Norway’s Ulstein group has suffered combined losses of more than NOK 1bn ($125m) in the last three years.
The privately-controlled ship designer and builder reported a pretax loss of NOK 360m for 2017, after suffering a major blow from the crisis in the offshore services sector.
The company has also logged large losses on the construction of a new luxury yacht to an unnamed shipowner and had to make extraordinary write-offs in shipowning subsidiary Blue Ship Invest, which owns two platform supply ships.
Ulstein has been seeking new business areas. But group managing director Gunvor Ulstein has stressed that to become established in new business takes both time and capital.
Staff has been cut by 250 since the end of 2014, bringing the headcount to about 560, but the Ulsteinvik-based company now plans to increase staff again. The group has borrowed NOK 300m to strengthen its financial position.
Ulstein has had success in building specially designed ships for use in the offshore wind market, expedition cruiseships and a plug-in hybrid ropax ferry for Color Line.
“The customers we now have got we did not have before,” said the managing director.
She runs the group with brother Tore Ulstein. They are grandchildren of Martin Ulstein, who founded the group in 1917.
