Aker Yards CEO goes after worst 4th quarter

Yrj Julin has left Aker Yards after just eight months as chief executive officer of Europe's largest shipbuilder, following the Norwegian company's worst ever fourth quarter.

Julin  

Aker posted a net loss of 323 million krone ($59 million) in the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of 486 million krone in the same period in 2006. Quarterly revenue increased 34 percent to 9.68 billion krone ($1.8 billion). For the year, the Oslo-headquartered shipyard posted net profit of 97 million krone ($17 million), down from 1.04 billion krone in 2006. Annual revenue gained 29 percent to 33.3 billion krone ($6.1 billion).

Sivertsen  

We present weak and disappointing results for 2007, said Aker's Chairman Svein Sivertsen, who will act as CEO until a permanent replacement has been recruited. The board believes that it is important to have a new CEO to reestablish confidence with all stakeholders and that we can put the operational challenges behind us. We have a very capable and experienced crew at Aker Yards, and we have a record high order backlog. I am confident that we will see improvements through 2008.

Julin joined the company in 2002, first as president of Aker Finnyards and then as president of Aker Yards Cruise & Ferries Business Area. He was promoted to CEO last June. I have had six very exciting years with Aker Yards, Julin said. But the last months has been very demanding. The board and I had a common understanding that the best solution for the company going forward is that a new CEO takes over.

In October, the Korean shipbuilding group STX acquired a 39.2 percent ownership stake in Aker Yards in a deal which is still being evaluated by EU competition authorities. 

Source: American Shipper