Market turbulence fuels uncertainty
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Loading... - Acosta Ana
- 24 Mar 2023
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Norway’s central bank has long stressed how the Norwegian economy has remained strong despite all the turbulence in recent years. Norwegian companies have produced record high earnings, especially the biggest ones in which the state has substantial stakes. Oil and energy company Equinor, the country’s largest bank DNB, telecoms firm Telenor, industrial firms Yara and Norsk Hydro, power producer Statkraft and defense contractor Kongsberggruppen have all reported huge profits recently, pumping not just tax revenue but also lots of dividend income into state coffers.
The company responsible for the state’s own direct stakes in oil and gas fields, Petoro, was the latest to report earnings this week that were nearly triple the last record set in 2021: a dizzying NOK 528 billion. Petoro is the largest owner of the Troll field in the North Sea, and then came reports of new oil and gas discoveries nearby. More riches can thus be expected.
Most of the profits recorded by the big Norwegian companies in which the government has major stakes are tied to high prices for energy of all types. Government officials have seemed keen to downplay Norway’s war profits, and defend a need for tight state budgets, but newspaper Dagens Næringsliv (DN) doesn’t shy away from headlines like the one attached to its report of defense industry firm Kongsberg’s earnings last month: “War and crises yield records.” The company could report double-digit profit hikes and growth in all its areas, maritime, defense, aerospace and digital. Read More…
