Aker Solutions Bullish on Future Financial Returns

On its capital markets day, Aker Solutions' Executive Chairman Øyvind Eriksen says: "While we will continue to build Aker Solutions, the focus on topline growth will be toned down and more attention will be paid to growing our profit and share price," Executive Chairman Øyvind Eriksen says. "We are going to reduce our investment levels so that we don't overinvest in capacity that could erode margins."

The company announce that all business areas are committed to improvement programmes that will start translating into double-digit profit margins for Aker Solutions and an improved return on equity. New investment criteria are being set, moving the hurdle rate up to 15 percent. This focus will mean challenging the business rationale for each investment and testing it against whether a share buyback would yield a better return for investors.

Aker Solutions' EBITDA margin widened to 9.8 percent in the third quarter of 2013 from 7.9 percent in the first half of the year, helped by improvement programmes in several areas and key deliveries.

The company experiences robust demand for its products and services in most markets even as some oil producers delay projects amid cashflow concerns, increasing uncertainty about future investments and the timing of contract awards to oil-services providers.

"We are optimistic about our market segments," Eriksen says. "So far this year, the order intake has grown by 20 percent and the order backlog by 33 percent, which is a decent development."

The company sees its main pillars for growth will be supplying subsea factory products and solutions, designing offshore fields, providing drilling packages and helping producers with modifications that increase oil recovery and extend the life of fields.