Earnings Release • Feb 10, 2022
Earnings Release
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Aker Carbon Capture ASA: Fourth-quarter results 2021
Aker Carbon Capture's project portfolio developed favorably in the fourth
quarter of 2021, as the company secured new work in its key strategic markets.
"The contracts we won in the last three months of the year, combined with
progress in existing projects and rising revenue made sure we ended last year on
a high note," said Valborg Lundegaard, Chief Executive Officer of Aker Carbon
Capture. "Growth in the CCS industry remains supported by record high CO2 quota
prices and a rising number of industrial companies that want to reduce their
emissions and establish sustainable business models".
Operational highlights
Highlights in the fourth quarter included securing a FEED (Front End Engineering
and Design) study for the Net Zero Teesside project in the UK, where Aker Carbon
Capture is the technology partner to a consortium of Aker Solutions, Siemens
Energy and Doosan Babcock. The CCS facility at the Net Zero Teesside gas power
station will have a capacity of about 2 million tonnes CO2.
Aker Carbon Capture secured another firm EPC project in December, when it
started delivering a Just CatchT modular carbon capture plant to Twence's waste
-to-energy plant in Hengelo in the Netherlands. The plant will capture 100,000
tonnes of CO2 per year and is scheduled to start operating in late 2023.
Viridor, the UK recycling and waste management company, selected Aker Carbon
Capture for its plans to install modular CCUS plants on five waste-to-energy
sites across the UK - enabling Viridor to bring forward its net zero timeline by
a decade to 2030.
In the domestic market, Aker Carbon Capture continued to mature the Brevik CCS
project according to schedule, with fabrication work on site expected to
commence this summer. Brevik CCS is the world's first industrial-scale carbon
capture plant at a cement factory.
The number of ongoing studies for new CCS projects continued to grow, with
several new potential projects in the waste to energy, gas to power and cement
industries.
Securing strategic partnerships with transport and storage providers is key to
the company's strategy of offering compelling offerings, including Carbon
Capture as a Service, to industrial CO2 emitters. After the end of the fourth
quarter, Aker Carbon Capture announced collaboration agreements with Altera
Infra and Höegh LNG and with Dan-Unity CO2 for sea-based CO2 transport.
Financial result
Revenue for the quarter was NOK 130 million, up from NOK 101 million from the
previous quarter. This reflected mostly the good progress on the Norcem Brevik
EPC project in the quarter. Mobile Test Unit operations in Poland, pre-FEED and
feasibility studies also contributed positively. EBITDA (Earnings before
interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) for the quarter was negative NOK
66 million, driven by high activity across tendering, technology and
digitalisation efforts, and supporting the company's international growth.
Full year revenue was NOK 363 million and the EBITDA was negative by NOK 190
million.
The cash and cash equivalents balance at the end of the year was NOK 1,321
million, compared with NOK 1,398 million at the end of the previous quarter.
This reflected an underlying cash outflow of NOK 77 million in the quarter.
Market development
The global carbon capture market saw further strong evidence of growth during
the fourth quarter of 2021. Policy announcements from governments continued to
build momentum in Europe, the UK and in North America. In Europe, in addition to
the 'Fit for 55' targets for greenhouse gas emissions and support for carbon
capture from the EU Innovation Fund, there was also growing dialogue around
regulation for carbon removal certificates. In North America, growth prospects
were supported by the passing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in
the US and moves towards an investment tax credit for CCUS and bids for CO2
storage in Canada.
Major corporate net zero strategies continued to progress, also with more
interest in voluntary carbon removal markets. The number of carbon capture
facilities in operation and development more than doubled in 2021, according to
the International Energy Agency. This represented a total capture capacity of
some 200 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Wood Mackenzie, the consultancy, noted
that over 2021, there were around 50 new carbon capture hub or cluster projects
announced globally. The development of such multi-industry clusters has already
proven to be a positive driver for the adoption of carbon capture in Europe.
Strategy
The European market has been a frontrunner in developing the CCUS market, aided
by record high carbon emission quota prices. However, a notable development last
year was the ascent of markets outside Europe, opening new opportunities for
Aker Carbon Capture. One example is North America, given its scale and
concentrated CO2 emissions profile. US industrial CO2 emissions are 2.3 billion
tonnes per year, the IEA says. About 75 percent of US power plants account for
some 80 percent of US emissions, and are located within 50 km of potential
storage sites.
"With our unique technology and strong presence in Europe as a base, we will
continue to focus on enabling carbon removal from hard to abate sectors. In line
with our growth strategy, we may pursue new strategic partnerships to accelerate
our business into new markets and industries," said Lundegaard. "Such strategic
partnerships may include an issuance of new shares to provide any such potential
partner with a minority equity stake in the Company."
Aker Carbon Capture aims to take a leading position in the global CCUS industry,
and the company has launched a long-term goal of '10 by 25', which states that
the company will have secured firm contracts for carbon capture plants for a
total of 10 million tonnes per year by the end of 2025.
ENDS
Aker Carbon Capture will present the results in a live webcast, followed by a
Q&A session, today at 15:00 CET. Click on the following link to follow the
event:
https://channel.royalcast.com/hegnarmedia/#!/hegnarmedia/20220210_17
Media contact:
Ivar Simensen, mob: +47 464 02 317 (http://tel:+47 464 02 317), email:
Investor contacts:
David Phillips, mob: +44 7710 568279 (http://tel:+44 7710 568279), email:
Christian Yggeseth, mob: +47 915 10 000 (http://tel:+47 915 10 000), email:
Aker Carbon Capture is a pure-play carbon capture company with solutions,
services and technologies serving a range of industries with carbon emissions,
including the cement, bio and waste-to-energy, gas-to-power and blue hydrogen
segments. Aker Carbon Capture's proprietary, carbon-capture technology offers a
unique, environmentally friendly solution for removing CO\2\ emissions.
Visit akercarboncapture.com (https://www.akercarboncapture.com/) and connect
with us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/aker-carbon
-capture), Facebook (https://facebook.com/akercarboncapture),
Twitter (https://twitter.com/akercarbon),
Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/akercarboncapture/) and
YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqE71jAZxmM-CNhfUQq86kQ). This press
release may include forward-looking information or statements and is subject to
our disclaimer, see akercarboncapture.com (https://www.akercarboncapture.com/).
This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU
Market Abuse Regulation, and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant
to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
This stock exchange announcement was published by Katja Aanestad, Marketing
Specialist, Aker Carbon Capture on 10 February, 2022 at 07:00 CET.
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