The year ending 31 December 2009 produced consolidated earnings of NOK 134,7 million before interest and depreciation. Sum interest paid to banks amounted to NOK 21,1 million. A bank loan amounting to NOK 100 million was repaid in its entirety further cementing the financial position of the Group.
All owned properties have been transferred to Centennial Eiendom ASA, a Norwegian Public Limited company. The synthetic result of this pure property owning company for the calendar year 2009 was NOK 46 million before interest and depreciation (this amount is included in the above consolidated earnings figure).
During 2009 we initiated an attempt to form a restructuring fund aimed at Iceland and its troubled financial institutions and invested in October 2009 a total of ISK 1 billion in Icelandic financial assets. Attempts to make a cooperative agreement with Argentum (the investment vehicle of the Government of Norway) has so far been delayed. We believe that Norwegian investors should participate in the reconstruction of Iceland for historical reasons and also because there will be valuable assets available in time. The purchase of BN Bank may turn out to be a striking example of this.
In December 2009 we participated in the creation of a new fund of funds, SIH – Scandinavian Investment Holdings AS- under leadership of Mr. Morten Kielland, the former manager of Key Asset Management. The idea behind this fund is to create a liquid investment alternative through listing on the Oslo or Stockholm stock exchange when the critical size of the fund has been reached. At present, SIH has total seed investment money of about USD 27 million divided among 8 funds.
Villa Organic AS - www.villaorganic.com - has been through a dramatic reorganization, including a complete change of top management. A forecast for 2010 shows a resonable profit.
For our wholly owned Pinemont Securities Ltd in London, 2009 ended with one of the best results in its history.
The work to prepare the ground for a new municipality owned school connected with our project at Haslekollen in Oslo is finally crowned with success, the Oslo School Authority started construction in January 2010.
