Danish fabricator Bladt booked a loss in fiscal year 2019 due to a Dkr85m (€11m) writedown in connection with a pending arbitration case.
The Aalborg-based company spilled red ink after tax to the tune of Dkr42m (€5.6m), compared to a profit of Drk29m in 2018, due to the unspecified issue related to a single project.
Bladt’s owners injected Dkr150m of additional equity to bolster the business over the writedown, the company added.
“We are very pleased that our owners demonstrated such great faith in us in 2019 by increasing their investments in Bladt,” said chief executive Klaus Steen Mortensen (pictured).
“That reinforces our robustness and shows that our owners have full confidence in the company. It also ensures that we can continue developing Bladt in an offshore wind power market with expected annual growth rates of more than 20% for as far as the eye can see.”
The company said the year was a positive one despite the loss. Revenue increased 49% and the workforce swelled by 220 to bring permanent staff to 495.
Meanwhile, Mortensen is stepping down due to a chronic but not life-threatening heart condition and will be replaced by former Vestas offshore head and GE man Anders Soe-Jensen. Mortensen will take a seat on the fabricator’s board.
“Under Klaus’ management, we have worked to develop and future-proof Bladt Industries, so that we can secure our share of the very positive future market. I am now looking forward to continuing this work with Anders Søe-Jensen as our new CEO, and Klaus on the Board of Directors,” said chairman Bjarne Moltke Hansen.
Soe-Jensen said: “Bladt Industries is a fantastic company with enormous potential that I am looking forward to unleashing – in close cooperation with my new colleagues, business partners and not least Bladt’s many Danish and international customers.”