Ackermans & van Haaren: Annual Results 2012 (Belgium)

The board of directors of Ackermans & van Haaren NV announces that the consolidated net result (group share) for the year 2012 amounts to 167.5 million euros (compared to 177.5 million euros in 2011).

DEME ended the transitional year 2012 with a net profit of 89.4 million euros. The results of the second half of the year showed a firm recovery. By winning some major new contracts in Australia, Africa, the Middle East and in offshore wind, DEME’s order book closed at 3,317 million euros.

Within the Marine Engineering & Infrastructure segment, Rent-A-Port contributed positively thanks to the strong performance of its Vietnamese operations. Despite the persistent economic slowdown in large parts of the world, DEME (AvH 50%) managed to increase its turnover in 2012 to 1,915 million euros (compared to 1,766 mil lion euros in 2011) thanks to a well-filled order book (3,317 million euros compared to 2,404 million euros at the end of 2011) and a strategy that is resolutely focused on a balanced spread of its activities, coupled with a multidisciplinary approach to markets and customers.

The traditional dredging activities in 2012 represented 65% of DEME’s turnover. The ancillary activities, such as environmental works, services to the oil, gas and mining industry, extraction of construction aggregates at sea, and the construction of offshore wind farms, together accounted for the remaining 35% of turnover. GeoSea and Tideway in particular, which specialize in maritime and offshore construction works, witnessed a spectacular growth as a result of the rapidly growing renewable energy market and developments in the oil and gas industry.

The EBITDA increased from 300 million euros in 2011 to 351 million euros, whereas the net result decreased to 89.4 million euros due to higher depreciation expenses resulting from the expansion of the fleet, as well as increased financial costs.

The order book contains a fair number of new orders from across all continents. These include some strategic contracts which the group won for the construction of port and oil & gas infrastructures in Australia and the Persian Gulf. Medco (DEME 44%) signed the New Port Project in Qatar (total value 941 million euros), and the Wheatstone LNG project of Chevron in Australia (total value 916 million euros) was approved. In addition, GeoSea was awarded a contract for the construction and installation of the foundations for the Northwind offshore wind turbine project off the Belgian coast (turnover in excess of 230 million euros).

In 2012, DEME concluded its ambitious investment programme for the period 2008-2012, and seven new vessels were launched and put into service: the backhoe dredger ‘Peter the Great’, the DP2 jack-up vessel ‘Neptune’, the rock cutter dredger ‘Ambiorix’ (28,000 kW), the state-of-the-art high-tech jack-up vessel ‘Innovation’, two maintenance vessels ‘Arista’ and ‘Aquata’, and finally the seagoing cutter dredger ‘Amazone’ (12,860 kW). With these vessels, the group has one of the most advanced, efficient and versatile fleets in the world.

At the end of January 2013, DEME successfully issued a retail bond for six years with a gross annual interest rate of 4.145%. It was fully subscribed within one day up to the maximum amount of 200 million euros.

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Press Release, February 28, 2013