Aker ASA Shareholder Letter from the Chairman 2017
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
SHAREHOLDER LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN 2017 2 SHAREHOLDER LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN 2017 SHAREHOLDER LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN 2017 3 XTREME X-FACTOR Aker’s aim is to make a difference. The key question is whether our active ownership generates added value for shareholders over and above what passive management would achieve. This X-factor was extreme in 2016. Since listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange in 2004, Aker’s return to shareholders has been more than double that of the main Oslo Stock Exchange benchmark index (OSEBX). “Buy when everyone else is selling and The proposed dividend equates to 3.5 hold until everyone else is buying. That's per cent of NAV. Aker’s dividend policy not just a catchy slogan. It's the very remains to distribute 2 to 4 per cent of essence of successful investing.” NAV to shareholders annually. Like last year, I have again borrowed a Cash flow from the portfolio companies quote from Jean Paul Getty (1892–1976), to Aker is increasing, and facilitating not the founder of Getty Oil, whose oil earn- only dividend payments but also new ings made him one of the world’s first investment in current and potential fu- dollar billionaires. While the quote may ture industrial segments. sound like a cliché, it remains highly rel- evant in practice. These three sentences Including share price growth and divi- define action, purpose and direction. To dends, the shareholders achieved a re- my mind, the quote summarises Aker’s turn of 106 per cent in 2016. In compari- development since I took control of the son, the OSEBX index rose by 12 per cent. company in 1996. The Aker share price has risen from NOK Aker’s well-oiled machinery moved 61 on the first day of listing in Septem- quickly in 2016. We have done as we said ber 2004 to NOK 323 at year-end 2016. we would – invested counter-cyclically The Aker share has generated NOK 137 at a time of volatile oil prices. Our long- in dividends, and a further NOK 16 per term perspective and proactive ap- share will be distributed on 3 May. The proach have borne fruit. share has more than quintupled in val- ue, and generated 2.5 times its initial Aker’s net asset value (NAV) grew by value in dividends. The shareholders 69 per cent in 2016, including paid divi- have received an overall return of 7.5 dends, to NOK 34.3 billion by year-end, times their initial stake in just 12 years. corresponding to an increase from NOK 282 to NOK 462 per share. A dividend This has given the shareholders an av- of NOK 10 per share was paid during erage annual return of 27.1 per cent, the year, and a further NOK 16 per share measured in terms of price rises and dividend is proposed for the financial dividends, while NAV has grown by an year 2016. This 60 per cent dividend in- average of 21.0 per cent per year. In con- crease reflects Aker’s financial strength. trast, the OSEBX index has generated 4 SHAREHOLDER LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN 2017 SHAREHOLDER LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN 2017 5 an annual dividend-adjusted return of erations and licences on the Norwegian Øyvind sees how to get there effectively continued growth in shareholder value shelf. We firmly believe that Aker BP will pected. An overrun of approximately 10.2 per cent. continental shelf with the acquisitions of and safely. in the oil and gas sector. become best in class from an operation- 40 per cent brought the total cost up to Svenska Petroleum, Premier Oil Norge, al, profitability and safety perspective. the historical level seen in other Asian The X-factor is the added value Aker Noreco, Centrica and Tullow Norge. Aker’s active leadership and ownership, As impressive as the value created in yards. In the end, as feared, the top deck generates compared to the OSEBX networks and cooperation with well- 2016, is the control Aker BP CEO Kalle Aker BP was last year’s Father cost NOK 2 billion more than initially benchmark. Aker outperformed OSEBX The creation of Aker BP is a milestone run companies together comprise an Hersvik and his new management Christmas in the Aker portfolio, bring- proposed in the tender. phenomenally in terms of both NAV in Aker’s history. The new company X-factor that adds something extra. The group have exercised over the three de- ing sizable gifts for shareholders. On and current shareholder returns in combines the attitudes, expertise and outcome is not necessarily obvious to terminants of the company’s cash flow: Christmas Eve itself, production start- Overall, however, the Ivar Aasen pro- 2016. This “Xtreme X-factor” is the re- experience of BP and Det norske with everyone at first, but “suddenly” things