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The development of the Fjordkraft share on the Oslo Stock Exchange has been a chapter of sorrow. After reaching a price peak of NOK 82 per share in September 2020, the share has fallen on the stock exchange. On Monday, the company was traded at a price of NOK 23 per share.
This corresponds to a fall of about 72 percent from the top.
The company, which makes a living from reselling electricity to companies and households, has not been able to capitalize on the sky-high energy prices. On the contrary.
The company has lost large sums on failed fixed-price contracts in Finland and Sweden and has had a number of unfortunate episodes with the Consumer Council, which believes that customers have been treated badly.
Despite weaker operational development, top manager Rolf Barmen will be paid a bonus of half a million kroner for 2021, according to the annual report from the company which was published on Monday.
The total remuneration to Barmen, including earned pension rights, amounted to NOK 5.4 million last year. In addition, he holds shares worth just over one million kroner, as well as 200,000 unused share options.
Barmen, who has been top manager in the Fjordkraft Group since 2013, did not want to comment on the matter following an inquiry from DN.
Customer loss
Fjordkraft, which has now changed its name to Elmera Group, rode for a long time on good customer growth and promising future prospects, and in 2020 the company delivered the best result ever. But then it turned around.
Tougher competition, new technology and changed consumption patterns have contributed to lower growth for the company. In addition, large fluctuations in the price of electricity have made a significant dent in the profit.
– Many customers in Fjordkraft’s Nordic market fell off when the company made a commercial decision to end the company’s price match service in the fourth quarter, Fjordkraft’s CEO, Rolf Barmen, told TDN Direkt earlier this year.
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Relieved shares
When asked if the company was concerned about the customer dropout in the Nordic region, or if there were signs that customers had become less loyal, Barmen answered:
– In the Nordic region, we have good customer growth, while the number of customers has fallen somewhat in the private market in Norway. Normally, customers’ exchange activity increases at high electricity prices, and now the market is in a situation with extremely high prices. In addition, we made a commercial decision to discontinue our price match service and many of the customers who left us in the fourth used this service, he said.
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Thomas Nielsen, manager of the equity fund First Veritas, had long been heavily invested in the company, which he described as a “quality company”.
After long periods of disappointing news from the company with subsequent price losses, Nielsen took a loss of NOK 16 millionwhen he eased away all the shares in the company earlier this year.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content may only take place with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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