Stingray Marine Solutions is finally making money.
After having gone into a deficit every year since its inception, Stingray has now posted a comfortable profit in 2018. The result has been achieved after a year of strong sales growth.
Breakthrough
“The company has had a significant breakthrough in the market in 2018. More and more salmon farmers now see the advantage of using lasers as a continuous method of keeping salmon lice levels down, and thus be able to contribute to a reduced reproduction of salmon lice,” wrote the Oslo-based company in its annual report.
“Stingray has been through a solid development from 2017 and through last year, more than doubling sales. The company has grown sharply in terms of the number of employees and the prevalence of installed laser nodes. New salmon farming customers see the value of preventive and gentle lice treatment while existing customers are expanding to several locations,” said CEO John Arne Breivik to SalmonBusiness.
“In previous years, the company invested heavily in the development of the organisation and the product, so that critical mass could be achieved both in production efficiency and in contracts entered into, securing income for four years to come. This provides increased predictability for the investments further while providing security for the closer follow-up of our customers,” he added.
Multi-million
Stingray is now set to overtake the EUR 10 million mark in annual sales.
“The ambitions are to pass “three-digit million amounts” (in reference to NOK 100 million) on sales and secure an expected profit of more than ten per cent of revenue. This year’s result is a step in the right direction to deliver world-class aquaculture technology. The funds are invested in their entirety in new services on the same hardware so that our customers get even more added value on their investments in the Stingray system in the years to come. Therefore, we also offer a number of new applications through 2019 that will contribute to this,” he added.
At the end of the year, Stingray had a total balance sheet of EUR 11 million and an equity of EUR 7 million.
Important
The majority of the shares in Stingray are controlled by the employees through Beck Engineering and founder Esben Beck is its largest shareholder. Beck was recently nomimated as a finalist in the European Inventor Award in Vienna.
“The event is important for all of us who work in Stingray, even though we did not get first place,” Esben Beck stated after the ceremony.