operational costs (OPEX), investments ed in the Ivar Aasen field, on time and ject has been executed successfully. sult of effective, targeted efforts over Aker’s entrepreneurial spirit. Aker BP fall into place and considerable value is (CAPEX) and well-stream optimisation, on budget and, most importantly, with- Success has many parents, but failure many years. would never have been born without added. i.e. production. They have laid a robust out serious incident or accident during is an orphan. Ivar Aasen certainly has Aker’s network, background, experi- foundation for minimum annual divi- the project period. a number of parents who deserve rec- As you know, Aker has been making ence and knowledge of the oil service Value creation is not a linear function. dend payments of USD 250 million per ognition and praise. To everyone on the oil-related investments for many years. supplier industry. Often, you have to be an insider to see year until 2020, and dividend capacity The execution of the Ivar Aasen project team led by Bård Atle Hovd: you have I have dreamt of building a significant all the building blocks and understand is expected to increase further once the has impressed me. In recent months, done fantastic work. exploration and production player on The partnership between Aker and BP how they should be placed to create a Johan Sverdrup field begins production. I have been reminded of what I wrote the Norwegian continental shelf for the in Aker BP would also have been impos- new and better whole. The foundation Aker’s 40 per cent ownership interests in my letter to shareholders four years I would also like to thank Sverre Skogen, past 20 years. In 1999, the tiny oil com- sible to establish without the Marathon needs to be laid before making large val- will generate at least USD 100 million ago: who joined the company as working pany Aker Energy pre-qualified for the acquisition. ue-generating leaps. Our preparations, in annual dividends, equivalent to more board chairman in 2013 and dealt with Norwegian shelf, but its coffers were rigorous work ethic and attitudes lay than NOK 11 per Aker share at present. I am sure that the development of Ivar suppliers and the yard knowledgeably empty by 2002. Four years later, we In just a few years, we have made the the foundation for our value-creation. Aasen will be more expensive than and effectively. Kalle Hersvik took over made a new attempt with the explora- leap from the lower leagues to the Large-scale assets do not materialise Production grew to 43 million barrels of budgeted, and that production of the as CEO in 2014, and has proven to be a tion company Aker Exploration, which Champions League of oil companies, suddenly from nothing. oil equivalents in 2016 – an average of first oil will occur later than planned. Re- tenacious and inspiring leader. So too merged with Det norske oljeselskap in competing with other significant in- 118 200 barrels per day – more than dou- ally, I should not say anything, but I will. has project director Olav Henriksen, 2009. The decisive leap forward was dependent European exploration and Aker BP boosted Aker’s NAV by NOK ble the figure for 2015. At year-end, Aker with his extensive experience of execut- Det norske’s acquisition of Marathon Oil production companies. The meeting 12.9 billion in 2016. The increase in val- BP had reserves of 711 million barrels of My assertion is based on long industry ing complex and challenging projects in June 2014, shortly before the slump Øyvind and I had with BP’s Chief Exec- ue equates to NOK 174 per Aker share. oil equivalents, and an additional 600 experience, particularly of the Norwe- on the Norwegian continental shelf. in oil prices began. It would have been utive Bob Dudley and Upstream Chief In contrast, Aker’s share price was NOK million barrels of contingent resources gian continental shelf. I rarely hope to be impossible to acquire Marathon’s pro- Executive Bernard Looney in Lon- 164 at the beginning of 2016. that can be matured into reserves in the wrong, but this is one of those instances. In my experience, a good decision rarely duction, licences and operations on the don in early June 2016 was one of the coming years. Its current portfolio gives produces a good result if implemented Norwegian continental shelf without most motivating I have ever attended. The Aker BP share price appreciated by Aker BP a potential production level Things developed as I hoped, not as I by people performing below par. How- Aker’s drive and committed ownership. Two cultures in two different financial 180 per cent in 2016, and the company of 270 000 barrels per day from 2023, feared, but there are still some impor- ever, a poor decision can still produce leagues, but with a common aim: to also paid its first dividend in the fourth more than double the level planned for tant nuances to point out.