Øystein Stray Spetalen’s 2023 Financial Report: Major Losses and Increased Bank Deposits Revealed

A loss in one subsidiary, and a write-down in another due to a drop in share value, showed that investor Øystein Stray Spetalen faced disruption with his investments last year. The full picture is now clear in the annual report of the main company Ferncliff Holding.

Spetalen settled last year with a deficit of NOK 91.8 million, down from a profit of NOK 135.2 million the previous year.

Profit from share trading ended at NOK 26.8 million, after a loss of just over NOK 7 million in 2022. Market-based shares are listed at NOK 39.3 million, but according to shareholder lists, a portfolio of companies listed at Øystein Stray Spetalen worth NOK 770 million, with their own investment companies SD Standard and Saga Pure being the largest items. Other positions are the salmon companies Lerøy and Mowi for a total of NOK 90 million.

Of other investments, short-term bonds are listed for NOK 107.3 million, so that the total investments are NOK 146.6 million.

Increase in bank deposits

Last summer, the annual report for 2022 showed that bank deposits in the Ferncliff group were reduced to just over NOK 540 million, down from NOK 1.35 billion the previous year. In other words, Spetalen had withdrawn a little more than NOK 800 million from the bank during the year.

Now the 2023 figures show that the item for bank deposits is NOK 716 million. He therefore increased his cash holdings by NOK 172 million.

The change was partly due to a positive cash flow from operating activities of NOK 309 million, but a negative cash flow from investing activities of NOK 127 million, according to the annual report.

Spetal entered last year with a total balance of NOK 3.56 billion. This fell throughout the year to 3.44 billion at the end of the year.