Fred Olsen holding company Bonheur has returned to the black in the third quarter, but cruise ship operations are suffering.
Earnings are rising for the Norwegian owner’s wind farm vessels, however.
The Oslo-listed company said net profit to 30 September was NOK 393m ($38.2m), up from a loss of NOK 157m in the same period of 2021.
Operating revenue jumped to NOK 3.2bn from NOK 1.88bn a year ago.
The UK cruise operation, which owns four vessels, posted an Ebitda loss of NOK 42m, against a deficit of NOK 138m the year before.
The operation was hit by low occupancy due to rebookings, high fuel costs and the falling value of the UK pound.
Bonheur called the outlook for the UK cruise market “uncertain”.
The group took an impairment hit of NOK 456m on the equity value of investments in the cruise business.
This related to the asset value of the two older cruise ships, the 44,000-gt Balmoral (built 1988) and 24,000-gt Braemar (built 1993), which was laid up in the quarter.
Wind operations making more
Offshore wind companies Fred Olsen Windcarrier (FOWIC), Global Wind Service (GWS) and United Wind Logistic (UWL) prospered, however.
Fowic controls three jack-up installation ships, while UWL owns three wind farm logistics vessels.
“The outlook both short and long-term is solid with a backlog of EUR 473m ($473m),” Bonheur said.
The wind service division's Ebitda increased to NOK 418m from NOK 264m in 2021.
Bonheur also owns Norwegian media group NHST, the parent company of TradeWinds.
