Strong growth, restored profitability and a record order book enables Jan De Nul Group to look ahead with confidence. The Group proved that even in stormy periods it succeeded in sailing a steady course. This is only possible thanks to the passion and commitment of all our employees and to our shareholders’ determination to continue to invest in new markets and the associated needed vessel capacity.
In 2022, the global economy was confronted with a turbulent environment.
COVID-19 maintained a strong presence in Asia in the first semester, albeit in a less disruptive way. However, thanks to our operational knowledge, we managed to put our (offshore) activities in the region on the right track. This resulted in a timely high-quality delivery and good financial result.
2022 will also remain earmarked in history as the year of the armed conflict in Ukraine. It was the onset of major global unrest with an immediate, devastating economic impact. Skyrocketing energy prices and galloping double-digit inflation had and still have an impact on the cost levels of our ongoing projects and tenders. The financial markets and especially the dollar/euro exchange rate showed a rollercoaster pattern chased by rising interest rates. Moreover, the scarcity on the labour markets remained a given.
Despite this continuous uncertainty, 2022 fulfilled our expectations. Thanks to our operational management and supported by a well-stocked order book, we were able to achieve strong results:
- The turnover increased to 2.5 billion euro, our highest turnover ever. This enabled us to restore our EBITDA to 18% on turnover or 440 million euro.
- We translated our operational excellence into strong financial results. Jan De Nul Group booked a net profit of 108 million euro. Moreover, its balance sheet remained strong with a solvency of 63%, thanks to a complete profit reservation.
- We successfully delivered our two next-generation offshore installation vessels, Les Alizés and Voltaire. Both vessels are navigating to their first projects.
- Our order book, which stood at 4.6 billion euro at the end of 2021, grew to a whopping 6.45 billion euro at the end of 2022. A historic ground-breaking increase of 40%. The increased tender activities in the market and increasing number of orders continued unabated in 2023, resulting in a further increase of the order book up to 8.10 billion euro.
