Aker Solutions Maintains Bullish Outlook

Aker Solutions announced at the company's capital markets day that it is maintaining its ambition of 9-15 percent annual revenue growth for the period 2011-15 due to a favorable market outlook for the oil services industry. The company  also maintains its ambitions of 3-4 percentage points EBITDA margin improvement by 2015. The target for organic revenue growth is 6-10 percent per annum. The order intake has been strong over the past year, increasing Aker Solutions'  order backlog by 23 percent (end of Q3 2011 vs Q3 2010). This growth reflects high activity levels in the markets where Aker Solutions operates, and the company expects continued strong markets and tender activity going forward. "We missed some of our financial targets this year, and the world economy is associated with uncertainties, but our growth targets remain unchanged. The global energy trends project increased demand for oil and gas and high energy prices  long term. Aker Solutions is positioned to grow on the back of this. Additionally, we have a potential to increase our market shares and the financial muscle to grow further through acquisitions or partnerships," says Øyvind Eriksen, executive chairman in Aker Solutions. Aker Solutions is maintaining its ambitions of 3-4 percentage points EBITDA margin improvement by 2015. To facilitate both organic revenue growth and increased margins, the company will accelerate its investments in fabrication capacity  and assets for its service businesses. "We are accelerating our investments in technology and in strengthening our organisation, and we continue to address the quality issues we have identified in the company. This will make it challenging to secure a lift in margins in the  near term, but we remain confident in the longer term margin improvement targets we have set out," says Øyvind Eriksen.