Stockholm, Sweden, will be closed and part of the administration in Hull, England, is planned to be moved to IS’ headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden.
· RABT IS is near completion of a divestment of a port facility. This is considered a non-core operation for the group and the sale will allow IS to concentrate further activities on strategic hubs.
· As part of the strategy to strengthen IS’ commercial activities we are expanding by creating 19 new positions within the commercial department. This will increase IS’ competitiveness and ability to serve new and existing customers.
· In order to optimize IS’ fleet structure, we are in the process of entering into a sales agreement for one of the vessels. This enables us to better align fleet capabilities and capacities with ship needs.
We are pleased to report this progress in our efforts to improve IS’ performance. We still have a long way to go, and these steps demonstrate IS’ ability to execute on its restructuring and strategy programs.
The overall effect on the P&L of the above actions, coupled with some charges related to these actions, is estimated to be somewhat negative for the second quarter of 2013. From a cash flow standpoint, the combined positive cash flow effect of the above described transactions is about SEK 52 million in Q2, 2013 and approximately SEK 40 million in Q3. This is a significant liquidity improvement in addition to the newly completed bond issue (SEK 140 million) and insures RABT sufficient liquidity through the planned execution period of the restructuring and strategy programs.
Rederi AB TransAtlantic (RABT) is a leading Swedish shipping company with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden and additional offices in Europe. The company is organized into two business areas: Viking Supply Ships and Industrial Shipping. Viking Supply Ships, operating within offshore and icebreaking, is also a wholly owned subsidiary of RABT. The Industrial Shipping business area consists of three divisions: Bulk, Container and RoRo. The Group has about 800 employees and the turnover in 2012 was MSEK 3,274. The company’s B-shares are listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm, Small Cap segment. www.rabt.se
TransAtlantic is obliged to make this information public according to the Financial Markets Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act (Sw: lagen om värdepappersmarknaden and lagen om handel med finansiella instrument). The information was submitted for publication on July 1, 2013 at 02.00 pm.
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