TransAtlantic: Interim report January – March 2012

SKÄRHAMN, Sweden--()--Regulatory News:

  • Net revenues amounted to SEK 861 M (578)
  • Result before capital costs, EBITDA, SEK -15 M (23)
  • Result before tax amounted to SEK -132 M (-65)
  • Result after tax amounted to SEK -132 M (-53)
  • Earnings per share after tax amounted to SEK -1.2 (-0.8)

The loss of SEK -132 MSEK in the first quarter was impacted by a weak market partly driven by a slow pick up in the offshore market and increased costs.

Viking Supply Ships A/S raised NOK 300 M in new unsecured bonds in the Norwegian bond market with maturity in March 2017.

Kim Sörensen started as CEO Industrial Shipping on March 1.

Delivery of the AHTS vessel Brage Viking.

Sold former headquarter property in Skärhamn.

The new terminal in Hull was launched.

Work on demerging the Group into two competitive units continues, but split will be delayed until 2013, at the earliest.

The result before tax during January to March amounts to SEK -132 M (-65). The outcome is at an unsatisfactory level but in line with the expectations given the market conditions.

Viking Supply Ships (VSS)

Although it had a weak start of the year, we find VSS very well positioned in the market with strong focus on the Arctic area and the increasing needs of icebreaking and offshore services. We see exciting business potential in offshore and our objective is to expand this operation further on this year. As a part of this the last vessel, Brage Viking, of the AHTS newbuild program was delivered in January. The markets are slowly picking up from the low Q1 levels as we get closer to the peak season for offshore activities.

Viking Supply ships issued a senior unsecured five year bond with gross proceeds of up to NOK 750 M. A first trance was raised in March of NOK 300 M.

Industrial Shipping (IS)

Industrial Shipping is operating in a tough market, the last few quarters have been extremely challenging. This has led to a position where the business area must refocus and reposition itself in order to turn the negative trend and attain profitability. A cost reduction plan has been defined and its execution will start immediately, including both operational and organizational actions. Consolidation of offices, changed crew policy and strengthened sales organization are some of the actions to take place.

Kim Sorensen started as new CEO for Industrial Shipping March 1. He strengthens the organization with his experience in successfully leading shipping and logistic companies at Maersk.

The former head office in Skärhamn was sold with a SEK 11 M gain in February.

Despite challenging times, we are positive that we will develop Industrial Shipping into a competitive and profitable operation through the cost reduction and restructuring program. As previously mentioned we are excited about the offshore markets for VSS.

Due to the market situation in Industrial Shipping (IS) we do not see it feasible to split the company into two separate companies, IS and VSS, at this time. We do not believe that we can successfully go through with such a split into two separate and successful companies before some time in 2013 driven by the completion of the cost reduction and restructuring program and also slightly better market condition in Industrial Shipping.

Gothenburg May 15, 2012

Henning E. Jensen, CEO  

Telephone conference

In conjunction with the Q1-report, a telephone conference will be held on May 15 at 03.00 pm (GMT +1). Investors, press and analytics are welcome to join the conference, meeting CEO TransAtlantic Henning E. Jensen, CFO Heléne Mellquist and CEO Industrial Shipping Kim Sörensen.

Please dial: 0047 2350 0486, code 9969741

The telephone conference will be held in English.

Please dial in 5-10 minutes prior to start.

Rederi AB TransAtlantic (STO:RABTB) is a leading Swedish shipping company with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden and additional offices in Europe. The company is organized into two business areas: Industrial Shipping and Viking Supply Ships. The fleet consists of 62 vessels and the company has about 950 employees. The turnover in 2011 was MSEK 2,989. The Industrial Shipping business area consists of five divisions: Bulk, Container, RoRo Baltic, Short Sea Bulk and Integrated Logistics. 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 May 15, 2012 at 08.30 am

This information was brought to you by Cision http://www.cisionwire.com

Contacts

TransAtlantic
Ola Helgesson
CFO
+46 304 674700
http://www.rabt.se

Contacts

TransAtlantic
Ola Helgesson
CFO
+46 304 674700
http://www.rabt.se